WCR1: Edmonton Oilers (P3) vs Los Angeles Kings (P2) - Oilers win 4-2

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Seriously if you are owner of the Kings what are you considering today? What's the goal for next season? This was a 105 point team in the regular season so hard to imagine they will be able to improve over that given they probably maximized the talent on the roster and Kopitar and Doughty one step closer to retirement. Doughty in particular looks close to cooked with two years left on his contract. Clearly there are not better days ahead but at the same time they aren't bad enough to tear things down. They do have almost $24 million in cap space so I suppose they could go big game huntin in free agency but overall they just seem like a pointless team that's holding a playoff spot until a team like the Flames or Utah turn the corner.

They need to go all in while they still have Doughty and Kopitar playing at the level they’re playing. So, their window is very small. Maybe like another year or two.

They need to find some better defense. Sorry, don’t think their LHD are top tier and they need one.

[Winsor_Pilates]

I feel bad for Kopitar.
Always liked him and to have the tail end of your career with 4 straight exits in the 1st round to the Oil must be painful.
At least he got his cups I guess.

[EDMONTONisNG]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

I feel bad for Kopitar.
Always liked him and to have the tail end of your career with 4 straight exits in the 1st round to the Oil must be painful.
At least he got his cups I guess.

Kopitar is a loser and should be ashamed. The team crumbled with no leadership.

[Jaybo]

Turns out that was a REALLY bad challenge.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by dino7c

The Kings had the lead in every game I think

Yikes...they need a MAJOR overhaul

Yup. Led at one point in every game. Scored first in 5 of 6.

It worked against LA, but spotting your opponent a lead in every game isn't typically a recipe for success.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

I feel bad for Kopitar.
Always liked him and to have the tail end of your career with 4 straight exits in the 1st round to the Oil must be painful.
At least he got his cups I guess.

The entire team crumbled - where was the leadership?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming Kopitar for this solely, just merely pointing out that they all could have done more.

For me the blame lies with the coach. He was outcoached even after being the far superior team through three games.

[dieHARDflameZ]

Originally Posted by EDMONTONisNG

Kopitar is a loser and should be ashamed. The team crumbled with no leadership.

Okay, let’s make one thing clear here, the Oilers are a team full of losers. Loser franchise, loser captain, loser GM, loser owner, loser broadcast team, loser fans.

I can’t wait to see them crash out again.

[redmile04]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Who cares about Sutter and super dumb of you to bring him up.

He won #### all here and left the team in tatters and ran away to LA

Who cares? I do and many others. He brought respectability back to the organization and you say he left the team in tatters? They have had 15 years since and havent done much so why not hate on the GMs after him equally? Or does that not fit your narrative?

Led the flames to their ONLY cup final in 35 years and the Kings to their ONLY cup wins ever and you hate? Good Grief

[Paulie Walnuts]

I guess the only positive is that LA looked like they would be on the up and up, but this loss tells me they will crumble soon which bodes well for us.

[jaikorven]

Originally Posted by EDMONTONisNG

Kopitar is a loser and should be ashamed. The team crumbled with no leadership.

Wow okay then, you really are a crap E=NG fan.

[Joborule]

Kings fired Todd McLellan for Jim Hiller? What a significant downgrade. That challenge as expected was the turning point of the series. The Kings are a pathetically weak team mentally. How they've had four straight years to win the opening series against the Oilers, and fail to do so in each one is quite the indictment on the core.

[EDMONTONisNG]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

The entire team crumbled - where was the leadership?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming Kopitar for this solely, just merely pointing out that they all could have done more.

For me the blame lies with the coach. He was outcoached even after being the far superior team through three games.

Agreed, there was no leadership.

Yes, Hiller messed up big time with the coaches challenge and game 3 but you can't hang the rest of the series on him. The players need to step up including Kopitar and the leadership core. No leadership at all was shown. Gone are the days of Brown, Stoll, etc. Kopitar is washed up and no grit.

Everyone in this thread defending Kopitar, lol.

[Jason14h]

Kings need some stars to get over the hump

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Marner end up there if he doesn’t sign with Leafs

Or maybe they go after Ekblad

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by EDMONTONisNG

Agreed, there was no leadership.

