The Calvin Problem

[Dr. Tran]

It?s looking like giving that contract to Cal was a huge mistake. The Kings might have thought this showed confidence in him. But it seems like all it?s done is put pressure on him to live up to it. And he?s just allowing bad goals. Even when he has a good performance like at the end of the Nashville game, he comes back & allows 3 goals in the 1st vs Pittsburgh. And looking at him sitting on the bench at the start of the 2nd, he looked like he was about to cry or had been crying. Goalies need to be confident & it looks like he has none.

The problem with this is if the Kings are going to succeed, we need him to succeed. Quick is too old to be playing 60+ games. They have to be almost equal in starts at least until the playoffs come around. And I know that Cal has 2 wins so far. But does anyone think those types of performances are going to result in future wins? He?s not been consistent & is allowing weak goals. If this keeps up he can?t be counted on & either Quick gets overloaded with starts or we?re out of the playoff race.

I?m not rooting against this guy. I?ll take being wrong & him succeeding over being right & him failing. But they need to find a way to get him right. Otherwise we could try to trade him at the end of the season & try to pick up a goalie in free agency. But that probably means the season didn?t go well. It?s probably a hard thing as it is trying to supplant a legend. Meanwhile, what happened to the Kings goalie development? We once had Bernier, Quick, & Jones. We even had guys who came through like Scrivens & Kuemper go on to some success. Now the guy who?s supposed to be Quick?s successor isn?t cutting it & nobody in the pipeline looks like they could take over either.

 

[MiketheKing]

The good news is goalies can be had for cheap

 

[STONE]

Yeah, I've seen this head game before with net minders and I don't want to play.
Please stop the Cal experiment and let a kid be who would be super excited to be a legends back-up come up and play 20-25 games this year.
It's just so frustrating to watch.

 

[Pevsfreedom]

I mean if he lets in 3, then Quick lets in 3, was it really Cal's fault?

I don't know if it's an experiment yet.. I think the dude needs and wants to play full time. I don't think he's been given a proper chance. Though not in a million years would I play him over Quick. He was given his contract way, way too soon. This goalie rotation we have going on is super stupid IMO. Play Quick til he breaks then move on, but what do I know.

 

[jammer06]

If they've got a concoction that will help fix this mess, I can't wait to try it......Or are we not supposed to drink til Cal looks good in net?

 

[Byron]

Matthew Villalta is 6' 3" and 23 years old. He went 28-10 with .903 GAA for the Reign last year.

 

[Dr. Tran]

I mean if he lets in 3, then Quick lets in 3, was it really Cal's fault?

I don't know if it's an experiment yet.. I think the dude needs and wants to play full time. I don't think he's been given a proper chance. Though not in a million years would I play him over Quick. He was given his contract way, way too soon. This goalie rotation we have going on is super stupid IMO. Play Quick til he breaks then move on, but what do I know.

Cal allowed 3 goals on 9 shots while Quick had 3 on 25 shots. And yes the entire team sucked this game. But that doesn’t absolve Cal of his performance.

And the thing about the contract is that it sent the message that he was going to be the starting goalie. And he wasn’t ready for that yet. So it just put pressure on him to perform in addition to following a legend in Quick. Meanwhile I think this motivated Quick. Before last season he was declining. But he sees the team essentially say Cal’s the guy now & he says not so fast, I’m still here. And he’s a very proud competitive guy. If there’s one good thing about Cal’s contract maybe that’s it.

 

[NewCastle]

I hated the contract when it was given out. It didn't make any sense... really. That term at that rate?

And then after Blake did that, he hasn't done much of anything to build the blueline which would also help. To borrow from Darryl: 4-4-6-4-3-6
The Kings are incredibly fortunate to be at .500 with giving up that many goals. And a lot of that is goaltending (less Quick and more Cal), the defense, and taking too many damn penalties.
Hell, Cal is lucky he has 2 wins after his consistent sloppy play.

 

[drums4dmf]

I hated the contract when it was given out. It didn't make any sense... really. That term at that rate?

