I'll say it. Coaching change

I usually don't jump on the "fire the coach" bandwagon nor do I panic this early in the season but I don't see Stevens being able to right this ship. It's not entirely his fault either. His staff is horrible. Nachbaur's power-play is making Jamie Kompon's squad look like all-stars.

Someone get on phone with Dave Tippett please.

The PP is horrible. I dont think Stevens needs to be fired yet. I think 5 v 5 play has been decent if the PP was just average I think the season point total look much different. I expected the Leafs game to be much different then it was (except the score), the Kings didnt look totally outclassed liked they did against the Jets and if they didnt play a backup in net the Kings would have scored a few more....not enough to win but they make rookie goalies and backups look great. Soup was decent and made some good saves and a couple bad goals.

Im not going to panic yet, but when I want to see Brown back in the lineup...Im almost in hands up mode

I don’t know who is available to coach.
Kings have a bad power play again
This has always been an issue this decade.
If the team is still struggling by Thanksgiving changes should be made

Agree with D, Thanksgiving and heading into December is when a change should be made if any. Also agree with X (where the hell have you been mang?), it's not entirely Stevens' fault; after all, he mostly inherited a team that Dumbo built to last.

The main issue however is also that very same this team is "built to last"; for as good as Dumbo was building a bruising possession team like the Kings of the last decade, I don't think it was smart to believe the game will always be this way and not have contingency plans. It was apparent his final 2 years the game was changing, yet he kept focusing on defensive players (i.e., his last draft, 2016, the Kings had only 4 picks yet took 3 defenders) who would plug right into the machine. On top of that he dished out loyalty contracts that make it hard to make any significant changes.

Thus the Kings have a glutton of B6 players with "character and grit" but hands of concrete* and a bunch of defenders that apart from Brickley (and that is even suspect because he has played whopping 1 NHL game but has a lot of hype) and Clague (lot of talent, however a train wreck in his end at the NHL level from what we saw in preseason. Kid is very raw still and some of his hype should be tempered because he clearly showed he is a ways away from an NHL roster spot. he's only 20 though so there is time and no need to rush) are meh.

It's difficult when you are a middle of the pack team picking between 15-20th every year it seems since the Cup wins, so this is where your scouting team should be heavily invested in to find the gems in the later rounds - the last time LA did that was in 2012 (5th round) with Colin Miller and he doesn't even play for LA. Much like Dumbo did when he took over for Taylor and Murray's regime, a lot of this pipeline needs to be purged and stocked again with quality talent but I know, easier said than done.

My bigger concern is the lack of accountability with Stevens it seems and the core players, there are some guys who are flat out shitting the bed and should not be playing. I also was very surprised that against a fast team like the Leafs he sits Wagner. Overall the Kings contained them OK, but they were opportunistic and used their speed and also got some help from Campbell giving up a suspect goal or two. A guy like Wagner perhaps gets into the offensive zone with his speed or at the very least backs the defense off and allows the slowpokes to catch up and set up.

Going 1-3 on a road trip, giving up 2.75 GPG while scoring 1.5 GPG, going 0-13 on the PP and 70% PK (7/10) is embarrassing. Granted it doesn't help having your workhorse goalie injured and a general unknown learning trial by fire but the overall play at both ends of the ice is alarming right now.

Were I Blake and Robitaille, my eyes are on Stevens at this point to see how he adjusts.

* specifically referring to Lewis - anyone else see him consistently flubbing shot attempts and losing an edge or something just when he is in prime shooting position this season? He's always been HOS Jr. but I am just seeing it more this season for some reason.

PuckinUgly57 said:

Agree with D, Thanksgiving and heading into December is when a change should be made if any.

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Agreed as well that it's too soon to make changes but I also wouldn't want to wait till after Christmas to make any changes if in fact they're going to make a change. This core is to getting to old to scrap and entire season. I didn't like the body language of the team on this road trip. Doughty hanging his head on the bench and others looking like they're completely tired. This was the first road trip of the year and a good opportunity for the team to gel together. I don't think that happened.

Again I usually don't like to point out the coaching staff but I don't think Steven's is the right type of coach for the direction the team is trying to take with the renewed attention to scoring. Nachbaur got a lot of credit last season because the team scored 49 PP goals. I'm starting to think that Turgeon had more to do with that than anyone else.

PuckinUgly57 said:

Also agree with X (where the hell have you been mang?), it's not entirely Stevens' fault; after all, he mostly inherited a team that Dumbo built to last.

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I'm around, dude. Just busy with a lot of different projects. Started an online auto brokerage if anyone is interested I'll be happy to send out more info. Read daily even in the offseason but haven't had too much to add or say in addition to what's already being pointed out.

davnlaguna said:

I don’t know who is available to coach.

