February 18 practice notes

Lots of content will be posted through the afternoon on the blog. Most importantly, I want to offer my sincere condolences to the Buss family on the passing of Dr. Jerry Buss, perhaps the most influential person in the history of Los Angeles sports culture. I spoke with Bob Miller about Dr. Buss, who owned the team from 1979 to 1987 and negotiated the naming rights of the Forum with Great Western Bank. That interview will be posted shortly.

As noted earlier, there were significant line changes up front at today’s practice. Kyle Clifford was skating on a line with Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown, which will be covered in today’s player quotes. I also recorded the second edition of FrasCast, in which we talk about British Columbian and Albertan culture, as well as the best ice surfaces in the league in addition to analysis of yesterday’s game. I’ll also post photos of Los Angeles Amateur Scout – Western Canada Brent McEwen, who received his championship ring in the media room upstairs at Rexall Place this afternoon.

Darryl Sutter was with family this morning and was not on the ice. Today’s practice was led by assistant coaches John Stevens and Davis Payne. Keep checking the blog this afternoon – there’s a lot more to come.