At some point DL is going to have to stop all of the public bashing. Dionne has gone on record via the Kings website and is in some ways a spokesperson for the Kings. Sutter has made three comments that were disrespectful to Kopitar as well. Make no mistake his comments were blatant disrespect whether it was intended or not. The structure of basically putting Lewis and Kopitar in the same breath was deliberate and well calculated. The mind games stop working after the first time and anything afterwards is simply disrespect.
In reality though Sutter has no room to speak. The Kings are statistically worse under him and they have the same win percentage as before. That means that if anything the players are carrying him. He has failed to bring anything to the table. There are no innovations that he has implimented unless his idea of public humiliation is a tactic.
Why doesn't he ever take any responsibility? Why doesn't he call out his golden boy Drew Doughty who in the last game had everything he touched turn to turd. He is known to have had his players and managers severely dislike him in the past and I'm starting to understand.
I can't say I agree with a single word you posted here. Terry Murray never held his star players accountable and look how far it led the Kings. Sutter called out Brown and Kopitar. One responded, one didn't.
Sutter doesn't need to sit there, hold hands with the players, and sing "Kumbaya." In fact, he tried the coddling approach (he was downright ridiculously positive, honestly) for his first 20 or so games with the Kings, and as you said, it didn't lead to amazing results. He only recently started publicly calling players out, and the team is playing some of it's best hockey in awhile.
And about Sutter taking responsibility: didn't he just recently admit he made a mistake in starting Quick against Colorado instead of Bernier? I'd say that's taking responsibility. Doughty has played some of his best hockey all season under Sutter, and you want him to be called out after one questionable game? Kopitar has been pretty invisible for the last couple months. There's a huge difference there.
And last but not least, I think you should go re-read former players' and co-workers' opinions of Sutter. Way more often than not, they're very effusive in their praise of him. Hell, Jarome Iginla gives Sutter major credit for making him the player he is now. That pretty much says it all. One thing you see the most is that they appreciate how honest he is. If you're doing a good job, he'll tell you. If you're not doing a good job, he'll tell you. He isn't only negative.
Kopitar isn't getting picked on here, IMO. He was still 3rd in TOI, barely behind Richards and Carter. They should have been sat after that shift, letting a guy streak down the wing like that right after a huge goal. The message was sent and Anze played more than any other forward in the 3rd.
This team was coddled under TM, well the stars were anyways. Most here complained about the double standards with players being held accountable, well this is what it's like when that's gone.
I can't say I agree with a single word you posted here. Terry Murray never held his star players accountable and look how far it led the Kings. Sutter called out Brown and Kopitar. One responded, one didn't.
Sutter doesn't need to sit there, hold hands with the players, and sing "Kumbaya." In fact, he tried the coddling approach (he was downright ridiculously positive, honestly) for his first 20 or so games with the Kings, and as you said, it didn't lead to amazing results. He only recently started publicly calling players out, and the team is playing some of it's best hockey in awhile.
And about Sutter taking responsibility: didn't he just recently admit he made a mistake in starting Quick against Colorado instead of Bernier? I'd say that's taking responsibility. Doughty has played some of his best hockey all season under Sutter, and you want him to be called out after one questionable game? Kopitar has been pretty invisible for the last couple months. There's a huge difference there.
And last but not least, I think you should go re-read former players' and co-workers' opinions of Sutter. Way more often than not, they're very effusive in their praise of him. Hell, Jarome Iginla gives Sutter major credit for making him the player he is now. That pretty much says it all. One thing you see the most is that they appreciate how honest he is. If you're doing a good job, he'll tell you. If you're not doing a good job, he'll tell you. He isn't only negative.
I can't say I agree with a single word you posted here. Terry Murray never held his star players accountable and look how far it led the Kings. Sutter called out Brown and Kopitar. One responded, one didn't.
Sutter doesn't need to sit there, hold hands with the players, and sing "Kumbaya." In fact, he tried the coddling approach (he was downright ridiculously positive, honestly) for his first 20 or so games with the Kings, and as you said, it didn't lead to amazing results. He only recently started publicly calling players out, and the team is playing some of it's best hockey in awhile.
