Kings to sign Joel Edmundson from Toronto

[Statue4Deano]

How bad was the Kings defense last year. I thought they were pretty good during the season. Were they even in the top 10?

Defense in the regular season wasn’t the problem. Once the playoffs started Edmonton used the Kings blue line inability to move the puck out of their zone cleanly to keep the pressure on. The vast majority of those 5 games were tilted in the Oilers favor because the Kings could not break out of their zone and generate any sort of offensive pressure. That starts with the D.

You can’t build up speed in the neutral zone and gain the opponents blue line with any sort of speed or space without clean break outs. You can’t relieve the pressure of a heavy attack if you can’t get the puck out of your zone.

The two defenders who can and did move the puck out of their own zone cleanly were Spence and Doughty. That wasn’t nearly enough.

Maybe adding Clarke and Edmundson fixes everything but I have serious doubts.

 

[symbology]

Defense in the regular season wasn’t the problem. Once the playoffs started Edmonton used the Kings blue line inability to move the puck out of their zone cleanly to keep the pressure on. The vast majority of those 5 games were tilted in the Oilers favor because the Kings could not break out of their zone and generate any sort of offensive pressure. That starts with the D.

You can’t build up speed in the neutral zone and gain the opponents blue line with any sort of speed or space without clean break outs. You can’t relieve the pressure of a heavy attack if you get the puck out of your zone.

The two defenders who can and did move the puck out of their own zone cleanly were Spence and Doughty. That wasn’t nearly enough.

Maybe adding Clarke and Edmundson fixes everything but I have serious doubts.

Pretty much this, but I would say the defense was the problem during the regular season as well. Same problem, just exacerbated in the playoffs.

If you recall in the playoffs the Kings would often turned over, or lose the puck in the neutral zone. This allowed the Oilers to start their transition plays from their blueline, or just inside of it. They did not have to turn around and go after the puck often enough. All the Oilers had to do was pressure the right side D, get them to move the puck to the left side and then just wait to be handed the puck back. It was really brutal to watch. Time after time the Oilers started with the puck near their blueline which made it easy to get in the Kings zone. The Kings really got thier arses kicked this pst year. Sadly, many of us expected it.

Good thing that Blake fixed this problem with the Edmundson signing.

 

[Statue4Deano]

If you recall in the playoffs the Kings would often turned over, or lose the puck in the neutral zone. This allowed the Oilers to start their transition plays from their blueline, or just inside of it. They did not have to turn around and go after the puck often enough. All the Oilers had to do was pressure the right side D, get them to move the puck to the left side and then just wait to be handed the puck back. It was really brutal to watch. Time after time the Oilers started with the puck near their blueline which made it easy to get in the Kings zone. The Kings really got thier arses kicked this pst year. Sadly, many of us expected it.

Good thing that Blake fixed this problem with the Edmundson signing.

Agreed. We really got a taste of what the playoffs would look like for the defense in those Stars games.

The Stars game plan exploited the Kings vulnerability perfectly. It wasn’t a particularly hard nut to crack but they were the best at it.

 

[Clif]

Defense in the regular season wasn’t the problem. Once the playoffs started Edmonton used the Kings blue line inability to move the puck out of their zone cleanly to keep the pressure on. The vast majority of those 5 games were tilted in the Oilers favor because the Kings could not break out of their zone and generate any sort of offensive pressure. That starts with the D.

You can’t build up speed in the neutral zone and gain the opponents blue line with any sort of speed or space without clean break outs. You can’t relieve the pressure of a heavy attack if you can’t get the puck out of your zone.

The two defenders who can and did move the puck out of their own zone cleanly were Spence and Doughty. That wasn’t nearly enough.

Maybe adding Clarke and Edmundson fixes everything but I have serious doubts.

Defensively speaking the clean breakout also limits a good offense’s second chances. Saw that a lot in the FL wins, especially in the first game when EDM outplayed them, but were never too dangerous because FL was quick to the puck.

Optimistic Spence takes a big step. Clarke is a different animal. How often he will try to not just break out the puck but carry it up a ways is going to be another story. Will be fun if nothing else.