Another set of the open forum questions and answers…
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Question: Why did Murray switched JJ to play with OD now since in the beginning JJ was playing with Scuderi?
Answer: It’s probably more about Doughty than Johnson. At times, Terry Murray likes O’Donnell to pair with Doughty because O’Donnell provides a certain protection if teams are looking to target Doughty. Problem is, Doughty plays huge minutes, and last season O’Donnell had a little trouble keeping up at times. Of course, Johnson’s minutes are just about as high this season, so that’s not a perfect explanation, but I think it has more to do with finding the right fit for Doughty.
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Question: What is the Kings’ record when they wear the third jersey? It seems like they have a higher winning percentage when they wear it and it looks so much better than their regular jersey.
Answer: I don’t think that stat is kept, so someone would have to go off memory. It seems to me that they might be 2-0 in the black jerseys this season? I could be wrong on that.
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Question: One more question Ive always wondered about, when it comes to players contracts-is there a secured Database the NHL has for all GMs they can use and access when making player trade/movement decisions? It didnt matter much back in the day but now with the cap and trade clauses it plays a huge role in a GMs decision. Is there an official NHL website they use as reference?
Answer: The Kings have a database. His name is Jeff Solomon, the man in charge of all the contracts. People like Jeff are hired specifically for the reason you mention, because of all the factors that go into GMs’ decision-making in the “new NHL” era. I don’t believe there’s a website for them to access, but I can assure you that at a moment’s notice, Solomon would know a team’s cap situation or a player’s contract figure.
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Question: In a recent story on Luc’s Hall of Fame career, AEG’s resident hockey expert Tim Leiweke took a thinly veiled swipe at former GM Dave Taylor and opined on how it was a mistake that Robitaile was traded away the second time. But didn’t AEG pressure Taylor to unload most of the high salaried talent during his reign? I thought it strange that for years Taylor operated with his hands tied and Leiweke’s voice in his ear to cut costs and when he did he hears about it years later in a revisionist historical context.
Answer: Well, I’m not doubting what you read, but I’d want to see the actual quote, particularly since Robitaille was never traded from the Kings a second time. I’d like to see that quote, if you have it. If you happened to catch the Q&A I did with Luc a couple months back, on the Daily News blog, Luc talked about his disappointment about not being re-signed by the Kings. He made it sound — and I’m paraphrasing — as though he simply got shown the door, not that there was dispute about salary. As always, there are two or three or four sides to every story. If Leiweke, in general, was calling out Taylor for not spending money, there would certainly be quite a bit of irony in that statement, but I’m not sure that was the case here.
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Question: Hey Rich. Could you find out about Richard Clune? How is he doing in Manchester? Are there plans for him to come up?I know Terry was very high on him during camp and I haven’t heard much since his injury. I think he would be a good piece for that fourth line. THanks for all of your hard work. It is greatly appreciated.
Answer: Touched on this earlier, but I don’t think you’ll see Clune until/unless the Kings think there’s a reason to alter the fourth line. I know there’s a lot of debate about this, but the only voices that are going to impact things belong to Lombardi and Murray.
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Question: Any word on AEG selling the Kings? I know there were whispers of a potential minority deal with the Boston Celtics’ owners a while back so curious if with the Kings’ success talks have revived? Now that AEG’s master plan of downtown development is well on its way to completion, it would seem better to sell the team while it’s on the way up.
Answer: Well, you’re right, and there were certainly more than “whispers” about a deal with the Celtics’ group. It was being talked about, but it didn’t go through. You present a really interesting theory there, but I haven’t heard anything in quite a while about any type of sale.
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Question: When do the contracts expire for Luc, Lombardi and Coach Murray and his staff? Any insight as to whether contract talks are continuing during the season, if the coaches will be extended and if Luc will replace DL as GM or if DL wants to stay until the Cup comes to L.A. (if it is even his choice, that is)?
Answer: Both Lombardi and Murray are under contract through the 2010-11 season. Luc, as team president, I have no idea what his contract is. Assistant coaches, I believe — although I could be wrong — are typically on one-year contracts. I doubt you’ll hear any talks about contract extensions during this season, since there’s still a year to go for those guys, and I can’t imagine Lombardi wanting to leave any time in the near future.
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Question: How did goons like Ivanans get to be fighters when it is outlawed at every level of organized hockey growing up until the minor development leagues? Was he just a slow skater who kept growing and figured that if he hung on until the minor leagues he could punch his ticket to the NHL (no pun intended) as a fighter?
