From second line to fourth line to third line to first line — or was it second, third, fourth, first? — Teddy Purcell has been all over the Kings’ map this season. Now, he’s at the only place he really doesn’t want to be: off the map completely, as a healthy scratch tonight against Phoenix.
Purcell’s ups and downs have been well chronicled. After two goals in his first three games, Purcell went 16 games without a goal. He scored one, but now has gone five consecutive games with nary a point.
Despite his offensive struggles, Purcell maintained a top-six role for quite a while — plus power-play time — but with the return of Brandon Segal, Wayne Simmonds and Ryan Smyth, coach Terry Murray decided to keep rookies Segal and Corey Elkins in the lineup, rather than Purcell…
MURRAY: “Teddy’s game is about the offensive part of it, mainly. Most importantly, he’s got to be able to put some points on the board, whether it be creativity and making things happen on the power play or going out and scoring some goals. I think his game, on the checking side of it, he’s focusing on that. He’s trying to give that a better look, and it has improved from when I first met him a year ago. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to take a player out when there has not been a lot of success.
“You’ve got to bring attention to it, and have a meeting with him and make sure that he understands clearly what the reason is that he is coming out for. We’ll stay with him, on that side of it. Get a day off today. We have plenty of hockey in front of us, and he’s just going to have to make sure that when he gets back in, he’s going to stay in the lineup through his own good play.”
There is your billboard Teddy.
Read it and respond appropriately. Please.
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Canada is beating up on Latvia 14-0. Kings prospect Brandon Kozun just scored the 14th goal, which gets him the hat trick. He’s got 6 points, 1 away from a Canadian single game record. And the game isn’t over yet….
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Phoenix has played virtually every other day for the past two weeks (although they played one back-to-back last week and got the last two days off). The Kings need to come out with a lot of energy and they should be able to wear the doggies down by the third period. If the Kings come out sleepy from their long holiday then they will be canned horsemeat.
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It’s tough to recall a player with less presence on the ice than Purcell. The talent is there at times, just not the strength.
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Paul From Oxnard -
Kozun only has 2 goals and 2 assists…and Canada finished with a 16-0 win
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check that..two goals and 3 assists..he got an assist on the 15th goal
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Yeah, I didn’t catch that they were talking about Gabriel Borque since they were going through those stats right after Kozun’s 2nd goal. Even so, 5 points is pretty good too. Additionally Brayden Schenn had a couple of points and Colton Teubert looked as steady as ever on the blue line. He was probably a +10 at least. The final score sheet hasn’t come out yet.
So I get that it’s a tournament and goal differential matters, but I don’t like that the Canadians ran up the score like that. These are kids. If it were the Olympics with adults playing that would be one thing. But these are just teenagers. How about calling the dogs off after 10-0? I’m just saying….
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Guess the idea that Purcell was taking Parse’s spot so they could showcase then ship out Purcell wasn’t so viable after all. These to P’s may be permanently X’ed…
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I don’t think Parse will be in Manchester for long. Unless we stay healthy and everyone goes on simultaneous scoring streaks, in which case it’s fine by me. The problem with Purcell is that there are only really four outcomes possible with him:
(1) Having been a scoring threat with no d skills, and a defensively responsible forward who is snakebit, he will put the two together soon and be the complete package, a top six forward here in LA.
(2) Option #1 except he does it for someone else.
(3) Having been a scoring threat with no d skills, and a defensively responsible forward who is snakebit, he will put the two together and be a snake-bit forward with no d skills. He will bounce around the league for a few years before transitioning back to the AHL or some other off-map locale.
(4) The middle option: He will carve out a workmanlike 3rd-liner with offensive chops role for himself somewhere but not here, a la Eric Belanger.
The Kings obviously desire #1, fear #2, probably have discounted #3 and can live with #4.
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Teddy Purcell is in one word …..frustrating ….the reason the Kings have given him a long rope is because of his creative offensive abilities .. his D has a lot to be desired .. down here in manchester he was an offensive machine mainly , but in the NHL he has struggled with the 2 way game that NHL coaches demand unless youre lights out offensively. Kopi had the same problem but has put it all together this year … if Teddy cant put it together ….he will be back with us in Manchester and Parse will get recalled… Teddy do yourself a favor and play to your potential … before the point of no return .
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