Mitchell to play, Richards better

Posted by Rich Hammond on 18 December 2011, 11:30 am

After practice, Willie Mitchell declared himself ready to play, and will likely return in a pairing with Jack Johnson. Mike Richards wore a red no-contact jersey later in practice, but John Stevens praised Richards’ conditioning and said he is showing improvement, although there’s still no timetable on Richards’ return. Jonathan Quick will start in goal against Toronto. More notes and quotes from practice to come…

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23 Comments

Lead Feet says:

December 18, 2011 at 11:32 am

Man do we ever need MR’s back!!

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Shakes says:

December 18, 2011 at 11:39 am

For some reason I always have a goofy visualization whenever i read the phrase that a player has “declared himself ready to play”. I have this vision of Mitchell eating grapes while nailing a proclamation upon a door. And there are trumpets. Lots of trumpets.

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Lead Feet Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 11:40 am
@Shakes,
Like a Coronation!

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lowegirl Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
@Shakes, Wow, total visual. However *I* see him laying on a chaise of some sort, on his side, eating said grapes, while he directs someone ELSE to nail the proclamation in several locations throughout the ancient city.

Wow. I am dork-status Def Con 5 right now.

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Mel Powell says:

December 18, 2011 at 11:41 am

Rich–please tell the Kings that the game starts at 6pm local time in Toronto.

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Gustavo says:

December 18, 2011 at 11:50 am

Welcome back, Willie…you were sorely missed.

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Jake1000 says:

December 18, 2011 at 11:50 am

Darryl Sutter is gonna destroy the young talents of the Kings. He will destroy the confidence of Kopitar, Brown, Doughty, J. Johnson, Quick, Loktionov, Martinez, Bernier, Lwewis, Richardson, Richards, Gagne, Williams, Stoll, Green. The guy has reputation of destroying the confidence of his players. I won’t be surprise at the end of the season Daughty, Kpitar, J. Johnson, Brown will ask DL to trade them to another team because they couldn’t stand Sutter’s style. DL, I’m pretending this will be your last season as KIngs GM.

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Shakes Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 11:57 am
@Jake1000,

Unless you are the Ghost of Christmas Future i refuse to believe this.

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408kingsfan Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
@Jake1000, Well let’s let Sutter get a couple games uder his belt before we lay down and die.

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Jeff Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
@Jake1000, This will never happen. Most all players that have played for Darryl Sutter has respected him and said that he is a great coach. Players that he benched have said that, even Iginla. This isn’t going to be a country club anymore, if you can’t hack it then you deserve to be sent out. While the players didn’t ask for this, they are getting it based on how they played. If they wanted to stay with the Country Club, they should of kept up with the hard work and stop believing their press clippings.

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408kingsfan Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
@Jeff, I’ve been preaching this for a while, the team looked at their roster to start the season and got the strange idea that they were gonna cruise right thru with no effort.

I think they are starting to realise that every other team in the NHL wants to win as well.

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doughtyfan_08 Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
@Jake1000, they have confidence?

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wavesinair Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
@doughtyfan_08,

Exactly. What confidence?

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Forum67 Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
@Jake1000,

Some of the people you put on your long shopping list of young talents to be destroyed don’t even belong on your list even if you are right about Sutter. Brown, Kopitar, Johnson, Stoll, Richardson, Greene, and Gagne have all been around too long to be that fragile. To the degree your premise has any merit, it would only apply to players like Lokti, Lewis, Voynov, Martinez, and maybe Doughty.

I have never seen a coach bashed so much who has not coached a single game and has a decent past coaching record. All of this reminds me of the old cowboy movies where they we’ll have a fair trial and then we will hang him.

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JureEe says:

December 18, 2011 at 12:03 pm

Helene Elliott @helenenothelen
Kopitar said Matt Greene said ‘a couple words’ after Kings’ 8-2 loss at Detroit. ‘We can’t do this anymore.’

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Keeper Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
@JureEe, No words from Brown?

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JureEe Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
@Keeper, Helene Elliott @helenenothelen
Jarret Stoll after Kings’ 8-2 loss at Detroit: “I’m surprised they didn’t get to 10 to be honest with you.”
More Stoll; “It shouldn’t have to take a loss like this to get us pissed off in here . we should look at the standings and see where we are and realize we’re not even close to where we want to be.”

Dustin brown after Kings’ 8-2 loss at Detroit: ‘we got our asses kicked, plain and simple.’
more Dustin Brown: We got our asses kicked. And there’s really no excuse. It’s time for everyone in this room to wake up.
More Brown: ‘guys have got to take responsibility in here because it doesn’t matter whether Stevens is our coach or whoever they’re bringing in. it doesn’t make a difference who the coach is. It’s going to be the players that play the games and it’s going to be the players that need to take responsibility.” end of Dustin brown blistering.

all from twitter..

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Keeper Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
@JureEe, I didn’t know asking that question was “blistering”. I don’t use twitter. And for the record, Brown should be “saying a few words” at the players only meeting he should have called long ago.
neil says:

December 18, 2011 at 12:12 pm

5 or 6 points behind 7th and 8th spot….We Can Do It!!!!! Season starts tomorrow!!!! come home with a win (500 on road trip is good)….regroup with a new coach..new attitude and lets play some hockey….

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GoKings says:

December 18, 2011 at 12:21 pm

Why is Quick back in net? He looked as fatigued as I’ve ever seen him on Saturday. I’m not saying Bernier played great but what do you expect when you throw a guy out there in the middle of the first against Detroit and he hasn’t played in weeks? I just think Quick needs a solid rest right now and should play against Toronto

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GoKings Reply:
December 18th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
@GoKings, *shouldn’t play against Toronto

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dm3977 says:

December 18, 2011 at 12:31 pm

mr, no mr….make no diff. this team needs new management

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Hadley says:

December 18, 2011 at 2:28 pm

I don’t know much about hockey so I get confused when I read one King or another is wearing a “no-contact” jersey in practice. It looks to me like most of the Kings play like they’re wearing those during the games.

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