With Ryan Smyth and Wayne Simmonds out of the lineup, the Kings are without a spare healthy forward. Today, I asked Terry Murray if the Kings had any plans to bring up a forward from Manchester for this three-game road trip…
MURRAY: “We had some conversation in the office last night after the game, but we didn’t hit on anybody in particular. Certainly, everybody is aware of our trip going up, at the forward position, but nothing was determined, nothing absolute. We’ll just have a conversation, maybe today, after the practice, in the office and on the plane. But we’re aware of it.”
How about giving John Zeiler another shot? Plug him in instead of Harrold, make up for the physical loss in Simmonds at least…
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How about Bud Holloway?
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One, Zeiler is injured.
Two, he’s more of a curse than a blessing. By a lot.
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hows clune doing these days?
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What about bringing up Schenn again?
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khanon-
I know you’ve got a real thing for team toughness…but Zeiler runs away from fights and hits the boards more than he hits the other team.
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I too respect team toughness and someone like JZ on the forecheck can really unnerve a Dman.
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Clune is uninjured and playing well. I mean, he isn’t racking up the points at a shocking rate, but then again, we don’t really expect that of him, do we? Scored his second goal of the season today in a 2-0 win over Providence. Despite not putting up points (again, do we expect that?), Clune is definitely an asset for the Monarchs. He’s aggressive and fairly chippy, which is nice to see. Definitely not afraid to get his hands dirty. He’s been playing primarily on a line with Westgarth and Corey Elkins, though every now and then it’ll be Westgarth, King, and Cluner which is a very entertaining line. He isn’t afraid to use the body. Most of us have heard his statement that he likes Avery. Yeah, his game is semi-reminiscent of Avery. He’s got the mouth and ability to get under guys skin. However, by all accounts he’s a great guy in the locker room. He also doesn’t let his narcissism and possible sociopathic tendencies take him away from the goal. That goal being playing hockey. On a team. Team implying other people. He also though has more skill than you’d expect from a guy in his role. And has a level of control that we haven’t seen from Zeiler. He uses his high energy to move things in an overall forward momentum. Unlike Zeiler, he doesn’t use that forward momentum to needlessly skate/slide into walls (I’m pretty sure it was Zeiler’s own fault that he got injured).
Schenn couldn’t be brought back barring absolute emergency (inability to skate a full line-up) or his signing. And without that emergency, he’d have to be in LA all season.
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How bout using Jack Johnson on the wing.
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The kings 4th line needs more size and toughness. Moeller was alright but I am not a fan of Harrold.
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Zeiler isn’t tough, he’s ADHD.
The guy does more damage to himself than anyone else. And he unnerves NO ONE.
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Thanks Holly. Good stuff
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I’ve seen him get under peoples skin on the forecheck. Maybe he’d be able to get a few calls? But enough about JZ from me.
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Thanks for the insight Holly.
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I’d like to see what Bud Holloway or Cliche could do. Ever since Holloway was drafted, I always thought he could turn into a solid bottom line forward in the NHL.
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Thx again Holly, JZ is a Kamakazee that doesn’t know when to turn it off. And you are right about him putting fear into nobody.
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How about the legend Mikus? How far is he from being recalled?
Seriously though, we seem to be a little thin on forward prospects we can call up from the AHL.
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I don’t know that Mikus will fit the Simmer mold. Plus, he’s been primarily centering, so I don’t know if they’d want to shuffle lines/try him as a winger.
I like Holloway as a potential call up, but again, it depends on if we’re playing any port in a storm or trying to get someone with a similar style. Same goes for Cliche. Cliche has a little more grit than Holloway, but not on the Simmer level.
Zeiler has the same problem that Gules did for the most part in my opinion. Yeah, they bring a lot of energy, but they don’t always manage to harness it and it just becomes pandemonium. It’s too bad we don’t have Matt Ryan anymore, because he’d be the PERFECT replacement for a short term Simmer sub.
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Call up Gabe Gauthier!!!!!!
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LOL. That’s a joke.
Gabe is a decent player who hasn’t progressed in his game at all in the AHL. Career AHLer. He could try Europe too. But he doesn’t have enough skill or fire to make up for his size. He may be putting up decent numbers, but I find 19 pts with a -8 (team low) is concerning.
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No real rush on getting someone. It’s not like we start a back to back in Canada tomorrow or something.
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Yeah, and while we’re putting JJ at wing, let’s put Ersberg at center!
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I think we should do that. And bring Mikus up to backup Quick.
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The advantage Gauthier has, as a backup, is that there’s no problem bringing him up and sending him down again. Even if he’s waiver eligible, no one will want him. At least he can play some minutes.
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True, but I’d rather see someone with long term potential get a try out and be able to take Harrold or Ivanans out.
