Could Dodgers’ Mookie Betts lead majors in hits, runs and walks?

• May 5, 2024

LOS ANGELES — It’s a trifecta that hasn’t been accomplished since 1876 when Ross Barnes led MLB in runs, hits and walks over a 66-game schedule for the Chicago White Stockings.

But Mookie Betts entered Saturday first in hits, second in runs scored (behind Ronald Acuna Jr.) and tied for first in walks (with Juan Soto).

That Betts, a former batting champion (2018), could lead the majors in hits is not hard to imagine. That he could also lead in runs scored (he has led his league three times) with Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith batting behind him is certainly conceivable.

But how is the player batting in front of two-time MVP Ohtani (who led the majors in OPS and the American League in home runs last season) leading the majors in walks?

“That’s a great question,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.

“I don’t think it is intentional that pitchers want to walk him. I think he has a really good eye coupled with really good bat-to-ball skills so he can spoil some really good pitches and buy himself another pitch and then they don’t execute.”

Betts said he was unaware of his walk total. But it didn’t make sense to him either that pitchers were putting him on base so frequently with Ohtani looming on deck.

“That sounds weird. That sounds really weird,” Betts said. “I didn’t know (that he led the majors in walks). … It’s just being the best I can be, trying to get a good pitch to hit. That’s only right now. It’s just a month in. A lot of things change obviously. But right now it’s helping us win ballgames.”

Betts’ willingness to take so many walks is just another facet of an MVP-caliber start to his season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. And Roberts doesn’t think Ohtani’s presence behind him in the lineup is a factor one way or the other, saying that is “overplayed” in discussing lineup construction.

“Because the pitchers, certainly in Mookie Betts’ case, are going to attack him and try to get him out the best way they can, regardless of who’s hitting behind him,” Roberts said. “So for Mookie to value the on-base, controlling the strike zone, which we talk about, speaks to when it’s in the strike zone, he’s getting hits. And when it’s not, he’ll take his walk.

“A couple things (are factors in his walk total). He posts. He plays every day. He’s at the top of the order, and he just conducts professional at-bats. And that’s a perfect recipe for an MVP-type player.”

PORSCHE PLAN

As Shohei Ohtani neared his franchise record for the most home runs hit by a Japanese-born player, Roberts joked that Ohtani should gift him a Porsche when he breaks the record – as Ohtani gifted Joe Kelly’s wife for her support in getting uniform number 17 (previously Joe Kelly’s number).

Ohtani tied Roberts when he hit his seventh home run of the season last weekend in Toronto and Saturday he presented Roberts with a brand new Porsche.

“It’s on my desk as we speak,” Roberts said.

The gift was a miniature, toy version of a Porsche Taycan.

“So I can’t say he never gave me anything,” Roberts said.

Ohtani is a brand ambassador for Porsche Japan.

COMING SOON

Right-hander Blake Treinen has completed his rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City and joined the Dodgers for the weekend series against the Atlanta Braves. Roberts said it looks “promising” that Treinen could be activated from the Injured List on Sunday.

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Treinen has not pitched in a major-league game since Sept. 2022. He underwent shoulder surgery that November and missed all of the 2023 season (though he made three appearances in the minor leagues on a rehab assignment). He was set to open the season on the Dodgers’ active roster this spring but was struck by a line drive during a Cactus League game in the final days of spring training.

ALSO

Outfielder Jason Heyward took batting practice on the field with the team during Saturday’s pre-game workout. It was Heyward’s first time hitting on the field since he went on the IL with a lower back strain. He hasn’t played since March 30.

UP NEXT

Braves (LHP Max Fried, 2-0, 4.02 ERA) at Dodgers (LHP James Paxton, 3-0, 3.51 ERA), Sunday, 1:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA, 570 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Why a bountiful fruit tree in your garden is a delight until it isn’t

• May 4, 2024

Q. About 3 1/2 years ago we planted a Fuyu Persimmon tree from a local nursery near Moreno Valley. It grew rather quickly, and last year, there was a large quantity of beautiful, tasty persimmons. However, the yield was heavy enough that a couple of the larger branches broke off. Toward the end of the season, we tied up some of the branches to the stake. Now, this year, over the early spring, most of the upper branches are brittle, gray, and frankly, dead. To my surprise, there is one healthy-looking tree stem with green leaves low on the tree where it bifurcates into branches. Everything above appears to be dead. Should I cut back everything above the green stem and wait a couple of years to see if it returns, or just remove the tree and bid it adieu? 

