So far, this is the Simon Gagne the Kings hoped to see, as Gagne has started the season with three goals and four assists in five games while playing a first-line role alongside center Anze Kopitar and right winger Justin Williams. The Kings’ signing of Gagne didn’t get as much attention as their trade for Mike Richards, and somewhat understandably so. Gagne had spent his entire 11-year NHL career on the East Coast and, in three of the previous four seasons, he had battled injuries.
Williams, though, knew all about Gagne. The wingers were teammates in Philadelphia and, when Williams learned that the Kings were interested in Gagne this summer, he encouraged Gagne to come to Los Angeles. Los Angeles fans are now getting to see what made Williams so excited…
WILLIAMS: “Playing on the East Coast, there’s a handful of players on our team that you didn’t know much about. Rob Scuderi, myself, Simon, we regularly played out East and never came West very much, so nobody knows much about them but I’m certainly familiar with Simon and I know Kopi is getting a little bit more too. He’s so easy to play with out there. He makes little possession plays that allow us to hold onto the puck. He has great offensive instincts. I played my first 4 1/2 years with him, and forgot how much I missed playing with him, so I’m glad he’s back.’’
Question: You can certainly relate to his situation a bit, as a guy who had to battle through some injuries. Do you see him coming out the other side of that now?
WILLIAMS: “We’re both kind of in the same boat, very similar, with various injuries. It’s still early and I know he’s just looking for an 82-game season, just like I am and just like most guys are, but especially us. We’re hoping to play the majority of the games, and hopefully all 82, and be productive doing it. I know that’s what Simon wants to do.’’
So what should this line called?
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AZ King Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
@goldielocks,
How about “one of the most dominant lines in the NHL”
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murf Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
@AZ King, +1
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goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
@AZ King,
The guy from NHL Network called “one of the best line in the NHL” but I kinda knew they still think Getzlaf-Perry-Ryan is the best.
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CB14 Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
@goldielocks, The Quacks line has played together more than 5 games. Once SG, AK, and JW play together for a year, and continue to produce like they have, they’ll have to be considered the best line in hockey. It’s a little early to proclaim them the best line in the NHL after only 5 games.
BakoCAkingsCondorsGuy Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:06 pm
@goldielocks,
…Until Kings flatten Ducks & the truth becomes obvious.
brian spain Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:20 pm
@goldielocks, The biggest difference between the Ducks and Kings first lines are, the Ducks first line takes a lot of penalties. Kopi and Williams and Gagne do not take penalties very often. You can’t score from the penalty box.
niidan Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:17 pm
@goldielocks, better yet he knows how to undress a goaltender! So mo much for Pens making the first line maybe he can skate with…the fourth line as Moreau had a really good game last night on the left wing…
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AZ King Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:23 pm
@niidan,
Pens looked good last night. He was physical, worked well on the forecheck, and got an assist. Do you think Moreau played better the Pens last night, because I don’t?
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GeezerKingsFan Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
@AZ King, WOW, I missed all that. Penner missed quite a few passes. He did not clear the puck very well. He was the least mobile King on the Ice. Yes , he got an assist and made a couple of decent defensive plays. He just looked dormant compared to all the other Kings. Most of the Kings who were in front of the net, were quickly after the puck whenever the Blues started going the other way. He just did not seem to have the jump.
I hope it is just a matter of him getting back into shape because of his injuries.
I was at the game.
RobSD Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 8:38 am
@AZ King,
He looks like he took a 60 dump in his pants. He just lags. He has to be one of if not the slowest player in the NHL. He did make some great stick and poke checks though. He created a few turnovers. He did have trouble passing and controlling the puck though. People say he has such soft hands for a big guy… I don’t see it.
kingsxstevenxkings Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
@goldielocks,
Gagne, Williams, Kopitar = GWK = Game Winning Kings?
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Dominick Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
@goldielocks, If Kopi would feed Willy one of the ally oop passes, and Willy finnished the play, we could call them the Globetrotters line. Maybe Kopi will do something special, and Willy will finnish, and we still could.
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jet Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:10 pm
@Dominick, after the pst month, I think we can call the team the globetrotters
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goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
@goldielocks,
I’m expecting to see more magic from this line so I go with “Magical Line”.
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goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
@goldielocks,
Hmmm … actually, “Magical Line” sounds lame. Kopi’s pass is kind of orbital therefore “Satelite Line”. I know … I know … I’m not good at this.
