Confirmed with Link Kings name Holland their 10th GM in History

[Statue4Deano]

He was surrounded by talent in Toronto and he didn't do much with it come playoff time. Did you see that blind, backhand pizza he threw up the middle in game 5? Appalling. Best assist of the playoffs series, and it was to the other team for an important goal. Has played in 20 playoff games 5-7. Has 7 points in those big games.

If Marner finds his greatest playoff success after leaving the team who drafted him he won’t be the first or last star to wear that distinction.

Ken Holland has his marching orders: win now. He’s going to do everything in his power to ice a team in October that’s significantly better than the team who was embarrassed by the Oilers.

And the regular season matters quite a bit. The league has decided to stick with the current playoff format for the foreseeable future. That means the Kings need to do everything in their power to win the division because that gives them the best odds of avoiding the Oilers in round 1.

 

[Halfwall]

If the Kings are going to spend 12-14M on a player I would rather it be a puck-moving star D man. If you could even find one. Maybe another C. On paper our D doesn't look too bad (looking at them as individual parts) but as a unit it is not a cohesive group.

 

[Statue4Deano]

If the Kings are going to spend 12-14M on a player I would rather it be a puck-moving star D man. If you could even find one. Maybe another C. On paper our D doesn't look too bad (looking at them as individual parts) but as a unit it is not a cohesive group.

This is the most critical point too often ignored in the conversation about how to improve this team.

If. If the better fit becomes available. If the team giving up that player likes the assets the Kings can offer. If the player doesn’t have the ability to block a trade to LA. Never mind the long history of prime aged top tier free agents having very little interest in signing in LA.

People don’t want to sign Marner to a mega deal? Fine with me. Who else you got? Who else is available? Hell, who else is *potentially* available? And how do we get them here?

 

[King of Pentacle5]

If the Kings are in ‘win now’ mode, then: Johnathan Toews for a short term deal. He had leadership, SC winning experience, proven scorer. If it’s now or never, it would be hard to pass on his skills and experience for a low price and short term. He might go for something like that if it means another run at the SC.

 

[King of Pentacle5]

This guy is 100% the real deal.

…during the regular season. It takes a lot more grit to win in PO hockey. And so far he hasn’t shown that he can turn it on, like Kempe and Kopitar can. So for that much money….hard pass.

 

[symbology]

If the Kings are going to spend 12-14M on a player I would rather it be a puck-moving star D man. If you could even find one. Maybe another C. On paper our D doesn't look too bad (looking at them as individual parts) but as a unit it is not a cohesive group.

This is a good angle, but there are no top tier D as UFA's this year. Gavy is going to be one of the more sought after D, I am afraid. Making a trade for such a player is going to be costly.

 

[Bollocks]

Let’s not gloss over the fact that Marner is a 200-foot player. He was nominated for the Selke in 2023, an extremely rare feat for a winger. To get a defensively committed player who also scores at a 100 point pace is almost unheard of.

Yes signing him will require the largest free agent contract in team history but he’s still in his prime at 28 and even if his scoring takes a 20% hit he’s still a PPG forward on a team with that couldn’t score goals until a right shot forward with playmaking ability was added to the 1st and #1 PP.

As for the salary, my guess is it’ll take 14M cap hit to get him in LA. It’s a huge percentage of salary cap but as the cap grows that percentage shrinks and we’ve got Kopitar’s 7M coming off the books in 2026. You’ve also got a 4.2M winger in Trevor Moore who can be moved if Holland wants to add some size and character to the bottom six.

The #1 reason I’m advocating for Marner is because he’s available. The time to strike is now. There’s no point in this team keeping their powder dry for another year waiting for the perfect forward to be dropped in their laps.

OK, you make good points. I'm warming up to this idea (only to be disappointed in the end since he probably doesn't want to sign here anyways...).

Though to reply to the last paragraph - almost every season there are at least one or two top players available that would command 10mil+ from a team like the Kings. That doesn't mean it's necessarily wise to sign one. Such an opportunity can be a trap. Making a big splash for the sake of making a big splah is something I hope Ken isn't going to do, and I hope he doesn't do this only based on his own volition.

Rantanen just got signed last season for 12mil/season, and he's a known playoff gamer. Sure, the cap goes up, but then so will the value for money of Rantanen's contract as a result.


And what do the 5 on 5 lines look like?