Most fruit trees, persimmons included, can end up overbearing once they approach maturity. This might seem like a good thing since you’re getting a lot of fruit. The problem is that the fruit may not be the highest quality since the tree has only so much energy to put into fruit production. Fruit can end up being smaller and not as sweet as it could be. Another issue is branch breakage, which is what you’ve found out.

Thinning fruit may be tedious, but it is essential for your tree’s health. Once the flowers are gone and you see itty bitty fruit, go ahead and start pulling them off. Be ruthless! Leave at least 6 inches (and preferably more) between each fruit. This will take several passes since there’s always one or two branches that get missed.

If an overloaded branch breaks, but the fruit is nearly ripe, sometimes you can salvage the fruit by propping up the branch. Hopefully there’s enough energy in the leaves and branch to allow the fruit to ripen. If not, well, it was worth a shot. Once the fruit has been harvested, remove the broken branch.

In your case, it sounds like there was considerable damage to most of the branches. The low branch may produce fruit eventually, but it is likely to be coming from the rootstock. I recommend removing this tree and replacing it.

Q. At what point should tree stakes be removed? I’ve seen some trees in my neighborhood that are pretty big but are still staked.

Trees should be loosely staked when they’re young and newly planted. Allowing the tree some sideways movement will make the trunk thicker and stronger so it can stand up without help after a year or two. If the trunk is bigger than the stakes, or if the stakes have been pulled up out of the ground by the tree, it’s time to remove them.

Los Angeles County

[email protected]; 626-586-1988; http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/

Orange County

[email protected]; http://mgorange.ucanr.edu/

Riverside County

[email protected]; https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiversideMG/

San Bernardino County

[email protected]; 909-387-2182; http://mgsb.ucanr.edu

​ Orange County Register 

Mystik Dan wins Kentucky Derby in 3-horse photo finish

• May 4, 2024

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby in a three-horse photo finish, edging out Sierra Leone by a nose with Forever Young third in the tightest finish since 1996 on Saturday.

Sent off at 18-1 odds, Mystik Dan and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. rode the rail down the stretch with a short lead. Sierra Leona, the second choice at 9-2 odds, and Forever Young from Japan gave chase and pressured the leader to the wire in front of 156,710 at Churchill Downs.

The crowd waited several minutes before the result was reviewed by the stewards and declared official.

“The longest few minutes of my life,” Hernandez said, after he and bay colt walked in circles while the stunning result was settled.

Fierceness, the 3-1 favorite, finished 15th in the field of 20 3-year-olds.

Hernandez and trainer Kenny McPeek had teamed for a wire-to-wire win in the Kentucky Oaks for fillies on Friday with Thorpedo Anna.

Mystik Dan ran 1¼ miles in 2:03.34 and paid $39.22, $16.32 and $10.

Sierra Leone returned $6.54 and $4.64. Forever Young was another nose back in third and paid $5.58 to show.

Sierra Leone lugged in and bumped Forever Young three times in the stretch, but jockey Ryusei Sakai didn’t claim foul.

More to come on this story.

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​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: Kings apparently will keep GM Rob Blake, but at what cost?

• May 4, 2024

Here’s one problematic aspect of promoting a great player to a key management position with the team for which he starred. When he screws up, his retired number suddenly looks awfully dingy.

Right now, Rob Blake’s No. 4 in the Crypto.com Arena rafters is a reminder less of his days as the Kings’ rock-solid defenseman than of a flurry of executive mistakes – including one big whopper – that has set his franchise back significantly and for a while appeared to put his own job as general manager in jeopardy.

For a few days this week, it seemed a matter of time before Blake and interim head coach Jim Hiller would be let go, following a third consecutive playoff flameout against the Edmonton Oilers. But more recently, as beat writer Andrew Knoll indicated, rumblings surfaced that Blake, who has one more year on his contract, would hold onto his job. The Kings’ announcement that Blake would hold a postseason media session Monday afternoon seemed to put the speculation to rest.

