ALEC MARTINEZ This season: 4 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 2 penalty minutes, 15:25 average ice time. The good: Martinez made the roster out of training camp, after Sean O’Donnell’s preseason suspension, and was called up two other times during the season. That means he’s high on the radar of team management, which is certainly [...]

Felix Schutz scored 21 seconds into overtime to give Germany a 2-1 victory over the United States in the first game of the IIHF World Championships before a crowd of 77,000-plus in Germany. Schutz played for Portland of the AHL this season, the team Manchester eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Michael Wolf [...]

ANDREI LOKTIONOV This season: 1 game, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 penalty minutes, 11:52 ice time. The good: Loktionov progressed enough, in his first full year after coming over from Russia — he was a fifth-round pick in 2008 — that he earned a call-up in late November when the Kings needed a center when [...]

TREVOR LEWIS This season: 5 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 penalty minutes, 9:08 average ice time. The good: You might recall that Dean Lombardi once thought so much of Lewis that he, not Pavol Demitra or Patrick O’Sullivan, was the focal point of Lombardi’s first major trade as Kings GM. Lewis, a first-round pick [...]

Kings winger Ryan Smyth has been named captain of Team Canada for the IIHF World Championships, which are being played in Germany. Canada’s first game is tomorrow against Italy. Smyth has been Canada’s Captain at the World Championships six times now, and did it every year from 2001-05. The United States, with Kings defenseman Jack [...]

It has become Monarchs Day, hasn’t it? The Barrie Colts of the OHL announced today that Kyle Clifford has been assigned to the Monarchs for the rest of the playoffs. Clifford, a second-round pick of the Kings last year who signed an entry-level contract in September, had 28 goals and 29 assists in 58 games [...]

Here’s the feature I wrote today on Manchester’s Bud Holloway, who has tied the AHL single-year record with six game-winning goals in the playoffs so far. Holloway also led the Monarchs with 47 points in the regular season… Holloway Lifting Game to New Heights

This morning, I caught up with Manchester Monarchs coach Mark Morris, as part of a couple player features that will be published within the next week. Additionally, I asked Morris about the play of his team in general and, in particular, about the play of AHL goalie of the year Jonathan Bernier. The Monarchs had [...]

ANZE KOPITAR This season: 82 games, 34 goals, 47 assists, 16 penalty minutes, 21:47 average ice time. The good: Kopitar finished with team- and career-highs in goals, assists and points and, for a six-week stretch early in the season, was among the NHL’s top scorers (he finished 17th in points). Kopitar has immense physical ability, [...]

RANDY JONES This season: 48 games, 5 goals, 16 assists, 28 penalty minutes, 18:10 average ice time. The good: Claimed off waivers early in the season, Jones, early on, looked as though he might allow the Kings to duplicate the surprising success they had last season, in plucking Kyle Quincey off the waiver wire. Jones [...]

Bud Holloway scored the only goal and Jonathan Bernier made 30 saves as the Manchester Monarchs beat the Worcester Sharks 1-0 in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series. The Monarchs now lead the series 3-2 and can win it Friday at Manchester. With his sixth game-winning goal (out of seven Monarchs victories), Holloway tied [...]

A note, before we get to the evaluation. Today, Jack Johnson was named captain of the United States team for the IIHF World Championships, which open Friday in Germany. Kings defenseman Matt Greene is an alternate captain. More information on that can be found here. JACK JOHNSON This season: 80 games, 8 goals, 28 assists, [...]

RAITIS IVANANS This season: 61 games, 0 goals, 0 assists, 136 penalty minutes, 4:54 average ice time. The good: There are zero secrets in Ivanans’ game. When he is on the ice, he’s there simply to be a physical deterrent to the other team. The Kings asked Ivanans to drop some weight last summer, in [...]

PETER HARROLD This season: 39 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 8 penalty minutes, 9:15 average ice time. The good: Harrold’s biggest strengths are his versatility and his attitude. Several times in the past two seasons, he has transitioned from defense (his natural position) to wing, and back, and also sat for long stretches as a [...]

MICHAL HANDZUS This season: 81 games, 20 goals, 22 assists, 38 penalty minutes, 18:18 average ice time. The good: It’s no major stretch to say that Handzus was the Kings’ best all-around player this season. He reached the 2o-goal plateau for the first time as a King and was an important front-of-the-net presence on the [...]

JEFF HALPERN This season: 16 games (with Kings), 0 goals, 2 assists, 12 penalty minutes, 10:41 average ice time. The good: Acquired at the trade deadline from Tampa Bay, Halpern filled the fourth-line center role and allowed the Kings to be more flexible with Brad Richardson near the end of his impressive season. By coincidence [...]

MATT GREENE This season: 75 games, 2 goals, 7 assists, 83 penalty minutes, 17:29 average ice time. The good: In many ways, Greene has inherited that “warrior” role that Mattias Norstrom held during his time with the Kings. Greene is a tough, selfless teammate who is completely unafraid to block shots and do the dirty [...]

ALEXANDER FROLOV This season: 81 games, 19 goals, 32 assists, 26 penalty minutes, 18:26 average ice time. The good: Very little changes in Frolov’s evaluation from year to year. When he’s good, he’s very good. Frolov’s puck-control skills are on par with the NHL’s best, and his immense two-way skills allow him to contribute offensively [...]

Alexander Frolov (Russia) and Ryan Smyth (Canada) have been added to their respective countries’ rosters for the IIHF World Championships, which begin Friday in Germany. Both moves were expected, as Terry Murray said he expected Frolov to play, and TSN reported Smyth’s involvement. Among Kings players, Frolov and Smyth join Matt Greene (USA), Jack Johnson [...]

ERIK ERSBERG This season: 11 games, 4-3-2 record, 2.40 goals-against average, .906 save percentage. The good: Ersberg had a rough start — he allowed four goals in three of his first four appearances — but after that, he was rather solid. In his final seven appearances of the season, Ersberg allowed a total of eight [...]