The Kings might soon face a difficult decision. Marco Sturm is continuing his rehabilitation from knee tendinitis, and depending on the results of his meeting with doctors today, Sturm might be able to play Thursday in Pittsburgh. The Kings are out of roster spots, however, so assuming that everyone else stays healthy, when Sturm returns from injured reserve the Kings would either have to assign Andrei Loktionov to Manchester or expose one of their other players to waivers. Loktionov continues to practice in a first-line role and has faired relatively well, although he tends to get exposed a bit in tight, physical games. So we’ll see what happens with Sturm, who made it through another full-team practice today and is scheduled to be back on the ice tomorrow, Terry Murray said.
MURRAY: “I thought he got through the practice OK today. Yesterday was a day of recovery, and he came back with the skate. He will get another one in tomorrow. He’s leaving for his final meeting with the doctor, so (after) another hard day tomorrow, we’ll see where he’s at.”
Scott Parse continues to make slow, steady practice as well. Parse has been doing conditioning skating on his own over the past couple weeks, but today Parse joined the full group for some end-of-practice skating, as he continues to rehab from the hip surgery he had in November.
MURRAY: “Yeah, how about that? He was in the 45s [conditioning skating]. That was good to see. I was surprised that he jumped in there. I think there’s a very bright light at the end of the tunnel here, right now. He’s seeing it, he’s excited about it. He has put in a lot of time, off ice, to get to where he is right now on the ice. Very encouraging. … There’s still a ways to go, but I think there’s a great deal of adrenaline pumping right now, that he sees what the possibilities could be fairly soon.”
Who would consider placing DD2 on waivers?
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vindogla Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
@Harry,
He’d be gone in a heartbeat, so would Westgarth or Harrold.
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rick Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 4:53 pm
@vindogla, Not sure someone would take Westgarth, and not sure I would care even if they did. He is as replaceable as they come. Regardless, Loktionov is not ready for the big show, and he is the one who needs to be moved.
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Corey Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
@rick, Completely disagree. Loktionov has more skill and can do more for us than Strum, Parse and Drewiske combined. Marco Sturm sucks, and his knees will not be ready this season. HOWEVER.. Loktionov is healthy and ready to produce.. Figure it out.
rick Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
@corey, Interesting analysis. Wrong, but interesting.
Colin Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:39 pm
@rick, Someone would probably grab Westgarth. He’s not someone that we want starting every game, but he’s someone that is needed on the roster. Clifford is great because he’s willing to drop gloves, but he’s outmatched against heavy weights. If we go against a team with a known a-hole, it’s nice to have the option of skating Westgarth.
Loktionov is great, but he’s the one who needs to go down to the AHL. He’ll be with the club next year, his play has earned him that. Sturm and Parse have the experience though, sending them to the AHL would be pointless, and neither of them would clear waivers.
Quisp Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 9:15 pm
@rick,
Not sure I follow your reasoning. Westgarth won’t be claimed, and you don’t care if he is, but Loktionov needs to be sent to Manchester? I think you mean to say that Loktionov is not as good as he is going to be when he’s “seasoned.” But to say he’s not ready is just, well, meaningless. The Kings are 10-3-1 with Loktionov in the line-up. He’s got a positive plus-minus. His play on the Williams goal kept us from losing the last game. What else…oh yeah, the Kings have been having trouble on the power play this year. It’s been in all the papers. Many many games have been lost due to total power-play impotence. Who do you think leads the Kings in PPGON/60 (which is power play goals the player is on-ice for, per 60 minutes of icetime)?
That would be Loktionov. (unless you include players with fewer than 10 games, in which case Parse is the leader, by a mile.)
There’s another fun stat called OFF+/-, which is a player’s plus/minus when they’re off the ice, when they’re sitting on the bench. On the powerplay, Loktionov’s is the lowest on the team. Which means, if you don’t want to score power-play goals, keep Loktionov on the bench.
@corey
I get your point. Parse is highly skilled though. And Sturm is, too, when he’s healthy. I wouldn’t say Loktionov has more skill than those guys (and Drewiske) combined. But I do think he has more skill than either Parse or Sturm.
tornado12 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
@quisp, Those are very interesting numbers. I actually think that the stats that bear-in -mind the actual “accomplishment/chance given” are the most accurate. For example, why does the NHL use the PP percentage as number of total PP converted, rather than actual goals per 2 min of PP time? If more effort was put into keeping those sort of numbers, I wonder what kind of impact it could make!
