LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

Sturm Sometimes Wears Eye Black To Intimidate His Opponents VERTIGO First off, vertigo is no joke.  I woke up with ringing in the ear and the room spinning.  It's been two weeks now; after a trip to the ER and a trip to the doctor's office...the spinning has gone away and only the ringing remains.  My symptoms were so severe that I was forced to miss Jarome Iginla's first-visit to Staples Center this season.  I'll have to wait until March to debut my converted Patrick O'Sullivan #12 game worn jersey that now reads IGINLA.  Moving on... MARCO STURM So Sturm is a King after all .  Yippee.  And the Kings ended up saving themselves a few bucks in the process.  The Kings got a 32-year old seven-time 20-goal scorer for free.  Well, not free.  They'll be paying him a little under $2.5 million for the remainder of the season which should leave them plenty of cap space to acquire Brad Richards when Dean Lombardi grows a pair (w0ah, thaaat ...

Dean Lombardi:"The San Jose Sharks are proud to select from EV Landshut of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga Marco Sturm." Tomas Fleischmann was rumored to L.A..  He's a member of the Colorado Avalanche now .  At 26 years old, Fleischmann could have been a part of the Kings core group going forward.  His situation reminds me alot of Patrick Sharp.  Sharp was buried on a deep Philadelphia Flyers roster and Philly dealt him to Chicago.  Given the opportunity to play in a top-6 role with the Blackhawks; Sharp has become the team's most consistent goal threat.  Have the Kings let the next Patrick Sharp slip by?  Only time will tell.  In limited time; Flash netted 23 goals and 51 points in 69 games. The Kings responded quickly...sorta...by acquiring a player very similar to Fleischmann.  Just six years older and coming off major knee surgery. TSN's Bob McKenzie's twitter with the play-by-play on the botched Marco Sturm to Kings rumors. Marco St...

Willie Mitchell More Important To Kings Than Drew Doughty? I could do a recap of the Kings pathetic road trip but Kingscast has that covered .  I could do a recap of the Kings loss to the Hawks but TheRoyalHalf has that covered .  So I'm going to do what I do best: Spin the Rumor Mill. Wow.  Who knew that the Willie Mitchell/Alexei Ponikarovsky loss would affect L.A. more than the loss of Drew Doughty.  (I wonder if Dean Lombardi points to the team's splits at the negotiating table with Drew's agent?...).  Had it not been for Jonathan Quick's miraculous shootout performance in Boston; the Kings could easily be winless in their last seven games (Although, one could say the Kings were robbed in Ottawa, which we were, but moving on...). Coach continues to pull names out of a hat to fill the Kings first-line left wing spot.  Coach has tried seven different players there and no one has stepped up.  Lombardi went shopping in Manchester and the best H...

PANIC TIME! With the Kings in the midst of a three-game losing streak; it's time to hit the panic button.  The Kings defensive zone play in the past three games has been terrible.  Untimely penalties, terrible zone coverage, and just a lack of intensity at times have cost the Kings in the last three games.  Only four points separates all five teams in the Pacific Division.  Yikes! Thomas Hickey...Where are you ? WHERE'S THOSE PROSPECTS?!?! The loss of Willie Mitchell has exposed the lack of NHL-ready defenseman in the Kings system.  Davis Drewiske has played solid this season but he can't anchor a defensive pairing.  When Coach Murray pairs him with Peter Harrold or Jake Muzzin; Kings fans everywhere start getting the sweats.  If Campbell, Hickey, Martinez, Teubert, Voynov, etc. aren't ready to step in now; it's time to acquire someone who can.  Souray anyone ?  I thought former Flame Ian White may been the perfect acquisition but those...

LASERS ! Dallas came to play against the Kings but L.A. stood their ground and won a close one 3-1.  Game got physical in the second and third periods.  Former King Brandon Segal stopped Kyle Clifford's fists with his face.  Jonathan Quick played outstanding once again, earning the game's first star, and then refusing an interview with Heidi after the game... Justin Williams sniped a beautiful goal on the power play in the third.  He's been playing outstanding this season (knock on wood).  A fan actually called into Kings Talk and asked about the Kings extending Williams's contract past this season...who would of thought after the way he finished last season... Some of my favorite photos after the jump or see them all on my Flickr page .

