Jack Johnson’s ice time had dipped a bit in November, but Johnson played 26 minutes, 57 seconds on Wednesday in Edmonton. Then, the next night, he played a season-high 28:21 at Vancouver. Murray described the bump in ice time as, quite simply, an indication of his satisfaction with Johnson’s play of late…
MURRAY: “He’s getting more minutes because he earns it. He has played very well. He has played hard. He has competed really well in this last road trip, and we like that. That’s our way of saying, `Keep with it. Stay with it. Be physical. Play with the checking game as the priority.’ If he keeps playing like that, we’re going to see good things happen in his game as we keep moving forward with it. That has to be the mindset to build on, the checking part of the game. The offense, he’s got that ability already, so he has earned the right to play.”
Murray was then asked if he wanted to see more offense from Johnson, who has one point (a goal) in his last 10 games…
MURRAY: “All I want him to do right now is be a good defenseman. We talked about that, specifically, in our role descriptions at the start of the year, that this is the focus I want from him. The offense is there. It’s going to happen for him. He’s on the power play, and he is jumping up at the right times, and good things will happen on that side of it, but don’t force the issue. Just be a good checking defenseman. Be hard, be gritty to play against in the dot-to-board game, and we like what we’re seeing out there.”
Not that this has to do with Jack, but could anyone tell me where Oscar Moller is?
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Yes and the Power Play and PK have been outstanding since then…
Please check the numbers TM…We are horrible on both just tell us what we can do to be better. Current Roster? Farm Team? Trade? Waiver Wire?Fold the team? Move to KC? Just tell us how you plan on fixing us.
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In Manchester Mark.
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Move to KC? I’m all for that!
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Thanks mike but i dont see him on their roster
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Cmon jack kick it into gear!, your nemisis erik johnson in st louis is showing you up!
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He’s on the AHL site’s and the team’s site roster: http://www.monarchshockey.com/roster.php
which roster are you looking at mark?
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The last few games, JJ has been playing much more physical. I’m glad TM just wants him to focus on that aspect of his game, since thats the area that will either make it or break it in terms of becoming a better D-man
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My bad. Thanks much
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off topic – Did anybody see Brian Boyle get tuned up twice last night against the Lightning? Was pretty bad…and predictable.
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Back to JJ real quick…I think he can be one of those nasty/chippy/playoff type D for us for a long time. He has a nasty streak but he’s not quite comfortable playing with it on all the time yet. If he can gain the respect of the officials around the league I see him being a tough/mean Dman for the Kings!
That being said, he’s been shaky handling the puck lately. I think he too is thinking too much on the ice.
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I was looking at the Monarchs depth chart from the Kings home page
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Hey Rich – do you know if we’re facing Huet or Niemi?
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i beleive jack johnson is underrated and should be let loose alot more and play always on the power play ….murray is finally using him on the pp a lil now ….. but having stoll being a point guy on the power play is so stupid …. stoll is a hacker who has no puckhandling ability ….. a point guy needs to be smooth and a good stick handler who can shoulder fake and do the lil things and be smooth with the puck that enable u to keep the puck in the zone … jack does that … hes a smooth and confident puck handler … weve all seen his great hands in the shootouts … so he should be utilized always on the powerplay ……….. if he keeps improving, one day he could be as good as lidstrom or zubov … now those guys are smooth and can puck handle ….. jack isnt that good yet obviously, but my point is , hes the best and smoothiest point guy we have …. and by the way, playing stoll a hacking forward at the point who cant stick handle is bad on 2 fronts …. first off …. all he tries to do is load up for slapshots, but as we have seen that takes too much time and usually always get blocked …. u need that smoothness and quick reless like johnson has …. and the second reason its bad to have stoll on the point on the pp is we are vulnerable for a short handed goal because u are playing with 4 forwards and 1 defenseman
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you bring up an excellent point Clippers. I would think that TM has seen enough lack of point production from Stoll to swap him out and go back to the traditional 2-D on the points.
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Stoll has a bomb of a shot
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stuart its always nice when someone dosent call me an idiot and actually agrees with me … so thanks
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mike-he does have a bomb, but he wont score if it doesnt get on net and it doesnt.
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yeah mike but it takes 10 hours to get off , by that time the lanes get clogged and the shot is almost always blocked …… besides, johnsons shot is plenty hard enough, and as i said it aint about how hard u shoot, its about the other qualities i previously mentioned
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If anyone is interested tomorrow (Sunday) at 2:30pm Pacific the NHL Network’s “Classic NHL” series will show Kings vs. Rangers from 1991 in Las Vegas. They’re replaying all the previous outdoor games in preparation for the January 1st game in Boston.
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