Michal Handzus has officially been added to Slovakia’s roster for the IIHF World Championships, which are underway in Slovakia. Handzus has been a longtime participant for Slovakia in international play, most recently at last year’s Olympics. Without Handzus, Slovakia beat Slovenia 3-1 in its opening game, and Slovakia plays Germany tomorrow.

Tying up some of the loose ends on the questions, before starting on some extensive player evaluations… —– Pesus asked: Do you know if DL or TM or any players read this blog? Answer: I honestly have no idea.

Into the home stretch, here’s the seventh set of “Open Forum” questions and answers… —– Jonah asked: Throughout the season and especially in the playoff series I noticed players getting kicked out of the faceoff circle fairly often. What occurs when a player is asked to leave? It seems like such a minute infraction but [...]

Jack Johnson had one assist as the United States beat Austria 5-1 in its opening game of the IIHF World Championships in Slovakia. Austria narrowed the lead to 2-1 in the second period, but then the Americans scored three consecutive goals. Johnson assisted on Craig Smith’s power-play goal late in the third period, which made [...]

The sixth set of “Open Forum” questions and answers… —– Cortex949 asked: We hear a lot about players contracts all the time. The length, the dollar amount, the break down year by year, and even the performance incentives, but I want to know how they actually get paid. When do they take a check home? [...]

The fifth set of “Open Forum” questions and answers… —– TK asked: 1) Do you foresee a point in the future where most teams, from all the pro sports, travel with team writers like yourself? If so, does that mean the end of the beatwriters at local newspapers? 2) The Kings have a great group [...]

The fourth set of “Open Forum” questions and answers… —– MK Ultra asked: When Wayne Gretzky or any other former “star” players attend a game at Staples, do they have to buy tickets? Are they given tickets by the Kings? What goes on here? Answer: I don’t know for certain, but I’m relatively certain that [...]

The third set of “Open Forum” questions and answers… —– ForumFan asked: In terms of personnel do you have any idea why Bud Holloway has never been given a chance and been recalled from Manchester? Will he and Voynov be invited to camp? Answer: I know that the Kings had internal discussions about Holloway. Given [...]

Here’s the second set of the “Open Forum” questions and answers… —– Orphios asked: 1. Is there a chance of seeing one of the kids (Hickey, Camphell (RA I know), Muzzin, or Voynov) in the defensive front six next year if Martinez stays in place. 2. Are they going to give Bernier a chance to [...]

We’ll kick off the Open Forum feedback with the first set of questions and answers. Many more to come… —– Marc Nathan asked: obviously a disappointment, but last year, I flew to Manchester to catch later rounds of the AHL post-season, and had the pleasure of spending time chatting with Ron Hextall, Terry Murray and [...]

Kings goalie Jonathan Bernier has been selected to represent Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships, which start tomorrow in Slovakia. Bernier last played for Canada at the 2008 World Junior Championships, when he won a gold medal.

The monster series of “exit interview” quotes from Dean Lombardi and Terry Murray is complete, so how about a postseason Open Forum? One note to start… After this is done, I’ll be doing player-by-player (and coach/GM) evaluations, so any specifics about individuals are likely to be covered there, but beyond that, if there are any [...]

Question: When you look at Wayne Simmonds’ year, was it a step backward? MURRAY: “He had a bit of a lull. I don’t know if he took a step backwards. Maybe half a step. I thought, in the first couple years, there was a lot of physical involvement, a lot of grit, a lot more [...]

Question: How would you evaluate Anze Kopitar, in terms of taking the next step? MURRAY: “Kopitar, his game went to the next level. He’s a complete player. He plays both ways, both ends of the rink. I love where his game is at right now. His attitude in the locker room is becoming more of [...]

Question: In terms of injuries, is there anyone this summer who will require surgery? LOMBARDI: “Williams, obviously there’s going to have to be an issue there, and that’s kind of going to be a player thing (as to whether he has shoulder surgery). I think I told you this before, and I forget the exact [...]

Question: What has to happen, from this year to next year, to get over the hump of just being a playoff team, to making some noise in the playoffs? MURRAY: “I think the big step would be to have home-ice advantage. I think that would be a very big step. That’s a very simple way [...]

Question: What should the reaction be to this season? You made the playoffs again but you didn’t go deeper, the way you wanted to… LOMBARDI: “I want guys pissed off. I’ve said it before. You know you’re turning the corner when guys go home and they’re pissed off. I sense that. Versus, I’ve seen it [...]

Question: Now that you’ve had a little time to reflect, how do you analyze the series against San Jose? MURRAY: “In talking about it through the series and at the end of Game 6, it was about us, in my mind. When you go into a series and you have Kopitar out of it, you’re [...]

This will be the last question/answer tonight, and then we’ll pick it up again in the morning… Question: A year ago, you talked about the need to improve 5-on-5 scoring. It went up by three goals, but the goals-against also went down. Is that acceptable, or does the scoring need to improve? MURRAY: “We still [...]

Question: When you look at a power play that struggled all season, what do you do about that? LOMBARDI: “I agree. They [coaches] recognize that. It was so good two years ago. And this is not singling out the player, because I think he has become one of the most complete players in the game. [...]