Ken Holland Press Conference

[DryKing]

Did Doughty actually say somewhere on record that he wants to take over the captaincy, now that Kopi is gone? @_@

“I’d love to be captain of this team,” said Doughty, who has been an alternate captain since 2015-16. “It’s something, I guess, when I was younger, (it’s) something I never thought of. And I kind of grew into a leadership role, and now it’s something I cherish, and it would mean the world to me to be a captain.”

Doughty wants to end career with Kings, succeed Kopitar as captain | NHL.com

36-year-old defenseman entering final year of contract, had 23 points this season

www.nhl.com

 

[HeadInjury]

Did Doughty actually say somewhere on record that he wants to take over the captaincy, now that Kopi is gone? @_@

Yes. Didn't demand it. More like he would be "honored" if he got it.

 

[ICE24]

It's only two years until the rebuild. I am hoping he will sign some players that other teams will want in two trade deadlines. I'm keeping my prediction of 7 straight years of no playoffs starting next season.

 

[ICE24]

Doughty has probably two years left in his career, they should give him the captain honor. Nothing is going to happen the next two years, so let him captain a Kings team that will not make the playoffs. After he retires, have alternate captains until the rebuild has progressed.

 

[Sultanic]

Doughty has probably two years left in his career, they should give him the captain honor. Nothing is going to happen the next two years, so let him captain a Kings team that will not make the playoffs. After he retires, have alternate captains until the rebuild has progressed.

He has stated that he wants to play until he is 40.

He needs to go before they give Clarke the Petersen treatment.

 

[HeadInjury]

Drew did seem realistic in his exit interview regarding minutes going forward and acknowledged that he had a bad year.

 

[ICE24]

Drew did seem realistic in his exit interview regarding minutes going forward and acknowledged that he had a bad year.

Realistically the Kings won't be doing much for the next four years, so let him enjoy being the captain. Now, if he does not want to be around for the rebuild after Holland leaves in two years, then he can move on.

 

[DryKing]

It's only two years until the rebuild. I am hoping he will sign some players that other teams will want in two trade deadlines. I'm keeping my prediction of 7 straight years of no playoffs starting next season.

I'm willing to take that bet.

Doughty has probably two years left in his career, they should give him the captain honor. Nothing is going to happen the next two years, so let him captain a Kings team that will not make the playoffs. After he retires, have alternate captains until the rebuild has progressed.

Naming Doughty as Captain means he will put his full force behind trying to win the Cup before he retires at the expense of trading away all of our young roster players, prospects and future picks over the next few years (essentially leaving the cupboards bare upon his retirement).

This does not match your prediction of the Kings missing the playoffs the next 7 years.

 

[ICE24]

I'm willing to take that bet.


Naming Doughty as Captain means he will put his full force behind trying to win the Cup before he retires at the expense of trading away all of our young roster players, prospects and future picks over the next few years (essentially leaving the cupboards bare upon his retirement).

This does not match your prediction of the Kings missing the playoffs the next 7 years.

That means they have to be able to sign some decent players. A few more Dumo's and Ceci's will not bring many playoff chances. The Kings will not have 18-20 ties next season, so minus those points they will be near Vancouver. Trading for Panarin was a natural move due to his wife being a model and designer. The Rangers were up against it and needed him out as they had as many points as the Kings had at the time of the trade. I do believe the Kings will be fighting for 5th in the Pacific next season.

 

[ucsdguy1]

Blasphemy surely if Fiala was playing we would've swept Colorado...

 

[DryKing]

That means they have to be able to sign some decent players. A few more Dumo's and Ceci's will not bring many playoff chances. The Kings will not have 18-20 ties next season, so minus those points they will be near Vancouver.

I get being pessimistic but come on, Holland has made good moves to improve the team as well.

-Bringing in Lord as the HC of the Reign
-Focusing on building the prospect pipeline (draft/trade/college recruiting)
-Completing the first trade for a superstar in over a decade (Panarin)
-Signing Armia, Perry and Forsberg

In my opinion, Dum is not a net negative signing but Ceci is. So his misses, thus far, were:

-Signing Ceci
-Trading Spence

This is not the doom and gloom you are making it out to be and I believe Holland will further improve this team this offseason.

Kings, also, have no where near the broken roster of Vancouver, so that statement doesn't really apply. As to ties, I could argue that a portion will convert to wins, next season, and a portion to losses but neither you or I have any way of knowing so that comment also isn't truly relevant.

 

[ICE24]

I'm willing to take that bet.