The Kings may have missed out on Ilya Kovalchuk in the off-season but they have their own high-scoring Russian left winger garnering alot of attention at the annual Subway Super Series.  The Super Series is a six game exhibition between the best Russian junior players and All-Star teams from the OHL, WHL, & QMJHL.

Bill Plaschke says, "I Like Hockey!" If you didn't read the Sunday L.A. Times you missed out a rare gem.  Bill Plaschke, one of the last sports columnists at the Times decided to write an article about our beloved Kings.  Read it here .  If you don't want to read it all; here's the Cliffnotes version: Plaschke can't believe that Kings players actually like spending time with each other.  The Kings are winning and the rest of Los Angeles should start jumping on the bandwagon with him.  Now for my favorite part of the article.  I'm not sure if Plaschke was using some sort of literary device to exaggerate how little he knows about the game of hockey but I had to read it over twice because it read so terrible... But until then, they are fun enough that even while UCLA's Kai Forbath was kicking a game-winning field goal against Oregon State on Saturday night, I was perfectly jazzed watching as Kopitar took a pass off the boards from Brown, juked t...

I use to collect hockey cards.  ALOT of hockey cards.  More hockey cards than any kid should have.  I quickly learned that 1990-91 was the year to collect.  You could pull rookie cards of superstars like Jeremy Roenick, Mike Modano, Alexander Mogilny, Curtis Joseph, etc.  It looks like alot of trading card companies including Upper Deck will release a set with a vintage look from 20 years ago . I've been playing around with Photoshop and decided to give it a shot with my own pictures on a couple custom cards.

Jack Johnson Checks Mattias Ritola A little late to the show but check out some pictures I took at Thursday's 1-0 victory vs. Tampa Bay.  Check out some of my favorites after the jump.  And check out all of them on my Flickr page .

King Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla Pierre LeBrun jumped on Hot Stove on HNIC and speculated that if the Calgary Flames were to move Jarome Iginla; the Kings would be a perfect fit .  He reiterated his point on HNIC Radio that he's got from sources that Iginla is atop the Kings 'wish-list' if he were to become available. (Iginla) would go along with the character-type guys the Kings have added over the last two years, players like Ryan Smyth and Willie Mitchell. I couldn't agree more.  The Kings failed to acquire Kovalchuk.  The cap space is still sitting there.  The team is still missing that top-line scoring winger.  Dean Lombardi has exhausted the point that he doesn't want to jeopardize the signings of Doughty, Johnson, and Simmonds.  I absolutely get that point but look at any of the teams that have won a Cup in the post-salary cap era and all of them went 'all-in' for a couple of seasons before losing some key contributor...

Mattias Norstrom: A Class Act The Kings really know how to throw a party.  Nothing says, "Thank you Matty!" like a Swiss Coffee Maker.  Did you know that Matty was a two-time All-Star?!?!  It was great to see fan favorites like Ian Laperriere and Rob Blake (I kid...I kid) back at Staples Center.  Ilya Kovalchuk haters filled the arena as he was booed every time he touched the puck.  Kovalchuk had his moments but the Kings took the game 3-1.

Brent Sopel or Bruce Wayne?...You Be The Judge Although his time with the Kings was short-lived, Brent Sopel quickly became a fan-favorite amongst hockey fans in Los Angeles....OK...who am I kidding.  Nobody liked Dave Taylor's last ditch effort to save his job by trading former first-round picks Denis Grebeshkov and Jeff Tambellini to the Isles for an injured Sopel and Mark Parrish . But Halloween is this weekend and who wouldn't want to see an NHL defenseman dressed as Batman and babble on for a couple minutes.  He actually writes a blog too that I stumbled upon (Life of a Hockey Widow) .

Eric Staal I shot a couple pictures of the Canes during warmups.  Managed to get a few shots of former Kings Joe Corvo, Tom Kostopolous, and my favorite Patriiiick OOOOOO' Sullivan (Sorry, Tim Gleason fans).  Check them all out on my Flickr page .

