Question: How would you assess Terry Murray’s performance this year? LOMBARDI: “I liked his calmness. I think one of his strengths was, when we were in that slide there, he kept his composure. I think that during that slide, when we slid out of the playoffs, the necessity of calm and focus was essential. If [...]

Question: At the end of the previous two seasons, you said the main focus was for the young players to improve. In terms of improving the team, how much is that still the case, and how much do you need to go outside and look for help? LOMBARDI: “I sill think that’s a huge thing. [...]

Question: What will you look to do with the free agents? LOMBARDI: “Well, there’s no real urgency in terms of, `We’ve got to get it done now.’ July 1 is still a ways away, but as a practical matter, the ones are the two unrestricted, Handzus and Ponikarovsky. The other guys, you’ve got your offer-sheet [...]

USA Hockey announced this afternoon that Kings defenseman Jack Johnson has been added to the roster for the IIHF World Championships, which start Friday in Slovakia. Johnson won a silver medal competing for the United States at last year’s Olympics and also has represented his country at the World Championship, World Junior and Under-18 levels. [...]

Question: What do you tell Drew Doughty going into the summer? LOMBARDI: “He can start working into getting into the top… What’s the most important thing, the growth from within? Yeah. If he’s going to take the leadership role, he has to start preparing to compete. Nobody questions this kid’s ability or (that) he competes [...]

Question: Going into the summer, what will the message be to Dustin Penner? LOMBARDI: “Well, I think what we’ve done here, particularly the way we play — and I think we can still improve — in the last couple years we’ve set a culture where you have to be in shape here. I talked about [...]

Kicking off the Q&A sessions with Dean Lombardi and Terry Murray, here was the first general question about the season. The questions get more specific from here, and the answers also get shorter (and yes, this was one answer…) Question: When you look back at the season, where did you see progress and where did [...]

Dean Lombardi and Terry Murray were both available today for lengthy, wide-ranging interviews regarding the recently completed season and the plan going forward. Over the next few hours, I’ll be posting the full answers, topic by topic, and the areas of discussion are what you would expect, including the level of disappointment vs. satisfaction with [...]

I’ll be heading over to El Segundo shortly for the start of the Kings’ postseason interview sessions. Every player comes in for an “exit meeting” with coaches and management, and after those meetings some players are made available to the media for an interview to discuss the season. No exit interviews with players are scheduled [...]

In the latest Twitter-induced controversy — isn’t it just great? — Terry Murray came under some fire for not going through the handshake line after the end of the Kings-Sharks series last night. Is that poor form, given that his players and assistant coaches go through the line? Or is it a tradition that’s done [...]

As we wrap up this season, and start thinking about the summer, I thought it might be helpful to have this as a reference point. It’s a chart of where the Kings stand, in terms of contract, with each of their players and prospects. In terms of players who spent the majority of their 2010-11 [...]

On a bit of a personal note here… The day after the end of a season, for anyone involved in hockey — players, coaches, management, support staff, media, etc. — is always a bit weird. You go through six-plus months of everyday work and fall into a routine and rhythm and then, just like that, [...]

Game 6 brought out some big names to Staples Center, including a guy whose jersey hangs on the wall and the gentleman who owns the place. Wayne Gretzky was on hand — and got a huge ovation from the crowd when his image appeared on the video board — and team owner Philip Anschutz also [...]

Some notes from last night’s game… – The Kings had their season ended with a 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series on Monday night at Staples Center. – The Kings lost 4-2 in the best-of-seven series. Three of the games went to overtime, and both [...]

In the third all-California playoff series in NHL history, Northern California is now on the board. The Kings beat the Oakland Seals in 1969 and the Anaheim Ducks beat the San Jose Sharks two years ago, but the Sharks are on to the second round after beating the Kings last night. It couldn’t have been [...]

Here’s my LAKings.com game story for tonight, with stats and video included. Thanks for reading… Kings lose to Sharks 4-3 in overtime The Kings will hold their postseason exit interviews this week, likely on Wednesday or Thursday, after which some players will be available to the media. I’ll have more on that soon, plus a [...]

Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts… (on whether the Game 3 loss made the difference in the series…) MURRAY: “No, I don’t think so. No, the difference was our own play with managing the puck. That was again here tonight. It goes back to the losses that we had in the series. Three overtime losses, three games [...]

Jonathan Quick’s postgame thoughts… (on the end of the series…) QUICK: “It’s disappointing. At the end of the day, you feel like you beat yourself a little bit there I think as a team. There were a few games in there in the series where I think we could have played better. I know everyone in the locker [...]

Dustin Brown’s postgame thoughts… (on not scoring on the five-minute power play…) BROWN: “We had some good chances before overtime. In overtime, we really didn’t get anything. Maybe it’s just the jitters. I can’t explain how our power play struggled, for lack of a better word, all year. We had some good chances on the [...]

Drew Doughty’s postgame thoughts… (on thinking he had scored late in the third period…) DOUGHTY: “I got a whack at the puck, and I didn’t really know where it went because I couldn’t see, but I thought it went in. I think I started to celebrate, and unfortunately it didn’t go in. … I couldn’t [...]