Thumbs Up Thumbs Down : LA Kings’ Edition 02/06/18

Ohhh yeahhhh! Guess who’s back with an all-new track and that all new track in stacked? Well, it’s me of course with another (and long awaited) “Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down: LA Kings’ Edition” article. I apologize for this column being late and not being featured monthly, as was originally planned, but it’s here today, so without further ado, let’s do this!

Thumbs Down to head coach John Stevens

I really wanted to give John Stevens the benefit of the doubt. When the two-time Stanley Cup winning head coach Darryl Sutter was let go last summer, I wasn’t too bummed out that Stevens, the long-time LA Kings’ assistant/associate coach was promoted to take over behind the bench. He was experienced, he knew the players, management, and staff very well, was articulate, and most importantly, was a part of the Kings’ two Stanley Cup victories in 2012 and 2014. Then as the pre-season and then regular season started, rookie general manager (and Kings’ legend) Rob Blake was looking like a genius for rewarding Stevens with the head coaching job after the Kings skyrocketed to an 11-2 2 record to start the season and were playing like a completely different team, with different (and better) players when compared to the debacle of last year. With Sutter and his stubborn ways gone, Stevens was like a breath of fresh air for the boys due to his calm demeanor and laid back style, so much so that Dustin Brown, who has struggled immensely for the last few years has had a resurgence of a year this season, (he’s playing now like he’s 5-7 years younger!), which now makes his annual $5,875,000 cap hit look like a bargain and a half. Things were going so smoothly for LA as they held on to the second place position in the Pacific division for most of the first half of the season, but certain cracks in Stevens’ style began to emerge.

Besides the obvious 6 games losing streak the Kings went on in January, Stevens’ was struggling with getting any consistency with his bottom 6 lines and 3rd defensive pairings, so that seemed like a revolving door of players who were constantly getting benched, waived, or called down or up from the minors without any satisfaction with the combinations, (except of course with Trevor Lewis, but more on him later). The mishandling of the experienced and versatile Jussi Jokinen was baffling to most, as Jokinen could play at center, left and right wing, and was more then happy to play in the bottom six if needed. At first, that is exactly what Stevens used him for but as time went on, Jokinen’s ice-time was heavily reduced before he finally became a regular healthy scratch. He was then waived and picked up by Columbus. Torrey Mitchell was then brought in from Montreal, and though he is a face-off and penalty killing specialist, like most in LA’s bottom six, (again except for Trevor Lewis) has difficulty scoring and is a minus-8. Scoring or playmaking was another skill set addition that Jokinen brought to the team. But that is only a minor example. Now let’s get to the big one!

On Tuesday, January 30th, in Dallas, Texas, the Kings played their most perfect 60-minute performance with a 3-0 victory over a very offensively dangerous Dallas Stars, (the Stars have also improved defensively as well thanks to new/old head coach Ken Hitchcock), with this line-up for the game;

Alex Iaffallo – Anze Kopitar (C) – Tyler Toffoli

Tanner Pearson – Adrian Kempe – Dustin Brown (A)

Kyle Clifford – Torrey Mitchell – Trevor Lewis

Andy Andreoff – Mike Amadio – Jonny Brodzinski

Kevin Gravel – Drew Doughty (A)

Jake Muzzin – Paul LaDue

Alec Martinez – Christian Folin

Darcy Kuemper

As mentioned, this line-up played a complete and dominating 60 minute game, that included Dustin Brown playing like a man possessed, (he had 11 total shots in the game, 10 of those from the first two periods!), Paul LaDue’s first ever career NHL goal, (which makes it now 6 different players to have scored their first ever career NHL goal this season with the Kings with Iaffalo, Brodzinski, Amadio, Kurtis MacDermid, Oscar Fantenberg and LaDue), and goalie Darcy Kuemper making 28 saves for the shutout. The scratches for the game were Jonathan Quick, Marian Gaborik, Nick Shore and Derek Forbort, who were all out due to certain injuries, (and of course Jeff Carter is on the LTIR list, but he’s been out since the last half of game 6 of this season).

