Kurisu
O Captain, My Captain!
I thought that post needed a witty retort, but none came immediately to mind. Well done, sir.
FA 2025 (lets get the discussions in one thread)
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DoubleMinor
Top Forward
This was a pretty weak FA class. The thing I keep hearing is that the rise in the cap allowed teams to retain their own potential free agents, which impacted the FA class as well.
This unfortunately occurred when the Kings had some holes to fill.
The players they brought in may be a bit much in either term or salary (or both) but it’s what the cost was. That ate up a lot of cap space.
While Ceci was not on my wish list I have watched him the past few years in the playoffs. He’s fine. Not great but not bad at all. I’ve heard also that players like playing with him, coaches really like him, and he’s a good teammate. Most importantly, while the term is long it’s not going to be a stretch to trade him at the deadline even in the later contract years.
Dumoulin definitely seems to have fans around the league with people who have watched him a lot. That is Greg rally a good sign
Armia is nothing more than a role player. Teams need role players. And he’s a good one. I have no issue with this signing.
Forsberg was also a decent signing. Can’t say I’m familiar with him but his resume is OK. I imagine he’s better than Rittich which is important with an older #1.
Perry is the difficult one. Of course. I certainly dislike him and always have. I did not want him. But I did see the value. He’s figured out a way to make himself useful enough to stay in the league. And he has always been good around the net.
He’s not gonna score 20 goals here. But he’s versatile. He’s got tons of experience. He knows all about the playoffs. I can’t say I’m happy he is here. But I can’t criticize the motivation behind it.
I haven’t really thought about cap space moving forward. Kopi likely leaving opens up some space but a chunk will be going to a Kempe extension.
Dr. Tran
Super Star
One of the things I thought of when it comes to the 4 signings is that these may not be the players everyone wanted to sign. But with Hiller doing what he did in the playoffs, they had to get guys he would play. So he’s got no excuses. For me he’s the biggest question mark. AFAIK he’s on his last year of his contract. So if things start slow I don’t know if he’s going to get a lot of leeway.
BTW, not really here, but elsewhere online there’s way too much pissing & moaning over these signings. I know they’re not who we thought we were going to sign. And I don’t know how serious our offers were or the reasons they didn’t sign here. But taking each player individually, they’re not the disaster that a lot of people think they are. Dumoulin, Armia, & Forsberg are all good signings. Perry, no matter how much we hate him, is a good signing. The only debatable one is Ceci. And I think he’s better than the analytics crowd says he is. But they’re online & have the loudest voices. I don’t see, even with signing him, how this was so bad for the Kings. We’ll see how the season & the playoffs go.
BTW, not really here, but elsewhere online there’s way too much pissing & moaning over these signings. I know they’re not who we thought we were going to sign. And I don’t know how serious our offers were or the reasons they didn’t sign here. But taking each player individually, they’re not the disaster that a lot of people think they are. Dumoulin, Armia, & Forsberg are all good signings. Perry, no matter how much we hate him, is a good signing. The only debatable one is Ceci. And I think he’s better than the analytics crowd says he is. But they’re online & have the loudest voices. I don’t see, even with signing him, how this was so bad for the Kings. We’ll see how the season & the playoffs go.
symbology
TEAM LGK
Yep, that is my take.
As for Ceci, I have yet to really hear anyone say he was a good signing or at this time is even a good player. We will see how things go.
Birdman
TEAM LGK
He was not a liability in the playoffs
Statue4Deano
Super Star
Ceci will have to play more sheltered minutes than Spence. But the upside is he’s big.
nosoupforyou
Win it again..for Tanner!
Gav is an asset that could always be moved, someone going for the cup will always want to add someone like him, even at 7M/year. Ceci is a defensive upgrade for Spence, right? if Clarke and Spence could have been more defensively reliable, we could have two offensive projects at the same time. Unfortunately, only Clarke seems like the he has more upside at this point. The way Florida's d men seamlessly played in the o zone really helped them manage possession time vs Edmonton. Was a thing of beauty to watch.
All those people trashing Jamie Kompon back in the day can suck it.
nosoupforyou
Win it again..for Tanner!
how do you play more sheltered minutes than Spence? PP only? haha
King of Pentacle5
3rd Line Winger
Now that my initial shock has subsided, I’m willing to give watching the Kongs this season a try. It’s not like I can do anything about those contracts anyway, and I’m vested in their failure from being a fan for so long.
After listening to quite a few breakdowns by hockey folks on YT, the consensus seems to be that the only really questionable signing was Ceci and that horrible contract for an average to below-average D player. No one can explain this.
Armia, Dubouwhatever and Forsberg were all decent acquisitions, if not maybe a couple years too old. But not terrible, and an upgrade from who the Kings are replacing. Also that Perry was overpaid by about 50%, but a good signing nonetheless.
Apparently no one (but KH) can figure out what pictures or FBI files Ceci has on Holland to justify the contracts he keeps giving him. It could just be an old fashioned man crush. Who knows.
Someone in a comments section mentioned that there’s now 32 teams fighting for skilled players. The extra two teams above the 30 teams that were the standard for a couple decades are taking around 120 or so players out of the market (including juniors/minor leagues). So the talent pool is being watered down. And going forward, the more teams they add, the less talented each team will be. The AHL/ECHL talent level players that never would have cracked a lineup in 2000 will be regular NHL roster players by 2030. These signings by the Kings are a reflection of what the NHL future looks like with a watered down talent pool, economic inflation and a rising salary cap. I thought that was quite insightful.
