The Kings’ first regular-season game at Staples Center will be on Oct. 18 against St. Louis, according to the just-released NHL schedule. The Kings, as we know, will open the season with two games in Europe, then — after a five-day break — will swing back through the East Coast with games in New Jersey [...]

Dustin Brown took some time, from the NHL Awards in Las Vegas, to chat about winning the NHL Foundation Player Award, in recognition of his charity and volunteer work. You can read by story on LAKings.com by clicking here, and Brown’s comments are also printed below… Question: Clearly, you don’t do charity work in order [...]

Congratulations to Dustin Brown, who was selected as the winner of the NHL Foundation Player Award at the league’s awards ceremony in Las Vegas, in recognition of Brown’s extensive charity and volunteer work. The NHL will make a $25,000 contribution to the foundation established by Brown and his wife, Nicole. I’ll be posting some comments [...]

A big part of the Kings’ summer is the recovery of Anze Kopitar from his ankle surgery, and according to Dean Lombardi, that recovery is going well. Lombardi also addressed a couple “minor” issues involving two other players. One note…the reference to Alexander Frolov below — as some might remember — is regarding the persistent [...]

Before we get to Dean Lombardi’s thoughts on this week’s draft, a couple quick notes… Tonight is the NHL Awards ceremony, and Kings captain Dustin Brown is a finalist for the NHL Foundation Player Award, which “recognizes an NHL player who applies the core values of hockey – commitment, perseverance and teamwork – to enrich [...]

Here’s what Dean Lombardi had to say about the importance of Dustin Penner… —– Question: When you talk about improving the offense, how much of a hinge, so to speak, is Dustin Penner? I mean, if you could count on him for 30 goals, that’s a big step toward solving your problem… LOMBARDI: “It certainly [...]

The Kings today announced their preseason schedule, which includes seven games (two at Staples Center) plus a special exhibition game in Germany. In addition to the games listed below, the Kings will play on Oct. 4 against the Hamburg Freezers of the German Elite League at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg. The game is [...]

Picking up the Dean Lombardi interview again, here are some thoughts on how Lombardi intends to improve the Kings this summer. Of course, all of this could be altered depending on the status of Ryan Smyth, but the basics of this remain the same… —– Question: When you’ve talked in the past about improving the [...]

Interesting item today from TSN guru Bob McKenzie, who notes that Ryan Smyth might seek to return to Edmonton for the final year of his contract. Of course, as Bob notes, it’s not that simple. Smyth has a salary-cap hit of $6.25 million and is a 35-year-old winger who, realistically, has a ceiling of 50 [...]

As noted earlier, it’s a big week in terms of the NHL offseason. The NHL Awards are taking place in Las Vegas on Wednesday — Dustin Brown is a finalist for the NHL Foundation Players Award — then there’s the NHL Draft in St. Paul on Friday and Saturday. Sometime this week, I’m also expecting [...]

Hope everyone had a good weekend. It should be a fun week, as we transition into the draft and, shortly after that, the start of the free-agency period. For now, here’s the start of the Dean Lombardi interview from Saturday. As posted the other day, a variety of topics were discussed, so I’ll break up [...]

The chat with Dean Lombardi got delayed by 21 hours, largely because of the amount of activity in the Kings’ offices yesterday. With a big chunk of the organization set to leave Monday for Minnesota to prepare for the NHL Draft, there were a lot of last-minute discussions and planning. I was, however, able to [...]

As we get ready for the start of Game 7 — regardless of who you’re cheering for (or if you don’t have a rooting interest at all), it should be very special — I’ll throw this out there… I’ll have the chance, on Friday afternoon, to chat with Dean Lombardi about all the relevant upcoming [...]

For the Twitter addicts out there, Jonathan Quick is now on board, and you can follow him @JonathanQuick32 (twitter.com/JonathanQuick32). Dustin Brown (@DustinBrown23) has been at it for a while, as have a handful of Kings prospects. Personally, I’m waiting for Dean Lombardi to join Twitter, if only to see him attempt to express his thoughts [...]

Having spent the early part of his summer in Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar is back in Slovenia and continuing to rehab from his ankle surgery. And, as this website story from Slovenia indicates, Kopitar is feeling good enough to get on the golf course, for a charity event. A translated version of an interview indicates [...]

At this point, there’s not a lot of buzz about the upcoming NHL Draft, mostly because the Kings aren’t expected to be a big participant in it. Because of the Dustin Penner trade, the Kings don’t draft until the second round — they hold the No. 49 pick — and they hold only six picks [...]

The freshest news, as reported today in the Sports Business Journal, is that the Kings will play the Pittsburgh Penguins in Kansas City in a Sept. 27 preseason game. The Kings have been fairly regular preseason visitors to Kansas City’s Spring Center, which is operated by AEG. The preseason schedule has not yet been released, [...]

Wrapping up the division-by-division looks at the NHL heading into the summer, here’s the Pacific Division. The Kings are excluded, since it would be a tad redundant to cover the same ground we’ve been treading, but here’s how the other four teams look, starting with how they finished in the division and conference this season… [...]

If you’re looking for something to read this afternoon, here’s the latest quartet in the “My Story” series, in which Kings players chronicle their rise from youth hockey to the NHL. Kyle Clifford, Ryan Smyth, Michal Handzus and Jonathan Bernier talk about their paths… My Story: Kyle Clifford My Story: Ryan Smyth My Story: Michal [...]

Last night was a tough one for the Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks, but they’re still in good shape in the Stanley Cup Finals. How are the Canucks, and the rest of the Northwest Division teams, looking this summer? Here’s a team-by-team looking, starting with how they finished this season… 1. Vancouver Canucks, 117 points [...]