After this morning’s practice, Terry Murray said Wayne Simmonds — who suffered a lower-body injury last night — would not accompany the team to Dallas and St. Louis. Last night, Murray said Simmonds nearly returned to the game in the third period, but apparently Simmonds had some swelling this morning. Murray said Simmonds will go for an MRI tomorrow.
Murray said the Kings weren’t likely to make any AHL call-ups, and that they would play the way they practiced today, with Kevin Westgarth returning to the lineup in a fourth-line role with Michal Handzus and Alexei Ponikarovsky.
Murray was very, very unhappy with the scrum that led to Simmonds’ injury, as he found it completely unnecessary. More on that, and other notes and quotes, to come…
Watching the video/Simmonds closely.. the second Simmonds falls, he puts his right leg in the air and holds in there. Must of tweaked it.
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friarking Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 11:46 am
@Michael_DD8, and the ref was using it to balance himself.
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Player-X Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
@friarking, I think the ref was just holding it up for one of two reasons: he knew Simmonds was hurt, but even if not, the refs are always careful with skate blades off the ice in scrums when people can be cut if the guy with the skate up in the air tries to get up too son with guys underneath him.
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i figured as much.
hope it’s nothing serious.
and why is TM pissed? what were they supposed to do? Oilers players came after DD and teammates are gonna stand up for each other. whatever Murray.
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Gabby Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 11:53 am
@TinaBeana, Um, I’m guessing TM was pissed because Penner jumped Doughty, leading to the scrum in which Simmer got hurt. Simmer’s response was correct; it’s the fact that the scrum happened after a CLEAN hit is what pissed off the coach.
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EJ Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 11:55 am
@TinaBeana, not sure if that is what was meant. I think TM could be expressing his frustration with the whole league-wide phenomenon where a hard clean hit seems to always require a response from the hitee’s teammates.
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Gabby Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 11:58 am
@EJ, I agree with that. In your original comment, you implied that TM was upset with Simmonds.
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Gabby Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 11:58 am
@Gabby, “you” meaning Tina.
rexmundi Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
@Gabby, if it were doughty or kopi that was hit, i think wed all expect our boys to do the same thing. the problem is with the instigator rule, its curtailed the players from policing themselves. not that this play would fall under the category of dirty. but, it was a devastating hit on the oilers star young kid. its unfortunate for simmer, too bad the league doesnt mandate more penalties or misconducts in these situations. if crosby were to be hurt in a similar situation, you can bet there would be a change.
TinaBeana Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
@TinaBeana, i guess cuz it’s not clear as to why he was pissed. of course i hope it’s cuz it of his player getting jumped and lead to another player’s injury. but it was out of his control.
i don’t blame the Oilers for going after DD, they thought he left his feet and blah blah.
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Murray’s new infatuation a la Randy Jones is now Westgarth. Last year we had to watch Jones’ ineptitude. This year it’s Westgarth. Why not bring up Might Mouse Moller? He at least goes to the net..
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wavesinair Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
@poe, You mean Ivanans, not Jones. No comparison between Jones and Westy.
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tantrum4 Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
@poe,
I’m not sure how Moller would do fighting John Scott. Most likely Moller would cease to exist.
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Cristobal Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
@tantrum4,
Why would Moller fly to Chicago during a trip to Dallas and St. Louis to fight John Scott?
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Player-X Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
@tantrum4, lol, vaporization or worse
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With Westy playing less than 5 minutes a game and Simmers out, I wonder who will be double shifting that right side.
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Gabby Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 11:53 am
@DominicK, Like last night: Dustin Brown.
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DominicK Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
@Gabby, More like He won’t use them very much. Brown didn’t spend a lot of time with those 2. Even strength those 2 barely played. Zues played a little more but that’s because he was on the PP, and PK. Cliffy will be with Richie and Lewis so we’re basically rendering a line useless by not calling up a player to play with them.
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With a big mofo going after Doughty, I don’t see what Murray expected the boys to do.
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regulate Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 11:59 am
@Diablito93,
You’re not getting it. He is upset with Oiler players jumping Doughty after a big clean hit. The NHL needs to do something about this “automatic” retaliation, otherwise, what’s the point of the great play Doughty made if the retaliation is not heavily punished. The game stops when it shouldn’t. Take care of it with a big, clean hit of your own, but jumping the player that makes a legit hit needs to stop. It’s ruining the game.
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TinaBeana Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
@regulate, the NHL is gonna be as the NHL has always been, inconsistent.
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Cristobal Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
@regulate,
If this is a big problem, and it’s not, the NHL could take out the instgator penalty and get rid of the Tie-down jerseys.
If a guy instigates a fight, and the other player “turtles”, just give the “instigator” the 5 for fighting and the penalty for starting a fight becomes much greater. Just like years ago in the playoffs VS. The blues with Courtnall running Storr.
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Westy should have been dressed last night. Big Mac was causing havoc on the ice, roughing up doughty and kopitar at will. Isn’t that the reason the kings have an enforcer?? TM stinks, as does DL
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tantrum4 Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
@Eric,
Oh but haven’t you heard from all the Kings fans on here? we don’t need an enforcer in the lineup, or on the bench, or on the team at all. We need to call up Oscar Moller instead, or put Richardson in the lineup etc etc. There is NO NEED for Westgarth!! (sarcasm)
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neil Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
@Eric, Meanwhile we won and we were more physical according to Edmonton’s players….
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NoDoughty Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
@Eric, In defense of Westy I have to say he is not the liability Ivanans was, but I’m not too impressed with what he brings to the team when he’s in the lineup. I feel that Cliffy can and will take care of business and contributes more than Westy overall.
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bbb7 Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
@Eric, Thats the reason they have an enforcer IN THEORY, but Westgarth rarely ever fills that role in practice. His fights are always staged, and he’s such a liability otherwise that he adds nothing.
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Even Fox and the rest of us needed instant replay to see if that was a clean hit…Fox didnt know at the time if DD left his feet to make the hit or not…Now if Kopitar got hit like that and we didnt look at the instant replay..i would expect my teammates to stand up to the other team…Hey Coach…you cant have it both ways…It was just a fluke that Simmers got injured…
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Wouldn’t TM like this type of response from his own team? Like sending Westy out after Winchester?
The hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me.
Was this some part of the institution in Philly that DL brought along with him?
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neil Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
@Cristobal, agree….at regular speed it was hard to detemine if it was clean or not(did DD leave his feet??)If in doubt….stand up for your teammates..That is passion…pride….etc
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Cristobal Reply:
January 16th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
@neil,
Yes.
How about gettin rid of vaguely disclosed injuries to the fans who pay the salaries?
Simmonds, IMO, is fairly badly injured and will not even be able to be targetted by a dirty player.
Dr. Murray wouldn’t be my first choice in physician, if I could afford health care.
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Hey, at least Hall himself said it was a clean hit. Straight from the horses mouth to God’s ears!
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