With Nashville up next, a team that not only the Kings have struggled against in the last 3 to 4 years, but a team that Quick has struggled against, with a career record against them of 5-9 2, 2.86 GAA and a .890 Save%. Since the Kings played their best game of the season against Dallas, logic and common sense, (or as “The Hipcheck” Scott Cahill put it, “coaching 101”), would dictate that Stevens will keep the same lineup intact for the upcoming bruising game against the Predators. And that is exactly what he did and the Kings were awesome … no, just kidding. Stevens instead did the exact opposite by making not one, not two or three but FOUR, I repeat FOUR roster changes for the Nashville game. Now I understand if he had made one roster change, but FOUR??? Or if the Kings had lost to Dallas 3-0 then sure, but they didn’t lose. They dominated and won 3-0! Just thinking about this makes my brain hurt because making so many drastic changes for no good reason is just insane. It’s like the old saying if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it! Out was Kuemper, the hot hand after pitching the shutout, LaDue, who scored his first ever goal, and the youth and chemistry of Amadio and Brodzinski. In were the four players that had been out with injuries, Jonathan Quick, who hasn’t been himself since November, Marian Gaborik, who hasn’t scored a goal since December 30th against Vancouver, Derek Forbort, who I have nothing against, but Gravel had played a great game with Doughty so there was no hurry to bring Forbort back in so soon, and Nick Shore, who I am still trying to figure out why he is still with the Kings? Give me a Brodzinski or Amadio over Shore any day. The result was a complete disaster as Nashville embarrassed LA by crushing them 5-0. Whatever gains, chemistry and momentum the Kings had made against the Stars, was now vanquished thanks to Stevens’ poor decision making. Now, don’t get me wrong. There is no shame to losing to the Nashville Predators, as they are a great team and the 2017 Stanley Cup Finalists, but what bothers me is that Stevens didn’t go with the line-up that would have given the Kings the best chance of beating the Preds. Instead, he messed with it and the Kings were smoked and never had a chance.

To add insult to injury, I’m hearing the reason why Steven’s made those changes was so the father’s of the players, who were riding along with the team for the annual “Dad’s trip,” could see their son play at least once. If this is the case, then I have lost all trust in John Stevens as the head coach of our Kings. You should NEVER, and I mean NEVER let sentimentality or off the ice influence dictate the line-ups over sound hockey strategy. This cost the Kings’ 2 much need points in a very highly competitive and tight playoff race. The Kings need to win and they need their head coach to do whatever he can to put the players out there that can provide that. For this major and inept blunder, John Stevens gets a BIG thumbs down.

*Sidenote – On Saturday, Feb 3rd, two days after the #DadsTripGate controversy against Nashville, the Kings ran over the (terrible) Arizona Coyotes 6-0. The players in that line-up for LA included Kuemper, (who got his second straight shutout), Brodzinski, Amadio, and LaDue. Coincidence? I think not!

 

Thumbs Up to Darcy Kuemper

Not since the days of Martin Jones as a King, have we seen a backup goaltender as reliable as Kuemper has been. Sure, we had the unbreakable Peter Budaj in net for most of last season, and he kept the Kings’ heads above the playoff water during his watch, but since Quick was injured and out for three quarters of that season, Budaj was our number 1 goalie, so he never really was the back up at any long point of his short career in LA. After years playing in Minnesota, Kuemper signed on as a free agent with the Kings for a 1 year, $650,000 contract, and it was money well spent. After posting back to back shutout victories in his last two games, Kuemper is sporting a fantastic 8-1 3, 1.91 GAA, 3 shutouts and a .943 save% record so far this season. Jonathan Quick, of course, is the Kings’ number one goalie and rightfully so, but as previously mentioned, Quick has NOT been himself as of late. Whether it’s due to a mysterious injury (that kept him out of the 2018 All-Star Game in Tampa), a lack of focus and/or confidence, or like Montreal’s Carey Price, he could be suffering some type of mental and physical fatigue, who knows? But whatever it is that is ailing him, we will need Quick back in form for the final stretch and push to make the playoffs. But until then, it’s reassuring to know that while Quick deals with getting stronger and healthier, we have Kuemper protecting the pipes, which is something that some of our latest back up goalies were not able to do. Remember Jeff Zatkoff, Jhonas Enroth and (even though he had 3 shutouts) Ben Scrivens??? So here’s a big thumbs up to Darcy Kuemper! Keep up the great work sir!

 

Thumbs Up to Trevor “Jaromir Jagr” Lewis and his incredible short-handed, breakaway goal!

I have no doubt that Trevor Lewis believes in his own mind that he can do whatever Jaromir Jagr, or Wayne Gretzky or Luc Robitaille can/could do. The only problem is that he doesn’t have their natural skill set, but hockey blesses the lad for always trying to play like them. One thing Lewis definitely is is a winner and a workhorse. The 20,000 or so time winner of the Kings’ “Unsung Hero Award”, Lewis always plays to the top of his ability and win or lose, he leaves everything he has on the ice. Because of this, he is the ONLY consistent force that the Kings have in their bottom six and that is no surprise to anyone that has followed Lewis in his career. For example, watch this beauty of a shorthanded, breakaway goal he scored against the ‘Yotes. It was just stunning! This turned out to be his 13th goal of the season, which breaks his regular season record of 12 that he set last year. And Lewis is only 3 points away from breaking his total points record in a regular season with 25. So like fine wine, Trevor Lewis just gets finer and better as the years go by. Huge thumbs up for the former unsung hero, and now just, hero Trevor Lewis!

