Among the Kings’ current group of 12 regular forwards and six regular defensemen, only five — Kyle Clifford, Trevor Lewis, Alec Martinez, Oscar Moller and Kevin Westgarth — have yet to appear in an NHL playoff game. Clifford, who turned 20 in January, is the youngest of the group, but Clifford already had his “playoff face” on today. That face included a nasty shiner around his left eye, the second such “souvenir” — that’s what Clifford called it — he has received within the last month for fighting. A year ago, Clifford was in the OHL playoffs (with Barrie) and the AHL playoffs (with Manchester), but now he’s excited to get a crack at NHL playoff hockey…
CLIFFORD: “I’ve been in playoffs before. I’ve been with Manchester and Barrie, but nothing is going to compare to this. This is it right now. It’s the biggest stage, and it’s going to be real exciting. … What happened in the past, that’s the regular season. It’s a whole different picture here. This is where I guess the men are separated from the boys here.”
Clifford will be captain one day.
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kevin from toronto Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
@Mark, let’s be realistic here…
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JZarris Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
@kevin from toronto, I don’t think it’s as unlikely as it seems.
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jonsey Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
@Mark, Maybe of the Blue Jackets.
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Harty Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
@Paul G, Kevin from Toronto, jonsey have you ever held a leadership role?? VP or above?? Well guess what the types of things he says and the way he says it but more importantly then any of that the timing in which he says it leads me to believe he could be a great leader. One that I would want going to war??
So with that said, get behind him or get in front of him, choose wisely, he is the Big Red Dog.
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This guy is going to be clutch.
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FKA PakiFro Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:08 pm
@RabidZiggy,
…and clutch is everything in life.
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That hit he took in his last fight was scary. Seeing him drop for a second made my heart lump up in my throat. So glad it all worked out, and that he wasn’t seriously hurt. There’s alot more riding on this guy then tryin to regain some pride in a losing effort. Give’em hell Cliffy, and play’em physical.
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Deke'r Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
@Dominick, I was kinda concerned about a concussion relapse when he went down…
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penguin76 Reply:
April 12th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
@Deke’r,
you can’t have a concussion relapse without having a concussion first. from all accounts i read, the Reaves KO did not result in a concussion. as far as i read he was kept out as precaution. i did not read anything else that said he did have a concussion, but i could have missed the article!
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Central Coast King Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 10:26 pm
@Dominick, I second that, the way he buckled and then came right back without missing a step was wack! I wanted to be there backing him up, I was pumped. “Rock On Cliffy”
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gotta love his attitude.
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kings better hold on to this guy. he’s only 20, a rookie, and one of the youngest (or THE youngest) guys on the team, and HES the one talking about separating boys from men. thats the attitude we need on this team.
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Clifford needs to have a pep talk with Penner.
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rontheking Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:50 pm
@rick,
Or maybe even hit him a couple of times to see if he’s awake….
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puckbob Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
@rontheking, NOW yer talkin
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I know he’s a rookie but lets not wait, we need to lock him up long term…
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kennynakamoto Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
@KingzzFan, we cant lock him up yet, he’s only in his 1st year of his 3 year entry level contract.
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A bit off topic:
I am surprised I have not seen this brought up on this blog yet. Doesn’t anyone remember the 2001 playoffs? We faced Detroit in the first round. They were ranked 2nd in the Conference with 111 points. We were 7th with 92 points and we pulled the upset. We can do this.. I hope.
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kennynakamoto Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
@NealyBoy, DAMN!!!! that game still gives me chills when i watch the winning goal in OT!!!
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number 6 Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
@NealyBoy,
We had several guys who could score goals. In a year or two some of the young guys may become more proficient offensively (we hope) but for the moment, I’m just not seeing it. They need to do it with good defense… make that Very good defense and goaltending.
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roadtripper Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
@number 6, Agreed. Anything is possible, but it would be a monumental upset if we eliminated the Sharks with this team as is. A healthy team PLAYING WELL and with Williams AND Kopi, we’re then looking at something more like 2001. I just hope they compete hard and not get blown away like the last game we played these guys, stay healthy and learn as much as possible. Here’s to hoping San Jose still can’t find their playoff game!!!
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bmova Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
@NealyBoy, I seem to recall Ziggy Palffy and Adam Deadmarsh, aka the Red Wing Killer, on that team! And if I’m not mistaken, we also had, oh wait, what’s his name…oh yeah, Luc Robitaille!!!
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jonsey Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
@NealyBoy, Really though, look at the stats of the guys on each team. Kings had better offense and better offensive defensemen. Kings were better than Detroit in 2000-2001. Palffy baby. 2 guys close to 40 goals 1 guy close to 30 4 close to 20 and 72 more goals by the rest of the team.
