2025-26 Off Season Thread

[PuckinUgly57]

Well, we saw our Kings get tossed aside, time to move on and see what happens this summer. All things Kings and league in this thread, I'll start a season thread in October.

Obviously the Blake news is big for LA but the Draft Lottery was tonight and the Islanders jumped SJ and took 1OA. SJ dropped to 2OA, they should still get a good player. We'll they should, they may pull a Kings and take Buster but I'd trust their drafting over LAs, they have some solid young talent as it is.

 

[Kings4OT]

Arrival needs to make the jump to #1C (haha sure), Kopi wont be able to shoulder that load...he might have to drop to #3 and that's gonna hurt bad....Dunno is a good tweener 2/3 at best which is almost where kopi will be....he is just slowing down and the exhaustion really got to him msking unKopistar mistakes...would really benefit with less minutes IMO. Not too worried about wingers but we know they arent gonna cut it anyways. Hoping LA doesnt shit the bed on GM and that GM doesnt roll around in said shit keeping Jill....as I would like to watch next season even if they start shedding players and have a rebuild path....have a feeling they arent goon go that route and just tweak whats there unfortunately.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Same boat. GM will determine so much of this.

Buster, he isn't ready for 1C responsibilities. He shrinks when everything matters. That still leaves the Dunno Kopitar issue, neither is a true 1C at all and it's very debatable that either is a 2C or 3C at this point. That is a massive hole and needs to be addressed. All I do know is Kopitar cannot be run out shift after shift expecting him to do what he did 15 years ago. Just not possible.

You know, the more and more I look at this the happier I am Bowlby is gone. He completely trashed the roster, didn't take advantage of what he had and his vision was as bad as Stevie Wonder.

How anyone supported this guy is beyond me. He's left this franchise in purgatory.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Def happy Blake gone. Wasn't 100% bad, but missed a lot, and was rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. He's at the helm, Kings haven't left the 1st round in a decade. It is what it is. Robitaille addressing public tomorrow, and no other decisions apparently have been made.

Gavrikov and Kuzmenko said they're in no hurry, which would lead me to believe they'll see what's out there. But I don't know.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Gavrikov is looking for a retirement contract, he would have gotten that under Blake. Now, maybe not so much. He's a good defensive defender but even though it may be market I don't think $7 million+ would be a wise investment especially on a 7/8 tear term. That won't age well.

Kuzmenko had his hot minute but as the series went on he disappeared. Maybe it's not fair, so did Kopitar and Kempe, but he's the dude fighting for a contract not those other two.

I don't believe he is a $5.5 million a year guy and maybe he has been given indications that won't happen here in LA. Wouldn't be surprised to see him walk or stay in LA.

 

[Kings4OT]

Kuz showed why he has bounced around...he is s headcase. Jill got past that and got him rolling, Jill also brought it back in a bad way....kuz had no idea what was going on when LA was leading, and just crumbled

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Kuz showed why he has bounced around...he is s headcase. Jill got past that and got him rolling, Jill also brought it back in a bad way....kuz had no idea what was going on when LA was leading, and just crumbled

At least Bowlby didn't give up a first or get fleeced as he usually does, a third and 50% retention is probably one of his better deals. But if Kuzmenko thinks he will get $5.5 again, that's a stretch.

$3.75 million tops, maybe $4 million, but he showed exactly why he's bounced around a bit. Good player but I could see a big contract blowing up in LAs face. He will have to be a perfect fit both role and contract wise.

 

[Kings4OT]

Gav is great, but agree need to see what the direction really is. Ducks, SJ, Flames all could be bigger problems...Canucks most likely in WTF land with LA. Would rather rip the bandaid off, not fair for DD8 and Kopi....but can give Buster some time to develope (lol) and maybe get some youth going