Today’s line changes also meant position changes for two players. Michal Handzus, a natural center, moves to left wing, where he has periodically played, particularly late in games in which the Kings are trying to hold a lead. Andrei Loktionov moves from left wing back to his natural position of center, where, frankly, he has always seemed more comfortable and effective. After practice today, Handzus talked about his comfort level playing on left wing, and Terry Murray talked about the movement of both players.
HANDZUS: “Well, I’m playing left wing but, like I’ve said, I don’t care where I play. Obviously, Kopi is a great player and it’s always great to play with great players. I’ve got to play good for him. Obviously, it’s an offensive role, a little bit more, but I don’t mind it. I think it’s pretty exciting.”
MURRAY: “I want to get Zeus up there on the left side, get a veteran player up there with Kopi [Anze Kopitar]. I’m just trying to get some real hard work brought into that situation right now. Loktionov being a center iceman, his natural position, I think it’s a move that he’s going to easily adjust to and adapt to, and feel comfortable going into it. To me, you make your moves to get your top guy back on track. Then you try to fill in from that point, with Lokti going to the center position with Brownie and Cliffy.”
Sure hope this works… I miss the goals Mr Kopi.
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I like it! Lokti gets to play his natural position and Zues gives a responsible 2 way forward that can take some D responsibilites of Kopi’s back so he can concentrate more on O side of the puck.
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rumpa#19 Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
@BrokeKingsFan, Kopi needs D relief ,hope it works?
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Not sure I 100% like Clifford on the left but I really love seeing Loktionov up front.
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KC23 Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
@Dan H., My take exactly, but I like the idea of having someone watching Kopitar’s back. To me that makes it much easier to leave Westgarth out of the line up.
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Harty Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
@Dan H., someone will have to do the dirty work along the boards as Loktionov cannot do it, he;’s way too small folks
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Dan H. Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
@Harty,
Brown and Clifford play kind of the same role. Still need a scorer on the line.
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*off topic* I heard that milan hejduk might be on the block! I think he would be a nice pickup as long as we dont overpay.
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puck73 Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
@tornado12, Hejduk would not cost a ton because he is an older player. This would be a Dean type of pickup…Dumpster Diving.
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Finally Andrei gets his center spot…too bad our 1st line is now the slowest 1st line in the NHL now (Zues and Kopi)
IDC what people say, we should trade for Gaborik!
imagine him with Kopitar…
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Zus it too slow for that line, period. I’d still like to try Lokti centering for Kopi and Brown, or Kopi and Simmonds, just to let Kopi have someone feed him for a change.
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Unless Handy can teleport he won’t get in the zone on time with Kopi and Simmer.
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I see the focus of TM to get Kopi going on working hard in the OOOffensive zone.
Kopi may have more scoring opportunities with Zues & Simmonds puck control ability?
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I’d like to see Michal Handzus & Justin Williams take it to their former team in Philly.
That would be EPIC… GO KINGS GO!!!
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While the 5 on 5 hasn’t been great, it has been better than the PP. If we could just get that fired up and some of guys can break out of their personal slumps, we should be alright. I am no sure that the wholesale shufflig of the lines is necessary, but I guess we shall see. Kings win tomorrow GKG!
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I’m going to be optimistic for once this season and hope that Lokti tears it up in his new role, starting with a couple of points in the next game against WSH. Nice set ups 5 on 5 and on the PP. One can wish!
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New York 3 Pitt 0 fancy that
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dailymehow Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
@gene,
5-0. Yikes.
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dailymehow Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
@dailymehow,
Ahem, 6-0.
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gene Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 5:49 pm
@dailymehow, Wow lowly NY 7 to 1 over Pitt and we score 1. TM whats your take on this. ” Well I guess NY showed up to play and we didnt”
bbb7 Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
@dailymehow, A clear response to the people here who said ‘well, we went against a tough team and got a point.’ Pittsburgh is not currently ‘tough’ nor difficult to score on.
crashin' da net Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
@gene, take note Deano/TM. We got whooped by a bunch of boys. Now tell us exactly how that feels??!!
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Never mind the line changes. I hope the Kings are watching tv right now. The Isles are showing how you beat a team thats missing it’s top three or four players. At the moment 3-0 Islanders over the Pens. That’s right… you play Hard, for ….. oh, I’m so sorry, misinformation…. it’s now 4-0 Islanders. Anyway, as I was saying, you play HARD for 60 Minutes. That’s all.
Well, maybe the line changes will change something up.
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Also, ironically I was thinking today about some of the organizational choices. A clear center, playing on wing. It doesn’t work. No surprise there. Thankfully they seem to be addressing that. Also thought about drafting Oscar Moeller. Clearly a player who has to be a top six forward. So Why bother drafting the guy if he’s too small. He obviously has skill, but it’s not like you didn’t know he was small. So he’ll do what? Be a career minor leaguer? It’s not like he’s gonna all of a sudden grow three inches and gain 60 pounds.
I like DL but honestly there are organizational things I really fail to understand. If you’re gonna build your team around players who ‘bring it’ then they’d do well to ‘bring it’ for 60 minutes most of the time. If that’s their strong point, then they would do well to play to their strength.
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Lost out on Fisher. Maybe Lombardi is constitutionally incapable of making a big trade. Pretty big weakness for a GM. Spezza? Maybe Kopi ought to play wing with Loki at center
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I understand everyone wants Lombardi to pull the trigger, as do I but let’s at least be honest here. Mike Fisher would bring nothing we don’t already have, especially not for a first and second. To boot, he’s a center. To double boot, a -19. We have a team full of Mike Fisher. That is NOT a big trade by any means.
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@xeropoint, I agree that Fisher is remarkably similiar to our other forwards, but apparently we were interested in him. When does the trade happen? Ever?
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xeropoint Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 5:54 pm
@Bruin18, It was reported we were interested in him. Why? It’s beyond me. Making that deal regardless of what’s going back makes zero sense to me (if you’re the Kings).
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How is it that the Isles have scored SIX in half a game vs. Pens and the Kings against a largely AHL team were hard pressed to score one? I’m not as convinced as the experts that the Kings should rank No 2 as an organization in terms of their prospect depth. I’m hearing no buzz whatsoever about Teubert, ask myself if Moeller ever will make the Kings NHL roster (maybe someone else’s nhl roster). Granted Schenn is gonna be a keeper, but I don’t know where exactly they think goals are gonna come from.
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xeropoint Reply:
February 11th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
@number 6, There are plenty of assets to make a move. No doubt.
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Fans and Kings need to understand our number one line is going to be where ever Justin and Ryan will play. It doesn’t matter who is going be the center. They need their ice time. Every one needs to understand that Kopitar is centering 4th liners because he hasn’t put up the numbers. Kopitar’s line should not get the ice time like number one line. Maybe like second or third line.
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All the good teams in the west have a solid top line that stays together throughout the season. HEY LOMBARDI HOW ABOUT GETTING AN UPGRADE ON THE FIRST LINE AND GET A SCORER OR A PLAYMAKER THAT CAN GET KOPITAR THE PUCK SO HE CAN SCORE. I love dustin brown but he isnt a playmaker hes a gritty front of the net goal scorer and he cant create for kopitar. For the love of god make a deal and get some pucks in the back of the net. This team has given up the second fewest goals in the west but we cant score with our slow inconsistent veterans especially hanzus’ sorry ass.
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You go Zus, but I’d rather see Brown-Kopi-Simmonds on the same line.
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