Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined SiriusXM NHL Network Radio with Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick and was asked what the Los Angeles Kings can do to improve their roster and turn things around.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Scott Laughlin: “Dave. The Los Angeles Kings. What do you make of the 0-4-2 start? They’re the only team that hasn’t won yet, and in some ways, it’s unfair because everybody else has played far more games than they have. They’ve only played six games so far. I know late last week they were apparently linked to (Connor) Hellebuyck, and I just look at what they’ve got to offer. I just don’t know that there’s enough there for Ken Holland to really get in seriously on Hellebuyck.
And then the second question would be: Can he score goals as well? Because it’s a team that’s only averaging 2.4 goals per game so far this season. What do you think about the Kings and where they’re at right now? Potential for this to go positive, or maybe even sideways here, and what Kenny Holland’s approach will be to try to improve his team. What do you think?”
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Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, it’s not the ideal start that the Kings and their fans anticipated this season. No question. Yeah, they’re struggling in the goaltending department. They checked in on Hellebuyck earlier on as the offseason progressed. They circled back recently, and just like they’ve circled back on (Dylan) Larkin, and they’ve circled on other players that are out there to see if maybe there’s going to be a fit.
I mean, yeah, goal scoring is a big issue, and not having Kevin Fiala in the lineup, and he’s out a few more weeks. I think two or three more weeks has definitely impacted their ability to spread their offence around because they’ve effectively been a one-line team. (Artemi) Panarin’s doing very well. (Adrian) Kempe is slow out of the gate. (Quinton) Byfield has not done anything that they expected them to do to start the season, so there certainly have been struggles.
They need these guys to get going defensively. There have been some question marks, and goaltending has been rough. Really, almost any area that Kenny Holland can try to improve, they’re gonna, he’s gonna look at it, and they’re gonna look at it to see if they can do something; it’s going to be interesting over this next little stretch here.
If they can’t pull off a couple W’s, the Kings don’t want to fall too far behind the eight ball because they anticipated being a playoff team again this season. So, especially with bringing in some veteran pieces, bringing in Peter Laviolette behind the bench, this is going to be interesting to see how they adjust with respect to the trade market.
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So I’m not necessarily anticipating them going out there and making multiple moves. They would have to basically, almost empty the cupboard in order to pull off a Hellebuyck-type trade or somebody of that ilk, star-level-wise, so I don’t know if that’s necessarily the primary objective, but they’re exploring.
They’re looking around the marketplace to see what options are available to them, and if they can find something that falls into their lap, Kenny Holland’s definitely going to try to do that.”
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