2.
STATISTICS
a measure of the relation between the mean value of one variable (e.g., output) and corresponding values of other variables (e.g., time and cost)
4 loses in a row.
On the plus side Kopitar has a point in 10 games in a row.
A personal record
Last time a king did that he raised a big shiny thing over his head
The team had to start loosing at some point. Now we have to see how they respond to this sort of thing. Giving up on them now is a bit early. They are probably going to be a lot different team if they get Carter and Gaborik back. Brown is probably not going to be much help the rest of the way. Iofalo and Kempe both seem to be playing well still.
The kids are doing fine, Iaffalo, Amadio, Kempe especially, even McDermmid/Fantenberg and even Crescenzi in his short tenure so far (these last 3 aren't kids though).
It's the secondary veterans that aren't pulling their load, no matter where they are, T6 or B6. Pearson? Toffoli? Lewis (to a certain degree)? Martinez? Muzzin? Shore? Where are they? MIA unless it ends up in a gaffe it seems. Quick is the one holding everything together further exemplifying why he is one of the best if not the best goalie in the NHL. So over that argument too, to me he is better than Price and others but doesn't get the recognition he deserves - he will go down as a goalie who came through in the clutch when all is said and done. Money.
Brown will return to earth, I can't see him sustaining his ungodly 14% shooting average. The last time he was in double digit percentage was 5 years ago in 2012-13, and the closest he has ever been to this 14% was 10 years ago in 2007-08 (15.1%) where he scored a career high 33 goals. I also can't see Kopitar sustaining his ridiculous 18.4% shooting average (his previous high was 15.9%, also 10 years ago in 2007-08). These two are getting a lot of looks and goals are going in for them, but as we have all seen that well dries up sooner or later.
Toffoli has taken a team leading 68 SOG and has only 8 goals, Pearson an even worse 51 SOG and only 3 goals. The secondary players need to start producing as does the defense, they have 11 goals as a whole - that's not even 2 goals per defender on average.
I know money is tight, but the youth is starting to show they can handle some games. I wouldn't mind entertaining a move to bring in some high quality help and move one of the veterans on a larger deal and start transitioning this team to the younger guys more but I also don't want to see Blake have a knee jerk reaction.
I think the Kings should see what happens when Carter and Gaborik return, assess and then make a move if necessary. Gaborik is a few weeks away and I anticipate Carter to be back around mid January (my guess - no proof).