alt="LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond" />Jonathan Quick will start in goal for the Kings tonight. Terry Murray indicated that there will be at least one other lineup change, but said he hadn’t yet talked to the players involved and that he would have everyone out in the pregame warmups. So we’ll have to wait for game time on that one.
Just meetings for the players this morning, not a morning skate, after the post-midnight arrival in Tampa. One meeting was more significant than others. After the main meetings, assistant GM Ron Hextall pulled Quick into a side room and talked for about 10 minutes. Hextall, who played 608 NHL games in goal, knows something about the position, and I asked him about his meeting with Quick, who was pulled in the second period last night.
HEXTALL: “I don’t like to get into what was said, but it was just a little bit of a `Where you’re at,’ what’s going on and just some of the things that I’ve seen in his game. It was as simple as that.”
Question: And in your estimation, where is his game right now?
HEXTALL: “He’s not on top of it right now. He’s doing things that are uncharacteristic of him, and he’s got to get back to basics and really get his focus back. There were a couple icing calls last night that obviously we weren’t happy about, because they were negated. In saying that, there are times through the year, as a goalie, as a defenseman and as a forward, when you’re going to go through rough times. Now, it’s obviously a hell of a lot more visible when you’re a goaltender than any other position. But he needs to get refocused.”
Question: From your experience, is it better to try to play through that, or to take a step back and watch from the bench?
HEXTALL: “The Carolina game was a step back. So he had his step back, and I thought that was a good move by Murph (Murray). Obviously last night didn’t go well. Quicker is the type of guy who has always played through it. Personally, I feel like that’s the best remedy, but you’ve got to get through it too. So he’s got another shot tonight, and he’s got to get back to the type of hockey that he’s capable of.”
Next, I’ll have Murray’s thoughts about Quick. It seems as though the Kings are committed to letting Quick play through his issues.
One of the lineup changes has to be to sit Jones and get OD back. Jones had a tough time last night.
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Hextall was a great goalie.
But that’s about it as far as he’s concerned.
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Looks like shaky goaltending may be the issue once again?
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“It’s the end of the world as we know it, it’s the end of the world as we know it!”
Come on fellow Kings fans, get a grip! Last year Ersberg was the second coming of the Goalie Messiah and you were all worshiping him. Then he got hurt and Quick was called up and everyone literally fell on their knees to worship him.
Just like forwards who have scoring slumps, goalies have their streaks too! There are slumps in every position for every sport!
The goalies are having theirs and the team as a whole laid a goose egg. When Fleury entered the league he was not playing like an elite goalie, it took him 2-3 seasons for him to settle down.
We know what Quick can do, instead of calling for his head we should be rallying around him (and that goes for Ersberg too) and supporting them. Doesn’t mean we can’t critize them, but if some of you read what you are writing in here it is just plain ridiculous!
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Ersberg deserved the start last night…… This sounds like a mind game…….
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Hextall said and i quote “So he’s got another shot tonight” did he try to signal something? If quick fails tonight do they plan on sending him down to Manchester for conditioning? I personally think it would be nice if we can pick up J-S Giguere just for this season. he wants out of quacks. we can send Ersberg the other way
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Thanks Seattle. A little sense. Sometimes the comments here just go off to nowhere land. Goalie is the most difficult position in the game. Has no one on this blog ever noticed that in our day to day lives we can be completely in sync for a month and then… what the heck happened, you lose it. I mean, Jonathan Quick would belong to that group of people know as the human race. He’s entitled. Also, excellent points brought up regarding Fleury. Geez, give the guy a chance. I’m sure it IS an adjustment between coming up last yr w nothing to lose vs the high expectations on him this year. IMO he’ll adjust. When I don’t know but he will.
Gads, if NJ and DET had reacted as franchises the way some people are reacting here they would have Zero Stanley Cups between them over the last 17 years instead of seven.
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24 points in first 20 games…on pace for a 96-100 point season. I’m not complaining….yet.
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Don’t tell us not to criticize the goalies. Kings haven’t had one play consistently since Potvin, and Hrudey before him. It’s been an ongoing problem and one that is baffling to think that it has yet to be resolved.
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Hope Hextall can help Quick. After all, he should know a thing or two about letting in some easy ones…
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Scaught,
Who said don’t criticize the goalies? Also to say that we have a goalie problem is a bit silly.
For once the Kings are developing their goalies through their farm system. Those teams that have had great success let their goalies go through the ups and downs. Detroit (Osgood, say what you want about him, but he brought wins and Stanley Cups), New York Rangers (Richter, Vanbeesbrouck), Chicago (Belfour), Toronto (Potvin), San Jose (Nabikov), I can go on. All these goalies came through the farm systems and all had their slumps. Even Patrick Roy got beat 7-0 many times.
The Bernier cries are getting babyish. Let him develope. At the end we will have two top goalies and if one has to go as was the case with San Jose, we keep the one who fits the team better.
All of you calling to trade for a goalie, look at past history- we’ve destroyed our team getting rid of prospects and it has barely worked out other than in Potvin and Hrudey’s case.
All we need to look at is Pittsburgh, they went through growing pains and they stuck with their kids and look what they got last year, and the time they rebuilt through Barrasso, Lemiuex, and the rest.
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The best way to define a goalie problem is to pick a specific length of the season, then check the goalies’ GAA.
One quarter of the season approaches. After 18 games, Jonathan Quick (18 games ties him with Nabokov and Anderson for league high in starts) ranks 25th of 42 goalies with a GAA of 2.77. He ranks 36th of 42 goalies with a save pct. of .894.
As long as the Kings’ fans are patient enough to wait for Quick to shake things out–meaning the playoffs are not as important this year as they will be next year–they can wait for Quick to get better and Bernier to finish this year in Manchester.
Are you that patient?
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And if Quick does not get his focus back is Hextall going to after him like he did Chelios?
All joking aside, I would be intimidated to be in a room with an angry Hextall.
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“Ersberg deserved the start last night…”
Yeah, he showed it when he got his chance.
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