This year: no one with 30 goals Kopitat is out, 4 guys with more than 20, 3 guys with more than 10, and something like 49 goals after that. THIS team is not that team. WE have goaltending, but we sacrificed scoring BIG TIME.
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SHUCHUK Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
@jonsey, don’t forget the point machine that was Bryan Smolenski! hahaha.
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jonsey Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
@SHUCHUK, Hey I miss Smolinski. He’s better than Stoll (take nothing away from Stoll). Smolinski would be like the Kings having Handzus on his best year points wise. Or better yet, like having a Higgins in his best year.
sid the kid Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
@NealyBoy, “I am surprised I have not seen this brought up on this blog yet.”
I posted on this very subject here:
http://lakingsinsider.com/2011/04/09/headache-inducing-first-round-math/#comments
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NealyBoy Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
@sid the kid, Ok sorry about that.
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You forgot about Mr. Bernier he hasnt played in one either
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Time for a little end of the regular season crow eating on my part.
My prediction before the season began was that the Kings would get 107 points.
I based that prediction mainly on 2 factors … 1, that Poni would be an upgrade from Frolov … WRONG.. .and 2 Kopi being in the “best shape of his life” would result in him recording breakout numbers.
I think a poll for us to have is what is the biggest disappointment of the season.. My vote goes to Poni
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puck73 Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:23 pm
@Matt George, Kings were 39-16-6 with Poni in the lineup…just sayin
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jonsey Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
@puck73, You mean a good team won most of its games when a player who played most of the games was playing?
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edwood2 Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
@Matt George, Poni has been up and down, for sure. But my vote goes to DP. If you just go with year long guys, I think JJ. New contract, and it should have been a breakout year. Or maybe I overlooked the good stuff as I remember the bonehead plays.
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jonsey Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
@edwood2, Ponikarovsky was awful this year. Not even close to a replacement for Frolov. Handzus and Simmonds got worse and not better or at least had less of an impact. Kopitar had a comparable year to last year, but got hurt (nothing we can do about that). Penner was a good safe move. He didn’t cost us that much of our future and none of our present. NO ONE could complain about him when we had Williams and Kopitar.
The team was too streaky. Smyth fell off for 30 games.
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sid the kid Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
@jonsey, it was 23 games since he had a goal, not 30. that’s closer to a quarter of a season rather than a third.
zues is gone at the end of this season anyway
Harty Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
@jonsey, you are very negative in the best possible situations.
don’t be half empty all the time, see it half full……..
Deke'r Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
@edwood2, Overlooking JJs’ “good stuff” wouldn’t be too hard. I was kinda dissappointed in DDs’ season as well. Overall I think last years team had much more heart.
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tullskull Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
@Deke’r, Kinda disappointed??? I think that Doughty’s decision making was the biggest disappointment out of the entire season. I pray improvement in that area is something that will come with more experience.
Poni was used to playing on top lines with top centers. I think after he has come back from his injury that he has done well in his shut down role and has tried to embrace the role and do his best. Also, no drama. That is worth mentioning.
You can’t even compare JJ’s decisions to Doughty’s. JJ’s were typically not responding well enough to bad bounces or bad situations. Doughty created bad situations consistently.
sid the kid Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
@Matt George, the power play by FAR was the biggest disappointment. poni is gone pretty soon anyway but the power play troubles may continue unless we get rid of kompon
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KC23 Reply:
April 12th, 2011 at 2:43 am
@Matt George, JJ is by far my biggest disappointment. Simmonds a distant 2nd.
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PP Anybody? Reply:
April 12th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
@Matt George, Biggest disappointment for me was not adjusting our system to allow our players to also learn the offensive side of the game. I thought that now that we had learned how to play the defensive side, I thought there would be a push from coaching to expand that into a more well rounded game. I was wrong. I don’t see any evidence of them learning to be a complete team in the foreseeable future under the current coaching staff either. I see our players that we thought would have better years as being confined to lesser numbers under this current system, and therefore can’t really get down on most of them for putting the numbers up that they did.
That being said, I do think Doughty has been the biggest disappointment as far as single players go. I really thought this would be his Norris year after last year. He has definitely taken a step backwards.
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No reason that Westy should ever play in one; please dress Harry or Drew, both of whom would be much more useful. It’s not like we need anybody to get beat up to increase the volume in the Shark tank.
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Nick Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
@Yellow Pants, Sorry disagree. The Sharks have Eager, Murray and Mayers. You want to insert Peter Harrold, he can’t hit, score, or fight…at least Westy can do 2 of those 3.
