What is going on with the Kings

tiger tiger

tiger tiger

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They have looked terrible the first 2 games. They're currently getting spanked by Arizona 4-0 half way through the 2nd.

There's got to be something more to this. It looks like they've quit playing for Sutter, and maybe the organization??

All the off ice issues/distractions, the clamp down on drug use, etc. seems to be taking a toll for some strange reason. It would appear that "cleaning up" player conduct would be a good thing. But they seem to be responding negatively. Is it team mate support or the breaking up of the locker room that's affecting morale?

Can anyone shed some light?
 
Bringing in Lucic, in my opinion, was a bad move for that team. They need stability, not a loose cannon who can destroy a team game on the ice. Game one was a disaster in all aspects, Lucic pulled a Lucic, their captain decides to launch head first like a missile into Coutures face, Greene who is supposed to be another leader pulls his stunt in the third, they are a flat out mess. Kopitar or Doughty should be the captain of that squad, Brown as a leader just doesn't work anymore.
 
They're just not that good. They have some old school players that can't play the new nhl systems. Sutter has worn out his welcome and Quick seems to have lost a step, or 2! They're only world class player is Doughty, I think Kopitar, although a great player doesn't have enough offense. I don't think they'll make it again this year and a blowup could be coming if they don't get it going. That said, it is 2 games ;)
 
The way Sutter coaches tends to stymie offensive production. They won, in large part due to the elite, excellent goaltending of Quick. Last season, and to begin this season Quick has not been great, like he needs to be for the Kings to be successful playing Daryl's system.
 
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Here's a thought...

If you worked with someone who ended up being investigated by authorities, and, over the course of a year or so, still hadn't been charged with anything, and your employer's response to this was to terminate their contract, how would you react as an employee?

Morale would definitely go down, and I could see most people always having a 'look what they did to XXX, they can just as easily find some chump reason to do that to me' in the back of their mind.

Like Bossy22 said... it's only two games into to season. Historically, this type of thing happens quite often; good teams start crappy, crappy teams start awesomely, and by game 40, the standings are usually where everyone anticipated they'd be at the beginning of the season.
 
Cleaning up don't slwYs work, ask Tiger Woods lol. They aren't the best regular season team but always seem to step up in the playoffs. They had a lot of off ice issues the past few years, maybe a little shack up would help. Losing Justin Williams didn't help, good leadership gone. Bringing in Lucic was a negative move, certainly won't help stability or over leadership.
 
The Kings have been on a bit of a downward spiral pretty quick. They went from Champs to chumps last year. People said it was the amount of hockey they've played, and that with the summer to rest up, they would be revving to go.

Losing Williams I think is costly. I think the off ice issues with Stoll and Richards had to be dealt with, but it is a bit unfortunate how messy it turned out.

I don't know what the extent of the low morale of the locker room is right now or what the exact issues are, but it could be a bad sign for the future of the organization.

The question is, Will Kopitar re-sign? If not, then what? Will they be able to land another UFA #1C? Pretty hard to replace.
 
tiger tiger said:
The Kings have been on a bit of a downward spiral pretty quick. They went from Champs to chumps last year. People said it was the amount of hockey they've played, and that with the summer to rest up, they would be revving to go.

Losing Williams I think is costly. I think the off ice issues with Stoll and Richards had to be dealt with, but it is a bit unfortunate how messy it turned out.

I don't know what the extent of the low morale of the locker room is right now or what the exact issues are, but it could be a bad sign for the future of the organization.

The question is, Will Kopitar re-sign? If not, then what? Will they be able to land another UFA #1C? Pretty hard to replace.
Click to expand...
Dreger is reporting the team is inching towards a new 8 year deal.
 
Mike Richards happened. From all accounts he was very well liked in the dressing room. I'd guess the whole situation with him, let along Voyonov and Stoll, and team morale is in the crapper.

I know who which coach is getting axed first!
 
I don't think it's just the morale because of stupid choices those 3 players made. Just look at their lineup, that is more telling to me. The NHL is a fast pace speed and skill game now, and skill/speed usually outlast the big/physical types especially in a long series. I know he was 27, but they traded O'Neill who was the AHL MVP last year and a PPG or higher player at that level. Problem is, he's a small skill player and Sutter doesn't like that so he was never given a chance. He'd rather have that useless goon Andreoff in the lineup, why? Hey, we won a few fights and we are 0-3 while being out scored 12-2, yippee! You already have Clifford who is at least a hard working stand up guy that can fight, you have Lucic, you have the other useless player in Nolan, they have Greene, Schultz, and McNabb who are big, slow, and prone to bad penalties. This isn't the 1970's anymore where you build a team with the biggest most physical guys you can find. The only regularly rostered player under 6 feet tall on that team is backup goalie Enroth. Yes they ground out the two Cups by playing the pummel you into submission game, but it takes a toll on them too, and I think it's showing. Until they get out of the Stone Age and start playing their fast skill players instead of all their trees, they will continue to struggle and flirt with missing the playoffs regularly.

