Should we not be asking for Kopi and Doughty to participate in this drive to secure a goaltender and help us to the promise land? Lets be real, Doughty is no where near an 11 million dollar a year player anymore, Kopi on the other hand at 10 mill is much closer, but we could make that up in his next extension, when the Cap grows. I would believe he has a least 2 years left in the tank. When I see what the devils paid out for Meier, we got a bargain with Dubois. We cannot go into the season with any of the free agents on the board if we plan to make a move up this year. Yes Copley did save last season, but we have to be real and at best he is a decent backup at this stage of his career. A Connor Hallebuyck (30) and Carter Hart (24) has got to be what Blake must look at. If we are talking future, Hart is the obvious choice being just 24 years old and the younger of the 2.
We did not do well in the draft as far as goaltending goes, I understand the top 2 were gone at 54, but maybe a move up was a possibility or not giving away that Montreal pick and including ours instead. Not bashing the Dvorak move, but goal should have been a priority. Maybe there is a young goaltender that still has not met expectations out there in the AHL, that we can take a chance on.
Still time to do things out there, obviously a very very hard task with the cap where it is at. Let's get something done..........
I wouldn't trade up to draft a goalie. It's too much of a gamble.
Look at the goalies drafted since Lombardi era:
Quick 72nd, Bernier 11th, Rowat 124th, Berube 95th, Gibson 49th, Bartosak 146th, Dillon 150th, Villalta 72nd, Hrenak 144th, Ingham 175th, Parik 87th, Markkanen 112nd...
Only two panned out at NHL level and the 72nd overall far outperformed the 11th overall. What does this tell you? It's a huge gamble. I wouldn't worry about drafting goalies too much, if there's one the scouts like I'm all for drafting one every second year, but that's it. Trading up would be a waste of assets unless it's like trading up from #7 to #5 to draft a very talented one since the #5 owner don't want to draft a goalie so it probably wouldn't cost that much. You get what I mean. Decent backups are relatively easy to find and cheap, so if you're shooting for stars in the post #10 overall to find yourself the next Quick...good f***** luck lol.
Besides, drafting by need (goalie) THIS year because we don't have goalie situation sorted would be foolish, because whoever we drafted won't be ready till at least 2025-26, at which point Rob will probably find a long term #1 solution due to cap increase and Kopi's contract expiring.
I don’t mind it. Goaltending is turning into the equivalent of the bullpen in MLB. If you don’t have the elite of the elite you’re probably better off bringing in a reclamation project because they’re affordable and year to year variance can burn you (see: Cal Petersen).
Exactly. Go big or go home. And even that isn't a recipe for success - Hellebuyck, Ullmark, Vasilevsky...who are by all means elite...s*** the bed in playoffs this season. It's a crapsh***.
I don’t agree we are a few years away. In a few years Kopi is done and Drew is washed up and overpaid. The core is also 30+ at that point. We need to win now and next year or the window may close. What am I missing?
Agreed. It's just that it's not worth it to bend over backwards this season to acquire a goalie in the 5-6 million range that is very likely to prove entirely mediocre come playoff time.
Never said he was next coming of Hasek nor do i think he is,I just don't think he gets enough credit for how well he played
I think he gets enough credit here. He was basically unanimously praised as our "savior" for posting a sub-par (by all standards) .903 sv. %. But he wasn't praised due to his performance in absolute sense, but because the other two (the experienced ex-elite goalie and a fragile wonder boy who got paid way too much) s*** the bed royally. And that's something we need to keep in mind, and Rob definitely keeps in mind. It was a very good performance relative to the other 2 goalies. So if the Kings want a step forward, they will probably need a better goalie, but because this season they can't afford one, they should just gamble on another cheap UFA and call it a day. It will most likely be better than last season.
If you mean the fact that he didn't start in the playoffs...well, that was something Korpi was brought in to do and it was a correct decision, all things considered, except for maybe game 6 where starting Copley to shake things up and maybe throw the EDM shooters off their mojo a bit would be a smart decision. Hopefully TMac learned from this.
