2017 Offseason Thread

Yup, they are done.

This will be the second time in three years they have missed the playoffs with an embarrassment of a 1st round series loss in between. If I recall they were the first WC team to lock up a PO spot last season - very early too, early March maybe - and then went on cruise control, lost the Pacific Division title in the 3rd period against Winnipeg in the last game of the season for LA after holding a 3-0 lead, backed into the POs, and got destroyed by SJ.

Pretty pathetic performance last night against the Rangers and it has become more apparent than ever this window is closed and the team needs to make some significant changes. "Heavy" hockey is gone and the team needs some speed and pure skill instilled into it. The analytics thing has become too heavily relied upon as an indicator of success to this management team but in reality the GF and WL record is the true indicator.

I haven't thought about who stays and goes, and the ED will play a role in that as well, but anyone want to kick it off and lay out a plan?

Move Muffin

Hope to move Brown

Hope to move Gaborik

Hope to not have Mcnabb

Hope Green is done

Hope Lewis isn't gone in the ED

Nice.

=)~~

Spotted this one, I mentioned it in February as an option, Kings brass may be headed in that direction. I was just going to post on this thread that these final 9 games he should let the dogs loose; they have nothing to lose.

The Fourth Period :: Los Angeles Kings :: Sutter on thin ice in Los Angeles

They are not mathematically eliminated yet.
I refuse to give up hope.
I have a petition in to retroactively award wins to the team with the most shot attempts instead of goals.

As far as Sutter; I think he stays. The team was without a goalie for most of the season.
And I think Quick is still not ready.
Why else get Bishop?
His contract expires next year and Dean will let him leave on his feet and not on his ass.
Kings will use next year to acquire picks and play youth.

Hope to have a backup goalie

Dude, you know as well as I do they are not going to make the playoffs. You are delaying that inevitable feeling. I embraced that mother**ker 4 weeks ago.

Around then I knew there will be no April hockey and sure as shit the Kings have proven me right with their uninspired play. While teams like Calgary, St. Louis, Nashville, etc. are cranking it up passing test after test proving themselves to be a playoff team LA has rolled over, lost both small games and big games and essentially thrown up the white flag.

In recent years past I would have believed they have a chance but considering what has happened the last 3 seasons since the 2014 Cup I know better – the character and makeup of this team is different. There is no winning mentality in this team anymore, certain guys have passed their shelf lives in LA, the young guys are not ready to take ownership of winning and the veterans well I don’t know what to say, they dropped the ball big time this season (Brown, Kopitar, Gaborik, Muzzin mainly but also some of the others to a lesser degree). Don’t even get me started on crappy personnel decisions and poor cap management by Dumbo that has contributed to sinking this team the last 36 months.

The first part of my plan would be to lose Sutter to begin with. Reason being is he didn’t adapt his coaching strategy at all. OK, the Kings aren’t the most fleetest of foot and they do not have a wealth of offensive weapons like other teams, maybe it would have made sense to change your tight checking game to maximize the talents of the players you do have on the roster; open the game up a little for guys like Pearson and Carter who have speed, tell the defense to jump into the play more in the offensive zone starting from the first drop of the puck and not in the last 4 minutes when they need 3 goals to win, play more aggressive offensively overall, be more creative, generate more quality chances in high percentage areas.

Tell Quick you will need to be all world again because we are not going to be the shot suppression/tight checking team we have been – we need wins to get in and that means we need goals so unfortunately that also means sacrificing the defense you have been used to for almost a decade for the moment and your stats are going to take a hit. But he didn’t, he kept on plugging along playing Sutter 101 Hockey, racking up the losses and it will ultimately cost LA a playoff spot.

With Sutter gone, now you look at your players, cap situation, what is working in the NHL and what will work in the foreseeable future (Dumbo was ahead of his time in the whole analytics thing, other teams had no answers to shut down LA the better part of 5 years and it resulted in 2 Cups) and plan accordingly.

This should be the beginning of the rebuild on the fly, this team has good pieces still. Unfortunately some don’t work in the machine anymore.

*back up goalie: there will be a flood of former starters and decent backups hitting the market this summer, the Kings will not be getting another Zatkoff, Campbell or Budaj. Their primary concern, and thus dollars, should be spent on someone who can put the puck in the net if not two of those guys.

Since last summer, I think it was clear the Kings were not "all-in" for this season. Looming Expansion, inability to trade bad contracts, planning to transition to younger D-men, and flat-out poor UFA signings (almost deliberately poor signings). Even before Quick's injury, I think management planned to make bigger moves this coming summer instead of last summer (I hope I'm right on this).

Obviously, the playoff chances are super bleak at this point. But honestly, my Off-season opinion wouldn't change if they miss the playoffs, or somehow get in and go on to win the cup. In no particular order, a simple and reasonable off-season wish list:

• Bishop to Vegas. Realistic option for Vegas, plenty of good years left. If he can sign during the special Expansion UFA period, then Kings are off the hook for Expansion Draft. It was a good move to bring in Bishop for relatively cheap to split time with Quick. Will turn out to be a great move if he can get to Vegas, and the Kings don't have to protect (or un-protect) anyone else.

