Kings trade for Subban

[davnlaguna]

No not that one
No not the other one
LA Kings Acquire Subban; Send Nic Dowd to Canucks
The other other brother
Dowd for an AHL d man

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Dowd was going to be a UFA in summer 2018 and with the logjam in the B6 it didn't look like they were going to resign him. Honestly a bit disappointed, Dowd showed some promise but no consistency.

He had a golden opportunity in LA the last 2-3 years to secure a B6 role, even got some PP time if I recall correctly, but didn't take advantage of it. He had his moments but nothing ever really stuck out about him.

Subban is a little guy, listed at 5'9"/175 but is an overall decent AHL defenseman. He is know for finishing and creating offense but he hasn't scored at all a third of the way in to 2017-18 which is a bit alarming. Seems like a cap move from LA's POV, getting something for nothing, and taking a look at Subban since two of his brothers obviously made the NHL.

Maybe this is a last ditch effort to see if some hidden talent is in there by name recognition alone but I don't see this guy cracking an NHL lineup. He will be an RFA next summer and unless he has a great showing in Ontario I don't think he will be qualified.

 

[pete6835]

The LA Kings have signed unrestricted free agent goaltender Cole Kehler to a three-year entry-level contract.

Blake is busy

 

[davnlaguna]

Dowd was going to be a UFA in summer 2018 and with the logjam in the B6 it didn't look like they were going to resign him. Honestly a bit disappointed, Dowd showed some promise but no consistency.

He had a golden opportunity in LA the last 2-3 years to secure a B6 role, even got some PP time if I recall correctly, but didn't take advantage of it. He had his moments but nothing ever really stuck out about him.

Subban is a little guy, listed at 5'9"/175 but is an overall decent AHL defenseman. He is know for finishing and creating offense but he hasn't scored at all a third of the way in to 2017-18 which is a bit alarming. Seems like a cap move from LA's POV, getting something for nothing, and taking a look at Subban since two of his brothers obviously made the NHL.

Maybe this is a last ditch effort to see if some hidden talent is in there by name recognition alone but I don't see this guy cracking an NHL lineup. He will be an RFA next summer and unless he has a great showing in Ontario I don't think he will be qualified.

Dowd was not playing and a Ufa . Putting him on waivers maybe he would get claimed. Clifford and AA coming back. Got a little for nothing . Maybe Subban will learn wing. Maybe they can teach him to play no physical defense. Maybe his brothers stole all his food as a kid so he never grew big and strong .

 

[PuckinUgly57]

There is a glut of B6 forwards. Before moving Dowd they have Jokinen, Andreoff, Clifford, Brodzinski, Lewis, Shore, Mitchell, Dowd and then guys like Amadio, Laich, Crescenzi and Auger were sprinkled in.

Way too many guys for 6 spots, makes sense why they would move him considering he didn't establish himself and is on an expiring contract and the two veterans brought in to stabilize the B6 have done just that - no place for Dowd (or most of the others too, really). Bummer too because Dowd showed some skills at times, I thought maybe he could develop into a Handzus type player.

Of those guys I only see Brodzinski as possibly being a T6 player when he gets some more experience under his belt but they need to clean that area up. Free up the contracts, shed some cash, give these guys a chance elsewhere in the league.Dowd should get some more playing time in Vancouver and hopefully he can develop, I wish the guy well.

Took Junior to his Saturday morning ice practice in Anaheim this morning (now I understand what my dad did for me - I loved going as a kid and skating that early, he was just like "ugh here we go again" in a half hearted manner every week because you're up so early and out the door - 6:15am for us on a Saturday, it was 5:15am for me and my old man since he had to drive me to Culver City from Redondo. After working all week in a high stress job and dealing with family stuff I'm sure he would have rather slept in a little bit) and one of the dads and I were talking and he jokingly said how many more Subbans are there?

