LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

Michal Handzus 2010-11 Stats: 82 GP, 12 G, 18 A, 30 PTS, -5, 10 PPP, 20 PIM   UFA this summer Zeus is serious.  And experienced.  And this is undisputed .  Zeus may be one of the most overpaid players in the league at $4-million a season but he's been invaluable to the Kings over the past three seasons (he was pretty dreadful in his first year year).  About as reliable as your 1991 Honda Civic, Zeus has only missed ONE game during his four seasons in Los Angeles.  Considering the Kings history with signing oft-injured free-agent forwards, Zeus has been a huge success. His ability to play up or down in the lineup and in all situations makes him extremely valuable.  Zeus didn an admirable job filling in for Kopitar down the stretch and in the playoffs.  He led all Kings in PK ice-time during the regular season with 2:24 which jumped up to 3:33 in the postseason.  His 10 points on the man-advantage ranked 6th amongst Kings forwards during...

Rob Scuderi 2010-11 Stats: 82 GP, 2 G, 13 A, 15 PTS, +1, 0 PPP, 16 PIM   Signed thru 2012-13; $3.4 million   What a year for Rob Scuderi.  He set a career-high in goals with...two.  All kidding aside, Scuderi had himself a solid second year in L.A.  Scuds and JJ were the only two Kings defenseman to appear in all 82 games this season.  Here's what I wrote about Scuds in the 2009-10 season review... Scuds is an interesting one; $3.4 million for 0 goals and 11 assists sounds crazy but that’s the price the market dictated last July.  Scuds was as-advertised.  A solid stay-at-home defenseman.  Nothing more. Nothing Less.  He's just a hard-working minutes cruncher that won’t put your team in danger. In a nutshell, that pretty much sums up Scuderi's 2010-11 season also.  He doesn't do anything flashy but plays a simple game based on positioning that makes him invaluable to the Kings.  Adding Mitchell to the fold helped t...

Willie Mitchell 2010-11 Stats: 57 GP, 5 G, 5 A, 10 PTS, +4, 0 PPP, 21 PIM Signed thru 2011-12; $3.5 million Leave it to Dean Lombardi and the Kings to sign a player who missed the last 34 regular season games and all 12 playoff games of the 2009-10 season because of a concussion to a two-year contract.  The pessimist that lives in all Kings fans thought this signing could easily follow in the footsteps of such blockbuster flops as Valeri Bure and Alyn McCauley.  The Kings may have been the only team to offer Willie Mitchell a two-year contract and I don't think DL could be any happier with how his big free-agent acquisition worked out this past season. I loved Willie Mitchell's game but had some reservations about his health going into training camp .  After watching a full-season of Willie, I'm convinced that Mitchell is indeed a 33-year old version of Sean O'Donnell.  He brings nearly all the same tools: leadership, grit, toughness, and an inability to handle t...

Jack Johnson 2010-11 Stats: 82 GP, 5 G, 37 A, 42 PTS, -21, 28 PPP, 44 PIM   Signed through 2017-18; $4.35 million On the surface, Jack Johnson had himself a career year.  He appeared in all 82 games for the first time.  His 42 points were a career-high.  His 28 points on the man-advantage put him in the top-5 among blueliners.  But just a little bit of digging and you realize that Jack Johnson was absolutely brutal this year.  Fans calling Drew Doughty the biggest disappointment of the season are letting JJ off the hook way too easy.  JJ recorded a career low and team worst +/- rating of -21 following seasons of: -19, -18, -15.  Among Kings blueliners Rob Scuderi had the next worst +/- rating +1.  Only SIX NHL defenseman out of the 303 that qualified had a worse +/- and three of those defenseman were from the Ottawa Senators . Now, for those fans that don't believe in the +/- statistic; let's take a look at JJ's CORSI # of -2.39 and a REL ...

