With one day to go, there was a thrilling race — close to a dead heat — in a certain category of our Kings fan survey 2.0.
Did it have to do with when the Kings might make the playoffs? Or if they should keep prized prospect Quinton Byfield in the NHL this upcoming season?
No.
The closest race had to do with a question about an article of clothing: Are you planning to purchase the new Kings reverse retro jersey?
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Early Tuesday morning, I was watching the results in real time and ‘No’ nudged ahead of ‘Yes,’ by 257 to 255. You can scroll to the bottom of this report to see the final results revealed.
Even though we conducted Kings survey 1.0 in April, there were plenty of new issues and questions to address. Since there haven’t been any Kings games played since March 11, it was quite easy to leave this one off about coaching — How would you rate Todd McLellan’s job performance?
(Bonus points for those who thought in the spring that the Kings’ seven-game winning streak would stay intact through the Christmas holidays.)
There were 537 responses logged. Note: Not everyone answered every single question. Many thanks for taking the time to have your say about the direction of the organization.
So let’s examine the results.
Ownership and management
The question about AEG’s stewardship was new, essentially replacing the one about coaching. The corporate giant earned high marks from Athletic subscribers, mostly excellent (31.2 percent) and good (50.5 percent).
Some history: In the NHL’s season-long lockout, 2004-05, then Kings GM Dave Taylor convinced owner Phil Anschutz of AEG not to restrict scouting budgets and the commitment paid off in a franchise-changing draft in 2005 when the Kings selected Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Quick.
Many organizations have been hit by job cuts during the pandemic, but the Kings’ scouting staff and hockey operations department have remained intact through the NHL’s long pause. The scouts are scouting … wherever they can find games.
The assessment of management continued to trend upward, a turnaround which seems to have largely started around the 2019 trade deadline.
In April, team president Luc Robitaille and general manager Rob Blake received an excellent rating of 14.1 percent, and the percentage jumped to 24.3 percent. The contributing factors would appear to be the success of the draft in October and the hiring of development whiz John Wroblewski to coach the Kings’ AHL team in Ontario.
Kings of the 2020 draft?
Giddy optimism wasn’t one of the options for an answer but it pretty much sums up how the fan base felt about the draft in October.
And, well, most of the answers came in before Gopher defenseman Brock Faber scored his first NCAA goal in Minnesota’s 4-1 victory against Ohio State on Monday. Faber, who was taken in the second round (No. 45) in the draft by the Kings, was set up on the goal by his D partner, Ryan Johnson, the son of Kings’ development coach Craig Johnson.
Those who thought the Kings draft was excellent or good combined for an impressive 96.7 percent approval rating. I’d be interested in hearing the reasoning from the two individuals who ranked the draft as terrible.
The kids are in good shape
The verdict was overwhelmingly positive.
You can understand why that is the case. In October, we projected a U23 roster for the Kings and these were the top 12 forwards:
Samuel Fagemo-Gabriel Vilardi-Rasmus Kupari
Alex Turcotte-Quinton Byfield-Arthur Kaliyev
Carl Grundstrom-Blake Lizotte-Tyler Madden
Jaret Anderson-Dolan-Lias Andersson-Akil Thomas
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The D pairs:
Tobias Bjornfot-Mikey Anderson
Kale Clague-Helge Grans
Kim Nousiainen–Brock Faber
Goal
Matt Villalta
Jacob Ingham
Playoffs next season?
Kudos to your consistency.
In April, 13.3 percent voted Yes.
In November, it was almost identical — 13 percent voted Yes.
Playoffs in two seasons?
This is where there was a noticeable difference from our last survey.
The optimism has surged with the Yes group — up to 78.8 percent in November.
They’ll definitely make the playoffs in the three seasons, right?
Have I mentioned how much I enjoy these pie charts? The Yes verdict: 97.7 percent.
Are you confident in the Kings’ strategy to rebuild around Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick as their cornerstones?
There were a lot of comments about this particular question.
-Travis B: “I said yes to that question only because I think it meant that Kopitar, Doughty, and Quick would all still be important members of the team when we’re back in the playoffs even though it used the word cornerstones. I think it’s realistic to expect Kopitar to be an elite 2C to 3C for 4-5 more years, and I think Doughty just needs motivation, still think he’s a No. 1D or top pairing minute-eater at minimum. Quick, on the other hand, will be a solid 1B which as we know is hugely important in today’s league.”
-Greg D: “For the record, I said yes to the Quick/Kopi/Doughty as cornerstone pieces, but I think the only true cornerstone in years to come from this group is Kopitar, while I hope the other two will still be here when we march back to the postseason. Doughty’s got an expensive contract that may make it hard to keep depth, and Quick is nearing the end of his run as the top goalie for LA (although I think/hope he re-signs at a lower cap hit to play 1B with Cal Petersen for two or three years).”
Keep Byfield in juniors
Patience prevailed in the survey. The Kings are still in a period of transition and could be playing in a shortened season. They shouldn’t make the mistake of rushing Byfield.
Kings fans are looking forward to seeing Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev
Now our question was worded slightly differently in April. Instead of “newcomer” it was “prospect.” In April, it came down to a close race between Alex Turcotte and Gabriel Vilardi with Turcotte prevailing by three votes.
This time, it was changed to “newcomer” to take the October draft into consideration and for two acquisitions made through trades — Andersson and Olli Maatta. Since Vilardi played 10 games this past season, he couldn’t exactly be called a newcomer.
Byfield prevailed by a substantial margin — 282 votes to Arthur Kaliyev’s 134.
Defensive upgrades still needed
One subscriber had a suggestion we will definitely consider for survey 3.0.
–Bobby P. “Wish there was an option for N/A on the question about which position I’m worried about. I feel like if many of the prospects continue to develop as planned, they’ll have a really solid roster top to bottom.”
Ease Cal Petersen into the starting role
The split of games between Quick and Petersen will be one of the most fascinating storylines of the upcoming season … whenever it occurs. Having said that, it will be more important than ever in a shortened season to have two capable goaltenders.
COVID-19 will impact a return to Staples Center for fans
The leading choice was after a vaccine was made available.
Bring back the Bailey costume
Who needs a cadre of high-priced consultants and marketing experts to figure out what to do when we have the input of 531 voters? In October, the organization terminated the job of Tim Smith, the Kings employee who wore the “Bailey” lion mascot, hence this question.
A very close Reverse Retro vote
And, finally, the most closely contested category.
No – 266
Yes – 264
(*Sorry, but there will be no recount.)
(Top photo: Mike Stobe / Getty Images)