Is it:
Fiala - QB - Marner
Kuzmenko/Turcotte - Kopitar - Kempe
Foegele - Danault - Laferriere
Jeannot - Helenius - UFA
Mallott + Ward

Mikey - DD
UFA - Gavy
Edmundson - Clarke
Moverare

Assuming here that Moore, Spence, Thomas and maybe Turcotte get dealt for a return that would net the Kings a top 2/4 D-man that can do damage on PP. Not sure whether resigning Kuz is worth it in this scenario (Marner as the PP right shot playmaker). Also not sure if this works money-wise...

 

[santiclaws]

…during the regular season. It takes a lot more grit to win in PO hockey. And so far he hasn’t shown that he can turn it on, like Kempe and Kopitar can. So for that much money….hard pass.

Screaming at his teammates on the bench during Game 7 while doing f*** all on the ice is all I need to know about him. He would be the Kings' best, and highest-paid, player. He would be THE GUY on this team. He is definitely not THE GUY to lead a team to playoff success. He is a complementary player.

I would much rather have Bennett. He is a winner, a nasty guy to play against, and exactly the type of player you want in the playoffs. I don't care about how many points he scores in the regular season. He's going to be great in an elimination game. "Every army needs a few criminals." He is exactly the type of player this team needs, not an elite set-up man who is softer than triple-ply Charmin.

That said, it really doesn't matter because neither one will be coming to LA.

 

[jammer06]

This is a reply to you and Deano, who both make strong arguments FOR Marner.
I understand this is not an easy question to answer given your positions, but I’m kinda asking you to argue against yourselves for a bit.

Aside from the obvious and superficial reasons like “he won’t fit”, “he’s too small when the Kings need bigger & meaner”, or “Toronto is full of chokers” what do you guys see as the counter-argument? What have you seen that gives you pause or hesitancy?

In truth, I am really torn on Marner. I see the upside. But this would be one of those deals where you cannot be wrong. Tons of cap space, an NMC…it drastically impedes the Kings if this is a miss.
However, I don’t know that any players are unmovable regardless of dollars and clauses. If the Kings can dump DuBois…

Just curious as to whether you guys see things that could be problematic.

If PLD can be traded after that sh*t year, believe me, marner can be too. That NMC won't matter if it's a caustic situation.

 

[jammer06]

If the Kings are in ‘win now’ mode, then: Johnathan Toews for a short term deal. He had leadership, SC winning experience, proven scorer. If it’s now or never, it would be hard to pass on his skills and experience for a low price and short term. He might go for something like that if it means another run at the SC.

f*** no

 

[hokiecat]

Assuming here that Moore, Spence, Thomas and maybe Turcotte get dealt for a return that would net the Kings a top 2/4 D-man that can do damage on PP. Not sure whether resigning Kuz is worth it in this scenario (Marner as the PP right shot playmaker). Also not sure if this works money-wise...

Quantity is not quality. I don't see how those 4 get us a top-2 defenseman. Moore is a useful asset but turning 30. Spence is good but undersized. It would have been better to trade him after his 2024 playoffs when he looked to overcome his size deficit. Thomas is always scratched and Turcotte is often injured.

The best plan would be to try and do like the Caps did when they got Chychrun from Jensen and a pick. Get a top-4 guy who has lost some luster. I saw a rumor from Pagnotta of Byram for Owen Tippett. Moore is older but on a lower contract than Tippett. Maybe Moore + pick or Moore + prospect. Buffalo really seems to want to move Byram. They paid a lot for him and he won't get significant PP time with the two #1's in front of him. This a prime chance to gamble that you are making buy low deal.

 

[VCRW]

Offer sheet Luke Hughes?

 

[What party?]

That said, it really doesn't matter because neither one will be coming to LA.

...and on that bombshell it's time to end. Goodnight! [theme music playing]

Dude, you are really bringing down the vibe of the off-season fan fiction. But, to your credit you did make an unintentional (?) connection between Holland's hire being Luc's cyanide pill; which I'm here for, so, nice.

In closing I'd like to state that as long as Kopitar is Captain he will always be on the top line. Every scenario that deviates from that is living in an off-season fan fiction dreamworld. =)
Carry on.

 

[DoubleMinor]

Quantity is not quality. I don't see how those 4 get us a top-2 defenseman. Moore is a useful asset but turning 30. Spence is good but undersized. It would have been better to trade him after his 2024 playoffs when he looked to overcome his size deficit. Thomas is always scratched and Turcotte is often injured.