Doughty Should Take All The Time He Needs The 2010-11 NHL season has gotten off to quite a controversial start.  We've seen seven suspensions and six fines thrown out in the first three weeks of the season.  The Kings have found themselves right in the middle of a couple controversial hits over the past week.  Let's take a look at both of them.

The NHL Post-Lockout has given alot of young players the opportunity to make an immediate impact.  I found a couple Youtube videos featuring the best of the this year's and last year's rookie classes.  Pretty impressive stuff...

This news may have flown under the radar for most Kings fans but for me this is a crime.  An absolute shame.  The Manchester Monarchs for some odd reason decided to change their jerseys for the 2010-11 season.  I got my first glance of these new sweaters in NHL 11 but thought EA Sports just didn't get the design in for some reason.  Once the AHL season began; the new jerseys were unveiled on the ice.  The Monarchs went from having one of the cleanest looking jerseys in the AHL to having one of the ugliest.  I'm glad I got my Trevor Lewis gamer.  Remember ? They use to look like this...     And now they look like this... If it ain't broke...don't fix it!

You Know It's Opening Night When All 20 Kings Are Standing On The Blue Line For The National Anthem The hockey season doesn't officially start for me until the home opener.  It's always fun to get reacquainted with the Kings equipment managers and training staff.  I didn't get there early enough for all the pregame fun outside of Staples Center but Chris Kontos over at The Royal Half did .  Kings won 3-1.

Kopi's Ready For Halloween (PHOTO: ESPN)  THE GOOD Kings score two goals this weekend and manage a split .  Can't really complain about that. The Kings throwback jerseys on Saturday were awesome.  Jonathan Quick's pads and mask were great too.  I like his throwback mask more than his current one.  I was really hoping to see some names but the Kings didn't permanently add names to the back of their Road uniforms until the NHL required them for the 1977 season . Kopitar wasn't seriously injured from an unintentional high-stick in the corner from Manny Malhotra that led to Kopi receiving 15 stitches on the outside; four on the inside, and the loss of a fake tooth.   Brayden Schenn looks like he belongs and should grab that open slot on the second-line any day now .  Kyle Clifford seems to have lost all that aggression that earned him this opportunity.  He may be on his way to Barrie before the week is over. Jarett Stoll dominated the faceo...

My 2010-11 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings With the season starting tomorrow; it's prediction time...   EASTERN CONFERENCE The Capitals and Devils are head and shoulders above the rest.  The Penguins added some nice pieces to their blueline but forcing Sidney Crosby to spend another season playing with Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz on his wings should be against league policy.  If Philly can acquire a proven goaltender like Tim Thomas or Tomas Vokoun; they should be recognized as legit contenders as well.

FF XIII: No Pacquiao-Mayweather But We Got Clifford-Wilson Got back from Frozen Fury XIII earlier today.  It was my fourth consecutive Frozen Fury weekend.  Never gets old.  Check out Chris Kontos's writeup on his first-ever F.F. experience at The Royal Half for the complete experience.  I'll just get to my impressions of the game.

Thomas Hickey: This Season's P.K. Subban! Hammer reports that the Kings have sent Thomas Hickey back to Manchester .  I'm not against this move considering Hickey only played in 19 games last season in Manchester; he needs to be able to show he can stay healthy for a full-season in the AHL before he gets killed in the NHL.  I'm just not very confident in the Kings other options.  With Matt Greene expected to miss at least the first month of the season; Terry Murray will have to choose a bottom-pairing from the likes of Davis Drewiske, Peter Harrold, and Jake Muzzin.  Sheldon Souray ?   Best-case scenario : Drewiske finds his game pre-last season's injury, Harrold plays like Mike Weaver, and Muzzin plays like Randy Jones?   Worst-case scenario : Drewiske doesn't find his game, Harrold plays like Harrold, and Muzzin plays like an over-aged junior player with 14 games of AHL experience making the jump to the NHL. I'm thinking it falls somewhere in-betw...