Naming Doughty as Captain means he will put his full force behind trying to win the Cup before he retires at the expense of trading away all of our young roster players, prospects and future picks over the next few years (essentially leaving the cupboards bare upon his retirement).

This does not match your prediction of the Kings missing the playoffs the next 7 years.

Besides Vancouver, who will the Kings be better than next season. The Sharks

I get being pessimistic but come on, Holland has made good moves to improve the team as well.

-Bringing in Lord as the HC of the Reign
-Focusing on building the prospect pipeline (draft/trade/college recruiting)
-Completing the first trade for a superstar in over a decade (Panarin)
-Signing Armia, Perry and Forsberg

In my opinion, Dum is not a net negative signing but Ceci is. So his misses, thus far, were:

-Signing Ceci
-Trading Spence

This is not the doom and gloom you are making it out to be and I believe Holland will further improve this team this offseason.

Kings, also, have no where near the broken roster of Vancouver, so that statement doesn't really apply. As to ties, I could argue that a portion will convert to wins, next season, and a portion to losses but neither you or I have any way of knowing so that comment also isn't truly relevant.

I'm hoping you are right. I just don't see any top talent UFA's coming to LA. I hope I'm wrong. They barely squeaked in the playoffs in the worst division in hockey. SJ will be better than the Kings. Anaheim most certainly will. Vegas and Edmonton. I just don't see them hopping over any of them. I watched this team have a chance to solidify a third place finish or possibly second and they lost to two non playoff teams and ended on a six game losing streak. They need to be in the top 4 to make the playoffs. Who do they kick out?

 

[DryKing]

Besides Vancouver, who will the Kings be better than next season. The Sharks

I'm hoping you are right. I just don't see any top talent UFA's coming to LA. I hope I'm wrong. They barely squeaked in the playoffs in the worst division in hockey. SJ will be better than the Kings. Anaheim most certainly will. Vegas and Edmonton. I just don't see them hopping over any of them. I watched this team have a chance to solidify a third place finish or possibly second and they lost to two non playoff teams and ended on a six game losing streak. They need to be in the top 4 to make the playoffs. Who do they kick out?

There are way too many question marks right now to speculate. What I want to see from the Kings are 3 big things: who will be named as HC, will Holland make offseason moves to improve the team without giving up the future, how much will the roster be improved, or weakened, by the start of next season.

What I like is that he is hitting it from multiple levels, which is something the Kings should have done a better job of at the past. He's created a winning culture in Ontario by naming a solid HC who has been able to get it done with not so great talent, he's focusing on pulling in more talent to Ontario outside of the draft, he seems focused on using his draft picks to actually...draft players, and he was able to pick up some real gems in Forsberg and Armia and flip Perry for a 2nd round pick. He also was able to convince Panarin to come here (not sure if he deserves credit or not) and was able to acquire him at under market value.

This past season was one of the best goalie tandems we've had in a long time.

Head Coach and Captain will be critical factors in the success of next season (especially as leadership higher in the Org seems very weak). I also do not see a center lineup of Byfield/Connors/Laf/Helenius being super successful, and we know we need to both improve our backend to be more mobile and forward we have in the lineup for mobility able to improve their scoring.

Adding a star FA would be great, but I agree with you it's unlikely and there may not even be any this offseason to begin with. Trading for aged stars only will take us so far if we do not drastically improve our prospect pool. I like the balance Holland has struck so far, though, which is what gives me hope for next season.

Either way, I do not see us being contenders anytime soon but I also do not see us missing the playoffs for the next several consecutive seasons.

 

[Statue4Deano]

Kings re-uploaded with fixed audio.

 

[DoubleMinor]

I get being pessimistic but come on, Holland has made good moves to improve the team as well.

-Bringing in Lord as the HC of the Reign
-Focusing on building the prospect pipeline (draft/trade/college recruiting)
-Completing the first trade for a superstar in over a decade (Panarin)
-Signing Armia, Perry and Forsberg

In my opinion, Dum is not a net negative signing but Ceci is. So his misses, thus far, were:

-Signing Ceci
-Trading Spence

This is not the doom and gloom you are making it out to be and I believe Holland will further improve this team this offseason.

Kings, also, have no where near the broken roster of Vancouver, so that statement doesn't really apply. As to ties, I could argue that a portion will convert to wins, next season, and a portion to losses but neither you or I have any way of knowing so that comment also isn't truly relevant.

Lots of grumbling about the Holland Press Conference today. It was a nothingburger. But what was the expectation?

The season just ended. The exit interviews are concluding. Lots of info to digest.
There isn’t a coach or staff. Until one is in place Holland can’t know what the player decisions should be.
Additionally, there is no way to know how the UFA’s sort out which is a complete unknown at the moment.

