October 1: Wednesday morning links

Good morning from the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We’re at 6,200 feet above sea level, considerably higher than the Mile High City 70 miles to the north. There’s no on-ice practice today – just off-ice workouts – prior to tomorrow’s game against the Colorado Avalanche at the Broadmoor World Arena, which is also the home of the Colorado College Tigers hockey team. Among the Kings alumni to have played for the Tigers are Noah Clarke and Tom Preissing. Other alums: Jaden Schwartz, Mark Stuart, Joey Crabb, and Unstoppable Crease Deity Richard Bachman, who has put up bizarrely good numbers in limited action against the Kings.

The Sharks weren’t particularly fond of its effort in last night’s 4-1 Kings win. Via David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News:

But several of San Jose’s players — rookies and veterans — struggled at times, particularly in the second period when the Kings scored twice to take a 3-1 lead. Starting goalie Antti Niemi stopped 26 of 30 shots in the loss.

“I think maybe it’s kind of a wake-up call for us,” Couture said. “They’re ready over there, and we’re going to have to open up our season against them in seven or eight days. We better get going.”

In 15:43 of ice time, Patrick Marleau was a minus-1, attempted two shots, both of which missed the net, and did not record a hit or a blocked shot.

That’s some fine work by Steve Nash of EYECANDYAIR. Here’s Martin Jones’ new mask:

Elsewhere! Here’s the LA Times’ account of Darryl Sutter’s opinions on team bonding excursions. Rich at the OC Register takes a look at how the Kings roster could eventually shake out, and you won’t find any disagreements here. JFTC says you, Nick Shore, you are the 12th most important King or King prospect under the age of 25. Frozen Royalty chats with Dean. Mayor’s Manor thinks Jordan Nolan is getting traded. It means nothing, but an EA Sports simulator picked the Kings to repeat. Eric Nusbaum, who was with the club during training camp last week, wrote the Sports Illustrated Kopitar story, which I can’t wait to read. Here’s a preview.