Mitchell happy to have normal summer, camp

A previous post today alluded to Willie Mitchell’s recovery from the serious concussion he suffered during the 2009-10 season. If you remember, a year ago there were some concerns and questions about Mitchell, who spent much of the summer of 2010 in recovery mode. Mitchell made it through the season just fine — with the exception of a couple injuries that had nothing to do with his head — and this summer, things were back to normal for the 34-year-old defenseman. Mitchell was able to complete a full summer of training and get back to normal, something he doesn’t take for granted.

MITCHELL: “I had a chance to go over to the World Championships with Canada (after the Kings were eliminated from the playoffs). Dave Nonis asked me to go. It was an honor. Dave Nonis is someone I really wanted to go for, because he gave me the opportunity to play in Vancouver, with the Canucks. He was GM at the time and I felt a little bit of loyalty to him. But more than that, I wanted to have a proper summer, so I decided not to go. The summer before, I didn’t have a proper summer of training. I didn’t have a summer doing the things that most hockey players do in the summer, which is to get away. It’s not just the stuff you do on the ice. It’s the mental stuff, getting away from the game. You need to get away from the game for a little while and relax, so that you’re hungry when you come back. So yeah, I did all the things I normally do in the summer, and probably even a little bit more so on the training side.

“We all have pride, and we all want to come in in shape. More, it’s just mentally, being in the right frame of mind and knowing you’ve done everything you can, physically, to get yourself ready. On the ice, it just kind of takes care of itself. So this summer I worked really hard at it. I think the coaching staff and Dean (Lombardi) are a little bit aware of that. Obviously you don’t do it for them, you do it for yourself, but it’s always nice when they notice that you’ve come in in much better shape. So I’m just looking forward. I felt, at the end of (last) year, it was more my style of game consistently, and I’m just looking forward to picking up where I left off and having a good year. It’s important to do that, obviously, with the team we have. Chances like this don’t come too often. We have a really good group, and we’re looking forward to making a long run.”

As Mitchell said, the coaching staff, including Terry Murray, has taken note of Mitchell’s conditioning and preparation.

MURRAY: “Last year, he was coming off an injury, playing in Vancouver. He missed a lot of playing time at the end of the year, and that was a severe concussion problem. So whenever you have to take a lot of your summer time just to get health — not even doing anything, just recovering — then you miss out on a lot of physical training that you would normally do. So going back to the end of this past season, he’s now feeling good, healthy, and he has the summer to train and just get himself prepared for the start of the training camp. And he looks fantastics. All of the results of his testing, and all of the drills that he’s doing, he’s really on the balls. He’s sharp and making good things happen. The summer has been good for him, and his adjustment to being an L.A. King now, he’s starting to settle in and everything looks great for him.”

Of course, there’s a notable absence in training camp related to Mitchell. Drew Doughty isn’t in training camp, and Doughty would normally be Mitchell’s partner on defense. So far, Mitchell has orated through a handful of young partners in practices, most recently Slava Voynov.

MITCHELL: “It’s a little different. Last year, I came in and I bounced around a little bit. I played left side and right side, with Dewey and Jack (Johnson) a little bit. Here, obviously the first little bit hasn’t been with NHL players, so to speak, but I find that sometimes that’s good too, because it forces you to work on what you’re doing out on the ice, to make sure you’re in the right position and just controlling the things you can control in order to get yourself ready. That’s kind of what I’m doing, is just trying to worry about my game, things that make me a good player and things that can help the team win. So that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I feel real good on the ice, as far as my skating and stuff like that. Timing is pretty good. Now it’s just getting in a couple games to get ready to get going.”

I asked Mitchell if he has had any communication with Doughty recently…

MITCHELL: “A little bit, but we’ll leave it at that. These things happen. It’s not the first and last time it will happen in the NHL. It’s good for (media), it’s good for newspapers and it’s good for people to talk about and stuff like that, but the reality is, this is hockey and it happens. It especially happens with players of his nature. The thing is, it’s going to get done. It never hasn’t. It always gets done. It’s just a matter of when. Whether that’s tomorrow or it’s an hour from now or it’s a week and a half, two weeks from now, it will get done and he will be with us. He’s going to have a really great year, just as our team is going to. I’m sure he looks forward to the process being done, and so does Dean. That’s how it works with these things. Like I said, it plays out, as we all know, when the pressure starts to push, whether it’s on Dean or Drew. When it does, it will get done.”