The competition, such as it was, is over, and Jonathan Bernier has been named the Kings’ backup goaltender over Erik Ersberg. In the end, Ersberg never even got into a preseason game, and his chances of making the team (not terribly strong to begin with, in all honesty) took a huge hit early in training camp when he hurt his hand. Conversely, Bernier looked sharp throughout camp and came in with the type of attitude the Kings were looking for. Ersberg might have the option of returning to Europe — he played three seasons in Sweden before the Kings signed him — or perhaps he might see if there is waiver-wire interest. Regardless, Bernier will be the Kings’ backup. After tonight’s morning skate, Terry Murray talked about Bernier and was quick (no pun intended) to throw cold water on the idea of a Quick/Bernier competition…
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Question: This is your third camp with Bernier, and he has had some ups and downs. Is it fair to say that you got what you were looking for from him, both on and off the ice, this time?
MURRAY: “As you say, this is my third camp with him, but as you remember, we called him up a couple years for a game in Minnesota, just as a backup, and he was heading in the right direction. You could see an improvement in his game, in his work ethic, but it wasn’t good enough. But he continued to build on that, and came into the development camp a year ago this past July, and I was very impressed with his overall physical and mental condition. His work ethic in that development camp was outstanding, and he brought it to camp last year. His progress was right on target. The decision was so correct last year, to have him go back and play. He had an outstanding year. He’s ready to make a move. So this camp has been everything I expected, as far as the work. The play in the games has been very good, so he gets to play in this game here tonight.”
Question: With the type of numbers Bernier was putting up last year, did you ever take a glance and think about what it would have been like to have him here?
MURRAY: “I didn’t. No, I did not, because we had a goaltender right here doing the same thing. Jonathan Quick’s game last year was outstanding. He grabbed the No. 1 position and never backed off on that hold during any time of the year. I wasn’t hoping or wishing. We were very comfortable with the goaltending. I was very happy with Jonathan Quick last year.”
Question: Bernier is accustomed to being a starter, at the junior level and in the AHL. What kind of adjustments will he have to make, in order to deal with being a backup?
MURRAY: “I think that for goaltenders who are put in that situation, it’s an adjustment. It’s an understanding. It’s coming to deal with that now, before things do get started, and understanding what that role is. In Bernier’s case, he is our No. 2 goaltender. He’s going to be the backup to Jonathan Quick, and he’s going to get a taste of the full season in the National Hockey League. So there is an understanding that he has to come to, that he’s here to be a part of the team, to work in tandem with Quick and be the best they can be as a pair, to play for the L.A. Kings and help us be successful. It’s not a competition. That’s an understanding that needs to be in place, and that’s through a meeting with me in the next few days. This is not a competition. This is about working together, supporting, cheering hard for each other and having everybody do the right stuff for the L.A. It’s about the team only.”
Question: Do you go into the season with a specific plan for which games Bernier will play, or does that remain fluid?
MURRAY: “I will take a look at that. I have taken a look at it. I have talked about it and thought about it quite often. I think I have mentioned this to the media in the past, that I want to make sure that Bernier would be staying fresh, staying involved, participating in a game a week. That ends up, I think, giving me a pretty good number (of games played) for both goaltenders at the end of the day. Clearly the No. 1 gets upward of that high-50s number. So everybody is ready and everybody is sharp and, mentally, you’re totally bought into the team.”
Question: Looking back on it, not just in training camp but last season, are you confident that Ersberg got a fair shake?
MURRAY: “Oh yeah, he got a fair shake. Sure. I’m going back to the beginning. There was certainly an opportunity, when he was playing. What sometimes happened, though, is what happened here. We made a decision by bringing Jonathan Quick up from the minors, and he stepped in and took over, basically. We were looking for something really good to happen in that area. Jason LaBarbera was good, but Jonathan Quick came in and he was just better. He took over the net, and I was very excited about that, to see a young guy come in and establish himself in that area. I look back over last year, with Quick again, and it was just kind of the same scenario. He wouldn’t relinquish the net. He played great. He was one of our most important players, key players, every game. So I found it very difficult to have him relinquish the net. We were really a good team at the start. We had the jump and we had the position in the standings that we wanted. It was a team thing, but Quick is the guy that’s in the net. Then, as we got to a time where we were slipping a little bit, after we got through that Olympic break, that might have been a time to say, `OK, we need Quicker to get a little bit of a break.’ I mention this again. He comes back from the Olympics and he hasn’t seen a lot of pucks over a two-week period. But now this is the critical time, so you’ve got to keep going with your No. 1 guy.”