And then after Blake did that, he hasn't done much of anything to build the blueline which would also help. To borrow from Darryl: 4-4-6-4-3-6
The Kings are incredibly fortunate to be at .500 with giving up that many goals. And a lot of that is goaltending (less Quick and more Cal), the defense, and taking too many damn penalties.
Hell, Cal is lucky he has 2 wins after his consistent sloppy play.

You brought up some good points. Overall, I think Blake has done a good job but the Cal signing is his worse move yet and after that his lack of movement for some sandpaper on the back end.

No question the Kings have a ton of skill on defense and it seems like Blake is staying the course for a couple of them to progress on the shut down game.

IMO the Josh Manson trade last season for the Avs put them over the top. That was exactly what they were missing. It's nice to have that balance like the Kings had in the cup era...

 

[beedee]

At first I was like, Go See Cal, Go See Cal, Go See Cal.

Now I'm like, No See Cal, No See Cal, No See Cal.

 

[s7even]

He needs to go back to Ontario and re-work on his mechanics in real games. He won't get to consistently work on it at the NHL level with Quick as #1 .

He's been going down too early on plays while being back in the net, leaving him vulnerable to high shots. And he's been beaten a lot up top.

I thought his strength was being a sound positional goalie while Quick was more of the acrobatic type.

 

[waynet]

Neither Kings goalie has been effective. GAA, Cal 5, JQ 4. Focus on CAL, rightly so, because of the new contract and presumed #1 role. Both need to improve, along with a suddenly horrible Danault, or we'll be fighting it out with quacks for cellar dweller.

 

[DryKing]

Neither Kings goalie has been effective. GAA, Cal 5, JQ 4. Focus on CAL, rightly so, because of the new contract and presumed #1 role. Both need to improve, along with a suddenly horrible Danault, or we'll be fighting it out with quacks for cellar dweller.

Not to say that both Quick and Cal don't have room for improvement, but Quick has been pretty consistently bailing out defensive lapses so in reality the Kings defense needs to improve moreso than Quick does. Comparing Quick and Cal right now and putting both in the same category is silly. Cal just seems like he's in a bad headspace right now and needs to be send to the Reign where he can play consistent games and try to regain his mojo. If he can't we need to leave him down there.

Good thing we picked up Copley who can serve as a decent backup to Quick while Cal attempts to dominate the AHL.

The Danault, Moore, Arvidsson line has not looked good as none seem to have a finishing touch currently - though Moore has looked good defensively. Arvidsson is probably still hurt which is part of it, but it's time to start experimenting with that line to try and get them jump started.

 

[jgs]

It is not just this game. It is pretty much every game Cal is in on that he allows bad goals in. I wish is was just one game in a while. If he wants to play on regular basis then he has to earn it. You cannot play a guy who lets in 3 weak goals consistently.

 

[Illegal_Stick]

My unpopular take is that Quick isn't playing well either. He's doing something he used to do - make big, dramatic saves, but then letting stoppable shots. The D is atrocious at the moment and Cal is horrible - both are bigger problems, but to me, if you watch closely the bigger problem is that the only one who can bail them all out is not playing great either.

As for the contract, it's the one big mistake Blake seems to have made, but other goalies have gone through this and come through it.... often with another team though. Hoping for Cal, but at the moment we'd do better with a shooter tutor.

 

[Clif]

Nothing like perusing the FA goalie market for the summer 6 games in. Some big names there but sure they’ll get locked down soon. Anderson, Talbot, of course Jarry. Stolarz is FA but likely heir apparent to Gibson.

 

[jgs]

Well the Kings new motto will be "our next move to taking another step is acquiring a proven NHL caliber goaltender"

 

[Helvetica]

some stats i looked at yesterday:

https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/LAK/index.html

Kings, as a team, are playing fairly high event hockey, and it's going both ways. They are getting a lot of opportunities, but giving up a bunch as well. So, unfortunately, they aren't really dominating possession like they did last season. They've had a ton of PP, but also been on the PK a lot. So the team has not really done a great job in front of their goaltenders.

