Thread: Hips Thoughts- As it Stands right now.....

Originally Posted by GWF

I think Odie left because Dean wanted to only use him half time and Philly said they would dress for every game.

I haven't heard philly will do that. Walker gives them 7 capable dee and rotating OD in and out with him makes sense.

Originally Posted by KingsWord

My only side comment is regarding our defense.

I think that a hard working young, unseasoned defenseman is going to be far more effective than an old slow or poor decision making defenseman.

If you are a kid coming into the league, getting your first shot, and your coach says "just worry about keeping the puck out of our net" your gonna go out and do your best every night, you will make mistakes but not of the Jones variety. I think thats all you need to improve from last year - no obvious bonehead turnovers.

Pretty much any D prospect we have is going to be safer than Randy Jones and perhaps the last 20 games played by Sean Old'onnel.
I have a lot of respect for Odie but he fell apart down the stretch, I blame age and you can't fault someone for that.

I think a lot of us forget the pedigree of defensemen we have in the system, these guys are top notch in all skillsets compared to the people they would hypothetically replace. A guy like Deslauriers or Martinez or Hickey skates circles around Randy Jones.

Its a base skill set that is arms above the current talent we have in those boxes.

One last thing.

You can't get NHL experience unless you play in the NHL... The more you store them away the more they stay stagnant, some kids are pretty close to "ready", giving a kid a 20 game look when he is ready will net you positive result. Forcing the hand of management to pick up another Gauthier or Jones is a bad idea and I don't expect to see a "filler". We have a team that can make the playoffs with Randy Jones and Sean Odonell minor upgrades or even kids that can do the jobs they did would put us back in the playoffs and get the kids in the NHL. I think we will be pleasantly surprised this season.

I think I'm a pretty unbiased evaluator and with that in mind I don't see the hatred on here for Jones being fair. To me he was brought in here to chip in offense and add some mobility back there which outside of Doughty was average to say the least. Odie and Greene are pretty slow and Scuderi won't exactly bring visions of Paul Coffey either. So with 3 of our 6 d being anywhere from slow to pylon slow I thought Jones was like Gauthier the perfect 6th dman or 3rd pairing guy. Did he make some questionable decisions/bad passes? Yeah, but he also wasn't nearly as bad as people on here make him out to be. Last week I watched like I'm sure many of us did on the NHL Network the Kings/Vancouver playoff series. I specifically watched Jones play looking to see if he was as bad as nearly everyone on here makes him out to be. After watching all the games I came away with the thought of he's not nearly as bad. Although there were questionable passes for sure I noticed especially in game 3 he made several break ups of passes in the crease but yet nobody on here notices those! I'm not saying he was the greatest but in my opinion he certainly wasn't as bad as the masses on here made him out to be. I completely disagree that Deslauriers or Martinez or Hickey could skate circles around Jones as if that were the case Martinez would have been called up to replace him. I'm sure Deslauriers or Hickey were considered to young to replace him at this time but Martinez in his brief NHL action looked like a fish out of water which is why I disagree with you on the Jones comparison.

My summer wants really haven't panned out:
Sutton-I really wanted him as I viewed him as a bigger,smarter and better version of Gauthier
Afinogenov-assuming we lost out on Kovalchuk and Frolov left I thought he's the best of the bunch but I think he signed today in the KHL per the news crawl on NHL Network?
Lessard-thought he'd be the perfect tough guy to shuttle between the NHL and then to Manchester to protect the kids when Westgarth returns but Ottawa scooped him

From what's left I'd like to see:
Exelby-good team guy but not nearly as intimidating as Sutton
McGrattan-not sure if he signs here unless he was guaranteed a spot on the big club versus Manchester?
Sniper-not sure if we would have to trade for a Malone type but we need more goals 5 on 5 which is the area where Kovalchuk would have really helped but with that contract I'm not that bummed out we at least for now lost out on him.

Earl
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I think there are a lot of us on a completely different page. But it's always worthwhile to read a civil argument, even if you disagree with it's conclusions.

Great post.

