I’ll have some steady content on the blog this afternoon, so keep checking back as I continue to transcribe some quotes in preparation for tomorrow’s matinee against Colorado.
Some notes from practice:
-Alec Martinez, out since February 11 with an upper-body injury, has been skating all week at Toyota Sports Center. He has been progressing but has not yet rejoined his teammates for regular practice. More to come.
-I chatted with Ian Laperriere for 10 minutes in advance of Legends Night tomorrow afternoon, and he spoke of being extremely honored and humbled by the team’s recognition of his play. I’ll post my discussion with him shortly after posting today’s practice quotes.
-Those who played in Manchester with Thomas Hickey spoke of their pride in the former Kings prospect’s first career goal, which was an overtime game-winner for the Islanders in Montreal last night.
Those stories, and lots more, to come…
still puzzled on the Hickey situation. i know hind sight is 20/20, but a first round pick who never even gets 1 game with the club?
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HockeyNerd Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:01 pm
@tornado12, What could DL have done differently? He went with the best 7 defensemen he had at the time and Hickey was not one of them. He didn’t WANT to lose him to waivers, but he did. And he may well have tried to get something for him. What were we going to get for an unproven prospect that somebody may have (and as it turned out DID) get off waivers for nothing?
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tornado12 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:13 pm
@HockeyNerd, if memory serves, Muzzin made the opening day roster and could be sent down without having to clear waivers (sorry if im wrong there). Further, he was drafted in 2007. There has been ample time for him to get in a game or two. My point being he was drafted 4th OVERALL, that is a very high pick to not have even gotten ONE game with the Kings. Im not going to hold it against DL because in my opinion he is beyond reproach for what he has accomplished here. Doesnt mean he cant be critiqued and I would suspect that even DL thinks, in retrospect, that taking him so high might have not been ideal.
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Jeff_R Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:38 pm
@tornado12, Hickey also had 2 yrs of injuries that unfortunately hindered his development. Had he not had those injuries he would have probably played with the Kings at some point. It is too bad for us, but for Hickey I am very happy for him and I hope he continues to do well.
HockeyNerd Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:40 pm
@tornado12, seems odd that Muzzin who had previous NHL experience could have been sent down without being exposed while Hickey who didn’t couldn’t. Even so, DL had to go with what he thought were the best 7 healthy defensemen he had. Unfortunately in 48 games there’s less room to take a look at a prospect.
Yeah, it’s pretty much a wasted 4th overall pick. It happens. The key to good drafting is not so much to do well on your high picks as to simply load up on picks in ALL rounds and draft a lot of what you want. Instead of hoping for one good roll of the dice, throw the dice more often. DL did exactly that. Hickey was a bust, but we have Martinez, Voynov, and Doughty. Overall, I’ll take it.
xeropoint Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:40 pm
@tornado12, Hickey was a gamble for sure. Muzzin is no longer waiver exempt and I don’t really follow the ‘Narch all that much so I can only speculate injuries and the come-uppance of Slava and A-Mart moved Thomas down the depth chart. They had to give him a shot at camp and he didn’t make it, so I’m guessing there was zero time to get a deal done, even if there was one to be had.
FKA PakiFro Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:42 pm
@tornado12,
If I remember correctly, Lombardi said something about wanting to trade down but he couldn’t find a dance partner. There were also rumblings that some other teams (Boston?) were high on Hickey so he was worried he wouldn’t get his player where he was being offered to move to.
Now, there were some other players available that have had more of an impact, but to you can’t say that someone like Alzner or other D-men taken later in the first round would have cracked the Kings line up. Lombardi did a great job bringing in solid vets to play with young puck moving D-men. That, unfortunately, limited Hickey’s chances. Not to mention the guy’s injuries early on in his AHL career slowed him down quite a bit…enough so that he would be passed up by guys like Martinez (also an 07 pick) and Muzzin (undrafted FA) of similar age.
Its unfortunate that Hickey left because he almost certainly would be playing in A-Mart’s spot right now. But it is what it is. Good for him about playing regularly on the Island.
number 6 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:48 pm
@tornado12,
My criticism is as follows: I have absolutely no criticism of DL for picking a dman in the 4th slot. What I do have a bit of an issue with is the fact that he was So focused on getting a dman he picked a small guy and wanted to bring a big team game to the Kings. Perhaps he could’ve said, I don’t see the dman that I’m looking for here…. there seem to be some good forwards in this draft. I’ll go with one of them and hope for something in one of the later rounds that pans out (it did…. AM).
