Mid-December approval ratings

the most disturbing part of the whole game last night was the LGKs radio add claiming to be "the best King's website." What a joke! Now if we could just find a way to transfer some of our posters to their site and keep some of theirs off of this one, this site would be much better! Don't worry Rich - the "real" King's fans know which is the best site and you don't have to post pictures of your wife's roller hockey team, family fishing trips, or wasting money on PR to prove it.

I guess Anthony has not voted yet :)
100% with only 20 votes.
I will be happy if they finish the season at .500
A HUGE improvement, more fun to watch too!

I agree with the first-posted comment!
and the SECOND-posted comment!

I'm voted approve Lombardi and Dissaprove Murray.

Murray was a tough call. He has been very good in all things defensive aside from goaltending. However, he's be miserable at putting together good offensive lines. I like last nights lines but in game 28 of the season, it's about time. I know he needed time to get to know his players and such, but why not review some tape of last year and keep them in lines they are familiar with until he gets to know them and THEN makes some tweaks?

As far as goaltending goes, why play both goalies ten games in a row? Of course they are going to hit a wall. Maybe go with five game stretches for both twice...?

If we are pushing for a playoff spot at the end of the season we are going to look back at all these home games we played in Oct-Dec and wonder if we could have had a few more points out of them.

I think that he's on the right track now and hopefully we can see more tweaking of the lines and less 'shaking up'.

I hope that when Armstrong/Richardson come back, Moller can move up to Calders spot and we can ice a fourth line of Ivanans/Zeiler-Armstrong/Richardson-Calder.

I'd be curious to see how the poll results would have differed if this had been posted after the Colorado massacre. I'd be willing to bet that Murray's approval rating would have been lower following that game.

That's exactly the point I was going to make Fro...

Even still.. after that thrashing i still felt good about the team.

Personally I can't wait for JMFJ to get back... wondering how much impact that will have on the boys' game.

thanks FroFan, I was thinking the same thing...

Do I approve or disapprove of these polls being posted after a victory as opposed to a loss? LOL.

I really don't approve of much as it is still an inferior product on the ice, and in the building.

There's hope though... that I can see... just that it's tempered by the incredible parity throughout the league (save for San Jose, Detroit and I suppose to an extent Boston.)

I voted disapprove to both.
However, ask me again in a month or so and things might change.
If TM continues to coach the way he did last night, he'll get my approval.
DL, on the other hand has screwed this team over a bit too much. He'll never shine in my eyes.
You just can't finish 28 and 29th in the league and expect people to worship you.
And some his trades and most of his free agent signings - don't get me upset.

Ask after a 1 goal loss and you will have the true result.

My vote would be the same win or lose. Approve.

I have not been shy about criticizing this club and I do believe DL has made some costly mistakes. But right now, things are heading in the right direction. I love TM's coaching style. He's calm and thoughtful and a great fit for this young club. DL has made some moves that I didn't think would work out but have, despite his budget being slashed this past off season. For these reasons, and more, I approve. But that is a far, far cry from worshiping.

On the other hand, AEG could very easily swoop in and destroy it all.

Very high approval rating for both men. The Kings are playing much better this year compared to last year. We really are a young team now - third youngest in NHL. Despite a few really bad games and some inconsistency the team is improving its overall game as the season progresses.

And the thing I like the most - whatever aspect of the team's performance that needs to be addressed and improved upon at a given juncture is taken care of. The players are believing in themselves and working with a purpose and desire to get better.

We're no where near Stanley Cup contenders right now, but who cannot see and feel the makings of a very good team on a path that points to long term improvement and success.

I nearly hit approve for Lombardi, but will wait until the end of the season.
Why do we get this poll now? What's the milestone?
I've been really really critical of Lombardi and think he could have done a MUCH better job, but I like the "type" of players he's drafting - strong in all aspects of the game and they come with a spine. He's gotten some serendipitous help in the form of O'd and Quincey, plus he can't get too much credit for Doughty since it took a horrible season to get him, but I thought the team would struggle more and Moller and Simmonds alone are looking like solid, solid picks.

Murray I can't approve or dissaprove right now either. Again, why try to gauge the team after St. Louis comes in with so many injuries? As critical as I've been of his line combos and player management, it seems he's slowly going in a good direction. More Harrold on the PP, Purcell looks game and I thought he covered defensively well. Moller was good for the 4th line and allowed Murray the option of icing them more. But this game is one we should win, every night.
I'd vote dissaprove, but I don't know if this is all done with a plan for the future. If it's part of a psychological plot, I won't see it until it's working the team into a .700 record or better.
At the end of this day, it's too soon to tell.

ps - if dl can't handle AEG at this point, I'd say I dissaprove, because if they're going to screw with the guy, he should walk on them.

EAT THE RICH...I l very much agree with your PS comment about DL walking. But I believe there would be NO-ONE else out there who could build this team knowing what DL knows and the strategy he uses. AEG would just start all over again. I think the Sharks would have won a cup by now if they hadn't let DL go...plain and simple...he can build a great team...may take longer than anyone would like...but it will happen.

I think you just like to focus on the negative Anthony. Ok, so some of Lombardi's free agent signings haven't been the best. Handzus is starting to pay off. So is Preissing. You can't show me a GM in any league that hasn't made a bad free agent signing.

