alt="LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond" />Here’s what Terry Murray said today about his decision to essentially swap right wingers on the second/third lines, with Dustin Brown joining Alexander Frolov and Michal Handzus, and Wayne Simmonds joining Teddy Purcell and Jarret Stoll…
MURRAY: “I’m looking to get an answer to a question I’ve been asked several times by you, the media, and it’s a good question. Secondary scoring. I’m looking to find more from other places. I’m hoping that something can happen out of this Fro, Zeus and Brown line, I take a look at Zeus, and over his resume, and he’s put up good numbers in his career.
“He’s a very responsible checking guy but he’s got pretty good hands, he’s pretty nifty with the puck in the offensive zone, he’s making good plays, he can make good plays, and I’m hoping that moving Brownie there can generate more from that line.”
(on whether that makes Stoll’s line the new “checking line”…)
MURRAY: “I’m not going to put a title on it. I’m not looking at it as a checking line. I still want them to bring the same stuff, as far as what I just talked about with Zeus. I’m looking for some secondary scoring. I know we’ve gone through a bit of the flu in the last couple of games, and maybe it drops off because of that, but with Stoll and Purcell I think there’s a playmaker and a puck-possession guy in Purcell. He can see the ice very well in the offensive zone.
“Stolly is a shooter, and I think Wayne Simmonds has played well for me, right from last year. He’s holding on to the puck, he’s carrying the puck, he’s strong on the puck down deep in the offensive zone and he goes to the net, so I’m hoping that maybe something good can happen with that.”
I like that idea. Let’s see what happens…..
I also like that he does not necessary locks the lines into their respective titles: “checking line” “energy line” etc.
See what clicks and go from there…… then rotate them according to your needs.
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yes…DOM…and everyone else…
we now know what to expect…
for someone who was never…i mean never shy to change up things last year, why is t.m. somewhat apprehensive this year…this team might need a sports psychologist to travel with them…rich joins them and we have our own reality show right in front of our eyes…who needs tv at this point…?
heck…who even needs to play the games….?
oh…..ahhhhhhhhhhhhh….!!! there’s an idea….!!!
let’s play this game already…i have to tivo it unfortunately…but whaddaya gonna do…?
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I said it in the “Practice Lines” post..
Fro-Zus-Simmonds were puck possession overload. Not enough puck between the 3 of them to go around.
Now that Brown is skating with them, it balances things out a bit.
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Can’t wait for this game either, I really hope Fro takes advantage of this opportunity, and everyone should be over the flu, think I’m gonna have to place a wager on the over.
GO KINGS!
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Simm’s gonna explooooode!
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Like I said earlier, I think Simmonmds is gonna get beat up quite a bit. He’s a tough kid, but now he’ll be responsible to be the first in to forecheck, start the cycle and park it in front of the net. I hope he can do it all without getting injured, but that’s a tall order. Simmonds is gonna earn some serious respect if he can do it. I’m pullin’ for him!
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Variable said:
“for someone who was never…i mean never shy to change up things last year, why is t.m. somewhat apprehensive this year…”
The reason is that the Kings now actually have one set line that works: Smyth-Kopi-JW. To his credit, TM has switched around the fourth line a bit here and there…
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I actually love this new setup for the “3rd” line. I think Teddy and Wayne will have a tonne of fun together.
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Hey V–
Now that we have Anthony back, what’s the count on the POS-JW contest? (assists AND goals)
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Now that we have Anthony back, I’m just wondering who’s door I have to knock on to get him to leave again.
;-) ;-) ;-)
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I agree with khanon here, we have something that works, let’s not switch around too much…. and when I said ‘rotate’ earlier, I don’t mean ‘change’ (I’m not sure how clear that first statement was, sorry).
I know that homefield-advantage is helping the lines out a lot (as the opposing team has to react to the line-changes) but I don’t like the labels that came along with last years’ lines: this is the “checking’ line, this is the “energy line” etc etc.
Let’s switch that up a bit, and so far TM has been doing that (limited, but little is better than nothing). I like it.
And Anthonyy…… ah, yes…… I forgot why I left the Daily News Blog for a minute….. :-)
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Not going to work.
Back to the drawing board mr Murray.
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BAKO…
i haven’t been keeping score…but w/anthony(y) back with us, i’m sure he will let us know sooner or later…
ANTHONY(Y)…
welcome back…(wait…what did i just say…???)
KHANON/DOM…
k-man = reunited…and it feels so good…?
actually…if you read the thought i posted above correctly (no offense) i was just pointing out how t.m. was so quick to change things up last year and not this year…
on a previous fro-watch/fro-gate thread, i mentioned that it would be crazy to change the first line at this point…no reason to at all…
but i felt that t.m. has waited a couple of games to at least take a “look and see” with lines 2-4…it seemed obvious to me that the 4th line has been t.m.’s “reward” line towards the end of the game, often double-shifting players who are hot/playing well…
that’s all…:)
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