***Playoffs Rd 1 Gm 1 GDT LA Kings @ Edmonton Oilers 7:00pm on ESPN2 & BSSC***

[DRGinLBC]

Good call, I just went through the schedule and you are correct. Only 15 wins against playoff teams. 3 of those came against the Canucks
Many of the wins came against teams in the east. Meaning, the Kings did not fare well at all against good teams in the west.

What are the chances of winning 3 of the next 6 games against the Oilers?

Better yet...4.

 

[Illegal_Stick]

I think one of the biggest concerns was that PLD looked like he was ready and made some decent plays. If think of one disappointing player, in fact, it’s the captain.

 

[Illegal_Stick]

If there was a positive - they mostly played bad and it was still 7-4. Skinner is very beatable and so is their D.

 

[kIngsX]

Also, booing the National Anthem. Have a tad bit of respect. Nevermind, it's Edmonton.

LOL. You should try living here. I know, I know, envy of none. Oilers fans can be almost as obnoxious as Canuck fans. It’s like they’ve forgotten how God-awful they were for so long to amass all those #1s on their roster

 

[DarkLeftHand]

What's wrong with Kopi and Drew? They were both arguably two of our best players this year which is quite a feat at their ages.

They played pretty well for the majority of the regular season, which makes last nights performance even more polarizing. I’m not saying it’s all on them, but definitely your two highest paid players need to be stand outs on the roster, especially when the stakes are highest.

 

[symbology]

Better yet...4.

Oops,

 

[shoot2scor]

This team plays timid against the Oilers in all 3 zones and it doesnt matter what line for the Oilers is out. They have played the same way every time against them all season except for their 1 win when the Oilers seemed disinterested. Last night could not have been easier for the Oilers. Literlly did everything they wanted. The Good news? Can't get much worse right? Until this team actually tries to dictacte some of the play this will be a short series.

 

[Pevsfreedom]

What are the chances of winning 3 of the next 6 games against the Oilers?

Easy, I went to school for math and fingerpainting: 15 - 3 Canucks games Draisatl'd by McDavid carry the Dubois and I think yer lookin at uhh.. about a 80x8.5,000,000 divided by 0 heart chance of us winning the series, repeating of course.

 

[LAKingSteve]

The Good news? Can't get much worse right? Until this team actually tries to dictacte some of the play this will be a short series.

I mean, they could give up 8 goals next game

 

[DRice]

I mean, they could give up 8 goals next game

Thats fine, as long as they net 9 or more.

 

[LAKingSteve]

Thats fine, as long as they net 9 or more.

Maybe total for the first round but one game?

 

[Clif]

Blowing it all up is frustrated talk and offers no guarantees. Start with adding puck moving defense to the back end, a legit number 1 goaltender, and a UFA bruiser like Joshua who can actually play to the bottom 6.

Exciting days coming from Thomas, Turcotte, Clarke, Byfield, and Laf. Keep them surrounded with top 6 talent in Kopi, Kempe, Phil, and Moore.

Buy out PLD for savings unless there is a problem child as @jammer06 mentioned who we can stomach taking back in a trade. Unless the guy who played last night shows up next year. But speaking of Jammer, I don’t trust PLD!

 

[VF]

Buy out PLD for savings

His NMC doesn't kick in until July 1, so hope we could move him instead of a buy out. It wouldn't be for more a bag of pucks, and we'd have to beg someone to take that all salary (fat chance), but if anyone will take it, yes please.

 

[LAKingSteve]

His NMC doesn't kick in until July 1, so hope we could move him instead of a buy out. It wouldn't be for more a bag of pucks, and we'd have to beg someone to take that all salary (fat chance), but if anyone will take it, yes please.

You'd either have to throw in a top prospect or eat half the salary to unload him. It's not out of the question but my gut tells me it's not happening. They'll ride it out at least 2-3 years before they do anything with him.

 

[symbology]

Gavrikov has 1 year left on his deal. He’ll be looking for his next payday. (He is currently overpaid for what he provides, Needs to provide offense like he did the last few months of last season.)

Danault hard to say but I imagine he wouldn’t be heartbroken to return to Montreal. They certainly could use him.

Moore his NTC ends on July 1.

Fiala highly doubt he sticks around to play on a bottom feeder for the next 3+ years.

Drew wants to win. Toronto needs defensemen badly. Could be a fit there.

Mikey Anderson he’s young enough to keep. (though he seems to have regressed these last few years)

PLD we’re stuck with him. (Yeah, but I do think he can be traded up until 7/1 of this year.)

Kopi is not going anywhere.

The key to the tear down is getting a ransom for Kempe. He’s a prime age 40 goal 75 point winger on a cheap contract. We need to get a haul for him. (Hate the thought of this)

See my direct comments above.

So, you are saying that the mini rebuild has been a failure? Hard to argue that.

Here is the $1,000,000 question...... How much better would this team be with Iafallo, Vilardi an extra 2nd round draft pic and $1.1m more in cap space, but no PLD?

 

[Statue4Deano]

See my direct comments above.

So, you are saying that the mini rebuild has been a failure? Hard to argue that.