The fact is Lombardi has built a solid farm system in just a couple of years. The Kings have a ton of talent here in L.A., a bunch in Manchester, and a lot more in the pipeline. And the Kings have a lot of high round draft picks left, which he can use to trade for talent in a year or 2 to fill holes.

Is Dean Lombardi the best GM in the history of sports? Not even close. But he's one of the best in the history of the Kings.

May I please vote for both? Lombardi's drafting has been exceptional, his trades both good and bad and his track record in free agent signings has been completely abysmal.

Paul, I'm becoming more of a fan of Lombardi's players. Based on some of Kings history, I am very reticent to believe in players until I see them. Moller and Simmonds, if they're an indication of the types of players in this system I haven't seen (hickey/lewis/teubert/voinov/loktionov), are signs of good things to come.

One thing to keep in mind. WHo scored the goals last night?
Frolov - 1
Kopitar - 2
Brown - 3
I'd say Taylor's prospects were a little underrated because they were never "prospects" really, they pretty much stepped right in and they're the elites of this team.

2 words: Kyle Quincey

Well, with 97% and 89% approval ratings (after about 1000 votes) for DL and TM, respectively, one conclusion can definitively be made:

the DL and TM bashers here are in a VERY small minority

That is so funny! After all the whining and people crucifying Murray, a lopsided vote of approval. Just goes to show, some people have nothing else to complain about. Clearly this team is alot better then most of us thought they would be, murray isnt perfect but has done just a good job as anyone else who could have been available...... More so then good coaching, I thought our captains did a nice job after the ass-whoopin against colorado. I think we will learn this year and make the playoffs next year. Quispy you said you thought that this defense would be this good. You might have thought they would be decent, but NOBODY thought they would be this good!....so far, knock on wood. Go KINGS

3 wins against teams currently in the playoffs.
3 wins against teams above us in the standings but not in playoff position.
6 wins against division rivals St. Louis(3), Dallas(2), and Columbus(1) all currently within 2 points of catching LA.
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Out of a total of 28 games.
I can't approve of that just yet.

4thlinechecker, re "Quispy you said you thought that this defense would be this good. You might have thought they would be decent, but NOBODY thought they would be this good!"

What I said was, I thought they would be better than last year by every conceivable yardstick and as a result the Kings have a shot at the playoffs. Here's the link to the whole discussion, from August 22:

http://www.insidesocal.com/kings/2008/08/pick-the-defensemen-for-real.html#comments

I would also point out that making the playoffs means 93 points or more. They're on a pace for 82 points.

There was also another thread where I suggested that the Kings needed to get their GAA down to below 2.75 (down from 3.25) if they were going to make the playoffs, and I was pointed at with derision. Where are the GAAs right now? Ersberg 2.48, JLB 2.75, team 2.85 (a little higher because it includes empty net goals and is calculated as goals against per game -- not factoring in OT -- and not goals per 60 minutes). Will they keep this up? Who knows. But again, I did say it was doable. And they do appear to be doing it.

I still would like to see Lewis, Clune and Bernier. Wait, I just realized Anthony asked me a question in another thread about where would those players fit if they were called up...Okay, where was that?

If you factor their home and road records, they're on pace for 74-74 points.

should read 74-75

4thlinechecker
Judging by the voting, it sems the majority of people who read this blog are the silent majority. The minority just like to continue to post the doomsday scenarios.

I voted approval for both DL and TM.
DL has this organization on the cusp of being elite. It all depends on the guys he's drafted. So far from what I've seen (Moller, Simmonds, Doughty)I have no reason to doubt his drafting ability. We're not going to become elite by signing free agents. If you don't have the homegrown talent, you can't succeed long term in this league.
Also A+++++ for the move on picking up Quincey. I don't care whether we were the 1st ones to have a shot at him or not, it was a brilliant move. I can't believe Detroit gave up on this guy. I realize that they are as deep as any org in the league, but you dump this guy as opposed to Lilja? Their mistake is our gain.

TM has done a good job of teaching the players to buy into a defensive first system. It seems like all the players are on board with it and we've seen some success. A lot more than we saw last year or years prior.
One way I judge this team is..going into a game, does anyone feel we have no shot to win the game? That's a far cry from last season when we knew on many nights that we weren't going to win.
I'm not as concerned as some people about the line combos. It's all a work in progress. We haven't even reached the half way point of the season.
Quick thought about someone who mentioned with the line combos that TM should have looked at the film from last season....I would have hoped that the tapes would have been burned. We were terrible last year. Why would we want similar line combos that were being used last year. If anything, I think he was right in trying out different combos for that reason alone.

I approved both. The expectations were lowered this season and they have arguably worse roster than last year so to be hovering around .500 is a drastic improvement in my eyes. However, I understand as close as we are to a playoff spot, we are just as close if not closer, to the Western Conf cellar.

DL was given a rebuilding project and TM was given a "learn to play" defense project. Both projects take time. Teams win with defense which DL has stocked the cupboard with and TM is trying to implement. Yes, we sacrifice offense but these things take time. It is not like flipping a switch.

However, the constant line juggling is really starting to get to me. It seems like with guys like Andy Murray, Marc Crawford and now Terry Murray, we do not get a consistent set of lines. I am all for spreading out the offense but maybe we need to give the guys time to get familiar with each other.

Not all teams can make a dramatic turnaround the way PHI did by trading away Forsberg and then spending to the cap with gi-normous contracts. They are an exception, not the rule.