Personally I am not a fan of PK because of the showboating and I got a glimpse of that the other night when Anaheim lost in the SO to Vegas and brother Malcolm did too but not nearly as much.

This guy, hopefully he is a little more humble since his ass isn't even in the NHL and if I were his brothers I would be giving him all kinds of grief when the family gets together.

 

[Psych3man]

Puck, did you see PK Subban celebrate his second goal last night with a major arm pump---it was a shot from center ice!

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Didn't see it but color me shocked.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Was just checking out how Dowd has done since the trade, looking pedestrian even in an expanded role due to injuries to Horvat and Sutter, both centers, being out with injury. He again has a shot to establish himself as an NHL regular but 4 games in:

8 GP
0G/0A
-1
8 PIMs
1 SOG
40.91% FO
10:01 ATOI

Saw this article and confirms what we all thought:

Dowd revealed the Kings traded him in a deal that saw the Canucks finally give up on Jordan Subban, because “they were trying to do me a solid and give me a fresh start.”

Botchford: New recruit Nic Dowd hopes for big role on Canucks’ penalty kill

I wish him well and I liked him, I just wish he could have done more to establish himself here in LA. Just a guess but he seems to have some confidence issues, a bit tentative most of the time. Dude just needs to go out and play some hockey, he is smart and has some skill to be an effective 3C or shutdown center with his defensive skills.

 

[Kings4OT]

1 SOG in 8GP, I could do that in the NHL and could probably get close to 40% FO....my PIMS would be quite a bit higher tho



I would also have to "Penner" half of that 10 TOI

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Sorry, it was 4 games not 8, but regardless 1 SOG? And that FO% is awful - for comparison, in LA he was 51.92%, a full 10% higher.

The 8 PIMs in 4 minutes should be a concern, his penalties have been for holding, hooking, boarding and delay of game (puck over glass). The boarding ones are always questionable and delay of game happens but hooking and holding are usually lazy penalties - your feet weren't moving, you got burned and most likely out of position.

No matter what they are, in 4 games he has given the other team 4 PPs. Not good for a guy who is fighting for a regular NHL spot and certainly not when he can be used on the PK but is in the box. Dude is blowing chance after chance.

I'd probably rack up some pretty impressive PIMs myself, I almost always led my teams in that category every season but it was usually roughing or fighting protecting my goalie or teammates or a retaliatory situation. I don't like being a goon, I was always counted on as a top pair defender by my team. I prided myself on playing a solid, clean game but did push the envelope and play on the edge but always faced any confrontation for my style of play ::: cough cough Brown cough cough::: at any given moment. Players earn respect that way over time.

My son on the other hand thinks he's friggin Bob Probert and it is annoying the hell out of me. I can't tell you how many times I have taken him on the ice and showed him how to play the body and puck at the same time but he goes out just leveling people and gets called or he retaliates for stuff happening, taking himself out of the play. He is only in Mite and just turned 7, so I get it, but he is a good player with great hands and smarts and shouldn't be doing stupid crap like that.

He has led his club team in PIMs 3 seasons in a row now. Aggravating.

 

[Psych3man]

He has led his club team in PIMs 3 seasons in a row now.

Puck Jr Puck Jr Puck Jr Puck Jr

Chip off the old block

God’s infinite sense of humor....lmao

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Funny story (but long): the team I was closest to my whole life I played for from 2009-2016 as an adult, not as a child. Great group of guys overall, although the former captain was a good guy, good player but was always concerned about ruffling feathers with other players, rink management, etc. He served from 2009-2011.

Our guys got run, pushed around, goalies were messed with, etc. and his philosophy was always take the high road. You know me personally, so you can probably tell how much self restraint it took game after game to not go knock someone's block off. But he was the captain and I respected that but inside my blood was boiling. I became more of a vocal and lead by example type guy for the team by the end of my third season with them (4-5 in a year) from the bench, locker room, put together team bonding events, etc.