USHA#17 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 7:02 pm
@vindogla,
There just isn’t anyone out there that we could dump DD2 and Harrold for.
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xeropoint Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
@USHA#17,
Everyone please read this.
dcaps55 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 4:58 pm
@Harry, Much rather see Harold on waivers than DD2.
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dcaps55 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
@dcaps55, And, I’m not sure anyone would pickup Harold…
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 8:20 am
@dcaps55, That would be stupid. He’s the one guy who can competently play both forward and defense. Harrold is the last guy who should be mentioned in this discussion.
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uknojata Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 10:27 am
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?, yup, and he is mediocore at both.
sstephen17 Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 9:16 am
@Harry, Loktionov needs to stay because he has offensive talent and creativity, a commodity the Kings are short on this year. As Quisp stated, the win-loss record with him in the line-up speaks for itself. Don’t try to tinker with something that isn’t broken.
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I thought that Martinez, Clifford and Bernier were all still waiver exempt…
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KingsFaninsano Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
@wavesinair, yes but whou would send any of them down. I dont see Marrtinez being replaced, Clifford is Solid Defensively and we do need a backup Goalie.
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Kingsfanone Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
@KingsFaninsano,
I agree with you, but when BOTH Sturm AND Parse come back, doesn’t that mean TWO players must be moved. or are we getting close enough to the roster boundary being extended? I sure would NOT want to send Martinez, Clifford, or Bernier down if in fact they are exempt.
I think we have a genuine dilemma coming up here, don’t we?
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Quisp Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
@Kingsfanone,
That’s right. When Sturm is activated, room needs to be made, and when Parse is activated, presumably that will be after 2/28, at which point there is no roster maximum. Bernier, Clifford, Loktionov and Martinez are in fact exempt; although the team has to carry two goalies, so you can’t send Bernier down only to add Sturm; and Clifford, if returned to juniors, would be there until his junior season is done. Martinez can go down, but he’s playing, as they say, “big minutes.”
I would put Harrold or Westgarth on waivers, but I’m pretty sure Dean will send Loktionov down.
My concern is that both Sturm and Parse are recovering from injuries and aren’t likely to be 100% any time soon. Loktionov is a better option than a hobbled Sturm.
i would send down Westgarth or try and trade DD2. he has a good contract so i’d hang on to him or maybe try to deal him. he’d make a nice 5/6 d-man in the Eastern Conference somewhere.
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Badger57 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:16 pm
@Dave,
Agree with that statement. He has played good when in there. When everybody else was having a tough go of it, he was the best D-man. He doesn’t do anything flashy, but he is a solid D-man. I bet you could get something for him. Harry too,
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edwood2 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
@Dave, Surprised DL has not tried to move him, assuming he hasn’t. It’s unusual to healthy scratch two natural d men, and we have a plethora of young ones in Man. Martinez messed everything up by playing so well!
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CB14 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
@edwood2, I agree with you on trading either DD2 or PH. DL was probable waiting to see how well Martinez did before trading either of those other two d-men. The Kings do have a bunch of quality young d-men, but not a lot of them are ready yet. Hickey was cut late in traing camp, then wasn’t even the 1st call up, Martinez was. Teubert is still too raw and he missed a large part of training camp with an injury. Voynov seems ready to me, he was an All Star), but it doesn’t seem like DL thinks he is. He is kinda small and could use some more muscle on his body.
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Badger57 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:52 pm
@edwood2,
He hasn’t messed things up, he is playing good, so thats good for the team. But if you can not play the guys, trade them.
Maybe TM has a feeling a couple of the others are injury prone, and needs to keep both of them in case. So maybe he needs to play them once in a while to keep em sharp.
Any way GO KINGS. Cann’t wait to see you guys play the Caps on Sunday. Thanks for loaning them to the east coast for the week.
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USHA#17 Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 4:10 am
@Badger57, Loook at it from the other side. Teams know DL has a dilemma on his hands. Why even offer decent pick?
Not a hard decision at all.
Waive Sturm.
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CB14 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
@5buckcolonnadeticket, Sturm’s not great, but he’s better than Poni.
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Quisp Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 8:56 pm
@CB14,
Interesting tidbit.
Kings record with Sturm in the line-up: 6-9-0 (.400) … second worst on the team; D. King is the worst, at 1-5-0.