Peter Harrold 2010-11 Stats: 19 GP, 1 G, 3 A, 4 PTS, +3, 0 PPP, 4 PIM Unrestricted Free Agent There were only a few guarantees from the Kings in the new calendar year: If the Kings went to a shootout; they were going to win.  If the Kings scored first; they'd give up a goal within the next three minutes.  And Peter Harrold was probably going to be a healthy scratch.  By no fault of his own; Harrold just couldn't crack TM's lineup whether it be as 6th defenseman or the 4th line right-wing.  He ended up being the Kings utility player all season long. Stats obviously don't tell the whole story but if you're a stat geek and know what CORSI is .  Peter Harrold led all Kings defenseman with a Relative CORSI number of 14.2 .  Now obviously, Harrold's sample size is smaller than any other Kings blueliner this season and his numbers could be skewed a bit by his time as a Kings 4th line winger but he did still appear in 19 games.  Much like Drewiske, Harrold...

Matt Greene 2010-11 Stats: 71 GP, 2 G, 9 A, 11 PTS, +3, 0 PPP, 70 PIM   Signed through 2012-13; $2.95M I love Matt Greene.  One of the only Kings that plays a truly physical game.  He's well aware of his responsibilities on the ice: play physical, play strong defensively, and protect teammates.  He knows his game well and is aware of his limitations and makes the most of his skill set.  He's not the best skater but makes up for it with sound positioning.  The arrival of veterans Rob Scuderi and Willie Mitchell have helped Greene more than anything.  When he arrived in L.A., Greene played nearly 20 minutes a night but over the past two seasons, his time-on-ice has dropped to 17:29 (2009-10) to 16:59 (2010-11).  The decrease in ice-time has actually helped Greener's effectiveness on most nights not always having to face a team's top-line or power play unit.  Always among the NHL's hit leaders; Greene laid out 243 hits on the season.   ...

Davis Drewiske   2010-11 Stats: 38 GP, 0 G, 5 A, 5 PTS, -1, 0 PPP, 18 PIM   Signed through 2012-13; $616,667 Davis Drewiske's 2011 season went much the same way his 2010 season did.  Drewiske appeared in 36 of the first 38 games last season  then suffered an upper-body injury in January and failed to claim his spot in the top-6 back; only appearing in two games for the rest of the season.  In 2011, Drewiske played in 33 of the first 37 games of the season but only appeared in 5 games for the rest of the season and was a healthy scratch for the last two months.  He had an opportunity to fill-in for Willie Mitchell but was passed on the depth chart by the emerging Alec Martinez.   Drewiske's role on the blueline is a bit undefined and in a sense he is the perfect 'extra' d-man to have on a roster.  The Kings have three defined puck-moving defenseman: Doughty, Johnson, and Martinez.  Those puck-movers are each paired with a stay-at-home ...

Drew Doughty 2010-11 Stats: 76 GP, 11 G, 29 A, 40 PTS, +13, 15 PPP, 68 PIM RFA this Summer Plain & Simple: Drew Doughty letdown this year.  Following a breakout campaign last season that included a 59 point regular season, Olympic Gold medal, and Norris Trophy nomination; expectations couldn't have been any higher for the 21-year old.  After his sluggish start, his work ethic and off-season conditioning were called into question.  The explosiveness and puck control that drew comparisons to Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey last season seemed to abandon Doughty at times. His production was down across the board.  He put up 40 points following a 59-point campaign last season.  Whether Doughty's struggles were indicative of the power play's struggles or vice versa; his numbers were cut in half.  From 31 points (9G, 22A) on the man-advantage to just 15 points (5G,10A) this season.

Jonathan Quick Is A #1 Whether You Like It Or Not  About a year ago to the day, I wrote the following in my 2009-10 Season Review: Goaltending post . The Kings may start out with a Nashville-type split in goal to start next season but it’ll be Bernier’s net by the All-Star break.   So that didn't quite happen.  Jonathan Quick proved that last year was no fluke.  Jonathan Bernier finally stepped into the NHL full-time as Quick's backup.  The tandem provided the most solid goaltending the franchise has seen in decades.  They combined for another 46 wins, .914 SV % (10th), 2.39 GAA (6th), and 9 shutouts on the season.   JONATHAN QUICK 2010-11 Stats: 61 GP, 35 Wins, 2.24 GAA, .918 SV%, 6 Shutouts Signed thru 2012-13; $1.8M Whether it was the embarrassment of his performance down the stretch and in the first round against Vancouver last season or the footsteps of Jonathan Bernier behind him; Jonathan Quick arrived to training camp on a mission....