Well we all know the offense is the big question mark going in to the season. Here's an article discussing Smyth's importance to the Kings' offense this season.
Captain Canada, as he is called, will never be confused for a sniper. He is expected to score his fair share of goals, but more than put the puck in the net himself, Smyth was brought in as a real estate agent. His specialty is occupying the scary parts of hockey town that the rest of the team dare not enter, that terrifying but prime location; the blue paint.
Maybe it’s the gangs filled with the likes of local tough guys Dion Phaneuf and Greg Zanon roaming the streets. Maybe it’s the unexpected and malicious tire slashings from irritable goalies like J.S. Giguere. Maybe they just don’t want to break a nail. Regardless of the reason, there were not many Kings’ players last year who were willing to pay the price of staking their claim in the NHL’s most hostile district. When Kyle Calder is one of the best on the team at anything, you know you’re in bad shape. One has to wonder if the Kings wouldn’t be better off getting a taste of the hard life first hand playing at the Forum in Inglewood.
Enjoy the article.
What do you think the keys will be to the offense this season?
From the looks of things in preseason so far, I think the Kings offense will be not just notably better, but much more exciting and dynamic to watch.
Or do you think the Kings still lack an offensive piece? Do we still need that ever-elusive "elite" sniper?
While the addition of Smyth and Williams are important, I think the play of Doughty and Johnson are going to be equally important to increasing the number of goals this team scores this season.
While the addition of Smyth and Williams are important, I think the play of Doughty and Johnson are going to be equally important to increasing the number of goals this team scores this season.
Agreed
Also, I still think Calder getting the boot is addition by subtraction.
People are also forgetting that Quick only played half the season and that'll (hopefully) reduce the amount of goals the Kings allow this year.
While the addition of Smyth and Williams are important, I think the play of Doughty and Johnson are going to be equally important to increasing the number of goals this team scores this season.
While I do agree with you regarding Johnson and Doughty, this ultimately will be decided by Terry Murray. If he coaches remotely close to how he coached last year; we are dead in the water.
There wasn't even a sniff of an offensive strategy last year it was all defence. If he builds on the already established defensive strategy last year and improves the teams transitional play then we may have a chance.
Players like Johnson have always been kept on a tight leash and until Murray loosens the reigns a little we may never realize the offensive potential of Doughty and Johnson and more so the rest of the team.
While I do agree with you regarding Johnson and Doughty, this ultimately will be decided by Terry Murray. If he coaches remotely close to how he coached last year; we are dead in the water.
There wasn't even a sniff of an offensive strategy last year it was all defence. If he builds on the already established defensive strategy last year and improves the teams transitional play then we may have a chance.
Players like Johnson have always been kept on a tight leash and until Murray loosens the reigns a little we may never realize the offensive potential of Doughty and Johnson and more so the rest of the team.
I can't agree with this. The game Murray coaches is all about the forwards getting to the net. In Smyth and Williams he has a couple of players that are certainly more willing to do that than some of the players we have let go.
What net? The net our forwards were closest to last year was our own net. We had the neutral zone jammed up like a McDonalds Drive thru.
You can't actually believe your statement? come on.
Players like Johnson have always been kept on a tight leash and until Murray loosens the reigns a little we may never realize the offensive potential of Doughty and Johnson and more so the rest of the team.
Johnson needed to learn how to play defense first. Once he gets better in his own zone, he'll be let loose. Cant wait to see how our PP is this year.
I tried to come up with a middle-ground number (best case/worst case) for goals we should EXPECT to be scored by each individual player on the roster. Give or take a few goals from season call-ups, here are the numbers I came up with:
Frolov 32
Kopitar 31
Williams 28
Smyth 26
Brown 24
Stoll 18
Purcell 10
Handzus 16
Simmonds 12
Richardson 5
Lewis 4
Ivanans 2
Clune 1
Harrold 5
Doughty 12
Johnson 15
Hickey 5
Scuderi 1
Greene 2
Drewiske 1
O'Donnell 0
Total GF: 250
FYI, Atlanta went from having scored 207 goals for in 2007-2008 to scoring 250 goals for in 2008-2009. Also note that they had Hossa and Recchi in 07-08, losing their combined 38 goals scored.
I believe that it is within the realm of possibility for the Kings to show similar marked improvement in goal scoring, especially if you take into account the progression of some of their players.
It's both. Murray's coaching and system will hamper our offense. Jack and Drew's success on the powerplay will help the offense. I too worry about Murray. I am not a huge fan. But, I have seen him "talk" very differently than last year. He seems intent on keeping the lines together. That, by itself, should built chemistry and allow the forwards to gel together and help the O.
I tried to come up with a middle-ground number (best case/worst case) for goals we should EXPECT to be scored by each individual player on the roster. Give or take a few goals from season call-ups, here are the numbers I came up with:
Frolov 32
Kopitar 31
Williams 28
Smyth 26
Brown 24
Stoll 18
Purcell 10
Handzus 16
Simmonds 12
Richardson 5
Lewis 4
Ivanans 2
Clune 1
Harrold 5
Doughty 12
Johnson 15
Hickey 5
Scuderi 1
Greene 2
Drewiske 1
O'Donnell 0
Total GF: 250
FYI, Atlanta went from having scored 207 goals for in 2007-2008 to scoring 250 goals for in 2008-2009. Also note that they had Hossa and Recchi in 07-08, losing their combined 38 goals scored.
I believe that it is within the realm of possibility for the Kings to show similar marked improvement in goal scoring, especially if you take into account the progression of some of their players.
Give me a hundred on Brown to score over 24 goals. Also, give me fifty on Purcell over 10 goals. Give me two hundred on Johnson under 15 goals although I am rooting for him to score 40!! I just think 15 seems too optimistic .
