It’s been a whirlwind three-week period for Tanner Pearson. On June 22, he was drafted in the first round by the Stanley Cup champion Kings, and two weeks later he flew to Los Angeles for his first NHL development camp. Pearson, it seems, has fully recovered from the broken leg that he suffered late in the season with his junior team, the Barrie Colts of the OHL. Pearson has been a full participant in the camp.
It will be an interesting September for Pearson as well. He turns 20 in August, meaning he will be eligible to play in the American Hockey League, or he could return for a final (“over-age’’) season in junior hockey. All things considered, the AHL would be better for his development, but it would seem that there will be some pretty good competition for spots on the Manchester Monarchs’ roster. Here’s what Pearson said about joining the Kings and his initial experiences at development camp…
PEARSON: “It’s been exciting. It’s been exciting to come out here after I got drafted. It’s been a hard-working camp so far, and there’s just a couple days left, so it should be fun.’’
Question: With you coming off your injury, I didn’t know how much you’d be able to do on the ice, but it looks as though you’re good to go out there…
PEARSON: “Yeah, I’m good to go. I’ll all cleared to do everything. It was tough when it happened, but I tried to get things recovered as quick as possible and get to 100 percent as quick as possible. I worked with great people back in Kitchener and in Barrie, and they helped up with that process and it’s been good.’’
Question: What’s it been like, over the last couple days, to come in and meet the coaches and and learn the organization and the system and that sort of thing? Was it different than you might have expected?
PEARSON: “You hear about different camps from different people, and what they’re like, but you can’t really expect much coming in. You just have to come in prepared. That’s the biggest thing, I think. I came prepared and it’s been going good, but it’s still hard.’’
Question: With your age and experience, there are a couple places you could end up this season. Have you thought about the AHL vs. an over-age year of junior?
PEARSON: “Of course I want to come into camp here in September and I’ll try my hardest to make this club. That’s the ultimate goal, and everyone’s ultimate goal is to make the NHL. But if that fails, I’ll go and try my hardest to make the AHL. I want to play pro hockey, even if it is the AHL, and develop for a year or two there, and learn the Kings’ system and eventually make the jump to the NHL.’’
Great attitude and heart….love these type of players! Good on ya Tanner, welcome to Kings!
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Keep em coming Deano….
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‘Stanley Cup Champion Kings’…it just never gets old.
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Dean loves injury players LOL…Fraser came off injury,Mitchell came off injury,Williams was injury i believe when he came to Kings,Gagne had Injury problems….
Well now welcoem to the Kings buddy!Kings are the Champs yup i said it!!
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Kenny44 Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
@KingsFanFTW,
Buy low!
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Kenny44 Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
@KingsFanFTW
And you forgot Alyn McCauley, Jeff Halpern, Marco Sturm, Trent Hunter . . . .
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:22 pm
@Kenny44, LOL yea forgot about those guys
fuzzerson Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 8:11 pm
@Kenny44, Val Bure
Bruin18 Reply:
July 11th, 2012 at 6:56 am
@Kenny44, You guys are too young: Rick Martin (way pre Deano)
Stuart Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:14 pm
@KingsFanFTW, don’t forget Zues…
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KingsFanFTW Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
@Stuart, oh yea forgot about him LOL
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TheDryer5 Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
@Stuart,
Beachball was coming off an injury, too. Though I’ve tried to forget him, he’s just etched in my memory.
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Gustavo Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 8:14 pm
@KingsFanFTW,
And if they were not injured before getting here, we make damn sure they sustain one serious injury once they join the big club…Kopitar, Parse, Clifford, Richards. We shall have no perfectly healthy players throughout their careers.
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penguin76 Reply:
July 11th, 2012 at 7:47 am
@Gustavo,
i offer Palffy, Allison & Deadmarsh!
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Stuart Reply:
July 11th, 2012 at 9:07 am
@Gustavo, Brown has remained relatively healthy… knock on pressed particle board!
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Decisions decisions. Does Lombardi save a year off the ELC by keeping him in Juniors rather than the AHL? These types of dilemmas are usually Juniors vs NHL but his age presents a different challenge.
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egmorris Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
@FKA PakiFro,
If he earns it, give it to him. Otherwise, send him down.
