Pretty spot on. Similar article on LAKI and I read some of the comments, and the readers were stating things like "that is so selfish!", "there goes Doughty thinking of just hmself again" (in refercence to him saying he hates being a minus player), you get the gist of it.
I think it's absolutely gutsy, shows passion and desire to win and best of all is unapologetic. He said it just how it is and not only put it on the group we talked about in the other thread but also took ownership of it himself. To me that is the mark of a guy who is irritated as hell they aren't winning and playing good hockey. In the LAKI article (or another one there) the team's identity was covered, and as many of us have said this team just does not have one right now. They really haven't since 2016 when they got shelled by SJ in the WCQFs.
Of course this is where the personnel movement comes into play, and some of that is on Dumbo and some of that is on Futa - Dumbo had to maneuver around the cap because of the long term deals and Futa has not drafted will in quite some time (2011 or 2012). The lack of 1st round picks has to do with that but that is also where your scouting/drafting team is supposed to excel.
I don't give credit to GMs/draft teams who nail a 1st rounder or anything past the 15th pick of the 2nd round, those are pretty much gimmes and you have to be a moron of epic proportion to fuck the dog with those picks. Don't pat yourself on the back too much there Champ.
Edmonton obviously comes to mind but going back into Kings history good old Al Murray and his 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2003 drafts come to mind immediately - in 1997 they have two 1st round picks and pick Jokinen at 3rd overall (he was used properly to acquire Palffy) but then pick Matt Zultek - he of zero NHL games ever - with the 15th pick from the Gretzky trade when guys like Brendan Morrow and Scott Hannan were still on the board .
The 2003 draft is even worse having three 1st round picks and only turning out Brown at 13th and using the 26th and 27th picks on Boyle and Tambellini with guys like Perry and Louie Eriksson hovering right there (an argument could be made they should have used the 13th pick on Getzlaf/Parise/Burns instead of Brown, all who went under 20th).
The later rounds is where shrewd, intuitive scouts find gems and apart from Colin Miller in 2011 (151/5th round) and Toffoli (47/2nd round) the Kings have not found anything in 7-8 years there. Futa did better between 2005-2009, especially 2007 but since then not too many NHL players to make up for not having high picks. The heat should definitely be on this guy as well as management.
Anyway, my frustrating .02. Went off for a minute but the Kings should be and feel embarassed, they went from prince to pauper in no time at all for a variety of reasons.
Anyway, my frustrating .02. Went off for a minute but the Kings should be and feel embarassed, they went from prince to pauper in no time at all for a variety of reasons.
I have never been this frustrated in this team in nearly 40 years of watching them. In years past I was able to take the losing knowing the team on the ice lacked the talent. This team has the talent but suffer from a broken heartilage. It's so bad it brought me out of the woodwork to post that Stevens needed to be fired. It's now obvious that the issue is far greater than the coaching staff. I'll say it again. Next game watch the body language of the team. Other than Doughty no one is upset when they get scored on. They just skate back to the bench and have a seat. If I was on this team I'd be getting kicked out of every game with game misconducts and would have been suspended the rest of the season by now.
In regards to the system or the "lack of speed" blah blah blah. I don't buy any of that garbage. The team has plenty of speed to compete with most teams in the league. It's not the system, it's not the lack of speed, it's not the anything but the lack of the will to win. Even Quick let players fly around his crease without a stick or glove to their head. That never happened before.
When Dean brought in that latte sipping fluff to talk to these guys after Voynov's stupidity this team somehow got super soft. This team simply has no balls anymore.