Here is the $1,000,000 question...... How much better would this team be with Iafallo, Vilardi an extra 2nd round draft pic and $1.1m more in cap space, but no PLD?

The cost to move Iafallo with no money retained was a 2nd round pick and Kupari. That’s how bad his contract is vs the production he provides. He was owed $8M over two seasons. Blake either had to trade him or Arvidsson before the season started.

The trade was Vilardi for Dubois. Blake chose PLD and here we are. If he keeps Vilardi with intent to trade him at some point during the year he’s gambling on Gabe staying healthy enough to trade. Did he stay healthy this year? He played 47 games this season. 135 out of 246 possible games over the last 3 seasons. Do players usually get healthier as they age? I question just how much trade value Gabe Vilardi has today and how much trade value he had last off-season.

I’m just thankful Trevor Moore hit 30 goals this season so whoever the next GM is won’t have to add a pick to move his contract this summer.

 

[symbology]

The cost to move Iafallo with no money retained was a 2nd round pick and Kupari. That’s how bad his contract is vs the production he provides. He was owed $8M over two seasons. Blake either had to trade him or Arvidsson before the season started.

The trade was Vilardi for Dubois. Blake chose PLD and here we are. If he keeps Vilardi with intent to trade him at some point during the year he’s gambling on Gabe staying healthy enough to trade. Did he stay healthy this year? He played 47 games this season. 135 out of 246 possible games over the last 3 seasons. Do players usually get healthier as they age? I question just how much trade value Gabe Vilardi has today and how much trade value he had last off-season.

I’m just thankful Trevor Moore hit 30 goals this season so whoever the next GM is won’t have to add a pick to move his contract this summer.

Check your math? Maybe Pevsfreedom offers tutoring? His math seems to be spot on. Maybe he offers a deal on 2 students, I need help figuring how many more wins the Kings need to get to Rd#2.

All kidding aside, Vilardi and Iafallo are at 7.3xm together and Dubois is 8.5 by himself. It is a 1.1x million difference. I am going to guess that you would rather the Kings be overpaying Iafallo and not PLD

Iafallo needed to be moved if the Kings were going to spend the "expected" money on goaltending. They went cheap in net, so Iafallo did not need to be moved.

BTW, Iafallo in front of the net just got another assist. (Early on in game #2).

 

[Statue4Deano]

Check your math? Maybe Pevsfreedom offers tutoring? His math seems to be spot on. Maybe he offers a deal on 2 students, I need help figuring how many more wins the Kings need to get to Rd#2.

All kidding aside, Vilardi and Iafallo are at 7.3xm together and Dubois is 8.5 by himself. It is a 1.1x million difference. I am going to guess that you would rather the Kings be overpaying Iafallo and not PLD

Iafallo needed to be moved if the Kings were going to spend the "expected" money on goaltending. They went cheap in net, so Iafallo did not need to be moved.

BTW, Iafallo in front of the net just got another assist. (Early on in game #2).

Kupari has a $1M cap hit.

The 3-for-1 trade just meant the Kings couldn’t carry any scratched players this season.

Blake painted himself into a corner. Whoever the next GM is doesn't haven’t to worry about that. He needs to tear the roster down to the studs ASAP and rebuild to compete in today’s NHL.

And Vilardi just took another minus as the Avs take a 4-2 lead...

 

[symbology]

Kupari has a $1M cap hit.

The 3-for-1 trade just meant the Kings couldn’t carry any scratched players this season.

Blake painted himself into a corner. Whoever the next GM is doesn't haven’t to worry about that. He needs to tear the roster down to the studs ASAP and rebuild to compete in today’s NHL.

And Vilardi just took another minus as the Avs take a 4-2 lead...

I agree with much of what you were saying. However, the point I was making was those players were traded and their $ was used to pay for PLD. Neither Iafallo, nor Arvy needed to be moved before the season started, as you suggested. At the end of the season there were discussions around that being the case, but Blake did not sign Korpisalo, or any other 4-5.5m goalie. Also, those assets, even if Blake still traded them, could have been used to get players other than PLD. Gabe not being traded for PLD does not automatically mean the Kings would have kept him.

Yes, Blake has painted himself into a corner.

Yep, there were risks if the Kings kept Vilardi. There were risks when the Kings traded for the often injured Justin Williams. This year Gabe had almost as many points as PLD in 40ish% fewer games. He scored more goals and was a beast on the PP. The Kings could have used that. PLD has dressed for more games, but at 50% of the effort. So, that is pretty much a wash.

 

[LAKingSteve]

See my direct comments above.

So, you are saying that the mini rebuild has been a failure? Hard to argue that.

Here is the $1,000,000 question...... How much better would this team be with Iafallo, Vilardi an extra 2nd round draft pic and $1.1m more in cap space, but no PLD?

Do you think the last 5 years has been a mini rebuild? The fanbase was sold on the 5 year "the plan" which was supposed to make this team a contender. If the team fails to advance past the 3rd round for the 3rd year in a row, losing to the same team all 3 years, fires the coach the was supposed to lead the rebuild and will possibly fire the GM that was supposed to lead the rebuild...I'll call that an absolute failure.