In 2011 he moved to AZ, the team voted me in as the new captain and you can already tell what I changed. I told the guys we police ourselves, we stick up for each other and we have each others' backs on the ice. If we have issues, it is aired, discussed and resolved in the locker room - no dirty laundry will be done in public or when we are playing. We fix things in house.

We had one guy who was a total a**hole of a teammate who we cautiously brought on in 2013 because of his skill set but he wasn't a team player. After a while we all talked to him in the room but nothing changed so in Dec 2013 I had to have a very uncomfortable conversation with him that he is no longer part of us. That didn't go well but these are the things you do if you are honored enough to wear a C.

I also made some tweaks to our playing style, added 2 guys who I recruited from pick up who I played against that I felt would be great team guys and add some speed and skill and between 2014-2016, we won 7 Keg Cups out of 10 seasons. Under the old guy, we won 1 in 2 years and developed a reputation as a team that was good but wouldn't retaliate if they crossed the line. As you know, I am not a believer in that at all beer league or not. This sport is about honor and codes and accountability. It's not a sport for the timid or pacifists.

We became very close knit as a team - family BBQs, pool parties, road trips, attending live games, etc. A lot of us during this time had kids too and myself and 2 other guys all had boys within 6 months of each other in 2010. Junior played club with one of them last year and is playing club this year with the other one. My kid wears # 70 (no idea why, he likes Pearson but isn't a huge fan) and the other kid wears # 73 because he loves Toffoli.

On Sunday 12/10, 3 of us dads who played together were watching the kids in a tournament and my son wipes out a kid against the boards (should have been a penalty - total interference because he didn't play the puck), steals the puck and starts skating out of the zone (he plays D mostly like I did but has some wheels), another kid from the other team comes by and deliberately puts his stick in his skates (pay back for the previous board work) and my kids eats it and loses the puck near our blue line.

He looks around, no penalty, the other kid took the puck back into our defensive zone and set up on the half wall, and out of nowhere Junior comes barreling in and absolutely destroys the other kid sending him literally helicoptering into the boards. The kid was down for a bit, crying, they stopped play and my son got a penalty (in Mite they don't send you to the box, they have teams go to opposite boards and the player who was the recipient of the penalty gets a penalty shot) and both my buddies look at me and laugh and say "Yup, your kid plays with that sandpaper like you, he doesn't tolerate any shit. Has to be hereditary". I had to smile and shake my head a bit and we got a good laugh out of it.

So while I have toned down how I play these days (if at all -way too busy with the kids and work mostly) I understand he will have to learn how to control his emotions and play on that edge but also know when and when not to turn it on. That will come with experience and age but it's maddening to see him not use his talents all the time.

Hearing those guys say that about my kid though, it was a pretty proud moment inside as his dad.

 

[Fox4Kings]

Sounds like your league is fairly competitive!

Our league has really ramped up last couple of years. I started with my team about 12 years ago. I was more hot headed back then too. For me my style has changed a bit as well just getting older and more mature, but also because I am a local business owner. I am Real Estate Broker and have a huge sign hanging directly below the scoreboard. I don't think it bodes well for my business to be out there running people

It's been though because last couple years it has drastically increased in skill level and competitiveness. I used to lead the league in scoring every year for several years. Now I am usually somewhere in the top 10, and towards the bottom of that 10. There has been a lot more fighting as of late, which is supposed to be zero tolerance in our league.

A few weeks back a guy on my team got cup checked, he didn't take too kindly to that. My teammate is a big guy, the last guy you want to be messing with. He shoved the guy down to the ground and start punching him. Normally guys tend to intervene, especially when someone in the fracas has an upper hand, but like I said, he was a big guy and no one wanted to step in and the only guy that could on the other team was on the bench. He finally had enough from the bench and decided to leave the bench and get himself involved. He comes flying off the bench like a bat out of hell, my teammate saw him coming full steam and reached out with his hand to stop him by grabbing him by his face cage and yank him to the ground. Somehow with all his momentum, he ended up falling face first into the ice, with his helmet coming off in the process and smacked his bare head on the ice. Knocked him out cold.

