LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

Doughty could win or lose this series for the Kings. Most Kings fans would immediately give the advantage to Los Angeles here.  The Kings allowed 2.07 goals per game, 2 nd best in the league but Vancouver wasn’t far behind allowing 2.22 goals, 5 th best. Both teams  showcase two of the brightest young blueliners in the NHL.  The Kings are led by 22-year old Drew Doughty, who burst onto the scene as one of Canada's best defenseman in the 2010 Olympics.  The past two seasons have been filled with inconsistencies and a contract dispute but make no mistake he's still been the Kings most valuable blueliner.  With the departure of Christian Ehrhoff to Buffalo via free agency, 25-year-old Swede Alexander Edler made sure the Canucks didn’t miss a beat and had by far the most productive season of his young career. The Kings and Canucks bluelines are built differently.  The Kings have three puck-moving defenseman featuring Doughty, Slava Voynov, and Alec Mart...

The $56-million man?!?! Terry Murray (6-3-2, 2.36 GF/G, 1.91 GA/G, 22.5 PP%, 86.1 PK%) Grade: C I only grade TM because I hated his decision to start Bernier vs. New Jersey.  I heard his explanation and still disagree.  I understand that he wanted Quick against the two division rivals but Quick and the Kings were on an absolute roll.  I’m a big believer in momentum and without a doubt the Kings had it.  The Kings played their worst game of the season in front of Bernier and got shutout by New Jersey. Jonathan Quick (6-1-2, 1.52 GAA, .947 SV%, 3 SO) Grade: A Quick has been outstanding for the Kings in the first month of the season.  Three consecutive shutouts earned him a Player of The Week honor already.  But don’t get too excited yet because Quick started off hot last October (7-1-0, 1.84 GAA, .936) only to never reach those numbers again for the rest of the season.  Jonathan Bernier (0-2-0, 3.55 GAA, .857 SV%, 0 SO) Grade: C I thought ...

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...

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...

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 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...