And about Sutter taking responsibility: didn't he just recently admit he made a mistake in starting Quick against Colorado instead of Bernier? I'd say that's taking responsibility. Doughty has played some of his best hockey all season under Sutter, and you want him to be called out after one questionable game? Kopitar has been pretty invisible for the last couple months. There's a huge difference there.
And last but not least, I think you should go re-read former players' and co-workers' opinions of Sutter. Way more often than not, they're very effusive in their praise of him. Hell, Jarome Iginla gives Sutter major credit for making him the player he is now. That pretty much says it all. One thing you see the most is that they appreciate how honest he is. If you're doing a good job, he'll tell you. If you're not doing a good job, he'll tell you. He isn't only negative.
Anze has 9 points in the last 10. He has 3 to 1 takeaway to giveaway ratio and his credited hits have gone up by 20% over the past 15 games. What else does he or anyone else want out of him?
In regards to the Doughty comparison, I was talking about Sutter making an example out of the top line after one failed defensive play where an opposing player was cherry picking. Drew Doughty screwed the pooch over and over.
While Sutter was definately respected he was also known to be overly critical through the media and made far too many public scenes during games. Like I said, calling somebody out in the media may be worth a shot once, but to continually do so just makes him look like an ass.
Anze has 9 points in the last 10. He has 3 to 1 takeaway to giveaway ratio and his credited hits have gone up by 20% over the past 15 games. What else does he or anyone else want out of him?
In regards to the Doughty comparison, I was talking about Sutter making an example out of the top line after one failed defensive play where an opposing player was cherry picking. Drew Doughty screwed the pooch over and over.
While Sutter was definately respected he was also known to be overly critical through the media and made far too many public scenes during games. Like I said, calling somebody out in the media may be worth a shot once, but to continually do so just makes him look like an ass.
Don't agree.
Calling players out works (if they have a shred of dignity or heart). Kopitar was a Beast in the third after that Benching.
He played heavy D type minutes and shut down the Ducks he faced.
Kopitar seems like the type of guy you have to remind once in awhile ( hey pal you are playing like Sh^&*).
Murray would never do that. I hated his double standard accountability. Sutter so far doesn't have that problem.
If you are not playing well, Sutter will tell you. Sutter is using a Coaches only weapon's, Ice Time and criticism.
Kopitar is probably a little banged up right now. He took a couple big hits that looked scary, but he returned right away from. You don't get hit like that and just skate away undamaged. He's probably staying away from dirty areas a bit more now, but this is something that will need to be addressed even with a healthy Kopi to challenge him to take his game to that next level
It's about time that the coaches stopped coddling guys like Kopitar and Brown. Brown has finally responded after Murray got on certain players who looked critically at the whole and didn't focus enough on themselves, Penner is showing a pulse of late as well. After sitting out Clifford, I'd say he responded with a strong showing last night.
Kopitar needs to be challenged to bring out the best performance from him because he is known to fizzle out in the later stages of a season. Empty net goal aside, Kopitar was invisible for a majority of the night. And it's not just the points, it's about creating opportunities for yourself and your teammates, that is the responsibility of the center. He isn't being paid to be the next Mike Peca or Joel Otto.
Again, like I said in my OP, I am not an anti-Kopitar guy, I'm not hating, but I definitely think those who are trying to forgive away his performance this season are giving him too much of a free pass, especially with the heat Richards takes around here. The most common defense I have seen has to do with his point totals, which are heavily weighted in assists. On this Kings team, with Gagne out especially, Kopitar MUST be one of our top 2 or 3 GOAL scorers for this team to go anywhere. If Kopitar isn't putting the puck in the net, this team is not fully operational and firing on all cylinders.
That said, in my NHL 12 season, Penner has 34 goals.
Again, like I said in my OP, I am not an anti-Kopitar guy, I'm not hating, but I definitely think those who are trying to forgive away his performance this season are giving him too much of a free pass. The most common defense I have seen has to do with his point totals, which are heavily weighted in assists. On this Kings team, with Gagne out especially, Kopitar MUST be one of our top 2 GOAL scorers for this team to go anywhere. If Kopitar isn't putting the puck in the net, this team is not fully operational and firing on all cylinders.
That said, in my NHL 12 season, Penner has 34 goals.
kopitar has been our top goal scorer for most of the season.
kopitar has been our top goal scorer for most of the season.
