Q has arrived. Now if PLD can land sometime soon....

[kingsjohn]

Title courtesy of kingnut

PLD has underwhelmed so far. He has come closer to whelming since Fiala moved lines.

IMO, the intensity isn't there. He's had moments where he has dominated. Other times he looks half interested.
He played with better wingers in Columbus and Winnipeg, it'll be interesting to see what happens when Arvidsson comes back

 

[kingnut]

Title courtesy of kingnut

PLD has underwhelmed so far. He has come closer to whelming since Fiala moved lines.

IMO, the intensity isn't there. He's had moments where he has dominated. Other times he looks half interested.
He playlted with better wingers in Columbus and Winnipeg, it'll be interesting to see what happens when Arvidsson comes back

You were right, loved it!

 

[kingnut]

Not a knock on Laf, maybe when Arvy comes back, play him on PL's line

 

[VCRW]

McLellan's system is very demanding on centers. I'll give PLD til the end of this month before making a judgement on his contribution to the team effort. All I know now is that they are winning. Hell, even Kaliyev looks better tonight.

 

[dannybuoy1]

Title courtesy of kingnut

PLD has underwhelmed so far. He has come closer to whelming since Fiala moved lines.

IMO, the intensity isn't there.

I think the plus I have noticed is how much he has allowed Kopi and PD to flourish. He is noticible out there because of his size. I keep expecting him to knock somebody down when he gets in front of the goalie. Hope he starts producing soon.

 

[symbology]

McLellan's system is very demanding on centers. I'll give PLD til the end of this month before making a judgement on his contribution to the team effort. All I know now is that they are winning. Hell, even Kaliyev looks better tonight.

One of Kaliyev's better games this year, and he did not even get a point. Made nice plays and nothing dumb. He has been better as of late. Keep it up kid.

 

[Halfwall]

I think the plus I have noticed is how much he has allowed Kopi and PD to flourish. He is noticible out there because of his size. I keep expecting him to knock somebody down when he gets in front of the goalie. Hope he starts producing soon.

Yep, when was the last time we saw Kopitar with less than 15m of ice time?

 

[Clif]

Sometimes it feels like PLD is a 25 year-old, 6-season, $8.5M prospect. Learning the ropes from Kopi and Phil so he can be a complete 200-foot player one day.

 

[kingnut]

In another thread I said PLD reminded me of Jumbo. Was hoping PLD can grow into that. PL is also the only King with a -2, even JAD is +1. Again, waiting patiently for him to land...!

 

[Rogie-Vachon]

PLD is fine. Kings score a ton. He has shown leadership by going after guys who try to punk his teammates. We have 4 lines.

People who grind about PLD are probably the same who whined about why 20 year old Byfield isn't scoring 40 goals...

 

[Bollocks]

PLD is fine. Kings score a ton. He has shown leadership by going after guys who try to punk his teammates. We have 4 lines.

People who grind about PLD are probably the same who whined about why 20 year old Byfield isn't scoring 40 goals...

Something like that.

I will judge his performance once others cool off OR come playoff time.

Kopitar's TOI is almost historically low. Look how well that resonates in his performances.

Without adding PLD it's very doubtful the Kings are as good as they are now.

 

[F**e_Off]

I too am hoping, at some point, to see more "involvement", from such a clearly powerful and potentially dominant player. As explained by others here, I note the value of his role but without wishing to sound disparaging, for now, for me, PLD seems to be quite an expensive distraction, if you get my meaning. But there will, it seems, certainly be plenty of time in which to tell.

 

[TooCool]

Not a knock on Laf, maybe when Arvy comes back, play him on PL's line

Oh wow. I totally forgot they're doing all this without Arvy. He's going to mess with the chemistry isn't he? lol

 

[AngelEyes]

One of Kaliyev's better games this year, and he did not even get a point. Made nice plays and nothing dumb. He has been better as of late. Keep it up kid.

He'll have to sting together a few of these for me to change my mind about him. Yes, he's physical, but he's not terribly fleet-of-foot, and occasionally makes questionable decisions with the puck. You probably respond with, "yeah, but what about Fiala?". Can't tell you how often I growl at the screen because of Fiala's gaffs.

 

[VCRW]

Quinton Byfield has officially given himself permission to be Quinton Byfield!

I was never on Team Stutzle, always on Team QB. But I admit to getting impatient when he showed so little progress in training camp this year. So happy to see the dominating moves and the killer mindset he showed in Juniors showing up on the ice this year.

