And I think Schenn and Simmonds had too much upside to trade.
I'm pretty confident history will prove me correct.
It will depend on whether or not Richards is a key component in getting the Kings deep into the playoffs for multiple seasons. I think on that we can agree.
Lombardi will have to add depth to the forwards very soon to balance out the offense/defense scale.
It will depend on whether or not Richards is a key component in getting the Kings deep into the playoffs for multiple seasons. I think on that we can agree.
Lombardi will have to add depth to the forwards very soon to balance out the offense/defense scale.
The Richards / Schenn, Simmonds trade was fair for both teams. It's early to be writing down one side as a clear "winner".
At the beginning of the year, the Kings were clear winners. Now, the Flyers have an edge. You know what? It's going to change again. That's what a good trade does.
My only saving grace in this deal is thinking that Lombardi knew he had a replacement for Simmonds in Clifford, Nolan and now Andreoff...and that the latter two emerge as that type of player.
Look at the Flyers now; Hartnell, Simmonds, Talbot, Sestito, Rinaldo, Shelley all in the mix with a mix of skilled players like Briere, Grioux, Voracek, Jagr, Read.
The Kings had a similar line-up last year in the playoffs with Brown, Simmonds, Clifford, Handzus, Smyth, and Penner to go with Kopitar, Williams, etc...
Now, on some nights (before the most recent call up), it left the Kings with Brown, Penner and Clifford as the only bigger forwards complimenting skilled guys who ARE NOT producing. Brown has been hugely inconsistent and Penner has played less physical than Brad Richardson.
If Nolan emerges as a Simmonds type it would be a huge help to the Kings knowing they have another player besides Clifford that has size, skill and toughness that can rotate up and down the line-up like Wayne could. From the 1st line to 3rd line.
We gave the Sharks fits in the playoffs with our big bodies, that is Kings hockey...especially an organization managed by former Flyers.
If Nolan sticks with LA this year or next and puts up 10-15 goals, it will hugely help this trade impact particularly the loss of Simmonds. Then essentially all the Kings did is swap Schenn and a 2nd for Richards.
My only saving grace in this deal is thinking that Lombardi knew he had a replacement for Simmonds in Clifford, Nolan and now Andreoff...and that the latter two emerge as that type of player.
Look at the Flyers now; Hartnell, Simmonds, Talbot, Sestito, Rinaldo, Shelley all in the mix with a mix of skilled players like Briere, Grioux, Voracek, Jagr, Read.
The Kings had a similar line-up last year in the playoffs with Brown, Simmonds, Clifford, Handzus, Smyth, and Penner to go with Kopitar, Williams, etc...
Now, on some nights (before the most recent call up), it left the Kings with Brown, Penner and Clifford as the only bigger forwards complimenting skilled guys who ARE NOT producing. Brown has been hugely inconsistent and Penner has played less physical than Brad Richardson.
If Nolan emerges as a Simmonds type it would be a huge help to the Kings knowing they have another player besides Clifford that has size, skill and toughness that can rotate up and down the line-up like Wayne could. From the 1st line to 3rd line.
We gave the Sharks fits in the playoffs with our big bodies, that is Kings hockey...especially an organization managed by former Flyers.
If Nolan sticks with LA this year or next and puts up 10-15 goals, it will hugely help this trade impact particularly the loss of Simmonds. Then essentially all the Kings did is swap Schenn and a 2nd for Richards.