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Dominick Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
@goldielocks, How bout the #1 line?
goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
@Dominick
LOL! Obviously, you’re better than me.
goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
@goldielocks,
Kopi-will-gag line?
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GkingsG99 Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
@goldielocks, lol
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CB14 Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
@goldielocks, Nope, keep tryin.
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luc20rules Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
@CB14, On another note we talked about Schenn a couple of weeks ago. He just got called up today. Apparently he had a shoulder injury to go with the Cap Bonus that Philly wanted to avoid. Story below. Now that the Kings have already played Philly good luck
Brayden, unless we battle for the cup in June.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AgXYZXwosG7FqaY9O5Bjzz9ivLYF?slug=sportsxchange-000447383_flyers-call-up-brayden-schenn
goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:41 pm
@luc20rules
I heard Schenn scored 4 goals and 4 assists already in AHL.
CB14 Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
@luc20rules, didn’t know about the shoulder injury, sounds like what DD has. As you said, now that we played Philly, Good luck Brayden.
CB14 Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
@goldielocks, If the line struggles, the Kings should move Justin Williams to the second line so that we could see the KGB line. Kopitar, Gagne, Brown. How awesome would that be? Although with none of them being Russian I’m not sure it would fit, although I’d still use it!
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goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
@CB14,
Nice! I for one to believe Brownie has potential to be 1st liner cause he’s improving every season.
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luc20rules Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
@goldielocks, Your right about Brown, he gets better every year and many fans don’t have the insight to see it. I have been very impressed with his improved passing over the last 3 years. I know he is a shoot first guy, but he makes alot of passes that most players don’t have the skill and/or vision to make during a game.
PRMan Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 6:23 am
@goldielocks, Potential? Brown’s been in the top 20 RW every season. That easily makes him 1st line material.
TJB Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 10:50 pm
@goldielocks,
How bout east meets west line
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Andrew Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:25 am
@goldielocks, Ummmm, The Holy Ish line. because you know ummmmmmmmmm idk. Holy ish they are good. I think I’ll just go back to sleep
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the east will know us when we take the cup.
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Dominick Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:57 pm
@frazier king,
hopefully we kick everybodies butt on the way, and they learn to fear us.
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FYI. Kopi is tied for first with the points lead entering tonight and Gagne and Williams are in the top 15 as well.
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goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
@PhillyKing,
Kessel got 1 assist tonight so Kopi is currently 2nd.
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goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:02 pm
@goldielocks,
And he scored the game tying goal … the guy’s on fire.
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kingsxstevenxkings Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
@goldielocks,
Ended with 1g and 2a.. Kopi now 3 behind
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murf Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
@PhillyKing, and Quick leads in GAA
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murf Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
@murf, my bad its save %
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tacomakingsfan Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
@PhillyKing,
Those are pretty good stats for 5 games into the season but I wouldn’t think too much of it.. Remember all we do is win, win, win no matter what? Lol we all know how that turned out in the coming weeks.
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KWG= the KEY to WINNING GAMES
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The best part about this line is they aee all natural scorers. In the past the opponents just needed to focus on Kopi but who do you leave uncovered now?
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CB14 Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
@DesertKing, Quick
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rogiesbackup Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 11:04 pm
@DesertKing, Actually, most teams didn’t really know who to focus on other then Kopi because we didn’t really score much, but didn’t need to cuz of our stellar defense. Now we alot of snipers so the opposition STILL doesn’t know who to focus on.
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So this is a good thing. With these two excellent lines, maybe it will (in fun) cause some competition between the Kopi line and the Richards line for bragging rights. All that could do is make both lines play that much harder.
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Call it the JAS Line pronounced Jazz. Justin, Anze, Simon
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jet Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:12 pm
@Redlights, very good
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luc20rules Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
@Redlights, Nice the way they’ve been lighting the lamp it looks like they play in the Red Light District.
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KindSir Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 3:48 am
@luc20rules, +1 for red light district
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goldielocks Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 8:44 pm
@Redlights,
Man … you nailed it.
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BlueStang Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
@goldielocks, Red light district, thats good! Catchy.
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Duckbasher Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 8:16 am
@BlueStang, – Red Light District is perfect. I like!
RobSD Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 8:43 am
@BlueStang,
Anybody ever been to the red light district. I hear that and I think of whores. I get the meaning here obviously but it still makes me think of whooores. Love the whores.
What about swapping Richardson with Penner on the Richards line to give them more speed and endurance?
Actually i’d rather see Lewis with Richards and Brown except Lewis shoots right. I like his speed and grittiness.
