Game Thread: G37 20-10-6 Kinga @ OG Cap Circumventors 1/9/24

[PuckinUgly57]

That's the annoying part. I think Blake thought Danault might be that. Solid two-way center to solidify the middle. But he's more of a serviceable guy like Stoll was. So then he goes and gets PLD. Aside from the points, if he was a pain in the ass to other teams and was using his size/physicality, we could probably live with his lack of production, but he's a nonfactor a lot. Would love to see some Evander Kane-esque stuff in his game. SOMETHING. I didn't have a good feeling in the early behind the scenes videos the Kings were putting out. Remember when they laid out the red carpet and he was throwing pitches at Dodger Stadium and doing is whole LA tour like he'd just won the cup? So they interview him and he's so excited to be in LA because it's like being a kid. They all live near the beach, and he heard it wouldn't be crazy to see a bunch of bikes piled up in someone's driveway, so you knew the guys were hanging out. I am not hating on that in particular, but it builds into the next thing. They do this feature where he's trading friendship bracelets with Byfield and they each wear eachother's bracelets all the time. I'm like "Okay...?". Not the hard-nosed guy I thought we might be getting. So anyway, that was more of a rant with info that's been playing out in my memory.

I had my hesitations about Dunno, but he quelled those after his first year here. I was thinking OK, maybe I was wrong. Yeah no...he's a C3 and not much more. Stoll is a great comparison, very similar - leader, smart but will never be offensively gifted. Obviously with the salary structure between Kopitar, Dunno and PLD it's easy to see what Blake envisioned. Hasn't worked out that way so far and there isn't money to change that.

I know what you're trying to describe with PLD and his grand tour of LA, LA has a long history of guys becoming complacent living in the South Bay, away from the spotlight and living a dream life. PLD isn't the first or last. On TA a few years ago when Tofolli was still here, an anonymous executive said exactly that, he spent too much time playing volleyball, in bars and not enough time in the gym and working on his craft. That was in the middle of his 4 year deal he got from Dumbo; color me shocked, he is moved to Calgary and all of a sudden he becomes a 30 goal scorer again. Can't surf in Alberta buddy and there isn't tail wandering 5th Street in bikinis and beach cruisers. What's alarming with PLD is he embraced that life without even playing a minute of hockey in LA. I have been very patient with him even with the lack of production, I just hope he didn't look at LA as a place to live and get paid a lot of money to do that but coast at his job.

No one can ever say I'm not fair, just as much as I hammered Buster I'm hammering this guy now - STFU and start scoring. Buster makes $950K or whatever, if PLD is like this next year into his Kings tenure it's safe to say this was not a good move based on the $8.5 million.

He isn't getting 4 years to "figure it out" at that price point.

But yea, this team is softer than kitten mittens and they don't do anything particularly well. Could they outscore Vegas or Edmonton? Not really. Could they shut it down and hold a lead in the 3rd? Not really at all. It feels like the only lead safe with this Kings team might be a 4-goal lead. That 3-0 Edmonton come back in Game 4 last year is probably the biggest proof of all this. In a close game, is Talbot gonna steal one? MAYBE one.

Your example leads to one answer: no identity. They aren't offensive, they aren't defensive, what are they?

IMO 5 years into McLellan's tenure and with year over year improvements on the roster, we should not even be having this discussion right now.

I really think it could be as simple as moving on from McLellan. He doesn't adjust well, and teams seem to figure his little systems out pretty quick. And I still believe his system is a goalie-killer. Talbot had a hot start, but so did Korpisalo, and it just feels like once teams figure (whatever) out, it's a done deal.

100%. I think the end has been reached with him, he's Murray 2.0. Good coach, just not one to win.

The issue is who replaces him?

But yeah, to your point, team needs some character guys. And more size! I am sort of at peace with it all. If they don't figure it out, then maybe we get to move on from Blake and/or McLellan and we'll have a little cap to round out a roster next year.

They have character, they need someone f**king mean. Richards is barely bigger than me, but the dude played 6" taller and 20 pounds heavier. He had that mentality, not backing down and doing whatever it takes to win. That's not character, that is a mindset. That's exactly why Dumbo went for him, he won at every level and dragged his teams into fights. Who do the Kings have like that now? No one. Guys like Mitchell, Regehr, even B6 guys like Nolan and King were like that. This incarnation has no one like that.

This goes back to identity, they have none. Richards played with conviction, he lived and died by the sword. He had a plan every night and win or lose he stuck to it. Size would help of course, but you can't teach that. He reminds me of Elias from Platoon.

All I know is what I'm seeing from this team is guys who are individually talented but not balls to the walls guys.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Having two women in my mouth at the same time should have been a lot more fun, Stupid filling

Going on Monday, cracked my tooth. I dread the dentist.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Just saw Nick Saban retired as Alabama head coach, which is setting off a bunch of dominoes. But I was reading lists of highest paid coaches across all sports (North American) and then by each sport. Guess who's the highest paid coach in the NHL? Todd McClellan. Articles do note that not all NHL salaries are disclosed, because there's no union for coaches, but they're pretty confident he's at the top.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

It's been a chopping block all week with coaches in sports, been nuts. My G Men had a nice blowout between the DC Wink Martindale and HC Brian Daboll, Daboll fired two defensive coaches who were basically tutored by Martindale so when they left he was pissed and apparently told Daboll to F.O. and stormed out the door. He intends to resign but there's been no official word yet. Then Cheatin Bill gets canned today, all kinds of crazy going on.

I'm not surprised actually, you know how Bowlby loves to spend other peoples' money.

There's a few coaches on here between $4-$5 million, but something I noticed is a quite a few have won Stanley Cups to make that money. I think Bowlby did McLellan a solid for playing for him back in 2008 because there's no reason he should be making $5 million. At least this may be his last year.

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