Best Trade The Kings Have Made Since Gretzky | Bleacher Report
I really don’t know how to describe what I’ve seen this year other then to say, wow. I can’t recall a Kings team having this combination of grit and skill. They are fun to watch at both ends of the ice.
[...]
An interesting story line about the game and the LA broadcast was Heidi Androl was interviewing LA Kings Players fathers. [...]
There was no prouder father in that box then Ryan Smyth’s Dad. He was easy to spot. He looks like and older version of his superstar son. It was that moment I realized how great the trade with the Avalanche was.
When I look at last years Kings roster I see a lot of talent. I see a lot of youth. I don’t see a lot of experience and I don’t see a lot of guys that had been there. I look at the roster now and there is one name that glares back at me Ryan Smyth. Maybe it’s placebo effect that Ryan has on the Kings. I believe he is the definite cure for what’s been ailing this team. I believe he really helps make this team a contender.
Ryan is playing with Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams. Together they make up one of the highest scoring lines in the league right now. This is a line that reminds me of another famous line that the Kings had back in the day. The line has flash, grit, skill and a never say die attitude.
Last year the Kings didn’t win a lot of close games. They couldn’t grind them out. With Smyth not only can they grind them out, they can blow them out. [...]
Anze Kopitar is shooting more [...] and currently leading the NHL in scoring. [...] Smyth being on his side has a lot to do with this. Smyth and Kopitar have chemistry. Smyth seems to always know where Anze is and how to get him the puck. [...]
Toward the end of the second period last night, a period in which the Kings were outplayed, Smyth had the game changer. He scored the type of goal that’s defined his career. It was a never-give-up workman’s goal. He took a shot from the right side, and then took another whack at it and when it didn’t go he circled around the back of the net and slammed it home. This made it 3-2. This goal was at the end of the second and helped set the tone for the third.
via Best Trade The Kings Have Made Since Gretzky | Bleacher Report.
No Pressure, Anze: LA’s Rise Depends on Super-Skilled Kopitar — NHL FanHouse
The 11th overall selection in the 2005 draft, the 6-4 center is the first player in league history from the country of Slovenia. Raised in the steel town of Jesenice, across the border from Austria, Kopitar’s unfamiliar background had scouts questioning whether he was early first round material despite his obvious gifts. “To be honest,” said a scout who follows European amateurs for a Western Conference team, “Kopitar was so big and so skilled that if he was from Saskatoon, he would have been a top-3 pick. Slovenia was the great unknown.”
“No weaknesses … He was playing against the best and held his own. He had star potential and we knew the rest of the league would be following him.”The tantalizing prospect was first “identified” — scout-talk for “Hey, we have to keep an eye on this kid” — by former European bird-dog Ari Vuori for the Kings. Pro scout Rob Laird and then-GM Dave Taylor spent a lot of time at the 2005 World Championships in Sweden mesmerized by Kopitar’s immense talents. “No weaknesses, great size and reach, took passes 15 feet in front of him, composure, work ethic,” Laird recalled of Kopitar. “He was playing against the best and held his own. He had star potential and we knew the rest of the league would be following him.” (The hockey gods have since rewarded Vuori, now the owner of a Stanley Cup ring as a scout for Detroit).
via No Pressure, Anze: LA’s Rise Depends on Super-Skilled Kopitar — NHL FanHouse.
Why Heatley to Kings Doesn’t Make Sense (but still might be good)
Matthew Barry just posted Why Heatley to LA Makes Sense. I’m of two minds. One of my minds could talk myself into pretty much anything. The other has a low tolerance for locker-room poison (e.g. Cammalleri, Blake, Avery). For the sake of argument, though, I’m going to pretend to agree with Matthew’s assertion that Heatley couldn’t possibly pull the same stunt twice (asking for a trade, etc.), because then he would really be toast and would have nowhere to turn but the KHL. I would like to believe that. I would have to believe it once he was here. But I don’t believe it really.
Nevertheless, let’s pretend.
So…what would the Kings have to give up?
