LAKI Potpourri: Lombardi, Blake feature, Muzzin quotes

Some assorted tidbits on a Friday evening:

-Dean Lombardi was named the 2014 Sports Executive of the Year by the Los Angeles Sports Council. He’ll be honored at the LA Sports Awards on March 15 at the Beverly Hilton.

-Rob Blake’s jersey will be retired a week from tomorrow, and I kicked off the coverage by writing about the process of retiring a jersey, and what to do about, you know, the three or four players on the current team who’ll have their jerseys retired.

From my LAKings.com feature, Four the Kingdom:

A banner season for the Los Angeles Kings will be followed by a banner night for Hall of Fame defenseman Rob Blake, whose jersey will be hoisted to the Staples Center rafters during a ceremony prior to the Kings-Ducks game on Saturday, January 17.

So, if you’re keeping score at home, that’s a Stanley Cup ring, a Hall of Fame induction and a jersey retirement ceremony all in the last seven months for the player who leads all Kings defensemen with 805 games played, 161 goals, 333 assists, 494 points, 92 power play goals and 29 game-winning goals as a member of the club.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” Blake said. “After this it’s all downhill.”

Remember to check LAKings.com over the upcoming week for a steady stream of Blake coverage.

And, finally, some Jake Muzzin quotes:

Jake Muzzin, on the Rangers’ speed:
They had some speed out wide, but I thought we did a good job of keeping them outside. We’ve got to get better taking the body on the rush.

Muzzin, on not allowing a surplus of shots against:
No, we’re giving up too many Grade-A scoring chances. Too many shots from the middle of the ice.

Muzzin, on how to clear traffic from the front of the net:
We’ve got to get early position on them. You can’t let ‘em get there…That starts from win the puck in the corner, beating them back to the front of the net and getting position on guys coming from the corners to the net, getting position on them before they get to the net to keep them to the outside and give Quickie a better look. [Reporter: Are you allowed to contact when you get that position?] Yeah. I think closer to the net, we have to do a better job of getting more contact on guys.