Kings record with Ponikarovsky in the line-up: 23-8-2 (.727)…best on the team by far, except for these guys:
Loktionov: 10-3-1 (.750)
Schenn 8-2 (.750)
Parse 4-1 (.800)
To some degree you can chalk it up to coincidence. I guess. Maybe.
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CB14 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 11:00 pm
@Quisp, Interesting records. I didn’t know the difference in the records were that big. Might just be a coincidence like you said, but probably not. Also I use the Kings record with Westgarth in the line-up against anyone who likes to see him play. I’m sure you know how bad our record is with him in the line-up, it’s pretty bad compared to when he doesn’t play. That being said I would like to see Sturm play at 100%.
KC23 Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 1:33 am
@Quisp, Any sample zize less than 21 is statistically irrelavent.
What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 8:24 am
@KC23, Agree in principle, but I thought it was 34.
Quisp Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 10:40 am
@KC23
No, it is not true that “any sample size less than 21 is statistically irrelevant.” In general, a result has greater “statistical power” as we increase sample size, but also as we increase effect size. You’re looking at games-played (I think) and concluding that’s not a big enough sample. But you could also (as I am) look at the number of players, which in this case is more than 20 if you consider only Kings players, and more than 600 if you look at NHL players. And the effect size (winning more than 7 out of 10 games) is sufficiently big that a smaller sample size may still yield a significant result.
There is one player who has played more than 20 games and who has a W% of greater than .700. There are two who have played more than 10 games. There are four who have played more than 5 games. The question is what criterion do you accept for “statistical significance.” One might apply a 1/1000, 1/100, 1/20 or 1/5 threshold, depending on context.
If Quick started 15 games and his record was 0-15, no one would say that was statistically insignificant. Even though you might choose to define sample size as “15 games played.” I could define the sample size as “60 goaltenders in one season.” In any case, the chance of Quick randomly losing 15 games in a row is very tiny (.00003). So you would say that this result is significant since by occurring once in 100 years with merely a few hundred goalies (as opposed to the odds of it occurring randomly: 3/100000) it has far exceeded the significance criterion.
Random thought here but Clarke MacArthur might be a cheap fix for LW. He has great hands and quietly leads Toronto in points. Just watched him make an unbelievable tip for a goal in the game against ATL. If you’re reading this Dean…
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Dave Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
@DBking, i doubt Burke will let MacArthur go – they need to keep a couple of decent players
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crashin' da net Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 9:49 pm
@DBking, Wasn’t that sweet!? Already posted that here.
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What’s with all the sturm bashing? I know he’s hurt..but when he’s been in there his stats are more then respectable…
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puck73 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
@Hagi18, Agree. He has also shown in the past to play well in the playoffs…we could use his experience down the stretch.
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
@Hagi18, people do that when they dont score
if they want to do that i say Kopi send his butt to waviers he hasnt score for crap not in a shootout or in game that last 60 to 65mins whats point having him he useless if he cant score,,
But Kopi good if he goes to waviers its a 110% someone will pick him up and then he kick the Kings butt i like Kopi dont want to see that and i know that wont happen
I like Sturm alot he fast for having a bad knee i say send Loktionov to the minors he gets push way too fast..i know our other guys do too but not like Loktionov..i see him next season tho
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kyle Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 12:27 am
@KingsFanFTW,
You can’t be serioun
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 11:12 am
@kyle, on the Kopi hell no i like Kopi we get rid of him then we will suck but the others yea Lokti i dont see him up this year but next year for sure and i like Lokti he very fast and skilled but he just need to be stronger
Goring 19 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
@Hagi18, I’ll take Sturm when he gets back, I think he can contribute quite a bit even with a bum knee. He might have slowed down but it’s the experience that carries him. I love Loktionov but the kid looks a bit out of place playing with the big boys. His time will come.
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KC23 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
@Hagi18, Agreed. Strum is far better than Loktionov. Just people unfamiliar with Strum. Not only does he have a history of good goal numbers, but big goals as well. Playoff experience big time.
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Forum67 Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 3:40 am
@Hagi18,
Thank you. FINALLY someone sticking up for Sturm. By the posts on the topic of Sturm you’d swear he hadn’t accomplished anything while he was in the lineup. His speed and experience alone make him someone Kings fans should be glad to have in the lineup for a stretch run. And he’s a lot stronger on the puck than Loktionov is at this stage in his development. I for one will be happy to see him back in the lineup. And since apparently barring injury neither DD2 nor Harry will be seeing any more ice time, I’d like to see one of them put on waivers just so one of them could go somewhere where they’d get to play. Although they can’t crack our lineup, either of them could be a 5th or 6th defensemen on some of the NHL teams with pathetically weak defenses, especially at the 5th and 6th spots. In the case of DD2, I can think of two teams where he’d be a 4th defenseman.
