LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

Plan The Parade Now...Kings Are Winning The Cup With the season only a few hours away, here are my predictions for the 2011-12 season... EASTERN CONFERENCE 1. Pittsburgh Penguins (Atlantic, 1st): Malkin wins the Art Ross. 2. Washington Capitals (Southeast, 1st): Ovechkin scores 53 goals. 3. Boston Bruins (Northeast, 1st): Tuuka Rask is starting by January. 4. Tampa Bay Lightning (Southeast, 2nd): Roloson's wheels fall off. 5. Philadelph Flyers (Atlantic, 2nd): Giroux makes fans forget about Richards/Carter. 6. N.Y. Rangers (Atlantic, 3rd): Richards flops on Broadway. 7. Buffalo Sabres (Northeast, 2nd): Miller wins the Vezina. 8. New Jersey Devils (Atlantic, 4th): Kovalchuk scores 50 and Parise stays. 9. Montreal Canadiens (Northeast, 3rd) 10. Toronto Maple Leafs (Northeast, 4th) 11. Carolina Hurricanes (Southeast, 3rd) 12. Winnipeg Jets (Southeast, 4th) 13. New York Islanders (Atlantic, 5th) 14. Ottawa Senators (Northeast, 5th) 15. Florida Panthers (Southeast,

My #1 Whipping Boy For the 2011-12 Season If you haven't read it yet, check out The Royal Half's season preview .  A blogger roundtable of sorts on the upcoming season.  I submitted my answers to Chris Kontos about a month ago so I'm going to update a few of my answers regarding the team... Who will be the leading scorer for the Kings this season and why? Mike Richards.  I’m not convinced that Kopi is 100% recovered from his broken right ankle.  Richards is more than capable of putting together another 75-80 point campaign. Pairing Richards with Simon Gagne should be a no-brainer for TM and hopefully both players can regain their 2008-09 form, which saw them combine for 64 goals, 90 assists, a +42 rating and 58 points on the man-advantage.  UPDATE : After actually catching a couple exhibition games, I think Kopitar is fine and he will indeed lead the Kings in scoring.  Putting up career-high's across the board.  I'm thinking 90+ points this season. Who wi