Holland spoke about the needs that are primary, like hiring a coach and dealing with Kuzmenko, Laughton and Doughty. Aside from that, this is a process that will play out throughout the summer.
And filling roster spots will occur once the other GM’s sort their situations out, seeing what trades could happen, and seeing what is available in Free Agency.

Any expectations from the press conference today to answer several questions were unrealistic.

Holland has a big job this offseason. I think he will makes good moves and unfortunately make bad ones. He did that in his first year. He had some hits that were good. He had misses, hopefully none that prove fatal.

 

[Ice Rhino]

I get being pessimistic but come on, Holland has made good moves to improve the team as well.

-Bringing in Lord as the HC of the Reign
-Focusing on building the prospect pipeline (draft/trade/college recruiting)
-Completing the first trade for a superstar in over a decade (Panarin)
-Signing Armia, Perry and Forsberg

In my opinion, Dum is not a net negative signing but Ceci is. So his misses, thus far, were:

-Signing Ceci
-Trading Spence

This is not the doom and gloom you are making it out to be and I believe Holland will further improve this team this offseason.

Kings, also, have no where near the broken roster of Vancouver, so that statement doesn't really apply. As to ties, I could argue that a portion will convert to wins, next season, and a portion to losses but neither you or I have any way of knowing so that comment also isn't truly relevant.

I do agree that there were some positive actions from him this year, but I don't think I can stress how badly his moves on the defense hurt this team. He took an already immobile and slow D-corp and made them slower and less mobile, all while paying a pretty penny. And for a player he already knew? This says to me he doesn't understand the modern NHL defensive need.

Is our D the worst in the league skating out of our own zone? Thank heavens for Clarke, at least.

Perry was a good move, as much as I hated it. Forsberg was a good move as well. Panarin fell in his lap and I don't give him any credit for it; someone threw him a beach ball and we're all saying "great catch" when he caught it.

 

[DryKing]

I do agree that there were some positive actions from him this year, but I don't think I can stress how badly his moves on the defense hurt this team. He took an already immobile and slow D-corp and made them slower and less mobile, all while paying a pretty penny. And for a player he already knew? This says to me he doesn't understand the modern NHL defensive need.

Is our D the worst in the league skating out of our own zone? Thank heavens for Clarke, at least.

Perry was a good move, as much as I hated it. Forsberg was a good move as well. Panarin fell in his lap and I don't give him any credit for it; someone threw him a beach ball and we're all saying "great catch" when he caught it.

That's a great callout. Taking a look at the defenders he acquired during his time with Edmonton, it seems pretty obvious that he has a type and that type doesn't appear to be mobile defenders.

Signing Ceci with two separate teams is pretty head scratching.

Holland Key Defender Acquisitions (Trades & Signings) w/ Edmonton:

• Mattias Ekholm (Trade): Acquired from Nashville in 2023 for Tyson Barrie, Reid Schaefer, and picks.
• Duncan Keith (Trade): Acquired from Chicago in 2021 for Caleb Jones and a draft pick.
• Cody Ceci (Signing): Signed as a free agent in 2021.
• Brett Kulak (Trade): Acquired from Montreal in 2022.
• Cam Dineen (Trade): Acquired from Arizona in 2023

 

[JayWells24]

I agree with most of what was said above. A rebuild does not take 8-10 years as KH mentioned. It is usually more like 4-6. I did agree with what he said about sometimes it doesn't work. Detroit is a great example. They tore it down when he left in 2016 and haven't been back to the playoffs since.

My 2 biggest issues are Lucy still being here and "we're right there." No, we are not. Utah, Anaheim, and for the most part San Jose are closer to being a Cup contender in the next 2-3 years than we are.

Another thing I find mind boggling (and I thought the same with Flake) is do the GM's watch all the games? I know they don't go to most road trips. Seems like the die hard fans (such as the folks here) are more in tuned about what is going on with the team than them.

 

[dannybuoy1]

Blasphemy surely if Fiala was playing we would've swept Colorado...

Imagine thinking Fiala would have made a difference.

 

[waynet]

Mind boggling to me is the discussion of Doughty playing to 40. I would argue, at 36, he's already a couple years too old/slow. It wasn't just the Avs, pretty much any NHL offense can skate around him. The D-corp, in general, would obviously benefit from an influx of mobility.

OTOH, I'm a bit optimistic about QB centering Juice and Bread. Assuming Fiala returns to form, the Kings should be able to score goals...unless they are once again bogged down in the their own zone with immobile dmen.