Struggles, Ray Whitney & Fleischmann To The Kings?

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 Hexy could offer was Dwight King.  In Dwight's defense, he has played his game but most fans can agree his game is best suited to play in the bottom-six.  In six games, he's averaging slightly under 12 minutes a game while registering zero points and three shots on goal.  I wouldn't be surprised if we see John Zeiler up on the Kings first-line tomorrow night.

The Kings need to look outside the system for help.

RAY WHITNEY RANT
Remember when the Kings almost traded for Ray Whitney at last year's deadline?  Remember when Whitney was a free-agent?  Remember when Phoenix signed Whitney to a 2-year deal worth $6 million while the Kings were still trying to court some Russian dude?  I'm not a huge Whitney fan but he can still play and would have looked great setting up Kopitar.  'The Wizard' has 16 points in 20 games and seven points on the power play.  Yeah.  He could have helped.

'Flash' To The Kings?  Kings Marketing Staff Has Been Waiting Ever Since 'Felix The Cat' Left

TOMAS FLEISCHMANN RUMOR?
Dmitry Chesnokov is a PuckDaddy blogger based out of D.C. and is one of the most well-connected Russian hockey sources out there.  He set HFBoards ablaze with this series of tweets Sunday afternoon.  Per DChesnokov's twitter.

A trade may be in the works very soon involving #Caps.  Trying to confirm right now (trade info).  Rumor has it a forward for a def. But I haven't got a confirmation yet.  It may as well involve a forward who was a healthy scratch last game.

Now if Eklund or Hockeybuzzbarry sends this vague series of tweets to the masses; most fans disregard it as garbage.  But Chesnokov is a pretty trusted source on all things Caps.  Chesnokov's four tweets led to a 14-page thread, 350 post responses and counting.  Pretty impressive.  Most fans have come to the  conclusion that the Caps player most likely being discussed is 26-year old underachieving left wing Tomas Fleischmann.  I prayed to the Twitter gods that L.A. was in on him.

HFBoards is blowing up over possible #Caps trade. Hopefully it's Fleischmann to the #LAKings. Would look nice on 1st line.

And the Twitter gods responded with a barrage of tweets Monday morning regarding a possible Caps-Kings deal.  I have zero insider information; that's why my site is called LA Kings Outsider.  Late Sunday evening, a Canucks beat writer releases this article and a series of tweets regarding a possible Fleischmann for Bieksa rumor that had surfaced.

Latest twist in Fleischmann rumours has the Caps forward headed to the Kings, not Canucks. Stayed tuned. He's obviously going somewhere.

Am I the source?  I've got no idea.  I discussed a hypothetical Schenn for Iginla deal a couple weeks before it was shot down by TSN's Bob McKenzie.  And now this latest doozey.  With a twitter account, Capgeek.com's revamped Trade Machine, and some creative thinking...you too can spin the rumor mill with the likes of Eklund and Hockeybuzzbarry!

I'll drop my full scouting report on 'Flash' when he's officially ours.  Cliffnotes: He immediately becomes our top-skilled winger.  But who knows.  Maybe the Kings are talking to Washington about Alex Semin.  Or his Russian comrade...Alex Ovechkin.  I hope I didn't just start an Ovechkin to L.A. rumor.  I need to stop this!