• Find a way to lose Gaborik (Prefer to lose Gaborik over Brown). It won't happen via Expansion Draft. But one of these two could easily be traded to Vegas (or some re-building team with a lot of cap space) along with another asset(s). Buy-out is last resort.

• Trade Muzz or Martinez. Not LaDue, Forbort, or even prospect Clague unless they get something outstanding in return.

• Acquire top 6 Forward. Either by trading one of the above, or maybe UFA.

Not-so-realistic wish list:

• Get Voynov re-instated (post-expansion) and trade him for another Forward.

Of course I am not accepting defeat.
Once I do, I lose a bet to my wife and have to change my Facebook picture to me wearing Ducks gear until the Ducks are eliminated.
Come on 8 game winning streak. And Blues 8 game losing streak.

I don't think the Kings sign anyone worth anything in the offseason
Vegas won't be signing Bishop early and will be taking McNabb from the Kings. No favors coming our way.
Kings are stuck with some cap unfriendly contracts which will handicap them for a while yet.
We got our 2 cups and Dean paid everyone. They all thought the cap would continue to rise every year. Kings still think they can raise prices every year.

davnlaguna said:

Vegas won't be signing Bishop early and will be taking McNabb from the Kings. No favors coming our way.
Kings are stuck with some cap unfriendly contracts which will handicap them for a while yet.

Click to expand...

Golden Knights mock draft

All 4 ESPN "Experts" (Not only would I hesitate in calling them that, I would consider them really lacking in even basic hockey knowledge). But yeah, they all say McNabb (4 for 4).

PuckinUgly57 said:

With Sutter gone, now you look at your players, cap situation, what is working in the NHL and what will work in the foreseeable future (Dumbo was ahead of his time in the whole analytics thing, other teams had no answers to shut down LA the better part of 5 years and it resulted in 2 Cups) and plan accordingly.

This should be the beginning of the rebuild on the fly, this team has good pieces still. Unfortunately some don’t work in the machine anymore.

Click to expand...

I am sort of in this boat. I have way more leeway for Dean Lombardi because he was really up against it with the cap. He made some bonehead moves, but overall, he has produced a competitive team going on about 6 years (Competitive in that there was a chance they could win the whole thing). He went all in every trade deadline and it worked out twice (and didn't work out a few other times).

As much as I'm disappointed in Kopitar's play, he was going to get paid, and DL had to make the move. How Kopitar responds will be on Kopitar.

Sutter, though. I just dislike a lot of his attitude and some things he did this year. Throwing Budaj under the bus I thought was a little weak, but it is what it is. The main thing was that every time LA loses vs wins, Sutter says they're doing the same things, the only difference is that they're scoring or not scoring. Just feels like a total lack of accountability overall, and stubbornness in figuring it out offensively. His obsession with Dwight King etc.

Kings were unlucky this year in a lot of ways, but they were also just not built to withstand any major setbacks, which speaks to everything probably having to have been perfect for one last final run this year.

When you really look at it though, this team just underperformed. They got some reliable D, which was their issue last year. If they had this defense against SJ last year, they would have fared better, but then their offense disappeared.

Los Angeles Kings - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

There really are some steals in this league though. When you revisit the cap, you see some real headscratchers. John Tavares has 2 more years at $5.5mil/year. Tyler Seguin with 3 more years at $5.75mil. Daniel and Henrik UFAs after next year. Also some guys that are making bank under the radar: Erik Johnson, Colorado D making $6mil/year for as far as I can see. 6 years at least.

I am 100% ok with losing McNabb....I seriously hope those "experts" are correct. Trade A-Mart, no totally against this...him gone is very noticeable in a bad way for the Kings IMO. I was tough on him early but he has more then won me over and would hate to have him gone and Muffin here....horrible. Gab or Brown...as a fan I would rather see Brown in LA, but Gaborik save 1mil in cap and contract ends sooner and he is old so there is a possible retirement....or overly hurt vagina.....Gabs can potentially score...in theory.

Stunner_At_Staples_Kings said:

Golden Knights mock draft

All 4 ESPN "Experts" (Not only would I hesitate in calling them that, I would consider them really lacking in even basic hockey knowledge). But yeah, they all say McNabb (4 for 4).

Click to expand...

So I'm as good as an ESPN expert on hockey. If I didn't know I know nothing I would be insulted.
I picked McNabb because he is , young, cheap, and has a bunch of upside. Vegas is going to go as heavy as they can on defense ( or I would) and centers next most. They have to pick 30 players. Only 23 make the team. Add in three UFAs and they will have 10 NHL proven guys to trade for picks. Add in the picks they coud get by making deals to take/not take players fromm teams and they can load up on the next few drafts.
Ok now that I have typed this I will look at the mock list.

I don't discount the real possibility of Vegas going after McNabb in Expansion Draft. Defensemen (in general) will be worth the most as assets. However, with only 1 year left on his contract, Vegas would have to move him by next trade deadline. So there is a more narrow time limit on the control of McNabb as an asset.

Of course, there are always teams at the trade deadline that only want "rentals" for their playoff run in order not to commit to their future salary/cap hit. I think the question for McPhee in regards to available Kings players, is whether you get more value out of signing Bishop and having him be your starter for several years, or taking McNabb and flipping him for a mid-round pick in 2018.