PLD Buyout

DryKing said:
I haven't seen enough from Gundstrom this season/playoffs to think he is worth bringing back. Best to offer him up in a trade. Turcotte, on the other hand, should be a fixture on our roster next season (provided he can stay healthy).

I'd suggest something like this:

Fiala - Byfield - Laf
PLD - Kopitar - Kempe
Moore - Danault - Thomas
FA/Trade - Turcotte - Fagemo
Click to expand...
I think Akil Thomas has more of an upside. In 7 games, he scored 5 points and played a gritty brand of hockey which the Kings desperately need.
 
Watching the $8.5 million dollar man's disinterested play during the playoffs was a real downer. The guy's 6'4 and at least 220 lbs. Hit somebody for christmas sake! He should've put McJesus through the boards! Instead, his chip on his shoulder doesn't include sticking up for his teammates and punishing the other team. I think Blake thought that PLD could shadow McJesus and Kopitar could shadow the 2nd line. It backfired completely. If the Kings retain Blake and Luc, I agree with others that they will not trade or buyout PLD. Based on his play this season, I wouldn't want to take the chance to see him next season do the same stuff. I'd rather buy out the enigma that is PLD and move on.
 
MiketheKing said:
But Luc can change him baby lol.

Seriously, though; a crippling 8.5mil reclamation project should get you fired in any real corporate structure.

Now, if he was 3-4 million with a 1 year with a show me contract first that would be acceptable since we were losing Vilardi anyway.
Click to expand...

I'll argue that we shouldn't have been in a position to lose Vilardi. I've had enough of Blake's stupid decisions.
 
HockeyFan33 said:
I think Akil Thomas has more of an upside. In 7 games, he scored 5 points and played a gritty brand of hockey which the Kings desperately need.
Click to expand...
He's probably our best option to replace Arvy if we do not resign him, which is why I suggested placing him on the Danault line as a winger.

The other advantage of Thomas is that he showned a very high level of adaptability during his time in the OHL which leads me to believe we can plug and play him into various line combinations that need a potential offensive lift.

Turcotte is still the more complete player with the higher upside but what Turcotte is not is a NHL level goal scorer, at least yet. He's a setup and 2-way guy. Turcotte is also severely underrated by most fans (much like Byfield was before he started scoring).
 
HockeyFan33 said:
Watching the $8.5 million dollar man's disinterested play during the playoffs was a real downer. The guy's 6'4 and at least 220 lbs. Hit somebody for christmas sake! He should've put McJesus through the boards! Instead, his chip on his shoulder doesn't include sticking up for his teammates and punishing the other team. I think Blake thought that PLD could shadow McJesus and Kopitar could shadow the 2nd line. It backfired completely. If the Kings retain Blake and Luc, I agree with others that they will not trade or buyout PLD. Based on his play this season, I wouldn't want to take the chance to see him next season do the same stuff. I'd rather buy out the enigma that is PLD and move on.
Click to expand...
PLD was never known to be a Selke caliber center. I cannot see anyone in the Kings organization thinking that he would be the better choice to put up against McDavid over Kopi, or Danault. He was supposed to be the offensize punch and the menace down low while Kopi and Danault handled McDavid and Draidirtbagsaitl.
 
salami said:
I'll argue that we shouldn't have been in a position to lose Vilardi. I've had enough of Blake's stupid decisions.
Click to expand...
Word or inference was he wasn't happy here due to role and coaching/strategies etc. So retaining might have been tricky?
 
Face it, we're going to be "celebrating" PLD Days like Mets fans celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day.
 