That said, the Habs drafted Ryan McDonaugh 1st round and essentially gave him away to the Rangers and he’s turned into a damned good defenseman w the Rangers. Wasn’t a deep draft and no one gets it perfect, but I wouldn’t be honest if I said that DL has made the most of 1st rd possibilities. He also drafted Trevor Lewis. I love the guy, but a 1st rounder who seemingly has no touch at all around the net?
If you want to compete on a year by year basis w how the Wings were, or other elite franchises, I don’t think you can afford those type of mistakes.
I checked the Devils draft record and for me it’s fantastic. The Wings pulled Datsyuk and Zetterberg out of very late rounds, the Devils hardly make a mistake. Depends how you do it. But thats why those teams have so consistently been exceptional.
Kings Still need more speed and skill upfront. It’s better, but there are too many forwards who don’t seem like they’re dangerous in a scoring capacity.
tornado12 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:57 pm
@tornado12, thanks guys. good thoughts and valid points all. sure makes me feel better about it!
Michael J. Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:12 pm
@tornado12,
Think of how much better the Raiders would have fared had JaCarcuss Russell never played a down. Better yet, if he never signed with them.
Had Hickey played some games would the Kings be better for it?
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tornado12 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:19 pm
@Michael J., there is no way to answer that question, but it is possible they could have been had he played well. My point is that ultimately it was a bust of a first round pick. Oh well, we won the cup! thats my retort for everything now! move along, right?
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mrbrett7 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:27 pm
@tornado12, Who was he going to play ahead of?
He was behind: Muzzin, Martinez, Voynov, Mitchell, Greene, Doughty, Scuderi, Campbell (all in no particular order).
Just because someone is a high pick doesn’t mean they translate to anything of note. Not to mention, at the time he was released (he is not waiver exempt any longer), Greene wasn’t hurt. Martinez wasn’t hurt.
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tornado12 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:43 pm
@mrbrett7, muzzin was waiver exempt. just to give hickey a chance, he could have stayed…clearly to protect your assests as the main objective. DL had done this before when VV had to go down prior to the JJ/JC trade, but only because he was the only waiver exempt player.
again, my point was, how can you REALLY tell how a player is going to respond at the NHL level until he gets a chance.
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FKA PakiFro Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 3:08 pm
@tornado12,
Muzzin was NOT waiver exempt. Neither was Campbell. He just happened to clear waivers.
Another thing to note, Lewis and Hickey were both drafted prior to Dean Lombardi having his full scouting staff in place. They were also taken when Marc Crawford was coach and the kings were heavy in forward prospects and youngsters (Cammy, Fro, Kopi, Brown, and the then recently acquired O’Sullivan). I don’t think Lombardi knew just then he was going to be focusing on a big defensive oriented team because the make up at the time was more of a skilled offensive team.
But as you say, he’s done well regardless. 2012 Stanley Cup Champions will always have a nice ring to it.
tornado12 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 3:17 pm
@tornado12, thank you clearing up the Muzzin issue, then my bad, seems there was nothing else DL could have done at that point. i conceed the point!
So to sum up then:
No matinee for Marty.
Lappy is a Legend.
Hickey is a hockey player.
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MK Ultra Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:08 pm
@Duncanz, Alliterations are always awesome.
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Michael J. Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:13 pm
@MK Ultra,
Stop such silly sentences..
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Duncanz Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:31 pm
Meeting @MK Ultra & @Michael J, mostly madness materializes ..
Anybody going to tomorrow’s game? First game back at Staples since opening night.
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Mars Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:12 pm
@DesertKing, wish I was but I couldn’t get tix
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LT21 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:13 pm
@DesertKing, I’m going! Section 107 baby! Go Kings Go!!!
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DesertKing Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:31 pm
@LT21,
114 tomorrow. Should be good. We are going to break that afternoon jinx.
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tornado12 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:33 pm
@DesertKing, Anyone, any way to find out what the Kings alltime record in afternoon games?
Robyn Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:53 pm
@LT21, hey, me too! I splurged over the summer and got season tix so I’m in aisle M7, section 107
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LT21 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:10 pm
@Robyn, I think I am in row 14. So excited!
Robyn Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 3:03 pm
@LT21, are you kidding? I’m in row 12…
LT21 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 3:11 pm
@Robyn, How funny! I will be the girl with the long brown hair in the black Doughty jersey. I really want a Quick one.