Just my opinion, could be wrong.
 
sprague11 said:
Mike Richards happened. From all accounts he was very well liked in the dressing room. I'd guess the whole situation with him, let along Voyonov and Stoll, and team morale is in the crapper.

I know who which coach is getting axed first!
Click to expand...

Team's all blowwwwed, up, as the man said. There are other key players gone as well, including their backup goalie.
 
The NHL doesn't evolve as quickly as the NFL does but there is still an evolution and if it is not managed properly, one ends up on the wrong side quite quickly.

People were out in gangbusters to start throwing dirt on the Canucks rebuild however, after going from a team that had no pipeline of talent to one that now seems to be fresh with production it's fairly easy to see that this is basically all lazy writing.

Beat writers suck and tell you what you knew - unfortunately for the Kings, they seem to be headed toward the 2015/16 version of the Bruins - two two teams completely suborn in the way they do things.

The game evolves fairly quickly and keeping up is hard - which makes organizations like the Red Wings and (at least the current incarnation of) the Blackhawks so much more impressive.
 
I think you guys are right about the speed thing. The game is changing pretty quick and it's moved rapidly into a speed game. If your d is too slow and can't move the puck quickly, or if your forwards are too slow and lumbering along, you're going to get burned.

I'm looking at how the Ducks got killed by the Yotes. On paper, it makes no sense. Watching the highlights, the speed is killing them.

I noticed on a couple of highlights (lowlights) for Cody Franson, where he got beat pretty badly on the outside b/c he just couldn't turn around that fast. I think that could have also led to GMs staying away from giving him a huge long term contract.

I'm going to keep an eye on the teams that are just pure speed vs the teams that are still going with size.

For Boston, they are looking to purge some of the old vets who are getting slow. Pastrnak is speedy, but is underweight by usual NHL standards.

Ehlers and Petan are small/light too, but their speed has them playing in the NHL.
 
MMarch said:
I don't think it's just the morale because of stupid choices those 3 players made. Just look at their lineup, that is more telling to me. The NHL is a fast pace speed and skill game now, and skill/speed usually outlast the big/physical types especially in a long series. I know he was 27, but they traded O'Neill who was the AHL MVP last year and a PPG or higher player at that level. Problem is, he's a small skill player and Sutter doesn't like that so he was never given a chance. He'd rather have that useless goon Andreoff in the lineup, why? Hey, we won a few fights and we are 0-3 while being out scored 12-2, yippee! You already have Clifford who is at least a hard working stand up guy that can fight, you have Lucic, you have the other useless player in Nolan, they have Greene, Schultz, and McNabb who are big, slow, and prone to bad penalties. This isn't the 1970's anymore where you build a team with the biggest most physical guys you can find. The only regularly rostered player under 6 feet tall on that team is backup goalie Enroth. Yes they ground out the two Cups by playing the pummel you into submission game, but it takes a toll on them too, and I think it's showing. Until they get out of the Stone Age and start playing their fast skill players instead of all their trees, they will continue to struggle and flirt with missing the playoffs regularly.

Just my opinion, could be wrong.
Click to expand...

Could be right, too.
 
There are a LOT of good and valid points here. I think it's a little of everything; big and slow, morale down, dissension within the ranks, and right now I think because of all the uncertainty lots of players are nervous.

I also think the Kopitar contract is a major distraction as well, not just for him, but for others. If they don't plop down the long-term investment in the guy they built the team around, it's not saying much going forward. And I know Kopitar has been all PC on the outside saying the appropriate things, but you know it's killing him on the inside. Anyone can be traded at anytime, ask TGO. Maybe Kopitar has some doubts about his future with LA and there is some spillover in the room from that?

There's a big mess right now and no finite resolution in sight. If I am LA, I sign Kopitar long-term and get that mess out of the way. Now if they really aren't sure they want to commit that long on the terms and compensation, trade him and blow the team up some more except for Doughty, Quick, Toffoli, Pearson, Muzzin, Martinez and Carter. Yes, I have Brown omitted, but he will stay I am sure as will Gaborik who I also left out because he is on the wrong side of 30 something with lots of past injury problems.

It's definitely gotten a little stagnant out West and something needs to be done.
 

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