AHL playoffs underway

Down on the farm, the American Hockey League playoffs are underway, and the Kings’ affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs, is playing Portland in Game 1 of a first-round series right now in Portland. The Monarchs were in first place in their division for the first part of the season, but numerous injuries and NHL call-ups decimated the roster in the middle of the season, and the Monarchs slipped to third place at the end of the season. A look at the first-round series can be found here.

Kings assistant general manager Ron Hextall also serves as the Monarchs’ GM, and today I talked to Hextall about the Monarchs…

Question: What are your thoughts on the regular season? Was the goal just to make the playoffs, particularly given the run of injuries they had?

HEXTALL: “We were in first place there a while back. Quite frankly, to be in first place with the young team and our injuries, you can’t ever say a team overachieved, and I think our team got some breaks along the way, but I can say that the effort there and the consistency from the whole group has been great. It’s a really special group. It’s a young group and they’re a very tight group of guys. You see most minor-league teams, when a guy gets called up, and there’s a little bit of jealousy and stuff. I heard so much this year and when guys were called up, the other guys were pulling so hard for them. So they really were a special group, and I think the fact that they made the playoffs is a feather in their cap.

“They’ve got a lot of work to do obviously, starting tonight, but overall I’m happy with where the team is and just the way they battled through the injuries. It’s easy to pull out and say, `We’ve had a lot of injuries,’ and use that as an excuse to not make the playoffs or finish under .500 or whatnot. To those guys’ credit, and the coaching staff’s credit, they kept things focused and the guys going all year. Really, they have a belief in themselves as a team. They had three or four, arguably, of their top players out for three or four months.”

Question: You took what could be called the patient route with Jonathan Bernier, keeping him in the AHL for the whole season. Did you get what you wanted out of that?

HEXTALL: “Thus far, absolutely. It’s the one thing we talked about with Bern, was, `OK, last year you did half the year. You were a very good goalie half the year. Go down there and be the best goalie in the American League for the entire year.’ To the kid’s credit, he’s done it. Hopefully he continues on in the playoffs here. To this point, he’s done everything we expected of him and hoped that he would do.”

Question: And now, seeing him a playoff series for the first time, do you expect to learn even more about him, based on how he plays?

HEXTALL: “No question. You want your players to thrive under the pressure and play their best hockey at this time of the year. Jon is still a young guy and, yes, he has played in some pressure situations but never at as high a level as he’s at right now. So this is a nice indoctrination for him into the playoffs at the pro level, and hopefully he has a great run there.”

Question: Is there anyone in particular who exceeded expectations this season, or matched them at a high level?

HEXTALL: “I think there were a lot of guys who probably matched expectations. We’ve got some very good prospects there, as I think everybody knows. I don’t know if anybody surprised me, because of the level they played, but I think a lot of guys matched our expectations.”

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