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Crash Davis Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:26 pm
@egmorris, very good point. It’s not up to Dean, it’s up to Tanner. The goal? Play so well in Sept training camp that the Kings have no choice but to – at minimum – send him in Manchester @ age 20 (not back to Juniors).
Nice problem.
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Crash Davis Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:28 pm
@Crash Davis, …to Manchester.
luc20rules Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:48 pm
@egmorris, He will likely not make the roster, because he can be brought up and down without waiver risk. Voynov was clearly in our top 5 of Dmen last year, but we had to send him down just because it could be done without having to clearing waivers. We simply didn’t want to lose Drewiske, Martinez, or forward Richardson/Westgarth.
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Token Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:21 pm
@FKA PakiFro, Kids already 20 so makes no real difference. The CBA compensates with a sliding scale so yo can’t get nuthin’ unless they are 18/19.
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…”but it would seem that there will be some pretty good competition for spots on the Manchester Monarchs’ roster”
Is this really the Kings organization we are talking about? Somebody pinch me.
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FKA PakiFro Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
@JackKentCooke,
I’m hoping for a Calder Cup next year as well as a repeat of the Stanley Cup.
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luc20rules Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
@FKA PakiFro, The depth is there for a great regular season, but the fact is to win the Calder Cup the big club usually has to fail. All players with less than 2 years of NHL experience will usually be sent down to the AHL club to play in the playoffs after the big club is done. I remember couple of years ago the Monarchs lost to I think it was the Colorado’s AHL club, which was lead by 8 players that had played more than 60 games in the NHL. Since the big club had lost playoff hopes early in the regular season, young NHLers were placed on the AHL playoff roster, and of course that means many 25 year olds playing 20 or 21 year olds not quite far in strength or experience levels. There is a reason it has only been done once in the whole history of the AHL & NHL.
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For what little it’s worth, “The hockey writers” have come up with a list of the top 10 American born players in the nhl today. Quick is #1. How Brown didn’t make the list is beyond me…
http://thehockeywriters.com/top-10-american-born-players-in-the-nhl-today/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHockeyWriters+%28The+Hockey+Writers%29
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kylek Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:14 pm
@Paulhb, Ryan Kessler instead of Brown? Yikes, I didn’t realize diving talents counted so heavily in the rankings. Granted Kessler’s a very good player and all that, but I don’t think he belonged in the top 10. The other nine were solid choices, IMHO.
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DesertKing Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
@Paulhb,
The writers are all from a foreign country? Brown did not appear in public while intoxicated as many times as the other players?
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Dominick (defrim65) Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
@Paulhb, I posted a post pointing out that DB is only the 2nd American born Captain in NHL history (hope that’s cporrect) to win the Stanley cup, and was a finalist for the Mark messier leadership award, and that dweeb erased my comment.
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DesertKing Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:33 pm
@Dominick (defrim65),
Wait a minute, are you inferring that writers should utilize relevant facts? Next thing you know, you will expect them to write that we are the STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS.
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CB14 Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
@Dominick (defrim65), It’s there now.
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petemagoop Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
@Dominick (defrim65), your comments up now
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CB14 Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
@Paulhb, In the comments section the guy does give Brown his due by saying that it was hard for him to leave him off his list, and as a New Yorker he admits he might be biased because he watches Callahan every night. I’m just glad he got Quickie right.
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Tim James Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 6:12 pm
@Paulhb, given the list, I would replace David Backes with Brown, then swap Brown and Bobby Ryan. Brown schooled Backes in the WC semi-final, showed him how a captain carries himself in the playoffs! Other than those changes (and maybe moving Ryan Miller down a spot or so), the list is pretty solid.
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kindsir Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 6:15 pm
@Paulhb, Backes and Callahan over Brownie is ridiculous
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Klong Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 6:23 pm
@Paulhb,
Really the only one Brown should have been ahead of is Callahan. Similar players but Brown has been doing it much longer. Other than that I think its hard to make a case for Brown over any of the others as much as we love him.
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Duncanz Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
@Dudes, the guy is 20 years old.
To respectfully paraquote the famous ne’er-do-well, @Shotongoal;
How much the eff did you know at 20 years of age??!!!