It’s going to be a great season! Go Kings!!!
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Still don’t think EE got a fair shake but ultimately you’ve got to do what’s best for the team. Sometimes that means not being fair. Good luck to Ersberg and Congrats to JB. Can’t wait for Saturday
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Sounds like we will be seeing alot of Bernier.
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TM is saying all the right things here. Whether he really believes it or not is something else.
It is crucial that TM does not fall into the same patterns as last year, where he would ride Quick until the wheels fell off. Please spare me the comments about how JB is going to take over after 20 games. How about we get to 20 games and see where we are at from there.
As for whether or not EE got a far shake, I think its pretty obvious the answer is no. Regardless, there’s no denying that JB was coming up this year, and now has an OPPORTUNITY to PROVE he’s a good as everyone hopes he is.
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TradedForAPick Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 1:58 pm
@AZ King,
Ersberg did get the short end of the stick last year, but this season he was in trouble before camp even started. Gotta feel for the guy but such is the way of pro sports.
As for Bernier, he has all the time to adjust. Quick is a proven starter with the goods, so Bernier doesn’t have to be phenomenal right out of the gates.
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AZ King Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:07 pm
@TradedForAPick,
I agree 100%. However there are those on here who seem to be rooting for Quick to fail just so JB can take over…
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DougS Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:21 pm
@AZ King,
I agree, and I don’t understand it one bit…. Well, I do understand it in that some people are just flipping idiots, and in this case they’d rather treat this as a pro wrestling rivalry instead of part of a team sport. Or they’re treating it like this Twilight Edward vs. Jacob thing.
For pity’s sake, this is not about one guy flopping and another guy succeeding. This is about the *team* we’re all supposed to love and support having two promising young goalies, *both* of whom should help the team win a lot of games.
Seattle757 Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:55 pm
@AZ King, TradedForAPick, and DougS,
I completely agree with you guys here. It’s great that Bernier is developing into that bright standout goalie the Kings have been looking for, but so did Quick. Some idiots here just have this Bernier fever and don’t seem to care if there team has to fail to get Bernier that starting job. Let Bernier prove himself.
Quick lets in a goal and this children here scream soft goal, Bernier lets one in and oh no, that was a difficult shot to stop.
It’s a double standard. I’ve stood by Quick from the beginning and he proved he can play. Sometimes honestly I’ve had enough Bernier “Messiahness” BS I just want to see him fail. Of course I probably don’t mean it, but this has gotten ridiculous.
Play any goalie 70 games and watch him burn out. Just look at Brodeur, the Devils and him have been out in the 1st round the last few seasons because you just can’t over play a goalie, but no one here seems to understand it.
McSorleyfan Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 8:41 pm
@AZ King, Seattle 757, Traded, Doug, Etc.
I expect this season we see neither a kid out of place falling apart under pressure nor a messiah incapable of failure but a young man in another phase of his growth and development. I expect he’ll have moments to shine and times to fall on his face; he set the bar pretty high for himself vs. Nashville last year. Until we see him undergo the same rigors as EE over a season or 2 it is impossible to see how he compares. I have stood by Quicker since he came on. He has done nothing to earn the disdain of the Bernier worshipers. We’ll see if a season of reallity in the light of the NHL puts expectations in a more reasonable light. It concerns me that JB is currently being set up for a horrendous backlash should he fail to meet the expectations of these folks…
Lewes Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:09 pm
@AZ King, I agree completely with your sentiments on JB taking the job after 20 games. Quick has proven he’s a capable NHL starter, Bernier has to prove he can play well whenever he’s needed at the NHL level for an entire season. I think next year at camp we might have a contest, but I don’t see Bernier taking the starting job this year. All that being said I think we have a great tandem in goal.
No doubt EE got the short end of the stick, but as was already stated that’s what happens when you start to have a lot of good players on your team. I hope he can find somewhere to play and have success in the future.
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DougS Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 3:08 pm
@Lewes, and everyone else
:
That being said, my intuition is that Bernier will be the better NHL goalie over the long-term. But he’s still young and Quick is still young, so I just don’t see the hurry to make an irreversible decision about one or the other. If I’m wrong and Quick turns out to be better, it won’t bother me a bit. I want what’s best for the Kings. Whereas, I’m getting the sense that some people around here have invested so much emotion in one or the other that if they turned out to be wrong in the end, they’d flip out like hardline Communists when the Berlin Wall fell.
