For those attending the draft tomorrow, here’s a quick rundown of what will be taking place in the area. Staples Center doors will open at 2 p.m., and all fans with a ticket can enter the arena and take pictures of and with the NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup, from 2-3:30 p.m. Fans, however, [...]

Dean Lombardi was a guest yesterday on Hockey Night in Canada radio, with Jeff Marek and Kelly Hrudey, talking about the draft, the trade/free agency season and the growth of the Kings. Click below to listen to the interview… Lombardi on Hockey Night radio

This year’s NHL Draft could be a big one for Southern California kids, as five of them are ranked in the top 100 by NHL Central Scouting. Emerson Etem of Long Beach is ranked No. 8 and probably will be gone by the time the Kings pick, but a couple mock drafts have suggested the [...]

A potential Kings free-agent target is now off the board, as the San Jose Sharks have re-signed forward Patrick Marleau to a four-year contract. The Sharks announced the signing at the same time they announced the re-signing of restricted free agent Joe Pavelski to a four-year contract. Reports have Marleau getting $6.9 million per season [...]

John Stevens was gracious enough to call tonight and chat about his hiring as the newest Kings assistant coach. Stevens, 44, takes the place of Mark Hardy on the Kings’ staff. Stevens most recently was the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers for parts of four seasons, and was fired 26 games into this season [...]

A few things to share, so I’ll just throw them together in one item… – Drew Doughty finished third in Norris Trophy voting, behind winner Duncan Keith of Chicago (1,096 votes, 76 first-place votes) and second-place Mike Green of Washington (831 votes, 34 first-place votes). Doughty (662 votes, 15 first-place votes) was named to the [...]

Dean Lombardi, Terry Murray, Ron Hextall and Jeff Solomon have agreed to two-year contract extensions, and John Stevens will be hired tomorrow as an assistant coach with a three-year contract.

The Kings have released the details of this year’s developmental camp, which will run June 30-July 2 at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. As usual, the camp is free to attend and features several of the top prospects from the past few drafts. The players listed below will be joined by this year’s [...]

The NHL Awards will be handed out tonight in Las Vegas, with the Kings’ Drew Doughty as a finalist for the Norris Trophy, along with Chicago’s Duncan Keith and Washington’s Mike Green. I tend to think Keith will take home the award, but I also believe Doughty got more and more support as the season [...]

The Kings’ developmental camp, always a highlight of the summer, is scheduled for a June 30 start. That’s a Wednesday, and it’s also a couple weeks earlier than usual. In the next couple days, I should have a complete schedule and hopefully the names of participants (which usually includes most of the team’s recently-made draft [...]

The NHL Players’ Association today exercised its right to extend the current collective-bargaining agreement for an additional year, meaning that the NHL will have labor peace until at least the summer of 2012. The players also voted for the five-percent growth of the salary cap for next season, meaning that the cap ceiling should be [...]

The Kings’ 2010-11 schedule has been released. As expected, the season will start with back-to-back road games against Vancouver (Oct. 9) and Calgary (Oct. 10) and the home opener will be Oct. 12 against Atlanta. The Kings will host Eastern Conference teams Atlanta, Carolina (Oct. 20), New Jersey (Oct. 30), Tampa Bay (Nov. 4), N.Y. [...]

According to this story on NHL.com, the Kings will open their season with a set of back-to-back road games against Vancouver and Calgary. The Kings will play the Canucks on Saturday, Oct. 9, then play the Flames on Sunday, Oct. 10. The Kings’ home opener will be Tuesday, Oct. 12, against Atlanta. A note on [...]

The Kings have announced their 2010 preseason schedule, which will include two games at Staples Center, one game in Anaheim, one in Denver, one in Phoenix and the traditional Frozen Fury game in Las Vegas against Colorado. Here’s the schedule… Wednesday, Sept. 22 — at Colorado, 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23 — at Phoenix, 7:05 [...]

There will be plenty to dissect and discuss this week… Beyond the obvious, the NHL Draft on Friday and Saturday at Staples Center, the NHL awards will be handed out on Wednesday in Las Vegas, and of course Drew Doughty is a finalist for the Norris Trophy at the end of his second season. Also, [...]

Reports have indicated that the Kings are prepared to hire John Stevens as an assistant coach to replace Mark Hardy. It’s far from surprising, given that Stevens is an experienced coach with previous ties to Terry Murray and some of the other members of the Kings staff. Stevens was fired 26 games into this season [...]

It’s hard to believe that the first round of the NHL Draft is only a week away, but it should be a good time. To start to set the table for the draft, on LAKings.com, I have a feature about the Kings’ philosophy going into this year’s draft, as opposed to recent years, and the [...]

Rob Blake announced his retirement today after 20 NHL seasons. Blake, 30, ranks fourth all-time among Kings in games played (805), 11th in goals (161), seventh in assists (333) and seventh in points (494). Click here to see all of Blake’s career stats, including his stints with Colorado and San Jose. Blake is a former [...]

Mock drafts are far more entertaining than they are constructive, given that it’s all but impossible to predict, at one time, what 30 general managers are going to do, but it’s still fun to take a peak and guess what the Kings might do at No. 19 next week. NHL.com has released a few mock [...]

The Kings have signed defenseman Johan Fransson to a one-year contract. Fransson became Kings property after the Feb. 2007 trade that sent Mattias Norstrom to Dallas, but Fransson had been unsigned and playing in the Swedish Elite League. Fransson, 25, is 6-foot-1, 183 pounds, and totaled 11 goals, 19 assists and 26 penalty minutes in [...]