Pheonix Copley

  • Thread starter Thread starter JETS GARAGE
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JQ will not get sent to AHL. Barring injury, I doubt there is any change to Kings goaltender situation this season. Would not be surprised in Villalta gets a shot before CP in the event of injury at NHL level.
 
Rumor is that the Coyotes have made Vejmelka available. He's 26 and locked in at $2.725 through 24/25 - do the Kings take a shot?
 
DryKing said:
Rumor is that the Coyotes have made Vejmelka available. He's 26 and locked in at $2.725 through 24/25 - do the Kings take a shot?
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Uh ...

"Vejmelka struggled in the loss to Washington, posting a .879 save percentage while getting beat in each period Thursday. Vejmelka has now dropped eight straight games and owns a 0-7-0 record with a 4.11 GAA and a .881 save percentage in the month of January."
 
Kurisu said:
Uh ...

"Vejmelka struggled in the loss to Washington, posting a .879 save percentage while getting beat in each period Thursday. Vejmelka has now dropped eight straight games and owns a 0-7-0 record with a 4.11 GAA and a .881 save percentage in the month of January."
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To add some context, he's played 7 games in Jan and during those games the Coyotes have averaged 1.71 goals scored. Hard to win games that way. I don't really know enough about him to say whether or not he's the answer, but he seems worth considering (depending on the price).
 
DryKing said:
To add some context, he's played 7 games in Jan and during those games the Coyotes have averaged 1.71 goals scored. Hard to win games that way. I don't really know enough about him to say whether or not he's the answer, but he seems worth considering (depending on the price).
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I'm really not sure that he's an upgrade over what they already have.
 
santiclaws said:
I'm really not sure that he's an upgrade over what they already have.
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Only thing I could think might help is if there was a way to swap Cal for him and give them each a clean opportunity. I don't now anything about the scouting on him other than the couple times we've seen him.

His last two wins were against us and TOR.
 
santiclaws said:
Why on earth would they want Cal??? They're looking for picks and prospects, not NHL players, and certainly not expensive goalies unable to keep an NHL job.
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Arizona has been known to take on higher expense players (such as Ghost) for picks, or potentially in this case prospects. Right now it seems they are all about losing so they can have the best odds possible to secure Bedard. Having researched Vejmelka a bit more, to me, he is a clear upgrade over what we have currently. I do think, however, Cal has just as much upside if he can become more consistent.

Additionally, looking at the 2023 draft I don't see a lot in the way of goaltenders that stand out and some that do are already committed to college next year so it appears the only way the Kings have a chance at upgrading is through a trade of free agency. Out of those available in FA, Jarry, Talbot and Varlamov are probably the best options with Jarry almost assuredly being resigned by Pittsburgh.

It's pretty slim pickings...
 
DryKing said:
Arizona has been known to take on higher expense players (such as Ghost) for picks, or potentially in this case prospects. Right now it seems they are all about losing so they can have the best odds possible to secure Bedard. Having researched Vejmelka a bit more, to me, he is a clear upgrade over what we have currently. I do think, however, Cal has just as much upside if he can become more consistent.

Additionally, looking at the 2023 draft I don't see a lot in the way of goaltenders that stand out and some that do are already committed to college next year so it appears the only way the Kings have a chance at upgrading is through a trade of free agency. Out of those available in FA, Jarry, Talbot and Varlamov are probably the best options with Jarry almost assuredly being resigned by Pittsburgh.

It's pretty slim pickings...
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The Kings aren't going to draft their way into a goaltender for the current window that closes when Kopitar and Doughty completely fall off. Look at recent drafts and no goalie has broken through to being an established full-time starter post 2017 draft. A 5-6 year development cycle for even the most blue chip goalie prospects and suddenly Vejmelka makes a lot of sense if Ranford thinks he can work some magic to get him over the hump.

I do think they would have to move either Cal or Quick somewhere just to clear out some salary and the organizational log jam.
 
Statue4Deano said:
The Kings aren't going to draft their way into a goaltender for the current window that closes when Kopitar and Doughty completely fall off. Look at recent drafts and no goalie has broken through to being an established full-time starter post 2017 draft. A 5-6 year development cycle for even the most blue chip goalie prospects and suddenly Vejmelka makes a lot of sense if Ranford thinks he can work some magic to get him over the hump.

I do think they would have to move either Cal or Quick somewhere just to clear out some salary and the organizational log jam.
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I agree that it's rare but Spencer Knight, as an example, could have if not for the log jam in front of him. There do not appear to be any goaltender close a Spencer Knight level talent in this upcoming draft however.
 