RedBear Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:14 pm
@DesertKing, Yes. Can’t wait to see if the boys can keep the streak going at home. But they are always awful at afternoon games and games with some sort of ceremony before hand. Tomorrow is a double whammy.
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Robyn Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:56 pm
@RedBear, yeah, they seem to get unfocused with ceremonies and hooplah. But, it’s not about them tomorrow so maybe they’ll be able to concentrate on the game at hand.
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Kingsfanone Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:15 pm
@DesertKing,
Wow. Didn’t realize that, and we went opening nite.
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BrokeKingsFan Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:53 pm
@DesertKing, Ill be there! trying to be optimistic about the afternoon game…lord knows we dont fare well in these.
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Kevco Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:57 pm
@DesertKing, Nope, sticking with my ‘lockout’ commitment of no games except for the raising of the banner. I’m not give money to either the owners or players until next season.
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Deke'r Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:48 pm
@Kevco, ….same here….solidarity!….
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I’m not very happy with the play of DD2, KE, and JM but I am happy UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES. You’d expect 1 or at most 2 to be in the lineup, not all 3. Considering that, they’ve done pretty well.
I’d rather have Martinez (and Mitchell and Greene for that matter) be certain they are ready and not rush back, reinjure themselves, and make a bad situation worse.
In hindsight we sure could use Hickey now but what could DL have done differently at the time?
And while I’d love to see us add a goal scorer or reliable defenseman we need to be realistic. A left wing (or 2) that hasn’t done anywhere near as well as expected isn’t going to fetch that. Bernier (although he hasn’t proven he could be a starter for someone) MIGHT get you that but then we would have to get a decent backup. So I don’t think any help is coming. The answer: Quick has to get back to last years form and steal some games. I think he will.
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xeropoint Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:47 pm
@HockeyNerd, I don’t expect anything as far as movement until 4/3.
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DesertKing Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:04 pm
@xeropoint,
Because of the way this season is structured, I don’t see many teams making any moves. There are only 5-6 teams that appear to have no shot at making the playoffs at this time. With 24-25 teams still in the hunt, they will not be willing to make moves. The Kings proved what everyone has suspected – you just have to make it into the playoffs while riding a hot streak and a hot a goalie. Home ice is not an advantage, peaking a the right time is. I don’t anticipate DL doing anything, especially knowing that at the end of the season he has more than $6 million in cap space opening up.
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xeropoint Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:15 pm
@DesertKing, Agree on all. Furthermore, if you can just imagine the guys we DO have, ATM, pick up their games just a tad… Just a little bit more, there’s enough up front to win without any major moves. Any addition to be had, IMHO, will either be from a blockbuster trade (which would probably be bad news) or getting a healthier blue line.
We have the pieces already. Just need to give them the right push and hope for a little luck on the injury front.
Matt Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:55 pm
@HockeyNerd, Hickey is gone, you have to move on.
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Shiny Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:01 pm
@HockeyNerd, KE has his ups and downs as they all are, but nobody looks as lost as Muzzin on the ice. O can’t figure him out. He’ll go out and have an excellent shift followed immediately by a bad one. Maybe I’m being overly critical of him, but he seems timid on the ice.
Could be he’s so terrified of another road apples comment, he doesn’t want to make a mistake and be replaced by Campbell who is untested in the NHL.
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Michael J. Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:16 pm
@HockeyNerd,
I was a bit shocked that he didn’t get a third or fourth round (or seventh) round pick for him. Maybe DL was following some unwritter GM rules about letting guys in his situation just go. Maybe he was fearing becoming a Tambellini by trading a play who might have no value…
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Lessons learned from Hickey, Lokti, Moller…stop drafting small players.
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Ryan Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:46 pm
@Uknojata,
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Ryan Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:46 pm
@Uknojata, Yea lesson learned, two of three scored a goal last night. Hickey in OT
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mrbrett7 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:32 pm
@Ryan, So, who would Lokti and Hickey be playing ahead of, if NONE of the injuries had happened?
Is lokti going to play ahead of Kopitar? Nope
Is Lokti going to play ahead of Carter? Nope
Is Lokti going to play ahead of Richards? Nope
Is Lokti going to play ahead of Stoll? Nope (although that’s a slight maybe)
Is Lokti going to play ahead of Fraser? Nope
You see…Lokti is an OFFENSIVE center. He isn’t supplanting any of the offensive centermen on this team, and he isn’t supplanting any of the defensive centermen on this team.
Who is Hickey going to supplant?