I know, I didn't phrase my post very well there. He is one of our top goal scorers on a massively underachieving offensive team, so the thrust of my post was more to say that if he's not putting the puck in the net with more consistency. He had 1 goal in December and 3 in February. 6 of his 19 goals came in the first 4 weeks of the season. He's 62nd in the NHL in goals right now. Not as big of a deal now that we have Carter, but for our #1 goal scoring center, that's a bit alarming.
It was just too easy to forget them quickly, because there were no goals coming from them. In my opinion.
Not to change topics here but in my opinion this is also a good statement to describe the whole Mike Richards and Jeff Carter are busts yet it's only 3 game into the season thread. Their line had a number of good looks and good puck possession in those 3 games leading up to 5 points between the two party boys.
Moreso, let's just hope we can continue roll those 2 scoring lines that can not only create chances for themselves but capitalize on them as well; the opposing teams will have a tough time matching up as a result of it.
I think Sutter's criticism of Kopitar is warranted. All along people have been asking why the stars are not held accountable. Now that it is happening people want to question the methods the coach is using? I haven't seen anything that Sutter has said that is disrespectful of Kopitar or Brown.
Brown has responded well by going to the net and playing in the tough areas more frequently to score some big goals in the last few games. Kopitar for the most part has remained a perimeter player. That isn't going to be good enough for Sutter.
At some point DL is going to have to stop all of the public bashing. Dionne has gone on record via the Kings website and is in some ways a spokesperson for the Kings. Sutter has made three comments that were disrespectful to Kopitar as well. Make no mistake his comments were blatant disrespect whether it was intended or not. The structure of basically putting Lewis and Kopitar in the same breath was deliberate and well calculated. The mind games stop working after the first time and anything afterwards is simply disrespect.
In reality though Sutter has no room to speak. The Kings are statistically worse under him and they have the same win percentage as before. That means that if anything the players are carrying him. He has failed to bring anything to the table. There are no innovations that he has implimented unless his idea of public humiliation is a tactic.
Why doesn't he ever take any responsibility? Why doesn't he call out his golden boy Drew Doughty who in the last game had everything he touched turn to turd. He is known to have had his players and managers severely dislike him in the past and I'm starting to understand.
So wait, you don't like him calling out players, but you want him to call out Doughty?
It is definitely refreshing to have a coach that is willing to call any individual player on the roster out and make sure they are held accountable for their play.
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"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.
It is definitely refreshing to have a coach that is willing to call any individual player on the roster out and make sure they are held accountable for their play.
Again, like I said in my OP, I am not an anti-Kopitar guy, I'm not hating, but I definitely think those who are trying to forgive away his performance this season are giving him too much of a free pass, especially with the heat Richards takes around here. The most common defense I have seen has to do with his point totals, which are heavily weighted in assists. On this Kings team, with Gagne out especially, Kopitar MUST be one of our top 2 or 3 GOAL scorers for this team to go anywhere. If Kopitar isn't putting the puck in the net, this team is not fully operational and firing on all cylinders.
That said, in my NHL 12 season, Penner has 34 goals.
And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I'm a rocket Gann!
Rocket Gann burning out his fuse up here alone!
And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I'm a rocket Gann!
Rocket Gann burning out his fuse up here alone!
Hey, Kopi could have had 2 in the last game, only he just missed that rebound.
He still looks exhausted when he plays hockey, very rarely plays in the middle of the ice and isn't physical at all-those things won't go over well with Sutter. Kopi better step up his game or he might get sent to Columbus with Mr.Minus-it ain't cool to drive a Ferrarri in Columbus.
So wait, you don't like him calling out players, but you want him to call out Doughty?
No, I'm saying that he's taking it too far to the point of purposely trying to disrespect Anze or embarrass him. Like I said a few times, once can be a good strategy, but after a few times it's just a dick move to do it openly.
Anze has been a warrior. he's taken hits where we all knew he'd be out extended periods of time but he came back the next game. Trace the lack of aggresiveness and it was trace back to the game where he was laying motionless on the ice for 5 minutes. Guys like Heatley, Havlat, Jeff Carter, etc would pack it up and give themselves a few games vacation and nobody would question it. Heck, even Superman Chris Pronger has been questioned about if he needed to take games off.