Certainly Richards may have had some issues in Philadelphia with the captaincy and all it entailed with "some" of the fans and media but, at the time, guys like Toews, Crosby, and others from the 2003 and 2004 draft years were being knighted the same way. So him getting the captain's "C" at such as young age was not that unheard of and he certainly had carried a leader's role thru his career up to this point. In any case, the Flyers were loaded with essentially 4 top flight centers in Richards, Giroux, Briere and Carter and needed to answer the question- who was going to play 3rd and 4th line. Briere had a no movement contract and Giroux wasn't going anywhere; that left Richards and Carter as odd men out. Even then, I think the Flyers would have kept Richards and shopped some-body like Hartnell, who had some value but also was tied to Philly cause of his no-trade contratct. Trust me, had Richards stayed in Philly and played with the forwards named above, excluding Simmonds, some of who such as Hartnell are having career years (and who in their right mind would think Jagr would have the impact he's had) and played his normal 20 minutes a game including power play and penalty kill time (with Giroux, no less) under the high tempo, offensive type of game esposed by Laviolette, he'd have a s--t load more points than that from playing in the suffocating, defensively minded game put out by the current Kings, particularly given the 2 wingers foisted upon him until just recently. It's way too early to put any negative spin on this trade (I mean you're comparing apples to bananas) but anybody who thinks Richards has plateaued just hasn't followed his play over the past years. I hope Simmonds and Schenn turn out to be great players but I don't think they'll ever match Richards' intensity and desire to win when an important game is on the line.
__________________
"It has not been a good day. I lost my glasses early this morning and I had to go buy a pair of 79 dollar reading glasses today. 79 bucks. You can literally get them at Costco, three-for-20." - Darryl Sutter's response to going up 2-0 in the series.
I was mad a week ago...I'm still upset, but Jordan Nolan makes me feel a bit better.
Yep, Nolan and King look to have some upside. Richards can make them shine as long as they create some space for him - keeping him off the boards and getting crunched - and keep going to the net.
It was a surprising line. But it shows why Sutter is a much better coach than he's generally given credit for. He's not just a yeller...
And I think Schenn and Simmonds had too much upside to trade.
I'm pretty confident history will prove me correct.
I'm pretty confident you're wrong. They wouldn't have the seasons they are if they had a coach and personnel that was about defence first. Philly is slowly dropping in the standings after being top 3 all season to 4th right now, tied with Pitts who just got Staal back and 1 point up on NJ. It's all because the coach can't/won't make the players defensively responsible.
I'm pretty confident you're wrong. They wouldn't have the seasons they are if they had a coach and personnel that was about defence first. Philly is slowly dropping in the standings after being top 3 all season to 4th right now, tied with Pitts who just got Staal back and 1 point up on NJ. It's all because the coach can't/won't make the players defensively responsible.
At least they have a 31 year old Bryzgalov for another 8 seasons at $5.67 million per with a NMC.
I'm pretty confident you're wrong. They wouldn't have the seasons they are if they had a coach and personnel that was about defence first. Philly is slowly dropping in the standings after being top 3 all season to 4th right now, tied with Pitts who just got Staal back and 1 point up on NJ. It's all because the coach can't/won't make the players defensively responsible.
Philly didn't make the trade for this year. They got rid of Richards because they obviously felt he was expendable and they could be a better team without him (for a number of reasons).
In 2-3 years (if not sooner) this trade will swing HEAVILY in favor of Philly. If LA doesn't get to the SC finals in the next 2-3 years, the Richards window will close quickly. He is simply too frail and small to play the way he does after he hits 30. Meanwhile, Schenn and Simmonds will be in their primes.
Philly didn't make the trade for this year. They got rid of Richards because they obviously felt he was expendable and they could be a better team without him (for a number of reasons).
In 2-3 years (if not sooner) this trade will swing HEAVILY in favor of Philly. If LA doesn't get to the SC finals in the next 2-3 years, the Richards window will close quickly. He is simply too frail and small to play the way he does after he hits 30. Meanwhile, Schenn and Simmonds will be in their primes.
As usual, it sucks to be a Kings fan.