I totally get the concern in the toughness department. IF the Kings are able to score a lot of goals and run the power play like they did against Vancouver in the playoffs, I don't think they're going to have any problems. The Detroit Red Wings were stacked with softies for a long time and never got pushed around. Teams were afraid to get into the box because their PP would hurt them.

If the Kings can score, they'll be fine. At the same time, they've got willing combatants in:
Westgarth
Simmonds
Clune
Greene
Brown (well... sometimes)

Sure, they won't be able to go with Chara, Boogard, Brashear, and Parros... but it's good to know they'll get their hands dirty if Kopitar and Doughty are targeted.

[QUOTE=Hipcheck;1844166
To use a car race analogy- if a car loses a race because of a bad tire and you don't change or repair that tire you would be a fool to think you would win the next race. To use a basketball analogy-if you lost a playoff series because you didn't have a big center to clog the lane you wouldn't expect to win the next series with the same center. Then again I digress because the NBA sucks.[/QUOTE]

greatpost. wrt the ending, Van outclassed us with 2 to 3 superstars on offfense and a goalie who lived up to superstar status for 3 games. On the flip, our goalie let us down and our offensive fizzled. Toughness had nothing to do with it. Nada.

On the D Line, you moan about the loss of rentals, dime a dozen guys. There is no reason to fret about the D line; it will be improved, perhaps vastly.

On toughness, I am stunned how you under-rate Westy.

Originally Posted by Mondo Blando

I think there are a lot of us on a completely different page. But it's always worthwhile to read a civil argument, even if you disagree with it's conclusions.

Well sure...since either side at this time is neither right nor wrong. Those who think that the loss of Frolov, even with Ponikarovsky on board, will mean an"automatic" downgrade may not take into account that Schenn and the better offensive fit in Poni's game, will more than cover Frolov's production.

It is also clear that the Kings have to give the young D a chance to get NHl experience, if they're deemed ready and capable. This may take up to the first half of the season to hash out.

And that is why they play the games. Which, by the way, can't start soon enough.

In terms of the toughness it's Westgarth's job to lose for sure but who knows what the extent of his injury is as the team has been quiet on it. I mean here are the guys still out there:
McGrattan-a tough tough dude but would he be willing to come here for just a temporary position until Westgarth is healthy?
Brashear-although CBGB says there are character issues here, I've never heard of them but I sure don't have the sources he does so who knows? I know he was popular in Washington and with all the Philly connections, I wouldn't be shocked if he got a camp invite as Atlanta who traded for him bought him out immediately.
Sugden-minor league legend but not sure if he could stick in the NHL for longer than a few games, would be awesome in Manchester to protect the kids though.
Brennan-would be a good fill in until Westgarth was ready and he loves LA and the beach!
Flinn-not sure how much gas he has left in the tank but he might be worth a camp invite.
Peters-not sure if he's a UFA or not but he's a pretty tough dude and Jersey doesn't really seem like a good fit for him as he's not the fleetest of foot.
Downey-he's an invite to the Wings camp but he'd be great to bring in if it doesn't work out there.

If none of the above are an option, I could see a trade for Stortini as he's a spare part in Edmonton with MacIntyre up there or a trade for a Carcillo type. Most of the monsters are in the East this year but there are enough tough guys in the West where the Kings will have to get someone while Westgarth heals and when he's ready they'll need someone to protect the kids in Manchester.

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One thing they can't get away with is easing into the season, waiting until Thanksgiving to fix problems at D, etc. They'll get buried.

I'm also concerned about playing a team like the Ducks where they've got Parros and Sutton and the Kings are wheeling out -- who? Sutton has already wrecked one Kings season (with exactly zero from the Kings in reprisals), and I really don't want to see him lay out Doughty or Kopitar and wreck this one.

Like you said -- at his point they haven't gotten better, therefore they're worse.

getting worse? only if the bulk of the team was past prime and going downhill.

I seem to recall that DD, JJ, Kopi, Simmnonds, Richardson, etc, had better seasons last year as they matured. That trend should continue for the youngsters if they are working hard during the off season.

we have some major holes right now, and ideally DL can address them. Just don't assume that if they aren't adding a major FA, that this team will be worse and won't be competing this year.