Honestly, I need to hear compelling reasons for Blake to stay one more year. Lots or reasons to dump him now. One more year = short-term decision making when we’re at least 3 years from being Cup contender. Cap crunched.

— Eric Swenson (@EricWSwenson) May 4, 2024

That figures to be as unpopular with a large segment of Kings fans as the Lakers’ uncoupling of head coach Darvin Ham on Friday was popular with that team’s partisans. Blake’s future job security might hinge on his ability to negotiate a buyout with Pierre-Luc Dubois and reverse the acquisition of last summer that turned into an albatross.

To recap: Blake sent Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari and a 2024 second-round pick to Winnipeg for Dubois – a player who had been unhappy in both of his previous stops, Columbus and Winnipeg – and then signed him to an eight-year, $65 million contract ($8.85 million average annual value).

RELATED: Kings’ Pierre-Luc Dubois dilemma: buying in or buying out?

The return on investment: 16 regular-season goals and 24 assists (after Dubois had amassed 302 points the previous six seasons), a minus-9 in 5-on-5 situations during the regular year, and one lonely, solitary, meaningless goal in Game 1 against Edmonton. The team’s highest-paid player was the fourth-line center by Game 4, and that was on merit. Most of the season, Dubois seemed to be coasting whenever he was on the ice.

By the way, a footnote: Vilardi scored 22 goals in 47 games this season for Winnipeg and was a plus-11, while Iafallo had 11 goals and 27 points and was a plus-14 while playing all 82 games.

But this was just the latest in a series of brow-furrowing Blake moves. Forget trying to manipulate the cap through Long Term Injured Reserve as the Vegas Golden Knights have done the past two years to provide reinforcements for the playoffs, when teams don’t have to observe the cap. The Kings couldn’t even adequately shop for reinforcements at the trade deadline because they had little room. (Right now, according to Spotrac, they have $23.6 million in cap space – but they have only 11 players under NHL contracts, including Dubois. None are goaltenders.)

Blake replaced Dean Lombardi as the team’s top hockey operations executive in April 2017, and by the 2018-19 season had launched a rebuild. Three years in, he started pushing his chips to the middle of the table with the hope of maximizing the remaining seasons of Anže Kopitar and Drew Doughty, the last men standing from the team’s Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014.

Blake acquired Kevin Fiala from Minnesota in 2022 for defenseman Brock Faber, a second-round pick in 2020 who was a regular for the Wild this year as a rookie and is a Calder Trophy finalist. (Fiala had 29 goals in the regular season this year … but one in the Edmonton series, in Game 2).

And Blake mismanaged the Kings’ goaltending situation. He gave a three-year $15 million extension to Cal Petersen, who then spent most of the 2022-23 season in the minors and was traded to Philadelphia last June along with Sean Walker. And he traded Jonathan Quick, the backstop for L.A.’s two Cup winners, to Columbus in March 2023. Quick, no longer in his prime, was flipped to Vegas and won a third ring as a backup with the Golden Knights, and he has performed well with the Rangers as a backup this year and has a chance to win a fourth ring.

Successful playoff teams need a goalie who can steal a game when necessary, as Quick did so often during the Kings’ run as an elite team. Neither Cam Talbot or David Rittich could do so this spring, though Rittich’s effort in Game 4 against Edmonton foundered only because his team couldn’t score.

As for the next generation, a number of Kings prospects – including Samuel Fagemo (43 goals in the AHL), Akil Thomas and Brandt Clarke – are currently in the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs with the Ontario Reign. But as for a massive infusion of youth, or another full-on rebuild? No thanks, Kopitar and Doughty said in their sessions with reporters Friday in El Segundo.

“I don’t think I have time for retooling now,” said Kopitar, who indicated he intends to play through the final two years of his contract. “If we go into a full rebuild, it’s not something that I want. There’s some pieces that are obviously very useful here. And we got to build on that and build around it and … (get) that culture back and mentality and, and yes, push forward.”

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Doughty, who has three years left on an eight-year, $88 million deal signed in 2019, concurred: “I have no interest in that. I don’t think that’s even necessary to think about, to be honest with you. Do not want to go down that road.”