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Yellow Pants Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
@Nick, he can’t really fight; he ends up spinning around like a top and throwing embarrassing rabbit punches … and you missed a couple: Drew and Harrold can both stick handle and skate >:)
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Nick Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
@Yellow Pants, Harrold and Drewiske are D men. If you to replace Westy call up Clune or Holloway but I would not put borderline NHL D-men on the 4th line against a big Sharks team in the Shark tank. Even if Westy sees occasionally ice time he makes our players play bigger and holds the Sharks accountable. Harrold does nothing on th 4th line.
KingzzFan Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
@Yellow Pants,
Nick, Harrold has played as much O as he has D. These are the games where we let the boys draw penalties and NOT fight. We are going to get beat up and battered. We NEED to Roll 4 lines constantly, this is the only way we will have a chance to pull this out. If they want to dress an enforcer to sit on the bench let them, let them double shift and exhaust themselves. This needs to be more of a chess match and I think Harrold is the right fit right now on the 4th line. There is no reason to have an enforcer in these games, we need PLAYERS. Calling somebody up is not going to happen so we can all start dreaming about it. Manchester is in the playoffs themselves. If there is a shot of bringing anybody up it will be Schenn if they get knocked out. Other than that, we have what we have. Lets just hope Williams is ready to go, if that’s the case, Westy will not see the ice…
Since '67 Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
@Yellow Pants, and both can handle passes.
Yellow Pants Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
@Nick, I’d be thrilled with Clune or Halloway, or even Dwight; I only threw out PH or DD becuase they had the most experience this year in the line-up and Murray played them as forwards. I think that when the game goes up a notch in the playoffs, Westy’s going to be on the bench and I’d rather have anybody else versus having to double-shift half the team. I’m not a Murray hater at all but I’m irritated that he didn’t give some others some minutes or looks before the season ended.
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Who does not love clifford? I get concerned when he fights now though as he is still a growing boy mind still developing etc… He contributes plenty to the team without the enforcer role.
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number 6 Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
@jess,
Totally totally agree. In Fact…. I find it a bit of a travesty that the one who Should be doing it doesn’t really do a very good job of it at all, and the timing on his fights (from what i understand) is rather poor.
Can’t remember Once where I’ve read on the blog, Wow, Westy totally turned the mo of that game with that fight.
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Yellow Pants Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
@number 6, Read my comment to Nick above: “spinning around like a top and throwing embarrassing rabbit punches”
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jonsey Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
@jess, I was not impressed the first half. Then he started scoring goals. He still had a poor +/- but he wins most of his fights.
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Has anyone realized that the home games in this years playoffs are exactly a year to the day of the home games during last years playoffs?
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Genetically, Kyle Clifford is made for NHL playoffs.
gKg!
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number 6 Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
@LBlocal,
Now thats one thing I can totally agree with.
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SHUCHUK Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 6:40 pm
@number 6, Genetically, Kyle Clifford’s brain hopes his dukes learn how to block the occasional punch. enough of this “brawler” bravado, this is the NHL and he is going toe-to-toe with some nasty grown-ass men.
Go Kings Go!
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sid the kid Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
@LBlocal, no. i disagree. he has to go through puberty before he’s allowed in the playoffs.
what do you think the playoff beard is composed of? transplanted pubic hair!
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LBlocal Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
“what do you think the playoff beard is composed of? transplanted pubic hair!” Coming from ‘sid the kid.’ Priceless.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eZAONQQgD9c/S8iTJzRxwVI/AAAAAAAAAE8/vFnIA9y17Hk/s1600/SidPlayoffBeard.jpg
gKg!
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men vs. boys. i still can’t figure out what cliffie is…
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Deke'r Reply:
April 11th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
@sid the kid, ….manchild,,,,
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Clifford is without a doubt the real deal. If by chance we lose Zues, Cliffy will fill in nicely.
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This is what makes Kyle Clifford, he may go down but he will return and be back in your face. That is the guy you don’t want to ever turn away from and not support. He will just keep coming back, no quit……he honestly doesn’t know how to quit, seriously.
His team mates must be so happy to not having to line up against him, one tough dude!
Sorry SHUCHUK and M.T. Netter this lesson isn’t over, he may loose some but he get up and will be right back in your face. Kyle Clifford is solid in everything he does.
I know……….
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I think Clifford looks to be another Lappy…maybe even with a bit more skills. I’m lovin’ him.
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Congratulations to Clifford, Lewis, Martinez, Moller, and Westgarth for their first NHL playoff series.
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the Big Red Dog is gonna go far, we all know this. perhaps he’ll be a captain, perhaps he’ll just be one of the top fowards in every way possible. all that is certain right now is this: Kyle Clifford is a serious asset for the Kings and he’s going to continue to develop and grow and become even better as the seasons roll on.
it’s time to unleash the Hound!!!
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the hound Reply:
April 12th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
@the hound, the other “hound”, that is… the one that is our BIGREDDOG
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