I’ve read Lombardi stating publicly on at least a couple of occasions that he likes having two young goalies of Quick and Bernier’s calibre on the team. So any talk of one or the other being traded is just misguided, unless one clearly flops. I think his plan is to hold onto both as long as he can before deciding who will be the long-term #1.
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Dan H. Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 3:48 pm
@AZ King,
Wow. I couldn’t agree more with everyone that posted on your thread here. I hope that bernier is the real deal but we don’t know that yet.
Quick was solid as anyone we’ve ever had in net last year and he gets crapped on by fanboi’s.
Lets cheer for ALL of our players to do well and kick ass and bring back a ton of wins this year guys.
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So TM contradicts himself by saying JQ needed a break, yet didn’t put EE in for any extended period to give JQ that break?
Isn’t that the reason EE didn’t get the fair shake?
I’m miffed slightly, especially since TM stated he may have made a mistake overplaying JQ. Now isn’t he acting like that all didn’t happen?
I’m not trying to point blame, but if you hold others to a certain standard, shouldn’t you also be held to the same standard?
I’m just sayin.
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mrbrett7 Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 4:26 pm
@Kingsfanone, This really isn’t hard.
Terry Murray’s job is to win games, period. If Jonathan Quick gives him the best chance to do that, guess who will be playing over EE.
EE had the worst GAA in the NHL, the worst save percentage, etc. Simply put, he could NOT play him because he had ZERO faith that EE could get the job done. He was in a dogfight just to make the playoffs, therefore, Quick plays, EE sits.
Simple…
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oldthunder Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 6:22 pm
@mrbrett7, I don’t think EE had the worst stats in the league even granted his small sample size of 11 games. He actually was comparable to Quick.
Quick 72 gp, 2.54 GAA, 0.907 SV%
EE 11 gp, 2.4 GAA, 0.906 SV%
I agree with you Quick may have given a better shot for the Kings to win, but I completely disagree with the EE being the worst goalie in the league last year. If EE’s numbers made TM sit him, then I am missing something.
I am happy we have the predicament but sad for EE. The guy was the professional and a player I will respect for how he handled everything. Best of Luck to EE wherever he ends up. He has at least one fan from here on out.
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Kingsfanone Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 7:55 pm
@oldthunder,
Add me as a fan also. Especially how he handled it, to this very day!!!
I’m sorry if I duplicate someone else’s remark, but I’m glad my info stays up so I don’t have to keep re-typing it. Thank you!
This isn’t about protecting Ersberg’s feelings, as much as we all liked the guy. The fact is, Quick and Bernier are better goaltenders. Ersberg had the starting job and ended up losing it, and this year he lost out to two exceptional goaltenders. I wish him luck, but the choice was neither unfair nor unexpected.
In a couple years, we may be saying the same thing about Jonathan Quick if he loses his job to Bernier, and then is beat out by Zatkoff or Jones. Hopefully at that point, we make a goaltender trade.
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I smell a William Jennings trophy.
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AZ King Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:23 pm
@jayhay,
That would be awesome!!
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Did you see the two softies that Quick gave up last night in Vegas? Murray could not have been pleased. I have to believe that he won’t put up with that type of effort very long.
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Seattle757 Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:56 pm
@Good2bKings,
of course, because Bernier never lets in goals. If they get pass him they must be very difficult shots to stop.
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danny Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 3:08 pm
@Seattle757, you cant hide the truth quick did not look good last night i think he made 1 or 2 good saves.
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Seattle757 Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 3:25 pm
@danny,
Last time I checked a save is a save, a save only looks great when they are out of position or the puck changes direction last second that the save looks spectacular. So “he made 1 or 2 saves” is irrelevant.
RoyalPain Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 3:12 pm
@Good2bKings,
I missed the first Av goal waiting to get back to my seat. The other one looked like a good shot. He made a few stellar saves and looked better playing the puck than last year, which gives me hope.
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Mike Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 3:22 pm
@Good2bKings,
Kings won, Quick gave up 2 goals. You cant ask for much more.
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Dan H. Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 3:49 pm
@Mike,
Sure they can. They’re all convinced Bernier will have a 0.00 GAA this year.