So here we are. Blake helped get the Kings into this mess. Can he be trusted to get them out of it? Given that the alternative is apparently unpalatable to team president and former teammate Luc Robitaille and/or his boss, AEG chief executive officer Dan Beckerman, there doesn’t seem much choice.

If you’re a Kings fan, that should be unsettling news. That No. 4 in the rafters gets dingier by the day.

[email protected] 

​ Orange County Register 

Ex-Chapman Law dean John Eastman suspended from practicing law in D.C.

• May 4, 2024

Ex-Chapman Law dean and Trump advisor John Eastman was temporarily suspended from practicing law in the District of Columbia in response to a similar order made by the California State Bar Court in late March, according to court documents.

The temporary suspension would remain in effect until a disposition is reached in the California State Bar Court case, District of Columbina Court of Appeals Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby wrote Friday, May 3.

Eastman was ordered to be put on inactive enrollment by California State Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland, who also recommended in court documents in late March that he be disbarred and taken off the roll of attorneys for knowingly making false claims about the 2020 election. He was put on inactive enrollment a short time later.

Eastman filed a motion in an attempt to lift his suspension, but that motion was rejected by Roland on May 1. In her ruling, Roland wrote that the recommendation of disbarment was made “in part to safeguard the public.”

In denying Eastman’s motion, Roland said he had failed to demonstrate he was no longer a threat to the public.

Eastman, in late April, was indicted along with several others by an Arizona grand jury for their roles in the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Though his and former Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani’s names were redacted, they were identifiable in the indictment.

In court documents filed in the California State Bar Court case, Eastman said upholding the ruling would be harmful to his clients by “depriving them of the breadth and depth of Dr. Eastman’s knowledge and prowess as a zealous advocate,” and would lead to his inability to make a living.

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​ Orange County Register 

LA County Fair 2024: 12 outrageous foods to tempt, or test, your taste buds

• May 4, 2024

Pucker up, LA County Fair visitors. Food vendors are getting creative with dill pickles this year.

Dominic Palmieri, who oversees several food stands and is known as the Midway Gourmet, said he started to experiment with them about three years ago and is seeing customer interest grow.

“We’re seeing a lot of pickle stuff on social media,” he said. “Sometimes we feel like we’re ahead of the trends, because we have a lot of exposure when we’re at a fair. We’ll see things start to happen and say that looks good, but we can make it better.”

The result is the dill pickle split — like a banana split but with a pickle instead of a banana — one of the wild and wacky foods you’ll find at the Fairplex in Pomona during the fair’s opening weekend. You’ll also find hot honey and mores spicy sweets.

Related links

LA County Fair 2024: Wild new foods, dining discounts and more
LA County Fair returning with retro-themed fun and classic games too
LA County Fair 2024 concert series: An eclectic musical dozen
LA County Fair 2024: Adventures in Southern California fun, food and culture
LA County Fair 2024: Livestock competition back in operation

Most specialty items run $10-$20 throughout the fair, but  all concessions will have fixed-price value items on their menus for $9.50.

Here are a few items you’ll find at the fair that you’re unlikely to find elsewhere, at least in one place.

Dill pickle split

What: A dill pickle is split down the middle and topped with three swirls of pineapple whip and strings of sour spaghetti candy with a chamoy stick and umbrella toothpick for good measure. It looks surprisingly like a banana split but the best way to eat it is to eat the pickle with your fingers, dipping it in the whip.

Find it: Pineapple Whip stand in the Fun Zone.

Candied Pickle and Candied watermelon slice

What: Palmeri continues with the pickle theme with a giant pickle that’s cored out and stuffed with sour spaghetti candy, wrapped in a fruit roll-up and dusted with Tajin seasoning and Chamoy Sauce. The watermelon slice is also wrapped in fruit rolls and seasoned with Tajin.

Find it: Cowboy Kettle Corn, Downtown Fairplex

Hot honey funnel cake chicken sandwich

What: Charlie Boghosian, the force behind the Chicken Charlie’s stands, has been blowing fairgoers’ minds since be came up with deep-fried Oreos in the late ’90s.

This year’s creation, fried chicken between funnel cake, is a collision of flavors.

“The funnel cake complements the chicken, because you have sweet and savory. And now we’re throwing in a little sweet and spicy,” he said at a preview on Wednesday while he drizzled hot honey over the sandwich.