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A few potential line names:
- Alley-Oop Line
- Knight Line (Gotta ask Ted Koppel if that’s OK)
- 1-2-4 line (As opposed to the 1-2-3 line of Donnelly, Millen and Granato )
- 2 ‘Nucks & a Slov line
- The Fine Line
- The Hair Line (They all have parties in the back)
- The Party Line (Due to all the celebrations from the goals they’ve scored)
- 2 Beavers & a Raccoon Line (Back of Canadian Nickel has a beaver for JW & SG + Kopitar has the eyes of a Raccoon)
- The Pancake line (Because Kopi LOVES pancakes!)
- The FRE-CAN-SLO line (FRE for French Canadian (Gagne), CAN for Canadian (JW), SLO for Slovenian (Kopi))
- Suicide Kings Line (Gagne was part of the ‘Deuces Wild’ line in Philly)
- The Juraj Mikus Line (It can only make them stronger)
Whatever we call them, they need a name, especially if they keep playing like this.
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uknojata Reply:
October 19th, 2011 at 10:37 pm
@Cynic, i vote for pancakes.
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goldielocks Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 1:18 am
@uknojata,
How bout IHOP line? cause they are international.
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Munchrat Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 5:48 am
@Cynic, how about The Doughnut line?
(Kop Will Gag)
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I’d call Gagne the “sleeper” move of the offseason. On top of all the other moves, it might be the one that put the Kings over the top.
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Michael_DD8 Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 12:51 am
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?,
Its really cool to think that we have every thing it takes to win the cup this season. Now its all about the players to just live up to there ability and there is no reason why we cant be in the Stanly Cup finals this season, and let alone win it. We have everything.
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Andrew Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 1:00 am
@Michael_DD8, Pieces are in place, just need to be able to put them together in the right order. If that makes any sense lol.
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Duckbasher Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 8:19 am
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?, – I’ve had Simon on my fantasy teams the past 5 years and I knew when the Kings got him… if he plays he scores. He didn’t score 40+ twice for no reason because he’s the real deal. DL is a genius.
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Who didn’t know Gagne??? When the la dodgers had Eric Gagne, Simon Gagne was kicking butt with the flyers. I for one knew he was going to be a impact player, but after a slow start in preseason it’s really nice to see the great start he got off to. I tell everyone I know that this is the year. Please laugh and say I tell them that every season, but if you read DL he said it would take this long. If I want to be a jerk he said last season, but look at the upgrade he did in the offseason I love this team! Not one player you can look at and say, this guy just doesn’t fit in (even though some fans bring up Parse and Penner). Only player I don’t care for is DD, but I love what he brings to the team. As a person in this economy he is kinda of a jerk. Love this team Go Kings Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I thought Penner played his best game for us the other night… he’s never been, nor will be, a speed demon. He used his stick well, he had some decent positioning, he threw the body around. Yes he juggled a couple of passes, and flat-out over-skated another, but so far I think he’s an improvement from the end of last year. I think last season scarred a lot of fans and now they’ll never be happy unless he starts flying around the rink with a cape on and nets hatties in 3 of every 4 games… sheesh.
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RobSD Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 8:57 am
@Stuart,
Um… I don’t agree with your last sentence. I would be happy if it wasn’t so obvious every time he is on the ice. And not obvious in the good way. Every time he gets out on the ice it’s like watching a giant sloth.
He played a good game yesterday compared to what he did last year. The reason for that is that he actually is putting forth the effort. Now if he could put together effort and connect a pass we would be getting somewhere.
He blows. We need someone who can finish and play with Richards. Richards is a master passer. I love watching him pull up and finesse a pass a little similar to the great one. Head on a swivel.
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RobSD Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 8:59 am
@RobSD,
and another note…. we aren’t talking about a Lewis or a Clifford who chime in at under a million bucks. This guy is making bookoo bucks and certainly not earning it IMO. I will say though, he is working his ars off and I hope things start clicking for him. If they don’t, I’ll be posting to behead him all season.
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Gagne has been playing amazing with K and W. Even though Richards doesn’t have many points, he is a major game changer. Can you imagine if we had someone other than Penner’s bricks in his pants on the wing? I would be all for putting Clifford up there with him. Someone else with some speed and hands. How good to Richards and Kopi look on the PK? They were so close to a breakaway and 2 on 1′s. Couple unlucky bounces. I would put money on quite a few short handed goals this year. VV looked good. I really wish we could find a way to keep him up here.
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