With that said, Both Cal and Quick are in the bottom 10 in Goals Save Above Expected (Per MoneyPuck). Petersen?s -3.7 is the third-worst, while Quick?s -1.9 is the eighth-worst. Both goalies' save%'s are also sub .900

The team, as a whole, just hasnt looked sharp or focused to start the season. They have a lot more skill now between the additions of Fiala and Vilardi, and they are scoring. They are working hard and getting themselves back into most games. But if they cant sort out the possession issues, and they cant get league average goaltending this season, they will be in trouble. I generally like to wait until about the 10 game mark to make any real assessments, but i do think Cal will find his game, as his struggles are seemingly on par with the team as a whole. They've got some new players in the lineup. There was some turnover. They have guys coming back from injury. And they are trying to introduce some new concepts on the PP. I also think the D has been a lot more active on offense, so that might be a tweak to the system that they are trying to implement. But we'll see how things look in another couple weeks.

On the plus side, they started like 1-6-1(?) last season so we know they have the ability to tighten things up and improve. I think they get there, and that includes Cal.

 

[santiclaws]

Cal has NHL-caliber talent, no question about that. When he's on, he's a solid NHL-level goaltender. It's all about his mechanics, focus and confidence right now. Because he has the talent, he can find his way back. Whether he will or not remains to be seen.

 

[DryKing]

My unpopular take is that Quick isn't playing well either. He's doing something he used to do - make big, dramatic saves, but then letting stoppable shots. The D is atrocious at the moment and Cal is horrible - both are bigger problems, but to me, if you watch closely the bigger problem is that the only one who can bail them all out is not playing great either.

That's a fair assessment and I have noticed that too, but on the flip side that has always been part of Quick's game - make the spectacular save that should have resulted in a goal and miss one that should have been an easy save. That said I think Quick is playing well, though not great. Quick is also a goalie that gets better as the season goes on, and as he accumulates more games. Really the only worry when it comes to Quick, in my mind, is potential injury especially if he faces more games like opening night.

some stats i looked at yesterday:

https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/LAK/index.html

Kings, as a team, are playing fairly high event hockey, and it's going both ways. They are getting a lot of opportunities, but giving up a bunch as well. So, unfortunately, they aren't really dominating possession like they did last season. They've had a ton of PP, but also been on the PK a lot. So the team has not really done a great job in front of their goaltenders.

With that said, Both Cal and Quick are in the bottom 10 in Goals Save Above Expected (Per MoneyPuck). Petersen’s -3.7 is the third-worst, while Quick’s -1.9 is the eighth-worst. Both goalies' save%'s are also sub .900

The team, as a whole, just hasnt looked sharp or focused to start the season. They have a lot more skill now between the additions of Fiala and Vilardi, and they are scoring. They are working hard and getting themselves back into most games. But if they cant sort out the possession issues, and they cant get league average goaltending this season, they will be in trouble. I generally like to wait until about the 10 game mark to make any real assessments, but i do think Cal will find his game, as his struggles are seemingly on par with the team as a whole. They've got some new players in the lineup. There was some turnover. They have guys coming back from injury. And they are trying to introduce some new concepts on the PP. I also think the D has been a lot more active on offense, so that might be a tweak to the system that they are trying to implement. But we'll see how things look in another couple weeks.

But honestly could you expect any Kings goalie to have a save percentage over .900 with so many defensive gaffs occurring in front of them? In my opinion they would have to be playing at All-Star level in order to do so. I do agree that Cal will find his game, but I think he'd have a better chance of doing so much sooner in Sturm's system where things a bit more regimented before rejoining the Kings. Cal is very dependent on not only being in the right position, but knowing where his defensemen will be infront of him and being able to predict their movement. Right now the Kings look super creative, but also super loose. While Quick can handle this, as he is dependent on reaction rather than positioning, it is a killer for Cal. Additionally Cal seems to be fighting through a mental struggle. As the Kings season progresses they should become more solidified and predictable, for Cal, in the defensive zone but that will likely take some time. It's the very reason a goalie like Copley would be more successful on the team currently.

Total agree with the defensemen jumping in to create offensive zone opportunities which I recall you calling out last season was a big area of need for us. Also the PP looks so much better, not just due to skill but creativity. It's interesting that while Sturm so far appears to be a solid head coach, he clearly was not the best suited to coach the PP. I also find it interesting that we see Durzi so often on the PK - it really does seem like offense is currently being prioritized over defense.