After listening to quite a few breakdowns by hockey folks on YT, the consensus seems to be that the only really questionable signing was Ceci and that horrible contract for an average to below-average D player. No one can explain this.
Armia, Dubouwhatever and Forsberg were all decent acquisitions, if not maybe a couple years too old. But not terrible, and an upgrade from who the Kings are replacing. Also that Perry was overpaid by about 50%, but a good signing nonetheless.
Apparently no one (but KH) can figure out what pictures or FBI files Ceci has on Holland to justify the contracts he keeps giving him. It could just be an old fashioned man crush. Who knows.
Someone in a comments section mentioned that there’s now 32 teams fighting for skilled players. The extra two teams above the 30 teams that were the standard for a couple decades are taking around 120 or so players out of the market (including juniors/minor leagues). So the talent pool is being watered down. And going forward, the more teams they add, the less talented each team will be. The AHL/ECHL talent level players that never would have cracked a lineup in 2000 will be regular NHL roster players by 2030. These signings by the Kings are a reflection of what the NHL future looks like with a watered down talent pool, economic inflation and a rising salary cap. I thought that was quite insightful.
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VCRW
Classic player
Kompon wasn’t the problem with the Kings struggles on the PP as the passing years have clearly shown. The root of the problem has always been personnel. Specifically, Kopi and Drew just aren’t very good at capitalizing with a man advantage. Too predictable, too rigid, too much perimeter play.
rajuabju
The One & Only
I wont pay to watch this garbage of a team. Every single one of these signings is absolute trash to me and does nothing to improve our team. I predict we'll be bottom 10 in the league this year. Hopefully we just full blow it up and start a top to bottom rebuild. Zero faith in Holland.
King of Pentacle5
3rd Line Winger
I think he/they’re banking on the prospects to be NHL ready by the time these vet stopgap contracts are up in 2028-2030. By then Greentree, George and others can hopefully fill the roles they were drafted for. Time will tell.
But yeah, right now these signings don’t get the Kings any closer to another SC, imo. They should have saved their cap space as bait in trades. Having that space would have made it possible to make trades for high $$ player contracts , get them off the books of other teams and place it on the Kings. Oh well. What do I know?
Birdman
TEAM LGK
History will tell you that Kompon and Stevens were not the problem.
Picking the wrong players to keep and letting the ones that were more important than you thought walk was the problem.
Statue4Deano
Super Star
I need to stop listening to Holland interviews if I want to enjoy next season. He’s so obviously a placeholder GM that I’m starting to hear Luc’s accent when Ken speaks.
The biggest takeaway from this one is the Kings have no viable Center plan for a Kopitar less future. It sounds like Turcotte will be primarily the 4th line Center next season. And the franchise is so bereft of Center talent that they’ve talked about Alex Laferriere possibly playing at C.
Also he completely dodges the question about signing Ceci.
lol.
Statue4Deano
Super Star
Kompon 4x Stanley Cup champ.
Stevens 3x Stanley Cup champ.
DarkLeftHand
Super Star
Probably why we saw a back peddle about signing recently drafted Jack Hughes. Which would be a desperate, wasted effort, from the looks of it
That being said, you cannot blame management for Turcotte and Byfield basically being duds, with those very valuable draft picks. That WAS the plan, and what everyone has been holding out hope for. Those two should have been our future #1 and #2 center, but at this point it looks like we will be extremely lucky if they pan out to be #2 and #3, and likely a weak 2/3, at best. At this point, the only way to resolve this issue is through free agency or a very big trade. Otherwise it’s going to require a return to the bottom of the standings for at least 3-4 years, then another 3-4 years for those picks to come to fruition. So, what can management really be expected to do? Do you have another decade to spare?
Edited to add that I know you are painfully aware of all the points I made above, Deano. Just entertaining the brainstorming type venue for discussion, and acknowledge that we are in a bad situation in basically all areas moving forward, aside from goaltenders of the future.
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DryKing
Power Forward
Sorry but if you think Byfield is a "dud" you sorely mistaken. Byfield is already a 70+ point player if given consistent PP1 time. On that top of that he has elite skating, size and two-way play. Extremely lucky to be a 2nd line center in the NHL? No... he's already a 1st line center on the majority of teams. What he is not, as of yet, is a superstar. Good news is he hasn't hit is peak yet.
Turcotte falls into the 2nd line / 3rd line center bracket, I agree, but mainly because of his injury history and lost development time therein. He has the makings of anything from a 1st line wing, to a 3rd line center. This, however, is not a "dud" by any means. That reminds me of the camp of fans who considered Kempe a "dud" for several seasons until they wised up. Sometimes you need to give players time, and opportunity to grow.
When the Kings org says they do not have a replacement for Kopitar, they are not saying that Byfield is not their L1 center going forward or that he projects to fall short. Byfield is already factored into the eqauation.
Statue4Deano
Super Star
Byfield led the team in scoring after Jan 1. He played the most minutes of any forward in the playoffs. He already is a #1 C. The next step in his development is consistency. He’ll be fine. 70-75 points next season assuming he’s healthy.