“It’s not spicy like you’re going to cry, it’s spicy like it’s good,” he added.

His stands are also bringing back hits from years past, including 2022’s Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Potstickers and bacon-wrapped pickles.

Find it: Chicken Charlie’s, across from the Grandstand and a giant inflatable Baby Yoda, and Clock Tower Plaza, Broadway and Palm.

Peaches and Cream Funnel Cake

What: This is a more traditional way to experience funnel cake, topped with peaches and whipped cream that’s dusted with sugar and cinnamon.

Find it: Dutchman Funnel Cakes, Fun Zone.

Nashville Chicken Tots

What: Palmieri’s big debut at his Biggy’s stand this year features fried chicken on a bed of buttery garlic tater tots with dill pickle slices for good measure.

Find it: Biggy’s, Fun Zone.

Pretzel Bombs

What: These snacks feature a substantial amount of meat baked into pretzel dough. The result is a dark brown orb that looks a little like a miniature Civil War cannon ball. Choices include pulled pork, chicken, and beef.

Find it: Dough Spot, Downtown Fairplex neighborhood.

Ramen Taco

What: Kung Pao beef, slaw and red onions fill a ramen shell.

Find it: Building 4, Downtown Fairplex.

Thummer Candied Apple

What: This sweet treat is a Granny Smith apple decorated to resemble Thummer, a hitchhiking pig that has been the fair’s mascot since 1948. Thummer has a marshmallow nose and gumdrop ears.

Find it: Terri’s Berries, Clock Tower Plaza.

Doughnut chicken sandwich

What: Double-dredge chicken served between two hot doughnuts made on the premises with warm icing. You’ll want to bring moist towelettes for this one.

Find it: Get Fried, Fun Zone.

Big Stick and pork belly tacos

What: A 30-inch skewer is filled with pork sausage links, chunks of pork belly and a bread roll for good measure. The street tacos are more conventional but loaded with meat that’s smoked for two hours and topped with salsa verde, onion and cilantro.

Find it: Bubba’s Pork Belly Tacos, Downtown Fairplex.

LA County Fair

Where: Fairplex, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona.

When: May 3-27

Hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, plus Memorial Day, May 27.

Tickets: $15-$25 for adults; $10-$12 for children 6-12 years and seniors 60-plus in advance. Tickets at the gate are $30, $15 for children and seniors. Parking is $22 online, $25 at the gate. RV parking is $40.

Payment: Parking, admission and concert box office payments are cashless. Advance online purchases are cheaper than gate prices.

Information: lacountyfair.com

​ Orange County Register 

Angels’ Amir Garrett has new mindset in hopes of career rebound

• May 4, 2024

CLEVELAND — After he was released by a third team within a year, Amir Garrett was pitching in Triple-A with the Angels when he got some career-altering advice from an old friend.

Garrett, a 32-year-old left-hander who broke in the majors as Joey Votto’s teammate with the Cincinnati Reds, said Votto gave him the message he needed to hear last month.

“You’re too good not to be in the big leagues,” Votto told Garrett.

Votto went further and told Garrett that he needed to stop pitching defensively.

“Don’t be scared to get hit,” Votto told him. “Throw the ball over the plate like I’ve seen you at your best. The way you attack hitters, not a lot of damage is going to get done. Just trust your stuff.”

After an early outing for Salt Lake City in which he issued three walks, Garrett proceeded to issue just one walk in his next six innings, with seven strikeouts. He did not allow a run.

That earned Garrett a promotion to the Angels, and he has not allowed a run in his first three games in the majors. He has struck out five and walked two in 2 2/3 innings.

“Nothing is finished,” Garrett said. “It’s still a work in progress. I’m just going to keep that mindset that I had.  And I’m going to go out and try to put zeroes as much as I can for this team.”

At his best, Garrett was a dominating reliever who threw in the high 90s and struck more than a batter per inning. As recently as last season, he had a 3.33 ERA with the Kansas City Royals, but he was released by the Royals last summer. The Cleveland Guardians signed him and released him without bringing him to the majors. He was in spring training with the San Francisco Giants, but released before opening day.

Garrett said his slider, which is his signature pitch, is never good in spring training, and the Giants didn’t have the patience to wait.