Doughty? Nope
Scuderi? Nope
Voynov perhaps? Nope
Greene? Nope (remember…happened before he was hurt)
Mitchell? Nope (see Greene)
Martinez? Nope
Drewiske? Nope (if he could have, he already would have)
In Manchester, he was behind Muzzin and Campbell.
As it stood…he was the 10th best defenseman, based on standing, in the Kings overall organization.
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KC23 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 3:50 pm
@mrbrett7, Stoll and Fraser are definately debateable.
Uknojata Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 9:32 pm
@Ryan, none of them scored for the Kings last night. Wasn’t saying that they, or other small players, couldn’t be successful NHL players. All three of those guys are talented and I wish them all the best. My point had more to do with DL’s hesitation to play small players, so why draft them in the first place?
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mrbrett7 Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at 1:11 am
@Ryan, KC…the point is, it’s a different role (that they play) and a role that Lokti will never play.
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HockeyNerd Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:47 pm
@Uknojata, Too much size can be as bad as too little. Check 94 to 97 Kings players and team accomplishments if you don’t believe me. Small players can be very gifted, you just need to pair them (or put them on a line with) a larger physical player.
Lokti, Moeller and Hickey simply didnt turn out to be all that gifted. Lokti and Hickey may do better in the east.
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NOW IMPRESSED Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:51 pm
@Uknojata, Exactly. Seems pretty logical to me. Always draft the player most likely to make the team.
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Sheet, Landeskog is expected to be back for tomorrows game. Could have done without that.
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number 6 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 1:53 pm
@Bradapiller,
They lost all four games to Avs last year and one this year. Five straight losses to a team that didn’t even make the playoffs? If you can’t beat them even with Ladeskog (agree he’s a terrific player) then it shows that you still have a problem that isn’t resolved. Going .500 on the season vs. the Avs shouldn’t be too much to ask.
The big problem is their absolutely awful record in matinee games. Sorry, but the Avs have to wake up and be ready to play too.
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HockeyNerd Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 3:48 pm
@number 6, Seems like what’s going on with us is not the quality of the opposition so much as the style it plays. If a team plays a physical, grinding, dump and chase style no matter how well they play it we will do better. See St. Louis, Phoenix, etc. The teams that give us problems (Chicago, San Jose, Colorado) have a lot of speed.
Proper strategy? We do NOT have the kind of personnel where we can run and gun against those teams. We’ll get burned and we have. Play the trap and clog up the middle of the ice. MAKE them have to dump the puck in at the blueline. Use short clearing passes or if necessary just clear the puck to center ice. Do NOT try long passes that could get picked off and give them an outnumbered attack.
Boring, TM style Hockey but if we want wins against these teams it will need to be done. Save the run and gun stuff for teams it will actually work against……
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number 6 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 4:02 pm
@HockeyNerd,
Good point. That said I still think the team needs to up their overall team speed. I’ve thought that for a number of years. That said, it Is a bit better for sure than it was two years ago. No question. But we still have a number of forwards (Nolan, King, Clifford, Penner) who aren’t blessed with much speed and Scuds, Greeene, Drewiske the same. But it’s less an issue with the dmen than it is with the forwards.
We have game(s) in hand on everyone above us except for Ducks and Sharks. A loss tomorrow would suck more than others for us. We need to send a message that the Juggernaut, that was us last year, is returning. The hopeless feeling that other teams will feel by us breathing down their necks will provide an air of inevitable doom for them. That’s right ….peeps….the train is a rollin’
Looks like I’m moving up to LA just in time to witness the spectacle first hand!!
I truly believe, that we are going to be the talk of the league for the remainder of the season. I’ll take the heat if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.
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Shiny Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 2:07 pm
@kissmyblarneystones, I’d say we’re already the talk, but I feel like it’s mostly snickers and rumors being spread around…
Like Hartley’s comments that the team is suffering a SC hangover, which is so last summer. However, I feel like the team could use those words to their advantage. Trap teams that think we’re going to play poorly and then beat their pants off while they’re not looking. Weird imagery, but hopefully you get the point.
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KC23 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 3:58 pm
@kissmyblarneystones, Love positive vibes. Keep em comin! Hope you’re right. Avs have been a pain in our rear of late. Turning that around would definately be a positive step.
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What vintage uniform colors will be worn by Kings players tomorrow? Lappy started with the Kings wearing the silver/black/white.
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KC23 Reply:
February 22nd, 2013 at 3:59 pm
@Kings805, I thought I read during one of the practise session that they were wearing the purple and gold, but would love to see the Gretzky jersies tomorrow.
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