Kings Left Wing Depth is Not So Good (according to tsn.ca)

Across the sixteen expected regular left-wingers within these four teams, we have reasonably high expectations for two of them: Chicago’s Andreas Athanasiou, and San Jose’s Timo Meier.
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I'm sorry? Reasonably high expectations for Athanasiou but not Kempe? Really?
 
Although Kempe is a left shot, he has been playing RW since his switch from center to wing. It will be interesting to see if that remains the case now that Fiala has been added.

And it will be even more interesting to see if Kopitar can even keep up with both Fiala and Kempe…
 
I know they did this based on WAR, but some of these just don't pass the eye test. The Rangers are tier 3 with Panarin and Kreider, the Blues are tier 1 with Saad and Buchnevich...
 
Pucker25 said:
I know they did this based on WAR, but some of these just don't pass the eye test. The Rangers are tier 3 with Panarin and Kreider, the Blues are tier 1 with Saad and Buchnevich...
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It makes no sense at all. Seattle in Tier 1 with Schwartz and McCann as their top 6 and Bjorkstrand and Donato as bottom 6. I get liking Bjorkstrand to break out and his 30 goals but he might be -40 or -50 in Seattle too. Same streakiness as Kempe and worse at defense.

It doesn't make any sense that the Rangers are not in a better tier. Also weird to see Nashville listed with Trenin and Jeannot as bottom 6 left wingers when they usually play on the same line with Sissons.
 
hokiecat said:
It makes no sense at all. Seattle in Tier 1 with Schwartz and McCann as their top 6 and Bjorkstrand and Donato as bottom 6. I get liking Bjorkstrand to break out and his 30 goals but he might be -40 or -50 in Seattle too. Same streakiness as Kempe and worse at defense.

It doesn't make any sense that the Rangers are not in a better tier. Also weird to see Nashville listed with Trenin and Jeannot as bottom 6 left wingers when they usually play on the same line with Sissons.
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I guess we will have to see how the season plays out.
 
hokiecat said:
It makes no sense at all. Seattle in Tier 1 with Schwartz and McCann as their top 6 and Bjorkstrand and Donato as bottom 6. I get liking Bjorkstrand to break out and his 30 goals but he might be -40 or -50 in Seattle too. Same streakiness as Kempe and worse at defense.

It doesn't make any sense that the Rangers are not in a better tier. Also weird to see Nashville listed with Trenin and Jeannot as bottom 6 left wingers when they usually play on the same line with Sissons.
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Man, you guys sure know your hockey!

Can you tell I don't, much?... Hmm, having said that I guess, coming from me, this doesn't count as much of a compliment, but that was the intention anyway.
 
BDTR said:
Didn’t list our #1 LW Fiala :manybeers:
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Helvetica said:
turns out he has him on the RW.

https://hockeyroyalty.com/2022/08/0...rs-fare-better-than-the-left-in-tsn-rankings/

TLDR: Kings RW in 2nd tier.
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Basically, Kempe and Fiala play the same position, left shot RW. It will be interesting to see which guy swaps sides or if they even play on the same line.

I have my doubts about Kopitar centering these two speed burners. Would rather see Byfield (if his time has come) between those two guys.
 
VCRW said:
Basically, Kempe and Fiala play the same position, left shot RW. It will be interesting to see which guy swaps sides or if they even play on the same line.

I have my doubts about Kopitar centering these two speed burners. Would rather see Byfield (if his time has come) between those two guys.
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Ive seen mentioned that Fiala has been playing wing interchangeably, so id assume they keep kempe where he's comfortable, but wouldnt be surprised if we see them swap sides at some point during the season when coach wants to mix things up.

As for Kopitar, i 100% agree, it's going to be difficult for him to keep pace, but i see now way they dont play on his line. At some point down the road, that's probably the expectation, but not this season. Byfield would have to go full MacKinnon for that to happen right away. The big issue is that, despite Kopitar's declining game, he's still good at matching against other top lines, and he's still good for his 70 pts or whatever. He doesn't necessarily need to be the 1st, or even 2nd guy in the play, and it might even open up more opportunity for our D to activate.

Either way, until Byfield can hang with top line minutes, he's not getting top line wingers. My hope/belief is that our 3rd line does make a big push offensively. The table is definitely set for them to do that.
 
Helvetica said:
Ive seen mentioned that Fiala has been playing wing interchangeably, so id assume they keep kempe where he's comfortable, but wouldnt be surprised if we see them swap sides at some point during the season when coach wants to mix things up.

As for Kopitar, i 100% agree, it's going to be difficult for him to keep pace, but i see now way they dont play on his line. At some point down the road, that's probably the expectation, but not this season. Byfield would have to go full MacKinnon for that to happen right away. The big issue is that, despite Kopitar's declining game, he's still good at matching against other top lines, and he's still good for his 70 pts or whatever. He doesn't necessarily need to be the 1st, or even 2nd guy in the play, and it might even open up more opportunity for our D to activate.

Either way, until Byfield can hang with top line minutes, he's not getting top line wingers. My hope/belief is that our 3rd line does make a big push offensively. The table is definitely set for them to do that.
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Remember how good Kempe and Danault were together at the beginning of last season? Yeah.. I know… breaking up 12-24-33 makes no sense…but… remember???
 
Helvetica said:
FWIW, everybody has been good with Danault.
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los-angeles-kings-phillip-danault.gif
 
I mean whether the writer is correct or not who cares!?!? When the Kings won the cup in 2012 their top LW were Brown (54 pts) and Penner (17 pts). Hell only three forwards broke 40 pts that season! I know this category has more than pts to rank these teams but I can’t imagine how low we’d be ranked 10 years if this article came out back then…
 
DryKing said:
Agreed, Danault is something special. Makes me wonder how much Kupari could grow and benefit from playing on his wing.
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they likely wont go this route because you'd like to get the regulars sort of on the same page to start the season, but it would be wild to see guys like kupari or vilardi on Danault's wing during pre-season. Or like VC hinted at, throw Byfield on the wing for a few games just to see what's possible. The flip side though is, again, you sort of want to use that time to get the 3rd line gel'ing. Im sure we'll see alot of Vilardi and JAD and probably kupari during pre-season. I hope they can make the most of it.
 
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