I was watching 30 Rock last night and I spot Paul Giamatti in a guest-spot wearing a Tavares Isles Jersey.  And then out of nowhere...well just watch the video.  It's the only video on youtube I could find. Matt's got a Twitter : 30 Rock tonight there's a new character on the show who's an Isles fan...chirps me...all in good fun

I promise I won't keep updating you on what Frolov does during the regular season.  Well, unless he scores 40 goals this year like I think he will.  He was the game's first star last night and had this nice little dangle.

ESPN's Pierre Lebrun was in LA on Monday covering the Kings. He discussed the Doughty/Mitchell D-pairing , the Kings backup goaltending situation , and Rich Clune.

"Yes Kyle...You still look just as crazy on the beautiful new Panasonic HD scoreboard." Lessons learned from the first home preseason game of the season . Staples Center should have installed an HD Scoreboard a long time ago.  That thing is beautiful. Kyle Clifford is crazy.  He racked up 19 minutes of penalties trying to retaliate on a clean hit.  He's the forward version of Colten Teubert.  I know alot of people are excited about him possibly making the team this year but I just don't see it.  Clifford fought Paul Bissonnette .  Bissonnette has a twitter (BizNasty2point0) : "Drew 5 minors tonight. Is that a league record? And clifford suckered me 3 times, dropped my mits and pumped him with 3 then he wrestled me. Anyone who saw the fight as a win for clifford ur a meat stick. But then again there are a lot of u out there. Go yotes. Boom." Our top four defensemen: Doughty , Mitchell , Johnson , and Scuderi were all shaky.  They allowed Phoe...

So I visit TSN to catch up on all the exhibition games from tonight and who's there on the homepage waiting to say, "Hello!" Why it's former Kings enforcer Raitis Ivanans!  In true 'Ivanans Form,' Raitis managed zero points, zero shots, -1 and a minor tripping penalty in 6:28 of ice-time.  Looks like Raitis may have played on a line with Bryan Cameron, an unsigned 3rd round pick of the Kings in 2007.  Cameron led the CHL in scoring with 53 goals for the Barrie Colts during his overage season in the OHL.

Bud Vision: Bud Holloway The Manchester Monarchs look like they've handed Kings prospect Bud Holloway a Flip video  cam to document some of the off-ice experiences of training camp.  An exclusive interview with Monarchs defenseman David Kolomatis and a trip to 'supper' with some of the Kings top prospects. Pretty entertaining videos.

Finally finished going through all the photos.  You can check them all out on my Flickr page.  Day One here .  And Day Two here .  Check out a few of my favorites after the jump.

I'm working at a feverish pace trying to get through all the pictures I took at Training Camp this weekend.  Hopefully, I'll have them uploaded tomorrow. Went to check on Fro in New York.  He didn't do much.  Just a hat-trick playing alongside Marian Gaborik in the first scrimmage of camp .  Sigh. Our season tickets came in the mail a while ago.  No upgrades, no free jersey, not much of anything really but they did include all the postseason tickets in the booklet this year.  A bit of a tease perhaps...but Round 4 Home Game 1!  Let's do it!

Training camp opens tomorrow.  I plan on being there all day.  Hopefully, I get some decent pictures to post up here in the next couple days.  Hammer has all the details regarding the groups and schedule for this weekend and the next couple weeks . See you there! (P.S. The track on this video reminded me...Linkin Park's new album is awesome!)

Souray Is Done In Edmonton; Re-entry Waivers Next? Edmonton Oilers GM Steve Tambellini issued a statement Monday evening that the organization would not allow defenseman Sheldon Souray at camp when it opens this weekend.  Per TSN . "We've been trying to move the player for some time obviously," Tambellini explained to reporters at the Young Stars Tournament in Penticton, B.C. "Sheldon has expressed strong interest over a long period of time that it's best for him to move and we're going to try and help him with that. I couldn't get that done prior to this camp. I hope to get it done during camp, but it's best for the Oilers for him not to be at camp right now." The relationship between the organization and Souray has been strained almost since the day Souray signed a 5-year, $27-million deal in Edmonton.  In his first season as an Oiler, he played in a career-low 26 games after suffering a separated shoulder.  Their tumultuous relationshi...