The Angels then gave him another chance.

“It’s been a long journey for me to get back here,” Garrett said. “I felt like I was I was in a good space (at Salt Lake). I felt like I was back to my old dominant self when I was in Cincinnati. And I feel that I’m even better than that right now. I think I’m in a good spot right now, in a really good spot.”

LOOKING BETTER

Left-hander José Suarez gave the Angels reason for hope when he pitched two scoreless innings, with three strikeouts, at the end of Friday’s 6-0 victory over the Guardians.

Suarez brought a 10.13 ERA into the game. The Angels hung with him because they believed they would lose him to another team if they put him on waivers.

Suarez said he adjusted his mechanics to make sure he’s moving straight toward the plate. He said he’d been moving side to side too much. His fastball velocity also ticked up slightly during Friday’s game.

“I felt great last night,” Suarez said. “That was my stuff. That’s how I want to be … Yesterday was 100%. I feel like I can fight right now.”

Manager Ron Washington said he was encouraged that Suarez showed some tangible improvements.

“I thought he had more oomph on his fastball,” Washington said. “The breaking balls that he threw, he put them in a good spot. Threw some good changeups. So he’s getting his feel back for his pitches. If he can continue to get the feel for his pitches, he could be a tremendous weapon for us.”

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NOTES

Luis Rengifo was out of the lineup Saturday because he had been feeling sick, Washington said. …

Brandon Drury returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games with headaches and a stiff neck, the result of a dive in Tuesday’s game.

UP NEXT

Angels (RHP Griffin Canning, 1-3, 7.45) at Guardians (RHP Carlos Carrasco, 1-2, 6.59) at Progressive Field, 10:40 a.m. PT Sunday, Bally Sports West, 830 AM.

​ Orange County Register 

Kings’ Pierre-Luc Dubois dilemma: buying in or buying out?

• May 4, 2024

EL SEGUNDO –– Of the myriad quandaries the Kings will confront this summer, the most significant might be their decision regarding underperforming pivot Pierre-Luc Dubois.

That conundrum joins calls about the coaching staff, team management and on-ice system, but a determination on Dubois carries temporal urgency as well as weighty long-term impact.

Dubois signed an eight-year, $68 million contract last June amid trade negotiations that sent him to the Kings from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for three players and a draft pick. Dubois had scored 60 or more points during his prior two seasons in Winnipeg, and the Kings touted him as a dynamo with offensive runway along with potential to round out his defensive game.

Instead, Dubois turned in a vastly substandard 40 points and a minus-9 rating on a team with a +41 goal differential, all with low intensity, particularly so in high-stakes contests.

While, technically, he played all 82 matches plus five in the playoffs, by his own admission he performed to his capability “some nights, some games and some spurts throughout the season.”

Today, the Kings find themselves in, effectively, a now-or-never position to buy Dubois out and get a mulligan on a contract that paid him like an ascending talent, only to see him nosedive in the regular season and remain a complete non-factor in a postseason during which he was billed as a difference-maker until the bitter end.

If the Kings buy Dubois out before his 26th birthday June 24, they’ll be responsible for one third of the remaining salary due to him, stretched across 14 seasons. Per Capfriendly, that sets them up with a modest cap hit for nine of the next 14 years (ranging from $1.13 million to $1.63 million), with the other five seasons’ penalties falling between $2.53 million and $3.82 million. On or after June 24, that cost will double, and there’s an element of suspense since the buyout period won’t open until the Stanley Cup is awarded, a date that could be as late as – you guessed it – June 24.

“I can’t [think about being bought out or traded]. It’s out of my control,” Dubois said. “I’m a firm believer in ‘everything happens for a reason.’”

The reasons Dubois landed such a lucrative contract or in Los Angeles to begin with were nebulous. A team that was deep down the middle with Anže Kopitar, Phillip Danault, 2020’s No. 2 overall selection Quinton Byfield, spark plug Blake Lizotte and lottery pick Alex Turcotte had spoken of needing defensive depth, goaltending, finishing and toughness before abruptly prioritizing yet another centerman over those needs. For next season, they have exactly zero goalies with NHL experience under contract, yet they’re married contractually to Dubois for seven more campaigns.