Answer: Ivanans, in particular, didn’t play junior hockey in North America. He started out, at age 18 or 19, in the United Hockey League, then bounced around the CHL (Central Hockey League), the ECHL and the AHL until Montreal, and later the Kings, picked him up.
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Questions: 1. How has the new job been, compared to what you expected? 2. What has been the reaction from Management to your work? 3. When they announce the 3 stars of the game, it is announced “as selected by the Media”. Who is it that is involved in the selection process?
Answers: 1) It’s been more like getting back on the bike. The biggest thing is the travel, and being around the team on a daily basis, which is something I hadn’t done for four years. It was more like, “OK, I remember what this was like.” I could get into minutiae that would really bore you, such as how much time I have to write and that sort of thing, but in general it’s gone as well as I could have possibly hoped. 2) I wish your question was a little more specific. First, who do you consider “management” and two, what type of reaction? If you’re asking if anyone can come up to me with a negative reaction to something I have written, the answer is no. Beyond that, it’s hard for me to speak to people’s opinion of my work, but I’d say the feedback I have received is good, and I have a great working relationship with the communications staff and the website staff. 3) It varies from city to city. Florida was the first arena in which, as a writer, I’d ever been handed a slip to vote for three stars. Some teams rotate it, some teams have the radio guys do it…so yeah, it varies. I have never selected.
Rich, do you know of anyone of the kings players/staff that regularly check out this blog? Just wondering…
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I think Jim Fox does
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Reguarding “when do tough guys become tough guys?” Dave Schultz had an interesting interview on a recent Flyers broadcast.
He stated that he never had a hockey fight growing up as a kid, advancing through the kid levels. But when he arrived in the minors as a new pro player, he needed to do anything he could to be noticed so one night he dropped his gloves and did pretty well. He was even mildly surprised by his success.
after that, the organization as well as the fans began to expect/anticipate his new found roll, so he just pursued it.
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We are the worst 5×3 pp team in the history of hockey – that was disgusting 2 full min – and thats what we come up with – my pickup league could have gotten better opps on the flyers – once again our home record is going to be our downfall – it cost us last yr and looks like nothing has changed – we better get it together before sat with cal-
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Rich what do you think about switching Jack Johnson to forward? As bad as his +/- is and how he seems to be a liability defensively, why not make him a forward ala Peter Harrold?
With the # of defensive prospects we have, it could work?
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It would be interesting to know how many times a first career goal for a player has been scored on the Kings. Is that stat even available anywhere, Rich? I think we have seen three this year so far….
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RICH!! Last question for your Open Forum..
How do you feel about Gretzky coming back to the Kings organization? What do you think he’d be doing? Maybe an Assistant to the President (Luc)? Did you get a chance to read this article: http://www.csnphilly.com/pages/landing_09?Kings-Approach-Gretzky-About-Joining-Org=1&blockID=92574&feedID=704?
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I just have to say for all those who think JJ would better suited at forward after playing only one full season on defense…just think how good or bad these guys would have been playing up front…
Ray Bourque
Nick Lindstrom
Scott Niedermayer
Brian Leetch
Paul Coffee (he may as well have been a forward)
Point being once JJ finds his game he will be a huge asset on defense. He won’t ever be as good as the list above but every team would love to have a d-man with hands like JJ.
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Alot of people want Johnson moved to forward eh … I think it would be a big mistake. I dont think Jack is going to be Wendal Clark.
It just taking him a bit more time to adjust to the big game, as it does for most defensemen. I would rather have Johnson as a potentially top 1 or 2 defensemen than have him as a mediocore grinding forward
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for the last day and half i’ve been curious how long your doing this and you keep putting out answers, so here’s my questions:
1) what kind of year is brayden schenn having and would you expect him next year or still longer down the road? 2) what percent chance (10% chance of, 50% chance of) do you think, in your opinion, DL may make a trade for a semi-skilled roll player to be a poor man’s ryan smyth for a month (ie chimera, brind’amour, burrows)?
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Just thought I’d relate to you guys an interesting interview I just heard on the Power Play show on XM Radio & the NHL Network.
Last night there was a controversial goal disallowed in the Stars/Red Wings game. The puck had been shot into the net by Detroit’s Brad May, but the refs didn’t see it and by the time they blew the whistle because they had lost sight of the puck the goalie had kicked it back out. It was clearly a goal that should have been allowed and the NHL office in Toronto even called the arena to tell the refs that it was a goal. But they said that since they had lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle the play wasn’t reviewable and Detroit didn’t get the goal. Dallas went on to win 4-2.