I always know hockey season has arrived when EA Sports releases their new NHL game.  If you're reading this blog and have a Playstation 3 or XBOX 360; you owe it to yourself to go pick up NHL 11 first thing tomorrow morning.  I've been a loyal supporter of the NHL series since NHL 94 on the Sega Genesis.  I strayed a few years to the NHL 2K series during my Dreamcast days but have been loyal to EA for quite a while now. EA's motto has always been: "If it's in the game, it's in the game."  And this year is no different.  Tons of new gameplay tweaks, broken sticks, new revamped faceoff machine.  No longer is it the same game with updated rosters.  With the PS3's Blu-Ray Disc; developers can load up an endless amount of content into each game. For NHL 11, EA got the licensing to the CHL.  Which means all the OHL, QMJHL, and WHL players, jerseys, logos, etc. are in the game.  If you want to play as Brayden Schenn on the Brandon Wheat Kings, yo...

Dan Ellis: "I make millions of dollars to play hockey & I'm stressed!" It's been a while since my last blog post.  I'm still recovering from the news that Paul Kariya is sitting out all of the 2010-11 season.  I've been a bit sidetracked since the arrival of NHL 11 which I'll be writing about soon enough if I can ever put it down.  But moving on.. The majority of NHL fans have no idea who Dan Ellis is.  A few fans will remember him as the Predators starting goaltender who lost his starting job to Pekka Rinne last season.  Well with the power of Twitter; Ellis has some new found fame.  I was going to blog about Dan Ellis and his controversial tweets right after I read them.  I was too lazy but  Puck Daddy took the story and ran with it .  Here's what Ellis tweeted . If you lost 18% of your income would you be happy? I can honestly say that I am more stressed about money now then when I was in college.  I can't explain it and I ne...

I'm Guaranteeing That Willie Mitchell Works Out Better Than Sopel Did In L.A. After attending the Kings Development Camp in July; I became worried. The Kings lost Sean O’Donnell to free agency and had yet to sign a defenseman. Jake Muzzin wasn’t ready. Thomas Hickey wasn’t ready. Colten Teubert was hurt. Viatcheslav Voynov was missing and now threatening a move to Russia. Then the news broke that Matt Greene was going under the knife , all of a sudden, leaving two gaping holes to fill on the Kings blueline. I began searching the list of remaining free-agents for bargains (or scraps). Two names jumped out at me: Ruslan Salei and Mike Weaver . Salei has been steady his entire career up to last season when he battled back injuries last season. Mike Weaver left Los Angeles as a fringe NHL defenseman and has slowly developed into a solid reliable bottom-pairing defenseman for Vancouver and St. Louis. Both were snatched up within the week. Willie Mitchell was the only remai...

My First Monarchs Gamer! I've wanted a Manchester Monarchs Authentic Edge jersey for a couple seasons now.  The authentic version sells online for $280 and sometimes you can get them on sale for $165 from the team store. I've watched Monarchshockey.com for game worn jersey auctions only to see the prices sky rocket to ridiculous amounts.  I also spend alot of time on eBAY looking for any deals.  And finally my search paid off!   I had been hoping to get my Kings jerseys lettered with Kovalchuk #71 or Kariya #9 this summer but since both look like a longshot; those funds were allocated to this purchase: A game worn Trevor Lewis Manchester Monarchs jersey. Last season was a wash for him after he suffered a serious shoulder injury that knocked him out for the majority of the season.  But he recovered in time for the postseason and was one of Manchester's best players.  He was third on the team in scoring with 9 points in 16 games and led the...

