LAKings.com feature: Their Move

In case you hadn’t heard, the Kings made several trades this past week. Marian Gaborik was brought on as a skilled winger to boost the team’s offensive numbers, and Brayden McNabb was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres to provide defensive depth and an additional option to earn minutes on the blue line next season. Old news.

Regardless of the trades the Kings made, there was still ample confidence in the group that entered the trading deadline on a hot streak.

The team has looked to supplement its skill, though there is no shortage of character on a roster with a firm constitution. Prior to the win over Montreal on Monday, Drew Doughty was asked whether he accepts putting up fewer points on a team known for its defensive tendencies.

“Yeah, I accept that fact,” Drew Doughty answered. “It doesn’t bother me at all. All I care about is being on a winning team.”

But if there is that ability to add to the team’s skill level, negotiations will be made with the appropriate parties. The Kings aren’t a desperate team, and as a five-game winning streak was punctuated with a fine effort against the Canadiens earlier this week, it’s clear that a major step forward has taken place since the team’s mid-winter struggles, and that much of the answer to the questions surrounding the team can be answered from within.

“Dean has done a real good job throughout the last three or four years. He seems like he’s always put pieces together the way it’s supposed to be put,” Anze Kopitar said. “We’ve got all the confidence in him that he’s going to push the right buttons again. I don’t think anybody’s pushing, really, for a big trade, because we obviously feel really comfortable with the personnel that we have.”

This story, which completes parts one, two and three of my conversations with Dean Lombardi, contains a collection of interesting quotes by the team’s architect and the players that have admirably executed the vision of Los Angeles hockey operations for the past several seasons.

LAKings.com: Their Move

While you’re over at LA Kings.com, make sure to check out Deborah Lew’s story on the off-ice officials and the way game stats are kept, and John Hoven’s feature of University of North Dakota prospect Paul LaDue. Both are good reads. The Art of Keeping Stats / Standing Tall

Previous LAKings.com features:
Jumping Off Point
Weekend in Manch
Silver and Black Lining
Winter’s Spell
Culture Shift
Five-Ringed Granger
Loosened Reign
Halfway There
Robyn’s Flight
Net Gains
Mark Morris: An Open Door
Darryl Sutter: Playing Hardball
Influencers
Another Go
Dining Out with Willie Mitchell
Kings of CHLA
West is Best
Their Words
Numbers Aside
Follow Me
Talk About It
Padded Down
Little Time for Rest
Make Them Better
Comfort Level
Getting There
Will to Win
Buying In
Fine Tuning
Battle Tested
Smooth and Selke
Up, Up and Away
In Their Eyes
Work in Progress
Committed
Scuderi’s Actions Speak
Brown’s Model a Path for Doughty

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.