 

Thumbs Down to Marian Gaborik

Ferrari’s are great! Well, at least until they break down, and then they are just an expensive toy to deal with, that will never be the same again. You know, like Marian Gaborik. I am forever grateful to “Gabbo” for his 14 goals and 22 points that helped the Kings win their second Stanley Cup way back in 2014, but let’s all be honest here. Gaborik just doesn’t have it anyone and hasn’t for some time. He is extremely injury prone, (I was their LIVE in Toronto when covering the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, when Team Europe, led by Kopitar and Gaborik upset Team Sweden to advance to the World Cup Final, and I was there LIVE watching Gaborik and his teammates jumping up and down on the ice in pure celebration. So just imagine my horrified reaction and response when I received word the next day that Gaborik would be out now for months, therefore missing the Final AND the first few months of the Kings’ season due to a broken ankle/foot. Like what??? I couldn’t believe it as I had just watched Gaborik play the entire tournament up to that point, and saw him jumping up and down repeatedly on that foot in celebration without ANY problems or noticeable discomfort just the day before! Sigh). Then when Gaborik isn’t injured, he’s invisible on that ice and only makes the rarest of contributions. And when someone that gifted in scoring as Gaborik is, if he’s constantly going cold for long periods of time, one has to question if his heart and mind are in the right place and not just on his paycheck. Speaking of his paycheck, the Kings can’t even unload Gaborik if they wanted to by trading him, (trust me they have tried many times), but as injury prone as he is at 35 years of age, and an AAV cap hit of $4,875,000 until 2021, nobody wants to take the risk of acquiring him. So in other words, the Kings are stuck, (thanks, Dean). Gaborik has had a fine career but with a career-ending injury very possible in the near future, a serious lack of effort and only one goal since December 30th, it’s time to take that Ferrari out of commission for good.

 

MVP of the Week, or Month, or Whatever – Darcy Kuemper (Of Course!)

 

Runner-Up – “Captain” Kopi for this!

 

Anze Kopitar’s 275th goal tied him with Butch Goring for fifth place on the Kings’ all-time goals list.

— Jon Rosen (@lakingsinsider) February 4, 2018

 

Feel Good Moment of the Week, Month or Whatever – Tanner Pearson fights Max Domi and WON!

It’s true. Our baby boy Tanner has grown up and he stood up for himself after being repeatedly cross-checked by Domi, (son of legendary enforcer Tie Domi). A fight ensued and not only did Tanner not back down, but he won the fight after ending it with a very Judo-like Koshi-Guruma throw. Impressive, yes most impressive. Pearson’s street cred just went through the roof and you know somewhere (like in the stands), “Poppa Bear” Jeff Carter is nodding his head in approvement and pride while giving Tanner to the good’ole Chuck Norris thumbs up. Well done kid, well done.

Alright! What did you all think of my Thumbs Up and my Thumbs Down picks? Do you agree or disagree? Do you have your own picks that I didn’t mention, or think someone else should have been the MVP, or something else for the “Feel Good Moment of the blah, blah, blah”? Let us know in the comments below! We would love to hear from you!

GO KINGS GO!!!

 

*This article is dedicated to the memory of my former MMA/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach and friend Karl Tanswell, who recently committed suicide after battling years of depression and anxiety. Karl wasn’t a hockey fan or even a sports fan but he always encouraged me and my teammates to follow our dreams no matter how difficult the obstacle. Which is exactly what I am doing with my work for CaliSports News and LA Kings Road Talk Radio. Though it has been many years since we last spoke, I would like to thank you Karl, for your advice, teachings, laughter, and friendship, as your influence on my life has helped lead me on the path I am now on and it has made me the better person for it. You will be forever missed and never forgotten.

If anyone of you out there is dealing with depression, anxiety or any kind of distress, please do not be afraid to ask for help. Or if you know someone who is dealing with those issues, please do not be afraid to ask them if they are okay? I have already lost a mentor and friend, I’ll be damned if I lose another. #BellLetsTalk

Here is the website and number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. 1-800-273-8255.

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time

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2 Comments

1. 

   Tom Page

   February 6, 2018 at 12:43 pm

   Jeff,

   I agree with just about everything except, I thought the Kings should have gone after Gerard Gallant as I mentioned originally on a facebook post. Not that his results would have been the same as in Vegas, but I think the team needed a big shakeup.
   • 

     Jeff Duarte

     February 8, 2018 at 6:50 am

     Gerard Gallant would have definitely been a great pick up for head coach and thank you for reading the article Tom! Go Kings Go!!!