It was a crazy set of events! Luckily the guy was OK, I believe he had a concussion. Several suspensions were handed out. In a weird way, it was almost the best outcome. Tempers were getting very high with people leaving the bench now on both sides, when everyone saw him land like that everyone stopped immediately to make sure he was alive. Otherwise, I think a full brawl was going to ensue. The refs actually cancelled the remainder of the game (their were only 3 minutes remaining in a tie score.)

I'm captain as well and had to write a full report of my stance of the incidents. There was another fight earlier in the period before even this happened with 2 other guys getting tossed.

Long rant but your story about your kids league reminded me of mine. This all starts with the refs. They let one thing go and their is a retaliation, then that gets let go and all hell can break loose. That's exactly what has been going on with us. We have these new younger refs that are too afraid to blow the whistle and things keep getting out of hand. I sat one of the refs down after the game and said that you need to get this under control. Especially now in these heated rivalry games where we clearly don't like each other, even if it's marginal you better call a penalty. It's better for a player to be mad at the ref than the other team!

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Dude, my 40+ league has some of the best players in the rink. It's insane. The issue I have is all these 20-25 year olds are permitted in our league but we can't go down to theirs. Huh? That makes no sense but whatever.

I still have enough of my jets and smarts to handle them - it's a great feeling seeing some ringer wind up from behind his net, stick handle like the Tasmanian devil and enter our zone and then boom, welcome to my shoulder or some kind of impediment.

You may be more skilled than me kiddo, but you can't top experience. I already know where you're going to be.

=)~~

I'm old now and also don't run around like a mad man anymore, I'm more controlled in my emotions and only let them loose when it has gotten out of hand. I play position way better and am more a patient player because I don't have the skills I used to 15-20 years ago, not even 10 years ago. Also some of these young kids are all full of piss and vinegar, sorry dude but I'm almost 43, have 4 kids, and have to wake up ad go to work in the morning. Unless a confrontation is absolutely necessary I don't do it much anymore.

The issue with the kids is a lot of them are still learning the game so unless it is absolutely blatant (i.e., Junior going out of his way to crush that kid) they will let a lot of stuff slide because it's not done on purpose. I see it too but there are some kids who even at age 6-8 who think they are hot shit.

That begins at home, we have 2 kids on our team who are nowhere near team players and not liked in the locker room. They are however are two most skilled kids. I won't say what nationality they are but let's just say they are from a race where nothing but A+++ grades, being the top in class, sports, everything is the only goal. Their culture states personal accolades trump teamwork, very "me" focused. Hockey is not the sport for that, it's the ultimate team sport.

Their moms are the culprits and it's pathetic when a parent like me has to tone their kid down in the locker room. Not my job lady, I have 4 of my own to raise and my 4 are very well behaved and good kids overall but that began the moment they were born. But we live in a wealthy area and there are a lot of entitled kids around here, and hockey is an expensive sport, much like a status symbol to many parents. These two kids will be moving up next season because they are two oldest and the rink already knows about them and their behavior, they have quite the reputation. No coach wants them next season no matter how skilled they are.*

They bullied my son early in the season because he was new and is the youngest on the team, and I had a father-son talk with him about defending yourself. After a few incidents, I took him out on the ice and taught him to cross check them, teammates or no, and put him down. If he tries to get up, put him down again...and again...and again. I told him do not stop unless he says stop or a coach comes in to stop it. It happened 2 days after I took him out there, Junior took my advice, bitchboy cried and guess what? It has never happened since. Kids like these need to be put in their place and 90% of the parents are happy they will no longer be part of the team next season.