MiketheKing said:
Word or inference was he wasn't happy here due to role and coaching/strategies etc. So retaining might have been tricky?
Click to expand...
The word was he was going to want to get paid, and 4+ for a guy who has lost a ton of time with injury and had only one real season of production would have made him more money than Moore in the Blake structure and potentially he's asking for as much as Kempe. Blake coupled that ask with the assets he had to get what he felt was a more likely impact player at a position he wanted to spend cap money on......PLD got to start on PP1, got to have our most creative winger to start the season (Fiala), and it it simply didn't work. Todd was already leaning hard on Danault by game 2, call it whatever you will but Todd taking two of his most talented creative players, putting them on the third line and then playing Lizotte more than them tells you all you need to know about how this thing was working out for them. Todd won with that but once christmas hit....well its clear the egos got bigger than the team at some point.
 
jammer06 said:
The word was he was going to want to get paid, and 4+ for a guy who has lost a ton of time with injury and had only one real season of production would have made him more money than Moore in the Blake structure and potentially he's asking for as much as Kempe. Blake coupled that ask with the assets he had to get what he felt was a more likely impact player at a position he wanted to spend cap money on......PLD got to start on PP1, got to have our most creative winger to start the season (Fiala), and it it simply didn't work. Todd was already leaning hard on Danault by game 2, call it whatever you will but Todd taking two of his most talented creative players, putting them on the third line and then playing Lizotte more than them tells you all you need to know about how this thing was working out for them. Todd won with that but once christmas hit....well its clear the egos got bigger than the team at some point.
Click to expand...

I heard the rumor the wanted money and term, but he did sign a bridge deal in Winnipeg for 3.4. So, who knows ?? I also heard that Faber did not want to play for LA when he was traded. However, I later here him in interviews state he was shocked and a little upset that he was traded. Going back to Vilardi, it is true that he is prone to injury. Poor guy. I will add that Vilardi's attitude after the trade and his comments about Lizotte after their crash along the boards (which caused Vialrdi's early season injury) have me thinking it was a good idea to get rid of him. Maybe he did have a bad attitude about how he was being used etc...... (more rumors).

As for the play earlier this year, the Kings were lucky. They were on a roll and most everything was clicking. They were trying risky passes in the defensive zone and those plays were connecting frequently enough, and Talbot was hot and he covered up most of the mistakes. Then, there was a few game stretch where the Kings scored a lot of pretty tap in goals on impressive passing plays. At this point the team figured that they were so good that they could do what they wanted. They started to look for the pretty play instead of the simple get it to the net play. At the same time, the Kings luck of risky passes in the defensive zone ran out and they turned the puck over like it was a hot potato. This was the start of the big losing streak.

After the coach trade and the deadline, we saw the real Kings team. A decent team that struggle to be consistent and that for the most part could not beat playoff caliber teams.

Taking all of this into account is why I had them getting swept by the Oilers in the playoffs, or at best getting lucky and winning one game. A lucky bounce in OT gave the Kings their one victory.

PLD has got to be better next year. One has to figure that he will improve, especially if the Kings make some necessary system and personell changes.
 
hokiecat said:
We'll have to agree to disagree. He's the Huberdeau of 2024. So either the worst or 2nd worst contract in the NHL. There is no way he is a $6M guy. He's the 7th best forward after Byfield, Kopi, Kempe, Danualt, Moore, and Arvy. He's a big guy with no interest in going into the dirty areas or separating opponents from the puck. He has a lot of skill and generates some high-danger opportunities but I don't see how the pluses come close to offsetting the minuses.
Click to expand...
It's all how you look at it really: PLD either got the best contract ever, or the Kings got the 2nd worse current NHL contract as of 2024. It's a ll perspective lol.
 
Blake is going to get another kick at the can next season, like it or not.
 
Screenshot 2024-05-06 at 16-06-36 (2) Elliotte Friedman on X Dubois BTW has agreed to represen...png


Just an Efe Why Eye....
 
DryKing said:
I haven't seen enough from Gundstrom this season/playoffs to think he is worth bringing back. Best to offer him up in a trade. Turcotte, on the other hand, should be a fixture on our roster next season (provided he can stay healthy).

I'd suggest something like this:

Fiala - Byfield - Laf
PLD - Kopitar - Kempe
Moore - Danault - Thomas
FA/Trade - Turcotte - Fagemo
Click to expand...

PLD needs to be a center. It’s what they brought him in to be. Besides swapping his position with Byfield, I could live with this….for awhile
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Now Chirping

  • No one is chatting at the moment.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom