LA Kings All Things PLD

[Pickle_Pucks]

Would prefer we didn't give up quite so much,but I think Dubois will play well.

The deal was really just Vilardi + 2nd for PLD. Is that too much? An injury plagued but talented kid who had 3/4 of one good season for a blue chip extremely talented player just entering his prime with also considerable upside and zero injury history.

Iafallo was untradable with his cap hit. It was too big of a deal. The 2nd round pick had to be thrown in just to take AI off the books.

So really at the end of the day it was PLD for Gabe + Kupari. We got the better player. The team that gets the better player wins the deal way more often than not.

 

[Liz4LA]

I signed in to say that I like this deal. PLD is a BIG guy that scores. We gave up a big guy that gets hurt and two small guys that are useful utility players. The draft pick is neither here nor there. I don't think we've seen the best of PLD and finally going to a place that he feels is in Stanley Cup contention, enough that he's wiling to sign such a large extension. Now, granted, I don't really like the length of that contract and PLD is going to have to pick up some defensive play pointers from Kopi and Phil, but this is still a win.
Blake is gambling and I rather go out that way than be complacent. Especially now that there's a logjam in guys that need playing time (Kaliyev, JAD, Fagamo, Tonka, etc.) Not all are roses for Blake as he needs to find a way to fill out the rest of the roster and get a goalie. My worry is that TMac is not the right coach for this team. And that's something Blake may not stubborn as to that realization.

 

[What party?]

There's nothing anywhere to indicate he's a locker room cancer. I think people questioned his effort on ice at times but quite honestly, based on the interviews I've heard with Winnipeg media, they've said nothing negative. Ultimately, this really came down to a guy wanting to play where he wants to play. I don't think anyone should begrudge a player for trying to do what's best for them.

 

[kingsjohn]

Bye Gabe, enjoy all the canadian fan support. Hope you don't miss living near the beach.



"I’d be lying not to say but in L.A., they’re not big hockey fans out there. Obviously, they have the Kings fans there that come to the games and are loyal. But it’s different being in Canada. You do miss it."

Meh, nothing to be butthurt over. He is right that hockey is much bigger there. It's not easy being in the same town as the Lakers and Dodgers. Player come here because of that, to avoid the spotlight and be able to live a private life

He is gonna regret that "you do miss it " part during a bad losing streak when he can't escape the media

 

[KingKopi]

we couldnt have added more to bring Helly with PLD?

Was hoping that was the case, especially seeing more and more who was being packaged in the PLD deal.

 

[King'sPawn]

Why?

Because I'm not in agreement with the general direction of the team.

They've traded Faber, Vilardi, Iafallo, Kupari, Durzi, and 2 firsts for Fiala, Gavrikov, and Dubois. Aside from Iafallo, all the pieces moved out are younger.

The Kings need:
- inexpensive cost-controlled talent
- an improvement on their developmental system, because they're slow-boiling prospects while rushing to make the playoffs

The Kings have been bounced by Edmonton twice. The team wasn't losing because of lack of offensive talent.

Dubois' career high is 63 points, and he's been getting favorable offensive zone starts and averaging 17-18 minutes a night. Vilardi has been playing 15 minutes a night with fewer offensive zone starts but still put up big numbers. He's making $1.5 million less than Kopitar, who has eclipsed the 63-point mark 11 times.

The move is bad as it rid the team of its best asset - depth, without addressing the biggest organizational holes: left defense and goaltending. The contract is bad unless he can at least put up 70+ points like Fiala (who is paid less). The Kings also need more picks to replenish their pipeline.

 

[Dexter]

Interesting how Bob was adamant that Dubois is a better winger. He's pretty set as a centerman now. Also, Columbus just drafted 3rd overall again.

 

[VCRW]

Very pleased with the acquisition of PLD. Not only does DuBois make the team so much stronger down the middle, trading away 3 players opens 2 roster spots for the team to get younger. There are enough quality players in the pipeline to make us forget about Iafallo and Kupari.

The trade was 2 deals in one: PLD for Vilardi plus the 2024 second pick from Montreal; and Kupari was the asking price for taking AI and his $4 million AAV contract off the books. I would be surprised if AI isn't moved by the Jets in a similar deal before that contract expires.

Blake is doing the right things so far in this off-season. I think the premier goalie comes next year with the expanded cap.

Interested to see if any further moves occur tonight or tomorrow at the draft. GKG!!!

 

[SOBER]

this is Blakes worst trade so far. If you have watched Filardi play, he is going to be an amazing player in this league. Based on last year, this is not just on potential anymore big strong, skilled, and a great skater and young too. Honestly, I would’ve rather given Byfield. This is a big mistake by Blake.

 

[Statue4Deano]

Because I'm not in agreement with the general direction of the team.

They've traded Faber, Vilardi, Iafallo, Kupari, Durzi, and 2 firsts for Fiala, Gavrikov, and Dubois. Aside from Iafallo, all the pieces moved out are younger.

The Kings need:
- inexpensive cost-controlled talent
- an improvement on their developmental system, because they're slow-boiling prospects while rushing to make the playoffs

The Kings have been bounced by Edmonton twice. The team wasn't losing because of lack of offensive talent.

Dubois' career high is 63 points, and he's been getting favorable offensive zone starts and averaging 17-18 minutes a night. Vilardi has been playing 15 minutes a night with fewer offensive zone starts but still put up big numbers. He's making $1.5 million less than Kopitar, who has eclipsed the 63-point mark 11 times.

The move is bad as it rid the team of its best asset - depth, without addressing the biggest organizational holes: left defense and goaltending. The contract is bad unless he can at least put up 70+ points like Fiala (who is paid less). The Kings also need more picks to replenish their pipeline.

All valid criticisms and concerns.

I happen to agree with Blake’s direction of the franchise. He’s repeatedly shown that he’s willing to make moves when he sees a hole in the NHL roster. In order to fill those holes with quality impact players he’s been forced to use his best assets. That’s just the cost of doing business.

Thankfully the organization has selected talented kids in the draft and developed many of them correctly so that they’re considered valuable assets. The reality of good drafting and development is eventually you hit a development logjam. That’s where the Kings have found themselves the last two years. That pileup of similar style prospects allowed Blake the freedom to wheel and deal.

Now the derailment or slow boiling of a few higher profile prospects has put a bit of leak in the pipeline but again because the organization has cultivated such a wide breadth of talent the team isn’t forced into miscasting young players or getting desperate in the free agency market.

Having the assets to trade for a first line winger in Fiala and a first line center in Dubios is a luxury. Those type of players rarely hit free agency in their prime and Blake used his organizational advantage to bring them into the fold before anyone else could get to them. That’s what a good proactive GM does.

I look at all the prospects he’s sent out since he took over and I’m struggling to find one where I would undo that trade if I could. That’s a hell of a track record.

 

[KHenry14]

IMO, this is the kind of deal that could cost Blake and Mac their jobs if it doesn't pan out.

 

[King'sPawn]

IMO, this is the kind of deal that could cost Blake and Mac their jobs if it doesn't pan out.

Between you, me, and the Internet, the Fiala trade should have been that move. Acquiring PLD is just them doubling down.

 

[Illegal_Stick]

I really liked Vilardi and have never thought much of Dubois (attitude, not play) but...

Dubois, even before the trade, I was reading a lot about him being a great guy and great teammate. Didn't love the Columbus exit, but to be fair in Winnipeg he was just letting them know he wasn't re-signing after the contract, so a trade now was best for them and him.

As for Vilardi, I was so happy to see him finally put it together last year and thought we really had something special. The only downside was the injuries I guess, BUT I always wondered how he was, in terms of character. It always felt to me like TM was punishing him and not giving him opportunities and there had to be a reason for it. I thought last summer we were going to lose him as a throw-in in some trade because his value had dropped that low, in my eyes. It also felt like it took a long time to get Vilardi to break and start working harder for his chance. Again, this is all perception AND important to note he did do all the right things in the end. think it was Bernstein who pointed out that Blake hadn't even discussed Vilardi's contract with him yet, which is pretty interesting. Was he going to be traded one way or the other? Wonder what he's expecting to get. When you look at it, it just kind of feels like they finally got the asset to be worth something and ditched him the second he was. So was he ever going to be a big player for us, or was he just an asset that was being managed into a decent trade piece?

We have a GM who is willing to take a swing, that's for sure. Those GM's do one of two things: 1) succeed or 2) get fired. We shall see.

 

[Dr. Tran]

Just a question, would you be willing to pay him over 10m when his contract is up next year? No way the Kings could afford him after next season.

I'm not sure who the "he" is you're talking about that's getting $10 million.

 

[Bollocks]

Because I'm not in agreement with the general direction of the team.

They've traded Faber, Vilardi, Iafallo, Kupari, Durzi, and 2 firsts for Fiala, Gavrikov, and Dubois. Aside from Iafallo, all the pieces moved out are younger.

The Kings need:
- inexpensive cost-controlled talent
- an improvement on their developmental system, because they're slow-boiling prospects while rushing to make the playoffs

The Kings have been bounced by Edmonton twice. The team wasn't losing because of lack of offensive talent.

Dubois' career high is 63 points, and he's been getting favorable offensive zone starts and averaging 17-18 minutes a night. Vilardi has been playing 15 minutes a night with fewer offensive zone starts but still put up big numbers. He's making $1.5 million less than Kopitar, who has eclipsed the 63-point mark 11 times.

The move is bad as it rid the team of its best asset - depth, without addressing the biggest organizational holes: left defense and goaltending. The contract is bad unless he can at least put up 70+ points like Fiala (who is paid less). The Kings also need more picks to replenish their pipeline.

Faber was a casualty of RD logjam that the Kings STILL have (Spence is still the odd man out unless one of the RD moves to LD).

Vilardi...I'd hazard a guess there are valid injury concerns about him so they cashed in while they could. That's the only reason I see that they reportedly didn't even discuss the extension.

Kupari is...meh. If they traded him for a pick I really doubt they would get higher than a 3rd rounder.

Durzi - also a casualty of logjam, additionally a casualty of too many offensively gifted, but physically and defensively questionable players. No reason to hang onto him, and the going price was a 2nd rounder it seems.

2 firsts - considering it's very likely those 2 firsts would be in the bottom 20...I don't know. There are NO surefire talents that late into the 1st round. Especially not ones that you can expect to make an impact soon.

"The Kings have been bounced by Edmonton twice. The team wasn't losing because of lack of offensive talent." - last I read PLD is a capable two-way forward with size and grit. Last I read the Kings lacked all of that. Last I read one of the main ingredients of Lombardi Cup winning formula involved 3 very good centers. Now, PLD was available - why wait?

The Kings won't win against Edmontons and Vegases of this world with depth. That's reality. And Rob's job is to win. So there are only two options:
1) Try and culminate Rob's rebuild with moves that make this team better while sacrificing the depth that was accumulated during the rebuild, while Kopitar and DD still have something left in their tanks.
2) Slow bubble it and keep fingers crossed QB and Clarke turn out to be elite, all while failing to give enough prospects ice time to showcase them, thus having depth that amounts to nothing in the end, unless Rob aggressively recycles depth...but then there is no depth anymore and this basically turns into a retool which would be incredibly hard to sell to the upper management.

In your opinion: when would be the proper time that Rob should pull the trigger and make significant moves? Without them, this team goes nowhere. So it's only a matter of timing. When Kopitar retires (maybe)? When Doughty retires (maybe)? Those two are pretty much known quantities...with QB and Clarke it's all up in the air, as it would be with all the prospects that were involved in trades.

Rob doesn't do anything, QB turns out a 2nd liner at best, Clarke a one-dimensional top 4 point getter, Kupari stays a bottom 6 guy at best...if (God forbid) Vilardi has long-term issues related to his back (Not sure we know what type of injury he suffered last season, do we? If not - why?)...this team is left with almost nothing of high-end after Kopitar and DD exhaust all their energy and motivation of playing in mediocrity.

This way, the Kings at least have Fiala-PLD-Kempe on long-term, affordable contracts (cap is going up in the future more than just 1 million) when it comes to top end talent. Unless you consider Vilardi, Faber and two potential 1st rounders as likely to amount to elite players, and soon, that'd not be a good look for this team if the only sure thing we had is Kempe. Think about it. And THEN it would be entirely likely that Rob would be forced to overpay for elite talent since the Kings would be hard-pressed to do it...and availability of such players is rare.

I'm not sure who the "he" is you're talking about that's getting $10 million.

Hellebuyck, I presume.

 

[JayWells24]

IMO, this is the kind of deal that could cost Blake and Mac their jobs if it doesn't pan out.

If the Kings get off to a slow start, trade card has already been played. T-Mac will take the fall if that happens.

 

[King'sPawn]

In your opinion: when would be the proper time that Rob should pull the trigger and make significant moves? Without them, this team goes nowhere. So it's only a matter of timing. When Kopitar retires (maybe)? When Doughty retires (maybe)? Those two are pretty much known quantities...with QB and Clarke it's all up in the air, as it would be with all the prospects that were involved in trades.

When a new young core has taken a leadership role.

He never rebuilt this team. He just amassed a couple high picks while wading through miserable seasons.

Instead, he's been trying to chase the cup for and with the old core he already inherited. And we've watched the core disappear one-by-one while Blake scrambles to give them cup opportunities. When they're all gone, then what? You just hope the 25 year-olds just replace them?

The Kings won't win against Edmonton and Vegas with depth!? How do you think Vegas won?

Blake's job is to build a team. And put a system in place, in his vision, to draft and develop the best players. Those players then fill out the lineup, and you trade pieces to fill in the holes.

You can hand wave the decision-making by outlining all the worst-case scenarios of prospects (Byfield second liner at best, Clarke one dimensional, etc) but the Kings will have to go back to the drawing board anyway, because they won't be able to afford replacing those players for the roles they hope to fill.

Which is why Blake should have focused on improving the infrastructure, namely the development, first. When players become waiver-eligible (usually within 5 years of being drafted), you can't keep utilizing a plan that has players starting to realize their potential, like Kempe, after 7. You lose pieces and time starts running out. Especially if you're trying to do this before your legends retire.

 

[05/29/93]

Very pleased with the acquisition of PLD. Not only does DuBois make the team so much stronger down the middle, trading away 3 players opens 2 roster spots for the team to get younger. There are enough quality players in the pipeline to make us forget about Iafallo and Kupari.

The trade was 2 deals in one: PLD for Vilardi plus the 2024 second pick from Montreal; and Kupari was the asking price for taking AI and his $4 million AAV contract off the books. I would be surprised if AI isn't moved by the Jets in a similar deal before that contract expires.

Blake is doing the right things so far in this off-season. I think the premier goalie comes next year with the expanded cap.

Interested to see if any further moves occur tonight or tomorrow at the draft. GKG!!!

Interesting perspective and one I hadn't considered regarding this trade. Seen from that perspective, the trade makes more sense, particularly as to why the Kings gave up three roster players AND a pick. They were trading for PLD and cap space.

 

[Statue4Deano]

The Kings won't win against Edmonton and Vegas with depth!? How do you think Vegas won?

The kind of depth that beats the Oilers is the kind that allows you to roll 4 lines. The Kings had about 2.5 lines working most games in the Oilers series. Adding Dubois gives them 3 lines that can play against any unit in the league and it puts Lizotte back into his proper role as a 4th line Center.

Vilardi is a very nice player but the impact he made in the Oilers series was limited to the box score. His possession numbers were atrocious. His line was dominated at even strength. He didn’t use his size and he lost way too many puck battles.

 

[hokiecat]

Because I'm not in agreement with the general direction of the team.

They've traded Faber, Vilardi, Iafallo, Kupari, Durzi, and 2 firsts for Fiala, Gavrikov, and Dubois. Aside from Iafallo, all the pieces moved out are younger.

The Kings need:
- inexpensive cost-controlled talent
- an improvement on their developmental system, because they're slow-boiling prospects while rushing to make the playoffs

The Kings have been bounced by Edmonton twice. The team wasn't losing because of lack of offensive talent.

Dubois' career high is 63 points, and he's been getting favorable offensive zone starts and averaging 17-18 minutes a night. Vilardi has been playing 15 minutes a night with fewer offensive zone starts but still put up big numbers. He's making $1.5 million less than Kopitar, who has eclipsed the 63-point mark 11 times.

The move is bad as it rid the team of its best asset - depth, without addressing the biggest organizational holes: left defense and goaltending. The contract is bad unless he can at least put up 70+ points like Fiala (who is paid less). The Kings also need more picks to replenish their pipeline.

I am of the opinion that Blake is now trying to build the 10th-12th best team. Make the playoffs regularly and get bounced in the first round regularly. All this talk of 1C never becoming available and Blake getting one makes me laugh. PLD is not a 1C.

I am absolutely floored that we've pushed in so many chips during the past 12 months and are not an actual Cup contender. It would be one thing if we were Tampa or Colorado trying to patch things together to hold together a proven winner but this is a team coming off back-to-back first round exits.

The Kings biggest strength last season WAS a top-9 that nobody could match. The weaknesses were goaltending and the 3rd pair D was just dreadful. Now we have arguably the best 3 centers in the league but with exorbitant salaries which means getting rid of the depth. And we still have a gigantic hole in net. I guess the plan is to just mess around in 23-24 and try to win in 24-25 with a capped roster, no draft picks, and a gutted draft pool.