With his self-imposed shackles removed, the sky is the limit!

 

[jammer06]

He'll have to sting together a few of these for me to change my mind about him. Yes, he's physical, but he's not terribly fleet-of-foot, and occasionally makes questionable decisions with the puck. You probably respond with, "yeah, but what about Fiala?". Can't tell you how often I growl at the screen because of Fiala's gaffs.

I can tell you about the amount of times I growl about Fiala's gaffe's, its a f*** ton. Especially early in the season where he seemed to delight in the stick handle bobble at the blue line after curling up and letting the cavalry get deep so there was nobody back for the turnover. The guy is creative and writes checks that his ass can cash though. Comes with the neighborhood and I'm even willing to live with his offensive zone stick penalties now that the PK isn't genuinely giving up a goal per game as they were last season. In terms of TOI Fiala and PLD have way more influence on how this team plays and their success than Kaliyev, and its showing in the record.

I'll probably make another post about this but the roster construction of this team is so damn weird. We are paying 16 million to 2 guys who were slotted on the third line. 30 million is going to our top 4 offensive threats and not one of them is expected to finish the year in the top 20 in scoring, but the team is leading the league in goals scored. Its a wild time to be a kings fan.

 

[kingnut]

Actually hoping that we might have another "historical" moment of a socal triple crown line at the all star gm! Too much of a reach?

 

[Birdman]

I can tell you about the amount of times I growl about Fiala's gaffe's, its a f*** ton. Especially early in the season where he seemed to delight in the stick handle bobble at the blue line after curling up and letting the cavalry get deep so there was nobody back for the turnover. The guy is creative and writes checks that his ass can cash though. Comes with the neighborhood and I'm even willing to live with his offensive zone stick penalties now that the PK isn't genuinely giving up a goal per game as they were last season. In terms of TOI Fiala and PLD have way more influence on how this team plays and their success than Kaliyev, and its showing in the record.

I'll probably make another post about this but the roster construction of this team is so damn weird. We are paying 16 million to 2 guys who were slotted on the third line. 30 million is going to our top 4 offensive threats and not one of them is expected to finish the year in the top 20 in scoring, but the team is leading the league in goals scored. Its a wild time to be a kings fan.

I did the same about Voynov, and that worked out.

Gotta give a little to get. If he’s going to have a gaffe or two each game, it’s all good unless they always wind up in our net EVERY time. His creativity has to be allowed to flourish.

Come playoff time, he’s gotta clean that sh*t up.

 

[DarkLeftHand]

I did the same about Voynov, and that worked out.

Gotta give a little to get. If he’s going to have a gaffe or two each game, it’s all good unless they always wind up in our net EVERY time. His creativity has to be allowed to flourish.

Come playoff time, he’s gotta clean that sh*t up.

This is my main problem with it. And why I call Fiala the double edged sword. You certainly don’t want to stifle the guy’s creativity, but you also don’t want him trying cute stick handles between an opponents legs, when he’s doing it at the blue line with no one else behind him. You just know it’s one of those bad habits that he gets away with now in the regular season, but come end of season, it’s going to cost us a playoff game. That’s just how these things work.

 

[DRice]

I did the same about Voynov, and that worked out.

Gotta give a little to get. If he’s going to have a gaffe or two each game, it’s all good unless they always wind up in our net EVERY time. His creativity has to be allowed to flourish.

Come playoff time, he’s gotta clean that sh*t up.

It's all fine and dandy when you are winning. We tend to joke about it this season because it really hasn't hurt the team, unlike last year when the team couldn't kill a penalty to save their lives.

I also have to think it gets old for the players too when they know they're going to have to kill penalties every single game for the same player constantly making mistakes you were taught not to do in juniors.

Dude can score, there is no arguing that, but he needs to clean up the rest of his game. I know some say +/- is a junk stat, but for Fiala to be 3rd best in points (23) and third worst in +/- (0) says much about his game.

/end Fiala rant

To stay on topic, PLD is -2 so far, and the only negative +/- on the team. But as others have stated, having him seems to have made life easier for both Kopitar and Danault. I just wish it wasn't at such a hefty price and term. I hope I'm wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised to see history repeat itself with him if the Kings have a bad season in the next few years. What's the old saying? "When people show you who they are, believe them."

As far as Q....keep it up! You've got a bridge contract to play for!