The best plan would be to try and do like the Caps did when they got Chychrun from Jensen and a pick. Get a top-4 guy who has lost some luster. I saw a rumor from Pagnotta of Byram for Owen Tippett. Moore is older but on a lower contract than Tippett. Maybe Moore + pick or Moore + prospect. Buffalo really seems to want to move Byram. They paid a lot for him and he won't get significant PP time with the two #1's in front of him. This a prime chance to gamble that you are making buy low deal.

Understanding you have to give to get, I would be a little uncomfortable trading Moore. He’s on a good contract, has three seasons of producing (you gotta have secondary scoring) and was real good in the playoff series. He really seemed to take his overall game up a notch in the playoffs. I know he had a scoring drought but still had close to 20 goals.
I am not opposed to trading #1 picks. The pick is late in the round and I’d rather see a proven player added than another prospect.

Turcotte and Spence have very little value. Moore seems the obvious chip. But not sure you can get the value in a trade that he has to the team.

 

[Clif]

Turcotte and Spence have very little value. Moore seems the obvious chip. But not sure you can get the value in a trade that he has to the team.

Puck-moving RD always have good value. His underlying metrics are solid and he played top 4 all season on a defensively elite team that was missing Drew Doughty for half of it. “Very little value” is an assessment fabricated on this board by some.

 

[santiclaws]

Puck-moving RD always have good value. His underlying metrics are solid and he played top 4 all season on a defensively elite team that was missing Drew Doughty for half of it. “Very little value” is an assessment fabricated on this board by some.

Durzi (6'1", 196 lbs) returned a 2nd. Durzi was at nearly 20 minutes per game and had 38 points in 72 games, playing much of that time on the first pair. He also brought a feistiness Spence absolutely does not have.

Spence (5'11", 180 lbs) had 28 points in 79 games playing just under 17 minutes. So Spence is worth a 3rd at most, if not a fourth. I think "very little value" is pretty accurate.

 

[DoubleMinor]

Puck-moving RD always have good value. His underlying metrics are solid and he played top 4 all season on a defensively elite team that was missing Drew Doughty for half of it. “Very little value” is an assessment fabricated on this board by some.

He barely played in the playoff series. I think the message that sent was “we don’t even want him”.
I don’t dislike Spence. I thought his season was pretty good. I just don’t think he’s more than a throw-in. I HOPE I’m wrong of course.

 

[Bollocks]

Quantity is not quality. I don't see how those 4 get us a top-2 defenseman. Moore is a useful asset but turning 30. Spence is good but undersized. It would have been better to trade him after his 2024 playoffs when he looked to overcome his size deficit. Thomas is always scratched and Turcotte is often injured.

The best plan would be to try and do like the Caps did when they got Chychrun from Jensen and a pick. Get a top-4 guy who has lost some luster. I saw a rumor from Pagnotta of Byram for Owen Tippett. Moore is older but on a lower contract than Tippett. Maybe Moore + pick or Moore + prospect. Buffalo really seems to want to move Byram. They paid a lot for him and he won't get significant PP time with the two #1's in front of him. This a prime chance to gamble that you are making buy low deal.

I mentioned those are tradeable assets. Probably a pick or two need to be added and you can get those picks for those players elsewhere. Include a 3rd team if necessary.

And I mean just that kind of player. Top 4 with top 2 potential. There's no other way than to gamble a bit unless you want to sell the farm, I agree.

 

[gonzoa99]

Puck-moving RD always have good value. His underlying metrics are solid and he played top 4 all season on a defensively elite team that was missing Drew Doughty for half of it. “Very little value” is an assessment fabricated on this board by some.

Despite what Spence may look like on paper, I had no confidence in Spence moving the puck thru the neutral zone.

 

[DryKing]

…during the regular season. It takes a lot more grit to win in PO hockey. And so far he hasn’t shown that he can turn it on, like Kempe and Kopitar can. So for that much money….hard pass.

So answer me this - did it "turn it on" during the 4 Nations gold medal game? That was not only a big game, but a physical game.

Can't turn it on in the playoffs? He's averaging nearly a point per game and .28 penalty minutes per game. His playoff stats are better than Kopitar's in nearly every way, with the exception of shooting percentage. Kempe has been stellar in his 28 playoff games, but has a small sample size and doesn't match Marner's 2-way game. Kempe with Marner on his line would be even better yet.

Your idea of "turning it on" is obviously very different than mine.