I don’t agree that it would be young prospects. First of all, the Kings would need to clear some salary, otherwise Heatley puts them a couple of million over the cap. So someone with a real contract would be going the other way. Who are the candidates? Kopitar? No. Smyth? No. Williams? Have to say no, because that would be weird. Frolov? Call that a maybe (especially given the LW logjam Heatley’s arrival would create — see below, unless I forget to come back to it). Handzus? Well, it’s possible. Brown? People would riot, so…no. Stoll? Maybe. Greene? No. Scuderi? No. That’s it.
So you’ve got yourself Frolov, Handzus and Stoll as options.
Getting rid of one of Stoll or Handzus would weaken us in the faceoff circle, but would eliminate the annoying $4MM fourth line center problem. So that’s got to be an attractive option, even if it would (in the case of Handzus) put a significant dent in Terry Murray’s team defense.
Trading Frolov for Heatley is in my opinion a non-starter. Because I think Frolov will score 35-40 goals this year, and Heatley will score a couple more, maybe 40-50 goals. But that’s for a cap hit of $4MM over Frolov’s cap hit, and at the expense of team defense, since Heatley doesn’t do that. So that seems like a trade that would create more problems than it would solve, just to get 10 extra goals.
Now, what about Stoll or Handzus? Okay, let’s just say it’s one of them. Could I live with that? Maybe. We’ll have to look at what the lines would likely be (more on that later). First, though, we have to finish looking at who else would be part of the package.
The Edmonton deal nixed by Heatley had Edmonton sending Cogliano, Penner and Smid. I immediately notice that this is only about $1MM in cap relief for Ottawa. Let’s tailor a deal that mimics the Edmonton deal. Stoll/Handzus/Frolov is the Penner. Who is the Cogliano? Cogliano is a young center with two seasons under his belt, 18 goals each season, former 1st round pick, on an entry level contract. Who is the Kings’ version of this?
Moller, Simmonds or Purcell. Maybe Lewis. [Cogliano is a step up from Lewis or Purcell at this point in their careers, so maybe a prospect gets tossed in.] For me, personally, trading either of Moller or Simmonds would be unforgivable. I think (hope) that Lombardi feels the same way, since they are two of his success stories thus far in his Kings tenure. Purcell or Lewis? I like them both, but under the right conditions, I might be willing to let them go. In any case, we can call it one of Handzus/Stoll, one of Purcell/Lewis, and …
…who’s the Smid of this deal?
The obvious comparable is Jack Johnson. And that can’t happen, can it? It could, but I don’t want it to. In that case, the deal would probably be something like Handzus, Purcell, Johnson. If not Johnson, the other options are a couple of prospects, like, say, Voynov and Zatkoff or Jones.
(Ottawa is going to want more than Handzus, Purcell and Johnson — e.g. Frolov, Moller, Johnson and a pick — but I’m trying to come up with something I can live with, as a Kings fan who over-values his prospects and doesn’t like n’er-do-wells.)
I mean, Lombardi isn’t going to be able to foist Richardson and Ivanans on them, is he? That would be like getting Smyth for Quincey and Preissing. What? Oh.
Okay, let’s see what the line-up looks like if we give up Handzus, Purcell and Johnson.
Heatley/Kopitar/Williams
Smyth/Stoll/Brown
Frolov/Moller/Simmonds
Zeiler/Lewis/Harrold
(Ivanans)
Scuderi/Doughty
Drewiske/Greene
Hickey/SOD
The thing that leaps out at me about this is that (1) we are over-loaded on the left side, (2) we now have one experienced D on the power-play (Doughty), (3) our fourth line is going to suck, and (4) we will have no shut-down line.
Let’s try it with Stoll instead of Handzus.
Heatley/Kopitar/Williams
Smyth/Moller/Brown
Frolov/Handzus/Simmonds
Zeiler/Lewis/Harrold
(Ivanans)
Scuderi/Doughty
Drewiske/Greene
Hickey/SOD
Better, because now Frolov is in a defensive role, on a shut-down line, and it’s a line that worked last season. But still the fourth line is garbage, and we’ve got a problem on the power play at the point.