Nonetheless, he’d been coveted by his prior teams: The Columbus Blue Jackets selected him third overall in the 2016 draft and, when he shamelessly forced a trade to Winnipeg, Columbus netted a prolific winger (Patrik Laine) and a former first-rounder (Jack Roslovic). Yet after Dubois wanted yet another change of scenery, a situation that created burdensome strain in the Jets’ dressing room, there were Rob Blake, Luc Robitaille and Marc Bergevin, mortgaging the franchise with old chum Pat Brisson’s client, Dubois, a player that was still hyped on potential entering the seventh season of his NHL career.

Kopitar and Danault said they tried to comfort Dubois amid a campaign that saw him promoted, demoted, coddled, chastised and otherwise be the focus of gimmick after gimmick, none of which engendered any enduring improvement.

“He didn’t want to talk too much about it, because he knew he had a tough year. In his case, it was harder, because it was a new contract – a big one – and it brought lots of expectations, so it was a very hard year, mentally,” Danault said.

Although Dubois did not “come in and dominate” as Robitaille predicted before the season and even after 82 largely hapless contests, interim coach Jim Hiller – the front-office’s belly flop was a significant factor in the midseason dismissal of Hiller’s previously secure predecessor, Todd McLellan – doubled down on Dubois.

“We’re expecting big things. We’re expecting him to be great,” Hiller said. “We talk about the passion, the size, the energy, the physicality and all those things that get increased in the playoffs, he has all those qualities and we’re expecting him to bring them.”

Dubois responded to those plaudits with one impossibly fortuitous goal, zero shots on net in the three losses that wrapped up the fleeting five-game series and underlying playoff numbers that were nothing short of atrocious, despite matching up against mostly bottom-six forwards and the offensive-oriented Edmonton Oilers’ third defensive pairing. Dubois finished last among a lackluster group of Kings forwards in at least four major possession metrics: Corsi, Fenwick, shots-for and expected-goals-for percentages.

“He would be the first one to tell you that it wasn’t the year that he wanted to have,” Kopitar offered in a euphemism of epic proportions. “It was also a new environment and everything. Yes, we brought him in to put us over the edge, obviously that didn’t happen, but he’s not the only reason why this didn’t work out.”

For Dubois, the same breakup-day setting offered him a chance to alternate between two at-times-difficult-to-reconcile phrases, “It’s on me” and “it’s out of my control.”

He could not control how he was deployed, where he was placed on the power play, that the Kings made a coaching change, that he moved from center to wing and back while playing on all four lines or that he required a juvenile “points system” to reward him for non-statistical achievements (something that apparently worked, as arguably his least unsettling output came during that period).

His responses Friday constituted a respectable effort from a man who has always seemed charming on a personal level and clearly possessed physical talents, which he intermittently put to use in his hockey career.

Yet less respectable were his displays against top teams this year, and not just the Oilers, against whom he mustered two points – a nifty power-play goal and an unreplicable fluke tally in garbage time – in nine games this season. Against the other six Western playoff teams, he put up two goals, four assists and a minus-8 rating in 19 games, that from a player lauded as a “game-breaker,” a “200-foot player” and someone who would catapult the Kings over the top. In reality, Blake’s Kings have been nowhere near the top, with or without Dubois, having not won so much as a playoff series in seven seasons.

Given the Kings’ effusive praise of and concrete commitment to Dubois, one could easily envision Robitaille and whichever of his pals is the Kings’ GM in June –– odds are it will still be Blake or, potentially, a promoted Bergevin –– taking on the roles of Lyndon B. Johnson and Robert McNamara, insisting on soldering on through a war that’s already been lost.

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But if the Kings are serious about winning meaningful battles, they’ll hope the Stanley Cup is hoisted in time for them to slam their fists on the reset button.

Next season, Dubois will be their highest-paid forward by annual average value and their highest-paid player in actual dollars. He’ll also earn more in actual cash payout than scoring champion Nikita Kucherov and Kings tormentor Connor McDavid. A buyout would free up nearly $7 million in cap space to re-sign Byfield as well as address other free agents (Matt Roy, Viktor Arvidsson and Lizotte, to name a few) and upgrade the Kings’ precarious situation in goal.

The circumstances make the available choices clear: Save face or save the franchise.

​ Orange County Register