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Normally I’d agree, but there’s not much “real” time between now and Thursday. I think we’re basically screwed.
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FWIW, I love dressing Harry in a situation like this because he can competently plug holes at both ends at a moment’s notice.
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I do too, I don’t really have anything against Harry like a lot of fans floating around seem to. I do have a certain affection for players that are overlooked because they’re just solid, not offensive superstars or making stupid mistakes all the time. I’d prefer seeing Harry dress, the call up dress and Ivanans sit.
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And to add to that, Manch is probably dying for someone like that right now. I’m not in Mark Morris’ head, but as a fan having to use Andrew Campbell more to spread out the time of injured players (Doug Nolan only played Friday and Sunday’s games) makes me nervous. But we’ve also been playing a forward short on occasion, I believe.
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Gabe has 2 NCAA championships he is good never given a great opportunity to succeed. He would be a good setup man if he had good wingers. Moulson and Purcell put up big numbers cause they played on Gabes line. And he is a good friend of mine haha.
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That’s nice for you but has no bearing on whether or not he should be called up. My best friends play hockey, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be in the NHL. Gabe is a nice guy, but has shown zero progress in his years in Manchester. Which means that he’s in his fourth season of playing well, but not good enough. Moulson has clearly shown that his numbers were not due to Gabe. If you look at the Moulson-Tavares-Okposo line, all three are incredibly strong players and strong playmakers. In the time that the Moulson-Gauthier-Purcell line was active in Manchester, Teddy Purcell was undoubtedly the strength of that line. If you look at the previous year and the year after, Gabe’s numbers dropped significantly without the two of them. He hasn’t done anything to EARN a chance in the bigs. And as I said, his size is a serious detriment because he doesn’t show the finesse to make up for it nor does he show the grit to make up for it. He plays like he’s 5’8. Justin Azevedo who is at least 2 inches shorter than Gabe on a good day plays bigger than he does. He’s also been a liability in even strength situations this year. On the PK he’s been pretty good, but ES he seems to constantly be out of position and unable to capitalize. Players with skill in the NCAA don’t always translate to the NHL.
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u seem pretty knowledgable bout the kings. What do u think about them trading for Nathan Horten in Flo
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molly, that’s for in depth updates!!!! I’m living in Hartford this year and have been following the Monarchs extra close this year. Been to a few games in Hartford & Springfield already. I’m also plaining a weekend trip to Manchester very soon to see the Monarchs. It’s great to see a Monarchs fan who follows the Kings just a closely.
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i meant to thanks for the updates, not that’s for the updates.. :-/
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Gauthier had one fairly decent shot to make the Kings (It may have been his second, actually) and couldn’t stay out of the penalty box. I’d bring him up for a few minutes, if necessary, and send him back down. There’s no sense in kidding anyone that he’s an NHL prospect any longer.
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My dad lives in West Hartford, I’ve been dying to get down there for a game. Despite the fact that he lives about 10 minutes from the Civic (yeah, I’m never going to call it the XL or whatever it is now), I’ve never been for a game. I also need to explore Blue Back Square a little more.
You should hop up to Worcester, it’s essentially the same distance as Springfield.
@lostjedi
I like Horton. Solid power guy, puts up good numbers, though his temper could be concerning. Sometimes playing with a chip on your shoulder can be a good thing and sometimes it can be very bad. I’d be interested to see him on a line with Brownie and Zeus or Stoll. Provided that either Brown or Horton could switch to the left. That said, Horton has a few years left on his contract at I believe about $4 million. And I don’t know that we really have what Florida would want in return, and if we did, I don’t know that we’d want to give it up. There certainly have been trade rumors circulating about him this year, though (I mean in general, nothing Kings specific).
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As someone else mentioned. Johnson to wing. We are deep in defenseman and JJ sucks in his own end.
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Clune. Remember he essentially made the team out of camp, before his annual autumn injury.
I would hesitate to try another ATO with Schenn (if it’s allowed a second time, which I’m not sure it is) only because his name starts with S.
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He may not be ready yet, but Corey Elkins looks like he might be able to help us–If not later this year,
then next season.
King is coming along well right now, and Segal would likely be playing for The Kings if he were healthy.
Dang, that we have sooo many injuries right now.
In another year, we will have more quality FW subs
with size to bail us out on the 3rd/4th lines.
Plus we will have Schenn.
But right now we are caught a bit short.
But every year our depth situation improves markedly.
Hopefully, Peter Harrold can play above his head
for a few games.
And keep JJ on defense–Play 7 D-Men & leave out Ivanans
(except maybe against Calgary).
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Dwight King is scoring a lot in his 1st few AHL games after his ECHL stint.
He’s not NHL-ready yet, but if he keeps scoring, he will be a great candidate for promotion next season.
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Elkins
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Called it.
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good call Waves and Sergei
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