Game Thread: G38 20-10-7 Kings @ Cats 1/11/23

[Kings4OT]

Sucks but not a suprising end, pussies got a good team. Lots of scoring, Bobs, Tchoke.... They can beat you of a variety of ways, solid team maybe even a favorite if They make the right move at the t d l.

 

[davnlaguna]

7 losses in a row.
Most going into the third with a lead.
We may have to take the Sharks choker tag away

 

[PuckinUgly57]

0-3-4, leads in 4 of the 7 games.

I also think that was a suspect call on Kempe, it wasn't a full blown cross check. But it is what it is.

Frustrating, these guys seem to have forgotten how to protect a lead. Big guns have been dry.

 

[Kings4OT]

0-3-4, leads in 4 of the 7 games.

Frustrating, these guys seem to have forgotten how to protect a lead. Big guns have been dry.

Not protecting a lead is a huge problem, more than who is or is not scoring. Protecting a lead is job 1

 

[PuckinUgly57]

.285 W% these last 7 games. Brutal.

I fully believe McLellan should start feeling the heat. Fifth/sixth year on the job, rebuild is over, talent being infused, money being spent but same or worse results.

This team needs a fresh voice.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Luckily got a few seasons before he gets paid...thats the window really. Its very difficult to win after your big guys get paid....Chi never won shit after toews/kane made bank, kings nada, mcjesus matthews....not yet. In fact until last season no team won a cup with a 10m guy. Hopefully Kings can figure it out before more cap to keep the same lineup.

This is good point, honestly. Also a big fan of Kempe and he's gonna demand a ton, which is really what hurts with regard to PLD. He isn't insanely expensive in and of himself, but he's going to cost other players, potentially Kempe, which blows. I am trying not to focus too hard on it all, but the Kings window is very small if PLD doesn't work out. Thinking he and Fiala at 25 years old, locked up for 8 years means the window is wide open, but if they aren't any good, they're just albatross's for the better part of a decade.

My main assumption was take a look at the team this year, hope a few guys emerge from the youth movement. Byfield has actually taken some steps, which is good. But hope was someone else too, like Spence, Clarke, Kaliyev, *Cough*, Turcotte. Lafrenierre. You know the deal. Take some steps into meaningful minutes, and then next offseason, sign a goalie with the increased cap and Kopitar reduction money. But now, you're looking at their issues being deeper than that, and Talbot has been fine. He never wows me, but he hasn't been a liability or anything. The team just sucks in front of him (Right now? Indefinitely?). And I am not even sure how much cap they'll really have. Byfield will get a bump. Roy a bump. etc.

We might be looking at close to final version of this team, which is why this is hard to watch. Arvidsson obviously will help, but beyond that, it's on the lineup and McLlelan to show us something. I don't think they were as good as their record showed early, but they're not as bad as this losing streak the last 12 games or so. So we continue to watch and see what will happen....

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

.285 W% these last 7 games. Brutal.

I fully believe McLellan should start feeling the heat. Fifth/sixth year on the job, rebuild is over, talent being infused, money being spent but same or worse results.

This team needs a fresh voice.

This is why that random extension before the season started was so annoying. There was zero reason to get that done. Was it loyalty, so Todd could have some stability? Because they didn't really feel the need to by loyal to Quick, and were showing some Vegas-esque cutthroat-ness. So to resign Todd out of loyalty would be insane.

 

[davnlaguna]

They had a quote on the screen from Doughty saying they got to look at video of the earlier games and know losing leads was an issue. He said they would fix it tonight

I feel so lied to

 

[PuckinUgly57]

This is why that random extension before the season started was so annoying. There was zero reason to get that done. Was it loyalty, so Todd could have some stability? Because they didn't really feel the need to by loyal to Quick, and were showing some Vegas-esque cutthroat-ness. So to resign Todd out of loyalty would be insane.

Good point. I think on some level.Blake felt he deserves a shot with a fully rounded our roster, which this essentially is as alluded to earlier. He got them through the rebuild, into the POs with injuries, into the POs a second time. That is probably the loyalty piece to it.

But the 1 year extension clearly indicates he's on a short leash, and this is for sure a make or break year. What I've seen so gar this season, regardless or how hot he started...dude is in trouble.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

They had a quote on the screen from Doughty saying they got to look at video of the earlier games and know losing leads was an issue. He said they would fix it tonight

I feel so lied to

Someone married you dude, you've been lied to forever.

 

[davnlaguna]

Someone married you dude, you've been lied to forever.

She unfortunately is brutally honest with me

 

[Kings4OT]

She unfortunately is brutally honest with me

Or is she????

 

[Kings4OT]

2 things need to happen:

1 - need to protect a lead.
2 - need to get PLD going, i dont care how. Play him with some top line and PP minutes for a few games or bench him....take your pick. Shuffle the lines.

Neither happens with the current coaching imo. Im not one for blaming coaches, but the Kings dont change shit to a fault. I get trust the sytem, stay the course, blah blah blah....but as we've discussed what is the system or course? Being lucky? Winning when other teams finding their identity and now that they can finish a game LA is lost?

 

[PuckinUgly57]

That's been McLellan's knock back to the early SJ days, he cannot adjust on the fly and gets out coached. I mean crap, his very Kings demolished them in 2014, the only other times I can remember that happening involve Boston two times since and it's been 10 years. So it takes a special kind of incompetence for that to happen.

Protecting a lead has been an issue for sure, last season when they got one they'd lock it down. This season, you can almost feel the lead going away when they have one.

To me that is coaching and to me it falls on Blake for rewarding buddies and not hiring the best for the job. McLellan was great for the rebuild, not now. A fresh voice and someone to push the Kings is overdue based on cap and roster.