Statue4Deano said:
The Kings aren't going to draft their way into a goaltender for the current window that closes when Kopitar and Doughty completely fall off. Look at recent drafts and no goalie has broken through to being an established full-time starter post 2017 draft. A 5-6 year development cycle for even the most blue chip goalie prospects and suddenly Vejmelka makes a lot of sense if Ranford thinks he can work some magic to get him over the hump.

I do think they would have to move either Cal or Quick somewhere just to clear out some salary and the organizational log jam.
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They won't move Quick and moving Cal right now will be expensive. He's 8-5-2 in Ontario with a .911 save% and 2.78 GAA. In contrast, Villalta is 6-5-1 with a .908 and 2.55 GAA. Cal has been trending downward a bit there also. So we'd be asking a team to take what is likely a backup goalie with 2 more seasons at $5 million. I don't doubt that Arizona would consider it if the price is right, but that price will be steep. Not sure if that would be the best use of assets.
 
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DryKing said:
I agree that it's rare but Spencer Knight, as an example, could have if not for the log jam in front of him. There do not appear to be any goaltender close a Spencer Knight level talent in this upcoming draft however.
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Spencer Knight is no more blocked by a logjam than Bernier was when he was here. Outplay the starter and the job is yours. Play so-so and you'll split time.

Aside from Vassy, I don't know of any first round goalie recently who has been elite. There's plenty of top starters in rounds 2-5. The development staff and luck seems just as important as the raw tools. Dostal could be a promising kid for the Ducks had he's a 3rd. So while I think the Kings need to draft for the pipeline, I don't think is has to be in the first round. They should always just do BPA.

I'm still frustrated the Kings never took a gamble on Dustin Wolf years ago. He was a local kid who put up great numbers; his only drawback being 6'0" rather than 6'6". Now he's Calgary's goalie of the future as a 7th round pickup.
 
Said to my buddy last night when was 3-2 after the second that if Kings get a 4th goal Copley will let in a third. Making just enough saves to win a one goal game is his absolute specialty. He made some real good ones in the first. Didn’t like the 2nd goal at all.

15-4 though. Still white-knuckling this ride.
 
I’m starting to wonder if Copley may be able to do this. The save percentage was concerning me but there are goalies who just come through when it matters, stats be damned. Gretzky used to say about Fuhr that he wasn’t a big gaa guy, but he may have won more 5-4 games then any goalie in history. Not saying that’s Copley but when the game has been on the line lately, he’s been damn good.
 
i think copley is likely to continue providing what he's providing now. He's big. He's generally in good position. But he' snot going to steal any games. He might lose a game here and there with his lackadaisical play at times, but i dont really feel like he's playing a game of luck right now. He's not suddenly going to stop doing what he's doing. With him in net, a lot of the season will simply come down to how well the other guys play. That's not exactly inspiring, but i do think there's a level of comfort there.
 
Hopefully pheonix will entertain a 2 year, 4 million dollar contract(or thereabouts) to act as our backstop/fail safe for the next couple of seasons. If anything, this guy has certainly proven that he deserves to be in the NHL as a #2 .
 
hokiecat said:
Spencer Knight is no more blocked by a logjam than Bernier was when he was here. Outplay the starter and the job is yours. Play so-so and you'll split time.

Aside from Vassy, I don't know of any first round goalie recently who has been elite. There's plenty of top starters in rounds 2-5. The development staff and luck seems just as important as the raw tools. Dostal could be a promising kid for the Ducks had he's a 3rd. So while I think the Kings need to draft for the pipeline, I don't think is has to be in the first round. They should always just do BPA.

I'm still frustrated the Kings never took a gamble on Dustin Wolf years ago. He was a local kid who put up great numbers; his only drawback being 6'0" rather than 6'6". Now he's Calgary's goalie of the future as a 7th round pickup.
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No more blocked? I don't share you opinion on that but perhaps more of the reason is that he had already committed to Boston College (not sure if he committed before or after the draft) where he put up a 23-8-2 record with a 1.97 GAA and .931 Save %. Florida had Bob's (who they had highly invested in that year as their starter of the foreseeable future - $10m AAV to boot) and Dreidger (who was playing out of his mind) that season so in my opinion he was quite blocked before the season even started, with zero chance of being penciled in for anything more than a short stint that year (which made sense due to lack of need and ability to gain additional experience before stepping into the league). Despite that, he went 4-0 with a 2.32 GAA and .919 save %. Honestly do you think he couldn't have stepped in and been a starter that season on another team? To be fair, though, we all knew he was a stud and definitely an exception to the normal rule going into the draft that year?

Totally agree with you on Wolf, I was hoping the Kings would grab him too and really surprised they didn't.
 
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