Yes, Hiller messed up big time with the coaches challenge and game 3 but you can't hang the rest of the series on him. The players need to step up including Kopitar and the leadership core. No leadership at all was shown. Gone are the days of Brown, Stoll, etc. Kopitar is washed up and no grit.

Everyone in this thread defending Kopitar, lol.

I do blame the coach mostly for the series.

Game 4 aside, the Kings jumped out to leads. Especially in games 1-3, they were in total control and instead of continuing their tactics, they changed to a less aggressive style and it cost them. Game after game. That's on the coach, in addition to the challenge decision.

I'm not sure what Kopy said to Byfield and the team after his monumental #### up, but it's on the leadership to make sure the team doesn't lose faith and confidence. And they did. So that is on leadership.

[CedarMeter]

edit

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Kings need some stars to get over the hump

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Marner end up there if he doesn’t sign with Leafs

Or maybe they go after Ekblad

I think they need a retool. Doughty and Kopitar won't be good much longer.

Kempe, Fiala, Kuemper, Byfield and other good pieces are present. But imagine if they tanked and got themselves a 1OA.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by EDMONTONisNG

Kopitar is a loser and should be ashamed. The team crumbled with no leadership.

Kopitar had 2 cups and led the playoffs in scoring both times before he was McDavid's age.

A 37 year old shouldn't have to carry his team anymore; it's a problem with the Kings roster.

Wait til your wonder twins are 37 and still cupless; then you'll see who the losers are.

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I think they need a retool. Doughty and Kopitar won't be good much longer.

Kempe, Fiala, Kuemper, Byfield and other good pieces are present. But imagine if they tanked and got themselves a 1OA.

And Liam Greentree is looking like a very strong prospect. 119 points in 64 OHL games while being 6'3 and 216 is nothing to sneeze ate

[Jiri Hrdina]

It's a failed re-build because of the lack of elite pieces and not enough of their top prospects actually turning into meaningful players (at least yet).

For many years they had one of the top pipelines in the league. In 2022 they were ranked #2 by the Athletic (Buffalo was #1, so....)

If you look at that now these were their top prospects

#1 Byfield: Good player. All the makings of a great player but not there yet. Where are the Kings if they had taken Stutzle instead?
#2 Brandt Clarke: Key piece but not yet trusted with big minutes
#3 Alex Turcotte: Brutal pick for #5. Could have taken Moritz Seider or Dylan Cozens instead
#4 Gabe Valardi: traded
#5 Helge Grans: Still in the AHL, now in Flyers org.
#6 Samel Fagemo: 4 games in the NHL this year. Depth piece at best.
#7 Brock Faber: Traded, albeit for Kevin Fiala.
#8 Jordan Spence: Now a full time NHLer
#9 Martin Chromiak: AHLer still
#10 Tyler Madden: Out of the org

The article also touches on graduated pieces: Arthur Kaliyev, Tobias Bjornfort, Rasmus Kuapri, Kale Clauge, Mike Anderson (part of the team), etc.

The point is with ALL that prospect depth, not enough of them turned into players and more importantly almost none have turned into impactful players.

Re-builds are hard. The Kings are a cautionary tale. If you don't get the top picks, you need to hit on almost all the ones you do get. Byfield over Stutzle and the Turcotte pick were only 2 mistakes, but could be the difference between this being a successful re-build and a failure.

You can go back further to 2020 where they were #1 boasting a pipeline of Turcotte (#1), Kaliyev (#2), Fagemo (#3), Vilardi (#4), Kupari (#5), Thomas (#6), Bjornfot (#7), and Carl Grundstrom (#8).

None of those guys are part of the core team 5 years later.

For the most part the reason why the Kings are good now is more because of their vets hanging on and still be effective, and players acquired via trades (like Fiala and Moore) and signings (Danault). And Kempe turning into a great player. The re-build hasn't contributed much to the current team.

[SuperMatt18]

And it also shows why drafting is tough.

I would have said you were crazy if you took Stutzle over Byfield in that draft at the time - Byfield looked to be that unicorn combination of size, speed, and skill.

Even the Turcotte pick...IIRC the prevailing sentiment at the time was how lucky the Kings were to have a center of Turcotte's calibre fall to them at 5.

I think for the Kings the issue has been more the post-drafting development. Guys like Turcotte, Byfield, Clarke, Vilardi, Kaliyev, all seemed to stall out development wise in that system. Sometimes it's more the development than it is the drafting.