LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

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....

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.

This will be the first-installment of my Season In Review.  My thoughts on each player's 2009-10 season and what to expect in 2010-11 from them.  I've also included my Fantasy Projections for fun .  In honor of Dean Lombardi; we'll start from the net out.  The Kings goaltending this year was great at times and terrible at others. And when I say Kings goaltending; I really mean Jonathan Quick. Terry Murray admitted to possibly playing Quick too much to secure a high-seed in the playoffs. That decision hurt the Kings more than it helped them down the stretch and ultimately cost them in the playoffs.   Read the rest after the jump...

Far Too Much Of This From Quicker Kings players along with the coaching staff were available to the media Tuesday and Hammer got some great quotes from head coach Terry Murray on the series, the season and everything else . I thought his most telling remarks were regarding the goaltending situation . “Maybe (I) played (Quick) a little too much down the last month. But at that point, I had already made a commitment to him, and maybe had backed away, a little too far, from Ersberg being able to jump in and get some rhythm to his game and give us those solid games that would have spelled relief for Quick. And I thought about that, long before we got to the end of the year." MAYBE you played Quick too much?  MAYBE you backed too far away from Ersberg?  The season's over now.  Let's be real here.  Stats don't lie.  Read my take after the jump...

Lubo Got A Bit Of Revenge Thursday Night The Kings needed the two points.  The Oilers didn't want the points; they're already looking forward to June's Draft.   Yet it was the Kings who slept walked through the first two periods and a half before deciding to play. Don't blame Erik Ersberg for that loss.  There's a reason that last night was only his sixth start of the season. The Kings went 0-for-6 on the power play.  The Kings PP was painful to watch tonight.  No movement away from the puck equals little success on the man-advantage. The last five minutes was by far the most entertaining.  The span included Deslaurier's attempt at beheading Doughty and then a spectacular glove save by Ersberg on O'Sullivan's breakaway. Kings made history again in a shootout that lasted ten rounds.  Watching the replay with my roommate (a non-hockey fan) even recognized the fact that Oilers netminder Jeff Deslauriers used the poke-check nearly every single t...