LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

Mike Richards Is A KING?!?! Yeah...I'll Drink To That Remember when it was rumored that the Kings might be after Vinny Lecavalier back in February 2010 ?  I said this. Take a look at recent Stanley Cup Winners.  In addition to great goaltending; every team's had a great 1A/1B center combination.  Penguins with Crosby/Malkin, Red Wings with Datsyuk/Zetterberg, Hurricanes with Brind'Amour/Staal, Lightning with Lecavalier/Richards. As much as I love Jarret Stoll; he's not in the same-class as any of those players.  Some would argue that Brayden Schenn could be that player but I'm not sure the Kings are prepared to wait 3-4 years to find out.  And then remember when the Kings were struggling in January this season and I said this .  DL will wait for a full season of Brayden Schenn before he even considers making a move for an impact player.  Schenn will play next season as a 20-year old.  A lot of ‘experts’ compare Schenn to Philadel...

What A Game I don’t blame you if you don’t care much about the IIHF U-20 World Junior Championships.  Canada is the only country keeping this tournament going.  With that said, you owe it to yourself as a hockey fan to watch the Gold Medal Game between Canada and Russia.  And read this article .   The Kings had three players at this year’s tournament: Brayden Schenn, Derek Forbort, and Maxim Kitsyn.  Check out Dean Lombardi's comments on the kids .  I’m no scout but here’s my impressions of the three Kings prospects and how they fared at this year's WJC. BRAYDEN SCHENN (Canada) 5th Overall, 2009 The pressure was on Schenn to lead Canada this year.  One of only four returnees from last year’s squad (and the only returning forward); Canada relied heavily on the 19-year old to carry the offense.  He responded with one of the most dominating performances in WJC history; recording 18 points (8 G, 10 A) in the tournament, tying Canada’s all-ti...

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...

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.

"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...

Anze Kopitar Is Among The Best Centers In The NHL The Kings have a franchise center in Anze Kopitar.  Michal Handzus is the ideal checking line center.  And Brad Richardson is the high-energy type that slots perfectly in the bottom-six.  The Kings have a huge gap to fill at the center position on the second-line.  Jarret Stoll has been far too inconsistent for him to be the #2 center on a Kings team that many think are on the brink of being in serious contention for a Cup run.  With that said, prospects like Brayden Schenn and Andrei Loktionov both made their NHL-debuts this season and could be NHL-regulars as early as 2010-11.  Read the profiles after the jump...