LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

Terry Murray Apparently Shows More Emotion During Press Conferences The Kings have 84 points and are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.  Alot of credit should go to Terry Murray and the coaching staff for staying the course with a defensive-first system and believing in this roster.  With that said, his criticism of the fans after Thursday night's listless effort is ridiculous and completely out of line. As proud as I was of Terry Murray for showing some emotion after the Kings controversial loss to Vancouver at the beginning of March ; I'm equally disappointed with his criticism of the fans.  Coach had this to say on Thursday. “You know what the most disappointing, frustrating thing was? At the end of the second period, we were booed off the ice by our fans. That is the most embarrassing thing I have ever been through. That’s the worst I’ve ever been through, in all the years I’ve been coaching. I’ve been behind the bench almost 3,000 hockey games in the NHL, and bo...

Don't Pay Any Attention To Those Two On The Right; Dustin Penner Is A Stanley Cup Champion I woke up this morning to the news that the Kings resigned Justin Williams to a four-year extension.  Then an hour later my friend texts me: "Four more years of Williams?" My response: "Two years too long." Behind Kopitar, Justin Williams is our second-most skilled player.  This probably speaks more to the lack of offensive creativity of our forward core than the skill of Williams.  Regardless a four year deal worth $14.6 million with a manageable cap-hit of $3.65M makes sense for both parties. DL has to be praying to the hockey gods that Williams injuries are well behind him.  After playing in only 130 games over the past three seasons; Williams has appeared in all 62 games this season.  He's second on the team in scoring with 49 points and tied for the team-lead with 20 goals. It has to be a good day for Williams considering all that's been through ove...

I've ordered my Hemsky jersey...have you??? How quickly things change.  The last time I blogged the Kings had dropped 8 of 10 games and were dead last in the division.  Well, The Kings not only survived the record road trip that was supposed to kill their playoff hopes but they earned 15 out of a possible 20 points on the road trip. A flurry of moves have been made over the past couple of weeks leading up to the deadline.  The Western Conference is loading up on talent and it may be time for the Kings to respond... Before you start asking: "Where's Brad Richards?" "Where's Marian Gaborik?!" "Where's David Booth?!?!"  Please read my qualifications for making it onto this exclusive shopping list. I used Sportsclubstats.com to distinguish which teams are selling.  Any team with less than a 30% chance of making the playoffs was considered a seller (Oilers, Senators, Devils, Islanders, Maple Leafs, Avalanche, Panthers, Thrashers, Blue...

Jonathan Quick Has Struggled In January I‘m with every other Kings fan that’s frustrated with this team’s inconsistent play this season.  I decided to look at some monthly splits; hoping that the stats would shed some light on why the Kings have looked so terrible.  Instead, I found something a little more interesting: the team’s statistics through 46 games this season fall right in line with last season’s averages. The Kings had some expectations going into this season.  The next Chicago Blackhawks was repeated more than once by the so-called 'experts.'  DL failed to acquire an impact forward.  Instead, he made a couple lateral moves/slight improvements looking for ‘the right fit.’  He replaced Frolov with Ponikarovsky.  O’Donnell with Mitchell.  And proclaimed that Scott Parse was the next Kris Versteeg.  Nothing ground-breaking. He put it on the ‘core’ group to improve and take their games to the next-level.  It looks like they...

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...