Schenn and Simmonds will be in their primes as far as age goes but you don't know what's going to happen in 2 or 3 years any more than I do. What I see is right now. Schenn has had 3 injuries already this year, foot, shoulder and concussion and was rocked by Kovalchuk in a fight. How do you know he's not going to be too injured to continue? If Laviolette puts in a more defensive game, their points will come down but will they suddenly become excellent defensive players? All I've seen out of almost every Philly forward is the ability to turn the puck over. Philly needs to employ a more defensive style of play because these 6-5 type of games aren't going to get them far come playoff time and that's from the goalies on out. We'll see how good the trade looks if Philly decides to dramatically change their system.
Philly didn't make the trade for this year. They got rid of Richards because they obviously felt he was expendable and they could be a better team without him (for a number of reasons).
In 2-3 years (if not sooner) this trade will swing HEAVILY in favor of Philly. If LA doesn't get to the SC finals in the next 2-3 years, the Richards window will close quickly. He is simply too frail and small to play the way he does after he hits 30. Meanwhile, Schenn and Simmonds will be in their primes.
As usual, it sucks to be a Kings fan.
Wrong.....look at the Flyers goals against , they'll be lucky to sneak into the post season. Our million $ goale is a head case and all our good Dmen are old or hurt..... the Flyers miss Pronger of course but they also miss Richie, way too many first year guys in the lineup without a true captain. Why Mike was ostricized here in Philly is beyond me.....just wait till the playoffs before you judge him.
How can you dispute the numbers? Combine Simmonds and Schenn stats then look at Richards? IT WAS NOT WORTH IT.
The Kings were not good enough to make that deal...now another season of barely squeaking in and Richards now turned 27.
If we were floating around 1-4 in the conference the past few years I would say make this deal, but we aren't and gave up significant assets.
Richards has still scored a higher percentage of the Kings goals than Simmonds. Why can't you see that the Kings score less than Philly? Simmonds only has 11 ES goals. Mike Richards has 10 ES goals and 2 SH goals. That's 12 to 11 without the PP goals.
... In 2-3 years (if not sooner) this trade will swing HEAVILY in favor of Philly. If LA doesn't get to the SC finals in the next 2-3 years, the Richards window will close quickly. He is simply too frail and small to play the way he does after he hits 30. Meanwhile, Schenn and Simmonds will be in their primes.
As usual, it sucks to be a Kings fan.
'member when Fleury, Oates, St. Louis, and Doug Gilmore were too frail and too small? M. Richards is bigger than any of them. Of course, he's got the concussion virus. I'm just saying he's won an awful lot of league championships. All of them but the Cup, right? So, he's got something big he still needs to add to the quiver. Let's add determination to the mix. Not quite as bad a bet as you spin.
How can you dispute the numbers? Combine Simmonds and Schenn stats then look at Richards? IT WAS NOT WORTH IT.
The Kings were not good enough to make that deal...now another season of barely squeaking in and Richards now turned 27.
If we were floating around 1-4 in the conference the past few years I would say make this deal, but we aren't and gave up significant assets.
Ridiculous argument is ridiculous. I don't care if you are dead last, if you can give up a decent prospect and a third liner for a top 15 center, and you need a center, you do it.
Simmonds has more goals than Kopitar single handedly, is he a better player? Should we trade Kopitar to the Flyers for Simmonds straight up? You sound like you belong to the Philly board because it is obvious your heart is there. You don't have to ache here when you can be happy there. You will never get him back. He will never play for the Kings again. The tears here won't change a thing. What are you going to do when Richards rebounds, proves that he isn't a 40 point player for the rest of his career, and that your 50 game sample size was negligent? If Richards rebounds after having spent only like 5% of his contract length here are you going to concede, only then, to not bring this up every single day?
, they'll be lucky to sneak into the post season. Our million $ goale is a head case and all our good Dmen are old or hurt..... the Flyers miss Pronger of course but they also miss Richie, way too many first year guys in the lineup without a true captain. Why Mike was ostricized here in Philly is beyond me.....just wait till the playoffs before you judge him. 
Why not just make a new thread every time Simmonds scores a goal? You post about it so much that it's borderline creepy.