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get rid of the brad richardson the trevor lewis those the bottom six on this team are horrible other teams just have to shut down the top six the Kings bottom six can not stay in the offensive zone they all are on the defense other teams bottom six always are killing the Kings
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Goring 19 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
@leo of pico, say what?
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Gislaw Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
@leo of pico,
I’m not sure what games you have been watching, but those two have played their respective “roles” wonderfully. It will be somewhat bitter sweet, but Lokti goes down unless a trade is made. He is just not a 4th liner.
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Brent Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
@leo of pico, You know, I just got done explaining yesterday that I was so much more proud of our bottom 6 players this year. It’s not nearly as often that we are giving goals against our bottom two lines as we have in years past.
I don’t think all of the credit should go to those players, the defense and goalies have a large part of that too, but let’s be honest here.
These players have been a significant upgrade over the pre-DL years.
Now, just have to find those top 6 players to round out this team… That will be the hardest part.
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xeropoint Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
@leo of pico, Wrong. This is the best “bottom six” group the Kings have had in years. Two of the biggest reasons for that are the two guys you dumped on.
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crashin' da net Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 9:50 pm
@leo of pico, Kinda don;t think so…..
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KC23 Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 11:35 pm
@leo of pico, Interesting take. Yikes!
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ringo Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 5:51 am
@leo of pico, ummmmmmmm……no! you know you are on the kings web site,…right?!
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so easy!!! Get rid of Westgarth! it’s actually a good thing if someone takes him which no one probably will
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Wanting Loktionov to be good is one thing, but watch him play … he’s getting regular minutes for a number of games and he is not producing. I want him to, I wish he was, but other than stick handling over by the halfwall, we are not seeing the skating, passing or shooting needed to boost a needy offense and of course with his size there is no physical game in front of the net or in the corners. I’m willing to be talked into having Loki as a top 6 forward, but I sure as hell don’t see it and we’ve had a decent # of games. Good news is there is an option … he can go play on the first line with Oscar in Manchester …
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Quisp Reply:
February 7th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
@Gene Carr,
I don’t know what games you’re watching.
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Keep loki up in the big leauges. This kid can flat out play. He is getting better and better every game. I love his offensive creativities he does with the puck. Plus I rather have a healthy player that has soo much energy and creativity than sturm with a bad knee that is still recovering.
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KC23 Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 1:35 am
@ryanzlakings, I’ll take Strum over Loktionov any day and twice on Sundays.
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i know everyone is bashing sturm and poni.. The problem is the coaching.. Every night people arent going to have their best games.. But there is a seniority and a respect that should be given for years of great hockey,,, Poni and sturm have both benn good players when they are in the lineup.. They score goals and assists..
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nykingfan Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 7:17 am
@jason,
The problem isn’t coaching. The problem is the players…Sturm has been hurt, so you can’t really bash him for his play. when healthy, he’s always been a top 6 forward.
Poni hasn’t done much over the course of the season..He has had a few games where you see the skill and what could be…just not enough. He’s played 33 games and has 8 points. Not sure where you’re seeing the goals he’s scored, but it hasn’t been for us.
Seniority? when you’re battling for your playoff lives, you can take seniority and throw it out the window. It’s all about earning your playing time.
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get rid of Richardson!
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What a great dilema DL has on his hands, the team is too talented to single out one or two players to be moved!! For those people that seemed to think that the sky was falling and our team sucked, just look and see that even during our roughest streches this year we are only 5 points out of FIRST in our division and only 3 points out of FOURTH in the conference!! Pass the kool-aid please, I’m getting thirsty for the next Kings game!! Go Kings!!
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Get rid of Drewiske either via trade or waivers. Sturm has been hurt and needs more time to get going. He is a proven goal scorer when in the lineup throughout his career.Harrold is too valuable as a fill in, and he plays both ways.Westgarth fills a role that we need on occassion, I don’t think anyone expected him to give us much more than a good fight now and then, and if you were you are delussional.Poni has played well i think, not so much in goals but he is heavy on the puck and punishes people along the boards.We just need Kopi to get us some goals and I like where we are heading.
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