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“Jason LaBarbera was good” – TM
What Jason LaBarbera was TM watching?
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USHA#17 Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 4:07 pm
@Dan SanDonkey,
Darn you, you grabbed that quote first!
That really helped put the interview into perspective.
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“This is not a competition?” What the heck is Terry smoking? Try telling all of the players who have been sent down to the Minors…”This is not a competition!”
Competition is the core of athletics. It’s what drives and motivates all athletes. The cream rises to the top and the best athletes succeed.
I’d like to be a fly on the wall during Murray’s upcoming meeting with Bernier. Geez, what a load of crap!
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DougS Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 4:55 pm
@Rainman,
Given that too many people around here are keen on treating Quick and Bernier like professional wrestling rivals, where one has to triumph and the other has to fail and be humiliated, I found that quote rather refreshing.
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This is a note to TM. Please, please, do not do the same crap you did last year with burning out one goalie and hardly ever using the backup goalie. EE rode the pine for what seemed like forever, and if JQ was having an abysmal night in goal, you left him in at the expense of the team and a possible win with the blather that JQ had to work through it. You are so intractible…please rethink your adamant #1 goalie mind set. Thank you.
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rontheking Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:34 pm
@poe,
I agree with the sentiment but I think Murray has already rethought things.
It drove me crazy last year because I thought almost halfway through the year that Murray was riding Quick too much, and that as the necessity for wins became more essential later in the season (as it always does when you need every point late in the year)…then he would have to continue to use Quick, who was likely to burn out sooner or later.
It still blows my mind that a coach with his experience didn’t figure that out sooner. Ersberg simply wasn’t allowed to play his part, and I believe it ruined him for the year…he was simply wasted as a player.
Oh well…this year will be different.
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So worn out on Jonathan Quick talk. Cannot understand the love affair between Terry Murray and Quick.. Its ridiculous. Quick is an average starter.
Bernier will have the job by Christmas.. Murray wont be able to ignore the fact that Bernier is flat out better for that long.
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McSorleyfan Reply:
October 4th, 2010 at 3:05 am
@Josh N., What you seem to miss is that JQ is an established, proven, record setting starter in the NHL heading into season 3 and JB is a promising kid ready to break in to a back-up position that has yet to prove himself in a full season at this level. As hard as I am sure it will be for you, buckle your seat belt and get ready to watch JB back JQ up for the rest of this season, anyway. For you to say Bernier is “flat out better” is rather interesting when he’s never faced the level of competition JQ has. It may prove out that down the line he is The Man. If so, that may be due in part to having had the time to develop properly. Quick is an NHL goalie. Bernier is a promise that may or may not come true.
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We will get some good indication of how the goalies will be playing pretty early on. In October they play 7 games in 11 days (Oct 20 thru Oct 30) with two back to backs and in November they play 8 games in 15 days (Nov 11 thru Nov 24) with one back to back. That will be two pretty rough stretches early on and give both goalies a chance to get some work.
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Keep Ersberg and trade either Quick or Bernier for some scoring strength.
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Marc Nathan Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 5:00 pm
@Buzzsaw, LOL. That’s perhaps the dumbest concept possible. There’s strength up front with the kids developing. There’s strength on defense and there’s strength in goal. This is a very solid team for the first time in a good 20 years. Don’t screw it up by removing one of the Jonathans.
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rontheking Reply:
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:42 pm
@Marc Nathan,
No doubt you’ve been around for a while and remember what it’s like not to have ANY good options in goal, much less two.
Notice to newbies: reliable NHL caliber goaltenders don’t grow on trees–there is a remarkably small number of them on the planet.
Make a note of it.
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McSorleyfan Reply:
October 4th, 2010 at 2:15 am
@Marc Nathan, I couldn’t agree more! In September there was a commenter who stated that the Kings wouldn’t keep 2 starters long into the season and that JB or JQ would be traded relatively quickly, as EE made an adequate back-up. I wonder what she is thinking now…
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#1faninVegas Reply:
October 4th, 2010 at 2:26 am
@Marc Nathan,
indeed, I agree!!
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The way some people talk about Ersberg, you’d never think he was a 14-16 NHL goaltender with a 2.58gaa. Seriously, the guy is decent, but overall pretty average. He did the Kings a nice, serviceable job, but it’s time to bid adieu.
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all you bernier lovers. what happened saturday night. i will go with quick.
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