13 Comments

1. McDonalds says:

   August 30, 2010 at 11:54 am

   Great read Rich. His last quote really stuck out to me

   “In life, sometimes, it’s not until you’re pushed into a corner or dealt a tough situation… You don’t learn things in life when things are going well. You only learn when things aren’t going as planned. That’s when you learn the most in life.”

   -Willie Mitchell, philosopher

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2. launch says:

   August 30, 2010 at 12:07 pm

   nice job Rich -

   Willie is going to bring the calm we need on the blueline. too many scrambling d-men last year.

   Obviously we need to wait and see how he performs, but his presence alone can help us steady the back end. He is saying all the right things and it certainly sounds like he has matured as a person.

   I look forward to watching him play…very soon

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3. Doug in Sacramento says:

   August 30, 2010 at 12:10 pm

   Great stuff as always rich. I’ve got a good feeling about Mitchell. Here’s hoping he doesn’t go the way of deader.

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4. Kevin Y says:

   August 30, 2010 at 12:12 pm

   I don’t care about all that stuff… I just wanna know what # he’s gonna wear!

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5. Grover says:

   August 30, 2010 at 12:14 pm

   Great article Rich.

   While I do understand completely Mitchell’s thought process that “he can’t control what other people think.” I feel I must disagree with him slightly. There will be many, many times this season a forward will take a seat on the bench and think to himself, “that is one tough son of a bitch.”

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6. KFII says:

   August 30, 2010 at 12:42 pm

   Thanks Rich, I needed something new to read. Good job.

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7. Niko says:

   August 30, 2010 at 1:14 pm

   I already love this guy! Sounds like a fantastic leader, has a genuine love of the game and does everything he can to protect his own net. Kings PK will be awesome.

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8. KINGSfan says:

   August 30, 2010 at 2:25 pm

   Great Read !!

   I’m not one to follow or know individual players much. When the KINGS make a move, I useally ask others about the player.

   I like now knowing who WM has been coached by and who he’s played along side.

   Thanks Rich

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9. sstephen17 says:

   August 30, 2010 at 3:07 pm

   Great write up Rich. The first time I ever heard of Willie Mitchell was some caller on the Kings radio network called before the playoffs started, mentioning how much Vancouver would miss Mitchell during the playoffs. Now I have know why.

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10. KC23 says:

    August 30, 2010 at 6:51 pm

    The hockey Gods are smiling on us. This is going to sound wierd, but … I was nervous about Kovi. I was actually more worried that we would get him and something would happen … and we would be stuck with a huge cap it for a awefully long time. It was almost a relief when to me that we didn’t get him.

    Now we get less than half the cap hit and get a guy who sounds almost as valuable, just not in that … sell tickets and jerseys kind of way. Keeping the puck out of our net is just as important as putting the puck in the other teams net. Especially in the playoffs.

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    DougS Reply:
    August 30th, 2010 at 9:31 pm

    @KC23,
    Doesn’t sound weird to me at all. Exactly the same thing was sitting in the back of my mind. The more money you spend on one guy, the bigger the risk from the standpoint of the team overall; there’s no getting around that.

    Mitchell’s contract is a reasonable gamble. If he stays healthy, he will help the Kings win games and set a good example for the young Ds.

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    Kevin Y Reply:
    August 30th, 2010 at 10:35 pm

    @KC23,

    Dean Lombardi has never been the kind of “big-name team” GM guy. He’s all about developing talent and bringing in the right pieces at the right time.

    No, Cloutier, Nagy… McCauley, Calder, Bure… Gauthier (gags)… not one of those guys worked, but that paved the way for guys like Quick, Stoll/Greene, Scuderi, Mitchell… the role players that are gonna play a huge role.

    In the end, getting Kovalchuk would’ve helped the Kings’ offense… Getting Mitchell is gonna help the defense, which would (dominoes!) help Kopitar, Brown, as well as Johnson and Doughty.

    Kovalchuk may be a better player than Mitchell, but Mitchell’s the right player for this group, and could prove to be a more valuable addition.

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11. 8ball says:

    September 1, 2010 at 4:12 pm

    how about gilles marotte with doughty?

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