Game Thread: G59 31-19-8 Kings @ Hawks 3/3/25

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Maybe I am just being a world class hater today.

Byfield is just young and I feel like he should still put some size on. I also have such a hard time shaking the Kings prospect timeline, where it seems to take like 7 years for a prospect to do anything. I swear Kempe took 7 years, and now he's so good.

I wouldn't be shocked if it doesn't work out, but I don't want to just trade him for the sake of trading him. If Kings are targeting something legit, and relatively young, I am okay with that.

 

[Kings4OT]

Maybe I am just being a world class hater today.

Byfield is just young and I feel like he should still put some size on. I also have such a hard time shaking the Kings prospect timeline, where it seems to take like 7 years for a prospect to do anything. I swear Kempe took 7 years, and now he's so good.

I wouldn't be shocked if it doesn't work out, but I don't want to just trade him for the sake of trading him. If Kings are targeting something legit, and relatively young, I am okay with that.

I dont think your a hater. Nor do I think your oppinion is worth any less than mine. We are both frustrated Kings fans and there are lots of reasons for it.

Kempe was pick 29....your hoping to find a diamond in the rough anywhere outside the top 10 maybe 15. My opinion is that if your scouting properly you should see talent thats your job. Seeing a guy play and thinking if I bulk him up and spend 7 years training him while paying him 6mil and hoping he will be good seems like a huge waste of picking 2nd where you pick talent. In raw numbers he is already down to 8th in production (down to 13th in goals) in his draft class and not 1 of those guys had the Byfield opprotunities. Even Stutzle started producing right away from 3rd line duty.

Kempe is 13 in his draft in points, problem is...guys like dirty-dri, point, pasternak, paylander etc have been producing far more far longer....if kempe was taken before those guys you woulda been pissed and wanted that gm fired...dont even lie, as A 2oa in that draft he would 100% have been a bust.....as it is even Fiala has way more points from the same class

 

[Kings4OT]

It should be of note, If you're going to rebuild.
And not try to win now..... There's really no reason to trade buster

 

[Kings4OT]

Or keep Kempe

 

[PuckinUgly57]

his is what I mean. You're brushing off how booty Trevor Moore has been, along with some other guys (Danault? Lewis...). To casually say "TOTM was no way gonna net 30", while being true, doesn't mean it's on Byfield solely. I think this team has structure, age, and identity problems that go beyond Byfield. Does he pad his stats with secondary assists and fail to drive plays, sure. I am not even defending him, but he does have a microscope on him in this chat, which is probably an overcorrection for how the main chats, league, and overall narrative just knob this guy all the time.

I see what you're saying but I feel we have been pretty harsh on every player who hasn't lived up to expectations. TOTM is the constant butt of EN goal jokes, Dunno has been mentioned repeatedly, Turcotte, all the way down Lewis.

It isn't just on Buster but he was the best chance to fill the void offensively with PLD gone. Rewind to preseason talk and I know myself and a few others stated the only way this team will survive this season is if guys like Buster, Turcotte, Clarke, Laferriere take those next steps and contribute by committee. Now 3/4 of the way through the season, only one guy took that leap and that is Laferriere.

We had discussions on what a successful season for Buster looks like and the concensus was anything short of 60-70 points would be considered a failure and unfortunately that worst case scenario came true.

He did not earn that $6.25 million this season and he didn't take another step forward - if anything he took a step back but certain patterns have appeared with this guy: a lot of secondary assists, racking them up in bunches and going excessive games without goals. His defensive game is fine but he wasn't drafted to be Dunno 2.0.

Happened in 2024, it's happened again. Only this time he costs a lot more than he did under his ELC. He isn't a scapegoat, he is under a brighter spotlight because of draft status, contract and expectations after that season.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Buster isnt the scapegoat, he is a bust. He is a 2oa that has been pumped since day 1

And this is where it may seem like he's being pinned as the scapegoat. Maybe if they weren't giving this guy a BJ every time he laced up his skates us as fans would temper expectations, but they didn't do that. They did the complete opposite, and this season is by far the worst.

This is from Teh Blog just yesterday in a 3 Up 3 Down article with Buster as one of the 3 Up:

Though perhaps not as loudly as Fiala, Quinton Byfield also had an extremely productive February from a points standpoint. While he did not score a goal, he had 11 assists in eight games, tied for the most in the NHL. He had three, multi-assist nights in total, including a career-high four in the 5-2 win over Vegas. Byfield was a driving force that night against the current division leaders and had a hand in four of the five goals his team scored.

Byfield’s first half was different from Fiala’s in that his game was really strong for about 150 feet of the ice, but the 50 that were missing was in the offensive zone. It’s typically the opposite with younger players. Byfield was adjusting back to center and was as good defensively as we’ve seen him, earning the trust of the coaching staff and playing more difficult matchups when asked. The production just didn’t come along with it.

In the most recent quarter, Byfield racked up the assists and has impacted games. The lack of goals of late is concerning, as it happened last season too, but he seems to click really well with Fiala and the two form a very exciting duo up front. On a team that needs playmakers, Byfield is developing into that role for the Kings. Exciting if he’s able to continue that progress down the stretch.[/b]

I'm sorry but there is nothing "exciting" about a fast energy guy who can't score, makes a drop pass and someone else does all the work, who goes 10-15+ (21 games last season was the longest) games without a goal, gets every opportunity to do so and is paid $6.25 million a season. This guy was brought in to replace Kopitar and transition as the face of the franchise.

Like I've been saying, I think there is some secret internal mandate to pump this guy up because they have realized they made a mistake drafting him. Call it a conspiracy but every team does this to prevent value dropping on any player in case a trade happens. The ones that do, but burns them every time from a leverage prospective. It's still a business.