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Preface to last poem:
A dream made real by Jack Kent Cooke back in nineteen sixty six,
He could imagine, the game on ice that’s played with pucks and sticks.
An NHL, expansion team, that was named the Los Angeles Kings,
Beneath the southern California skies as impossible as it had seemed.
Now it became real on February ninth, the Forum, its first home name,
It not complete they went to Long Beach to play their very first game.
The Philadelphia Flyers were the Kings first blood and began their road to the throne,
A trip that lasted forty long years, true athletes have come and gone.
Player nicknames, another Cooke thought, was very popular indeed,
Cowboy, Frenchy, The Entertainer and Jet were names on early year teams.
The times were tough, in the years to come, until nineteen seventy two
Goalie Rogie Vachon was brought to the team and spirit was finally renewed.
Bob Pulford was an awesome catch, as a player and then head coach,
Made a defensive team, that was one of the worst, to a defense made of gold.
And then was added an offensive jewel, Dionne and the “Triple Crown Line”,
Taylor and Simmer completed that line and post season was their next drive.
Jerry Buss would own the team by now, with a desire to bring a winner,
The only cup he saw as boss, was for guest he had for dinner.
It was not because he did not try, his team was an awesome cast,
The Triple Crown Line would make the goals and Lessard wore the goalie mask.
The seasons would pass, yet no broadway cast, until nineteen eighty two,
When witnessed the “Miracle on Manchester”, a sight for the crowd to view.
The Oilers in town with Gretzky and crew, five/nil to start the third,
And the Kings came alive with an unanswered five and a sixth in OT was then heard.
The Cup was not in the cards that year, thirty years would still remain,
The Kings were on a coaster ride and the outcome stayed the same.
Bruce McNall spent some of his coins and bought the team from Buss,
He dubbed Wayne Gretzky a noble King and stirred up quite a fuss.
The decade changed which brought the Kings a division title only,
It was their first and yes their last, made them trophy lack and lonely.
A shot at the Cup finally crossed their path in nineteen ninety three,
But as it has been, in years before, it was just not meant to be.
Now times grew dark, ownership changed, Sudikoff and Cohen took the helm,
Unable they were to help the Kings, they just became more overwhelmed.
Roski and Anschutz saved the day and began to rebuild the team,
As the twentieth century drew to a close, they began reshaping the dream.
A new GM, by the name of Taylor, took charge and shuffled the deck,
Andy Murray would coach, the press was stunned, and Taylor said what the heck.
There were lots of trades and roster moves, the Kings would start to bloom,
Roski and Anschutz had built new digs, and said it was time to move.
A change of address, a brand new nest, so they moved to the Staple Center,
With a new scene, and players they bring, might make LA a winner.
The hunch was correct, they were all set, and playoffs came into view,
They made the mark and were playoff bound from ninety nine to two thousand two.
A few good games in the playoffs was, just about all that was seen,
No bid for the cup, would come to them, but maybe in a dream.
For the next several years, a coaster ride, was all that could be found,
They cleaned the house and made the moves but no champion was in town.
Then in two thousand nine, something changed, a chemistry started to brew,
With records set and a playoff berth, could hopes be coming true?
But not so fast, it would not last, the first round lost in six,
But something really clicked that year, adjustments could provide the fix.
Twenty eleven started off great, five-one-one right out of the gate,
But then it seemed the bottom fell out, and champions would have to wait.
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DesertKing Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
@vegasking,
Let me guess – your middle name is Tolstoy-Shakespeare? Wish I kud writ lik thet
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Dominick (defrim65) Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:33 pm
@DesertKing, U men u dent alredy?
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DesertKing Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:38 pm
@Dominick (defrim65),
Hek ya, I rekd my truk and dent it last wik! but thar wur no men in it.
Tanner might be a steal of a deal in the draft 2 to 3 years from now!!!
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Kenny44 Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
@Sammuch, You think he’s going to diss the Kings and go back in the draft?
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Solid player, will battle with Andreoff for right to get into the Kings lineup next season as long as Gagne & Penner don’t both have career type years. Even if they do UFAs will go for money grab.
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luc20rules Reply:
July 10th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
@luc20rules, By next season I meant 2013-14.
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Welcome to LA Kings champs
Go Kings Go!
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