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Dave Tippett?

I am not a Stevens fan at all, and definitely didn't like his comments even during the Vegas series. The whole "I thought our team played well, we just have to do a little more". To Puck's point, it just doesn't resonate with accountability. Puck's probably talking about player accountability, but just in general Stevens doesn't really strike me as dealing with any accountability.

I get that it's not all Stevens, but this team appears to be worse than before in a lot of ways, with no real identity. I wrote on the LAKingsinsider that I feel like the Kings appear to come out every game and just take it from start to finish. No big hits, no fights, definitely no energy from the PP (I mean, we don't even expect goals anymore, just please don't embarrass us. Like when the other team gets better chances shorthanded than we do with an extra guy). Kings just come out, play on their heels, and hope to escape the first period tied or down only 1. They used to be a heavy team that would wear on teams, but now they're slow and they're the ones who are tired in the 3rd from chasing. So if we're big and slow still, why can't we go back to hitting and grinding on teams?

Just frustrated overall with how they look. They're not fun to watch, and it's very hard to even pull that many positives out right now. Wagner blew one defensive assignment against Winnipeg so I guess according to Stevens he's done for the year? I think Carter has finally shown some flashes like he's starting to come back a little. Kempe takes a penalty every single game (Ala old Jarett Stoll). Toffoli is Toffoli, which is more than can be said for Pearson, who when you do hear his name is just sitting there half-chewing on his mouthpiece with that weird grin. Lewis does look off. I thought he just didn't recover last year from eating it into those boards, but he had all summer and looks sort of the same as late last year. Thompson, for me, has blown two major defensive assignments this year, and I don't really see it with him. Amadio, probably on Pearson's level, as I don't notice him enough to even have an opinion on him. Iafallo, Kovalchuk look pretty good actually (Not just because of the goal they scored). You just look at the roster, and you go "Where should the goals be coming from?" and I just don't even see an answer on paper.

Rosen just wrote that LA is going to have some good tests in their next two games, against Islanders and then Buffalo, so that should tell you just about everything you need to know about this team right now.

But I'll watch every game, like I always do. Just hoping to see some progression, not regression coming up.

Kings got rid of their actual grit. Not many left on the roster that can/will throw down.....and if you hit teams hard even legally you will need to step up at some point. Im not as down on Kempe as all of you, I think he has been one of our best competitors out there to start the season. Wagner needs to be played, Iafallo and Amadio have played well enough to stay on the roster.....I think if Wagner gets in there enough with Kovy or Kopi he will start finding the net. Dunno whats up with Pearson or Lewis but they are brutal to watch.

PuckinUgly57 said:

he mostly inherited a team that Dumbo built to last.

The main issue however is also that very same this team is "built to last"; for as good as Dumbo was building a bruising possession team like the Kings of the last decade, I don't think it was smart to believe the game will always be this way and not have contingency plans. It was apparent his final 2 years the game was changing, yet he kept focusing on defensive players (i.e., his last draft, 2016, the Kings had only 4 picks yet took 3 defenders) who would plug right into the machine. On top of that he dished out loyalty contracts that make it hard to make any significant changes.

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Agreed.
Dumbo built this team to be defensive and the last couple years the league changed into a faster and leave the trap and slow defenders behind.

Kings4OT said:

Kings got rid of their actual grit. Not many left on the roster that can/will throw down......

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The league has changed, they are quicker, you can't out-muscle teams any more.

I think Tippett was hired by Seattle to consult?
While it may be too much of a recycle, A. Vigneaut should be available.
All morals and ethics aside, I would bring back Voynov and ditch another d-man (Phaneuf, even if it's costs a high pick).

Well, they're changing it up at least, so we'll see: Quick maybe playing tomorrow or Saturday.

From LaKingsInsider:
#LAKings lines, based on color coding
Iafallo-Kopitar-Toffoli
Kovalchuk-Amadio-Carter
Wagner-Kempe-Lewis
JAD-Thompson-Rempal
Pearson-Clifford
Brown in red no-contact.

Brown is skating but can't return until 10/28/18 at the earliest due to LTIR. Looks like the Kings cap is better just because of the IR relief, but who knows.

9 out of the next 11 at home...

Sheldon Keefe (Toronto Marlies)
Lindy Ruff (not doing much these days)
Tony Granato for f**ks sake. Bring some grit back to this team.

As I said when he came available, hire Trotz fire Stevens
Water under the bridge I know but even if Stevens was above average he sure as hell isn't Trotz.
Dummies

They shouldn’t have auto hired Stevens. He wasn’t that great in Philly.
I’d take Trotz, but he may run the team the Sutter did. And apparently these prima donnas don’t like being talked to in a bad way.