Purcell - 2nd line and only 10 goals. Get real. Atleast 20.
Williams - 28. Ahh. no... I'd say Williams moves to the 3rd line prior to Olympics.
Simmonds gets more than 12 also
Handzus gets less than 16.
I tried to come up with a middle-ground number (best case/worst case) for goals we should EXPECT to be scored by each individual player on the roster. Give or take a few goals from season call-ups, here are the numbers I came up with:
Frolov 32
Kopitar 31
Williams 28
Smyth 26
Brown 24
Stoll 18
Purcell 10
Handzus 16
Simmonds 12
Richardson 5
Lewis 4
Ivanans 2
Clune 1
Harrold 5
Doughty 12
Johnson 15
Hickey 5
Scuderi 1
Greene 2
Drewiske 1
O'Donnell 0
Total GF: 250
FYI, Atlanta went from having scored 207 goals for in 2007-2008 to scoring 250 goals for in 2008-2009. Also note that they had Hossa and Recchi in 07-08, losing their combined 38 goals scored.
I believe that it is within the realm of possibility for the Kings to show similar marked improvement in goal scoring, especially if you take into account the progression of some of their players.
Thought it would be fun to revisit this thread now with the season over to reflect on how my predictions turned out and make new predictions on how well the players will perform for the 2010-11 season.
The Kings improved from 202 goals in 2008-09 (ranked 27th overall in the NHL) to 231 goals in 2009-10 (9th overall).
I overshot my prediction by 19 goals, with Frolov and Williams being the biggest underachievers due to various factors.
With some luck, health and the improvement from the young players on the roster, the Kings can improve on their 231 goals from last season.
They will need lots of luck with the current lineup. I expect that Bernier will help cuts the GA, but I dont expect a big increase in scoring unless additions are made.
They will need lots of luck with the current lineup. I expect that Bernier will help cuts the GA, but I dont expect a big increase in scoring unless additions are made.
Looking at last seasons roster, I actually believe a lot of the players on the list are capable of producing more than they scored last season.
Code:
Player Pos GP G
Anze Kopitar C 82 34
Dustin Brown LW 82 24
Ryan Smyth LW 67 22
Michal Handzus C 81 20
Alexander Frolov LW 81 19
Wayne Simmonds RW 78 16
Jarret Stoll C 73 16
Drew Doughty D 82 16
Scott Parse C 59 11
Brad Richardson C 81 11
Justin Williams RW 49 10
Jack Johnson D 80 8
Randy Jones D 48 5
Oscar Moller C 34 4
Fredrik Modin LW 20 3
Teddy Purcell RW 41 3
Sean O'Donnell D 78 3
Matt Greene D 75 2
Corey Elkins LW 3 1
Davis Drewiske D 42 1
Brandon Segal RW 25 1
Peter Harrold D 39 1
Brayden Schenn C 1 0
Andrei Loktionov C 1 0
Raitis Ivanans LW 61 0
M.A. Cliche C 1 0
Jeff Halpern C 16 0
Rob Scuderi D 73 0
Rich Clune LW 14 0
Trevor Lewis C 5 0
Alec Martinez D 4 0
TOTAL 231
I think among the forwards, Kopitar, Brown, Smyth, Williams, Simmonds, Stoll, Richardson, Ponikarovsky, and Parse are all capable of scoring more goals this coming season. Even if they each netted two goals more apiece, that would be 18 additional goals from the forwards.
Doughty and Johnson are also players who can increase their goal scoring totals. Say they both improve by four goals each, that is an additional 8 goals, for a 26 goal improvement.
Plus it is possible for goals to come from various others, albeit I am not expecting much production outside of the players I listed.
Last edited by Ziggy Stardust: 08-23-2010 at 02:40 AM.
Kopitar: 30-35
Brown: 20-25
Smyth: 20-25
Williams: 15-20
Simmonds: 20-25
Handzus: 15-20
Stoll: 15-20
Ponikarovsky: 15-20(not sure how he'll handle the 3rd line role)
Parse/Richardson: 15-20(whoever takes the remaining top 9 LW spot)
Doughty: 15-20
Johnson: 10-15
I think 230-240 again is a definite possibility.
Going off of projections of how players who missed games would have performed on an 82 game season, Smyth would have reached 27 goals, Stoll with 18 goals, Williams with 17 goals, Moller with 10 goals, and Parse with 15 goals.
I agree with the ranges you slotted each player, however, I think Smyth, Ponikarovsky, and Brown will be in the 25-30 goal ranges, should they remain healthy. I think Kopitar is determined to improve on last seasons career highs and will look at him to surpass 35+ goals.
I think the Kings could have 5 or 6 20-goal scorers. Kopitar, Brown, Smyth, Stoll, Doughty (I hope!), and Simmonds. Maybe even Handzus.
Kopitar will score 35+
Brown will hopefully hover around his 25 goal mark.
Smyth will hopefully score 20+
Stoll right near 20
Doughty I hope can hit 20 (he had 16 last season... yeaaa)
If Simmonds can get some PP time, he could pick up a lot more.
Handzus is Mr. Clutch. Gonna need one or two hat tricks like last season to help him though.
I think the Kings could have 5 or 6 20-goal scorers. Kopitar, Brown, Smyth, Stoll, Doughty (I hope!), and Simmonds. Maybe even Handzus.
Kopitar will score 35+
Brown will hopefully hover around his 25 goal mark.
Smyth will hopefully score 20+
Stoll right near 20
Doughty I hope can hit 20 (he had 16 last season... yeaaa)
If Simmonds can get some PP time, he could pick up a lot more.
Handzus is Mr. Clutch. Gonna need one or two hat tricks like last season to help him though.
Pure optimism, baby.
Ponikarovsky will hit 20+ goals. And if Williams can remain healthy, he will as well.