Is Ponikarovsky The 'Missing Link'? Since the Kings haven't done much of anything this offseason; I'm forced to over-analyze the one player Dean Lombardi did acquire.  While searching for 'Alexei Ponikarovsky' I stumbled across this Puck Prospectus article .  Puck Prospectus thinks very highly of Poni and they've got some obscure statistical analysis to back it up.   CORSI number is the relatively new statistic being discussed in-depth by hockey geeks.  It was actually derived by long-time Buffalo Sabres goaltending coach Jim Corsi . Corsi is a plus/minus stat that measures shots directed at net. For example, if the Edmonton Oilers direct 30 shots at even strength at the Calgary Flames' net in a game, while the Flames direct 45 shots at the Oilers' net, the Oilers have a Corsi of -15 for the game. This team Corsi number is also broken down and applied to individual players. For example, if Sheldon Souray is out on the ice for 10 shots directed ...

A Bit Awkward?... I know I'm kind of late but the photo was so disturbing; it deserved it's own blog post. The Red Wings finally announced last week that they've signed Mike Modano to a one-year deal .  The 40-year old signed on to be the Wings third-line center.  It was a difficult situation in Dallas where the management team led by GM Joe Nieuwendyk, a former teammate of Modano's finally decided that he was no longer in the organization's plans moving forward. Modano, the all-time leader among U.S.-born players in points and goals scored will wear jersey #90 for obvious reasons (Gordie Howe).  Modano will always be a Minnesota North Star/Dallas Star just like Ray Bourque will always be a Boston Bruin.  Bourque chased his Cup; Modano already got his so I guess he' just chasing the dream of playing one more NHL season back home in front of family & friends in his home state of Michigan.

Teemu Selanne will be back at least one more season with the Ducks and he's still trying to lure Kariya to Anaheim .  Kariya doesn't owe anything to those fans in the O.C but I think the thought of reuniting with Teemu intrigues him especially after their disappointing reunion in Colorado.  I think Kariya is a Duck by the end of the week.  I think both guys stay healthy and terrorize the Kings.  Both Kariya and Selanne have been Kings Killers their entire careers (check out the career numbers versus L.A.). Kariya: 63 GP, 34G, 38A, 72 PTS, +13, 26 PPP, 5 GWG Selanne: 86 GP, 47G, 57A, 104 PTS, +26, 40 PPP, 9 GWG So the dream of having Kariya and Selanne reunite in Los Angeles is dead.  The dreams of Kariya finishing out his career in a Kings uni are most likely dead.  I'm clinging to Willie Mitchell right now.  The Selanne/Kariya story was a bigger deal to me than the arbitrator ruling in favor of the NHL in the Ilya Kovalchuk case but here's a quick...

My Photoshop Job of Kariya Headline On Ducks.com I've come to accept that the NHL doesn't have much of a case against Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils and will most likely lose their arbitration hearing.  Kovalchuk won't be a King.  Who could fill that void?  Paul Kariya!  Of course!  If you're reading my blog for the first time; you should read this post first to understand my loyalty to Paul Kariya. Three players off my Free Agent Frenzy shopping list are still out there: Kariya, Teemu Selanne and Willie Mitchell.  I don't think we get any of them.  Dean Lombardi seems pretty content rolling out the same team we did last year minus Frolov, OD and Greene (for the first month).  The addition of Ponikarovsky will not drastically improve this team.  Andy Strickland got my hopes up a couple weeks ago ...   Paul Kariya will play only if the fit is right....think west coast...Los Angeles Kings??? But then he hits me with this y...

Ponikarovsky Is Frolov 2.0: Better Defensively; Not As Good Offensively Just hours after it became official that Alexander Frolov was a New York Ranger; the Kings made their first acquisition of the off-season signing winger Alexei Ponikarovsky to a one-year deal worth $3.2 million. The 30-year old Ukrainian-born Ponikarovsky is almost a mirror-image of Frolov.  Poni, similar to Fro, is as streaky as they come.  He'll show glimpses of world-class talent only to disappear for weeks at a time.  His inconsistent play frustrated Leafs management and fans alike.  The Pittsburgh Penguins outbid a number of teams for Ponikarovsky at last season's trade deadline to lineup with Sidney Crosby only to have Poni disappear and be a healthy scratch during the playoffs. Poni isn't nearly as skilled as Frolov but Poni is a better defensive player.  Poni's 6'4 frame adds size up front and he definitely likes to hit more than Frolov.  He'll help the Kings cycle the puck ...