Moving to the adult leagues, I agree. Referees are generally the starting point of games and guys getting out of hand by not putting an end to the situation before it gets to that escalation point. We have had full blown line brawls, hallway brawls, in my youth I even got into it in the parking lot with a guy who cleaned me out after a whistle and I had my back turned and was skating to the bench. I actually got whiplash from it and was out of commission for almost 2 months.

I still have no idea what happened there, I barely engaged with the guy all game so when that happened it was one of those incidents that required a major response. But again, I remember this game and while I wasn't overly involved in it, it was a chippy game and the referees failed to control the situation. This was in Lakewood and their team, our team and a bunch of people from inside the rink had to come out and break everything apart. He got some good licks in as did I.

* one of the kid's birthday is Dec 25, so I refer to him as Jesus Christ Superstar to Mrs. Puck and some of the other parents who I am close with. They get a good laugh out of it.

 

[wings-pens2166]

Dude, my 40+ league has some of the best players in the rink. It's insane. The issue I have is all these 20-25 year olds are permitted in our league but we can't go down to theirs. Huh? That makes no sense but whatever.

really? that's interesting. every league I've been in it was the opposite...us oldies could play in any league, but the youngin's couldn't play in our oldies league

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Exactly, which is why I don't understand it.

It's also so hard these days to define the talent level in leagues. I play in Silver A, which is pretty advanced, but I would say 75% of the players could easily compete in Gold A. Even the Bronze B (lower beginner) has some decent players.

There is no national/program regulation so this is how you end up with a 40 goal ringer in a Bronze B league.

 

[Fox4Kings]

Yeah that is backwards from our leagues too. They have a 40+ league, but that is the only league at our rink with any age restriction. Odd...

I'm looking forward to when my son gets a little older, I hope he takes an interest to hockey. I would love to get involved with that. He will be 5 next month. When did you first start getting any of your kids into skating?

 

[PuckinUgly57]

It's totally backasswards but it is what it is. It's good, it keeps us older guys youthful and I have to admit it's pretty neat to see some of these younger kids and what they can do. It's a sport of skill, almost like an artist at times, and they can definitely wow you. It's no fun being on the getting undressed end sometimes but it's fun nonetheless.

Regarding my kids, I introduced all of my kids to the ice by age 2 or younger. All 4 kids played at least a season of hockey, with my oldest daughter (12) dabbling in figure skating for a while. My youngest daughter (7, almost 8) and oldest son (7) played one season together and it wasn't for her but he stuck with it and has played for 3.5 years straight now while my youngest daughter is a solid softball player (she just finished her first season of fast pitch 8U and held her own). They all came to my games whenever they could and watched me play as they were growing up, banging on the glass, screaming "daddy!" every five seconds, etc. It was awesome for me as a dad.

My youngest son is the most natural athlete of them all, he was skating better at age 2-3 than any of his siblings were at that age but he is a whirling dervish, total ADHD, motor that won't stop but even with the physical skills he doesn't have the attention span for it. He took a break since June but will be going into club hockey as well this spring (he turns 5 on Sunday). He has all the tools to possibly go pro, I can tell you that much - he is bigger than 6 year olds, physical, battles, shoots hard, passes crisp, has hands, a bit of a nasty streak (both boys inherited that but him more than the other), etc. If he can slow that mind down of his a little bit he has a legitimate chance. He's gifted, it's a matter of getting him focused if that's his deal.

Both boys will be going into baseball (Junior II will be going into T-Ball, Junior I into baseball) this spring between hockey seasons. Junior I was in T-Ball in spring 2015 and wasn't into it, it was too slow for him but he really got into baseball this last year, especially when the Doyers went to the World Series and asked to try it again. Doesn't hurt his uncle was a solid ball player and her great grandfather played pro ball in the mid 1900s (both from mom's side). I played catcher one season but baseball is not my thing.

My advice would be to get him out there as often as you can and you'll know if he has an affinity for it or not. Be patient and help but let them learn on their at their own speed. While I love the sport, I was cognizant to know I cannot force it on anyone. If they like it they, if they don't they don't.