And about that crowding on the left side? There’s no chance Frolov is going to stick around willingly to be third on the depth chart behind Smyth and Heatley. So he would be gone next summer…except not because Lombardi would deal him before he could walk, so he would be traded this season, so we’re back to trading Frolov’s 40 goals for Heatley’s 50 (whatever numbers you actually think they’re capable of, I think it’s not really debatable that Heatley is good for about 10 more goals than Fro, at best).
Now, Lombardi could easily sign a couple of crusty old dudes to skate on the fourth line, instead of Zeiler, Ivanans and Harrold. And he could do the same on D, signing — say — Mathieu Schneider for peanuts and using him on the power play. That would be kind of cool, I grant you. So that kinda sorta works. Especially for the one season where Frolov is still here and Smyth isn’t too old yet. That line-up would look sorta like:
Heatley/Kopitar/Williams
Smyth/Moller/Brown
Frolov/Handzus/Simmonds
Lewis/[Chris Gratton]/[Rob Neidermeyer]
(I picked two available names, but you get the idea)
Scuderi/Doughty
[Schneider]/Greene
Hickey/SOD
Drewiske
That’s workable. But the whole point of adding Heatley falls apart when Frolov leaves, unless someone steps up to take Frolov’s place. Loktionov? Okay, maybe. And he’s on the 2nd unit with Moller (not this season, but 2010-2011), and Smyth drops to the Handzus line. Or something. It’s problematic, but I can see it. I don’t really like it, but I can see it. Question is, are any of these iterations better than this:
Frolov/Kopitar/Williams
Smyth/Stoll/Purcell
[Mikus-Elkins-Wudrick-King-Azevedo]/Moller/Brown
Lewis/Handzus/Simmonds
Scuderi/Doughty
Johnson/Greene
Hickey/SOD
Drewiske
I don’t know. I don’t think so.
Note to Self: predictions for 09/10
If the Kings manage 245 goals for and 230 goals against, they will make the playoffs. Last year: 207/234. So basically, play the system and add 38 more goals. How hard is that?
Wait…how hard is that?
In the entire history of the Kings, they have managed to hit both those marks in the same season (at least 245 goals for and no more than 230 goals against) twice. In 1974-75, which was their 105 point season. And in 2000-2001, the year in which they lost in the 2nd round to Colorado in 7 games after beating Detroit.
In terms of that big a jump in goal production from one year to the next… They did it the first year after the lockout, but it’s hard to know what that means. They did it in ‘99-00, which was the year they added Palffy and Smoke. They added about 50 goals in ‘88 somehow. ‘99-00 seems like the interesting point of comparison. That year, add Palffy and Smoke, subtract Jokinen. This year, add Smyth and Williams, subtract POS and Calder. Neither Smyth nor Williams is a pure goal scorer like Ziggy, but it does seem to me, at least potentially, to be the same magnitude of upgrade, call it the Lombardi version, the crash the net version of the Palffy upgrade.
Also, it’s reasonable to expect more production from Doughty, Moller, Simmonds and Purcell — rookies who are getting better — and from Kopitar, Brown and Stoll — “veterans” who underperformed and should/will bounce back.
So I’m going to say it’s somewhere between possible and likely that the Kings will hit 245 this year. 2.99 GPG. Let’s just call it 246, for an even 3.00 GPG.
Los Angeles Kings – News: SIX QUESTIONS WITH BROWN – 07/14/2009
LAKings.com: What are you most looking forward to for next season?
Brown: The playoffs, plain and simple.
via Los Angeles Kings – News: SIX QUESTIONS WITH BROWN – 07/14/2009.
Kopitar: Playing Hockey Out Of Love For The Game, Not Money (interview pt. 2) – Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum
Q: Where do you see the Kings and yourself in 5 years? Contending for the title?
A: If I’m completely honest, I have to say I can see us contending for the title a bit sooner than that. We’ve been putting the team together for 3 years now according to the plans of our management, and now the pieces are together. This team will now grow together and I hope to play in the Stanley Cup finals and win a cup sooner than in five years.
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