Well of course this goal is the hot topic on the NHL programs today on XM and the NHL Network, and everyone is questioning why this play couldn’t have been reviewed?
So this afternoon the Power Play show had hall of famer and Tampa Bay Lightning radio announcer Phil Esposito on the phone talking about how he didn’t understand how that play couldn’t be reviewed. But of course after just a few minutes Espo turned his attention to the Tampa Bay goal against the Kings on Saturday that was disallowed, and basically spent the next 5 minutes complaining on the air about how the Tampa goal should have counted.
I know he’s a hall of famer, but Espo is developing a reputation for these kinds of tantrums. Everything the Lightning do is 100% great and legal, and everything the opposition does is somehow a fluke or a setup. It’s getting annoying. I even wrote to the Lightning last year because I couldn’t stand to listen to him, but of course they never replied.
Just thought you guys would find it interesting that this is still a hot topic in Tampa (apparently).
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Paul,
Didn’t he also call quick Jamie Quick? Wasn’t Hextall on NHL live this morning @ 9? I didn’t get to hear it, did anyone else?
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Yes, he did call Quick Jamie. But I didn’t get to hear Hextall this morning.
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JJ as a forward? I don’t think so. I think out of all the spots on the ice to fill defense is the most difficult to master. JMFJ in my opinion is progressing like most other defensemen do, it takes time. Doughty was an exception along with our famous opponent Chris Pronger. I think most people here have seen how fast Doughty progressed and every kid we bring in we compare them to him and if they don’t measure up to his quick development some consider them a failure.
Remember folks, JMFJ was injured for most of the year. He’ll learn with time and he will be that guy he was projected to be.
Same goes for Quick, enough with this silly bashing of “he let a easy one in”. Look at Pittsburgh’s Andre Fleury, I saw that kid played and I had no idea what the big deal was about him because he honestly sucked in my opinion. Quick is so much more far ahead than Fleury was in his career in the same time period.
Frolov, well I thought he played well, but yeah, something is missing in his game. It’s only one game and it takes a game or two for each to find their click, but after a few games, I will get worried.
Remember Kings fans, most people had us at the bottom and most of us thought we would barely squeak into the playoffs. I think our success has gotten to some of us. We’ll do fine
Go Kings Go!
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Paul, I actually watched that game (Detroit Dallas)(actually had some money on it) I couldn’t believe they didn’t count that goal, calls like that question the integrity of the game. Remember the Rangers game with the Kings and how it was some how reviewable. Then that game the puck clearly goes in the net before the whistle but the refs miss it. (they blew the whistle after the goalie pushed the puck out) If that’s not reviewable what is?
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Jack Johnson is still only 22 years old.
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His name is spelled: Coffey
This is not reminiscent of the Green Mile “Coffee, like the drink”…
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Thanks Rich! You do an amazing job!
1. Why didn’t Teddy switch to #62 when he won a spot out of training camp?
2. Why is Hickey a healthy scratch for the Monarchs?
3. Who are your picks for the cup finals?
4. What would you change or add to make the game even beter on TV?
5. I have a meeting with ESPN soon…any suggestions on what you would say to them to take back the NHL?
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Why do the kings get days off ( i mean total days off) like today why dont they go over the game last night and figure out what they did wrong…
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Thank you Rich for all your hard work !
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Virgil,
If you work for a living, think about it this way..
How would you feel going to the office every day of the week for 6+ months straight?
I think it’s more to avoid burnout and re-charge the batteries…just my thought
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Question: One more question Ive always wondered about, when it comes to players contracts-is there a secured Database the NHL has for all GMs they can use and access when making player trade/movement decisions? It didnt matter much back in the day but now with the cap and trade clauses it plays a huge role in a GMs decision. Is there an official NHL website they use as reference?
Answer: The Kings have a database. His name is Jeff Solomon, the man in charge of all the contracts. People like Jeff are hired specifically for the reason you mention, because of all the factors that go into GMs’ decision-making in the “new NHL” era. I don’t believe there’s a website for them to access, but I can assure you that at a moment’s notice, Solomon would know a team’s cap situation or a player’s contract figure.
Or you just ask Quisp! haha Maybe Quisp is Solomon!
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