LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

Dean Lombardi was hired as General Manager of the Los Angeles Kings on April 21, 2006. Six years later, the Kings hosted the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.  The former GM of the Sharks certainly didn’t hit on every trade, draft pick, or free agent signing he made during his tenure in Los Angeles.  But after a few short years in Los Angeles; he brought a sense of direction and an identity that the franchise had severely lacked for over a decade.    The 2016-17 season was an absolute disappointment.  With that said, I never understood how a GM who brought the franchise such success didn’t get the chance to breakdown the team he constructed and rebuild it.  The Kings were only a year removed from a 102-point season when Lombardi was relieved of his GM duties.  LOMBARDI 2.0?  I was surprised when the Kings promoted Rob Blake as general manager.  After all, he was hired as assistant GM by Lombardi for the 2013-14 season....

The Seattle Kraken were introduced as the NHL’s 32 nd franchise two weeks ago.  Normally teams will drag out their branding introduction; dropping little bits of information for fans to consume during the off-season summer months.  Props to Seattle for giving it to us all at once.  Team name, logos, and jerseys were the talk of the NHL and for good reason.  I think the Kraken will have some of the best-looking logos and jerseys in the league.  But how do they stack up against other team’s inaugural season launches of the last 25 years? I included re-located franchises but omitted the Anaheim Ducks and Arizona Coyotes re-brands.  So here’s the 12 franchises I looked at based on Logo and Jerseys. 1993-94: Florida Panthers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 1995-96: Colorado Avalanche 1996-97: Phoenix Coyotes 1997-98: Carolina Hurricanes 1998-99: Nashville Predators 1999-00: Atlanta Thrashers 2000-01: Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild 201...

Clearly, I’m a Jarome Iginla fanboy and I’ll share the reason why.  I was at an Anaheim Angels game back in 1998.  In line for concessions, 12-year-old me is contemplating nachos or Red Vines.  As I’m deep in thought, Jarome Iginla just paid for two ice creams and is walking right past me in line back to his seats.  I can’t believe it!   As he walked by, all I could blurt out is, “Are you Jarome Iginla???”  He smiled and seemed pretty surprised that anyone recognized him at a baseball game (The Flames were in town to play the Ducks in a preseason game the following night).  I asked if I could get his autograph; he said of course and I went running to the nearest usher for a pen.  When I handed him the pen and ticket stub; he handed me his ice creams to hold.  It was a pretty surreal moment to be getting an autograph of one of your hockey heroes.   He personalized the autograph AND spelled my name right???   It was lon...

The last stop of Jarome Iginla’s illustrious Hall of Fame career in Los Angeles was brief.  When GM Dean Lombardi acquired the 39-year-old Iginla towards the end of the 2016-17 season; it was clear that his best days were behind him.  The Kings were in desperate need of an offensive spark trying to claw their way into the 8th seed.  Iggy registered a respectable six goals and three assists in his 19 games with the Kings.  The romantic in me of course wanted a Ray Bourque-esque ending with Iggy receiving the Cup handoff from newly appointed Captain Anze Kopitar.   Unfortunately, the Kings failed to make the postseason.  The Kings gold anniversary was a complete letdown and the Kings were mathematically eliminated with four games remaining in the regular season.   I always thought keeping Iggy one more season in a mentor role could have done some players on that roster some good (Oh!  Hey there Tyler!).   It’...

After an eight-year hiatus the LA Kings Outsider is back!  I'm still living in the glory of the 2012 & 2014 Stanley Cup winners.  The core of Brown-Kopitar-Quick-Doughty could go the rest of their careers without winning another playoff series and I would be completely satisfied. COVID-19 is changing our world forever.  Who knows the next time we'll be allowed back into Staples Center.  Who knows if the NHL's plan to resume the 2019-20 season will even get the go ahead.  There's so much uncertainty for the foreseeable future. I was at the Kings v. Avalanche game on Monday, March 9th.  My friend and I were aware of the possible threat but neither of us had any idea the severity of the situation.  I remember constantly washing my hands and heading for the hand sanitizer stations that were positioned all around the concourse every chance I got.  I remember being hesitant to high-five the strangers in front of me who turned around and faced us wit...

Jonathan Quick is the best goaltender in this series. The Western Conference will feature the two hottest goaltenders in the playoffs: Jonathan Quick for Los Angeles and Mike Smith for Phoenix. Quick’s postseason #’s: 8-1, 1.55 GAA, .949 SV%. Smith’s #’s: 8-3, 1.77 GAA, .948 SV%. Their nearly identical SV%’s are the highest of any goaltenders still in the postseason. Their head-to-head numbers during the regular season are nearly identical as well. Quick was 3-1-2 with a 1.79 GAA and .932 SV% with two shutouts in six starts. In five starts, Smith was 3-1-1 with a 1.76 GAA and .938 SV% with one shutout. Quick is a first-time Vezina Trophy nominee coming off his third 35+ win season. To contrast, Mike Smith was on waivers last season and went unclaimed. Credit his reclamation to reuniting with Dave Tippett, his former head coach in Dallas, and his system? Credit to working with Los Angeles Kings Legend/Coyotes Goalie Coach Sean Burke? Mike Smith has been great this sea...

The Kings and Blues are the same team.  Terrific defensively.  Struggle offensively.  Fantastic goaltending.  Mid-season coaching changes that turned their seasons around.  Rosters built through the draft.  The comparisons can go on forever.  So here are three reasons to be worried and three reasons to be confident going into tonight... REASONS TO BE WORRIED... 1.   JEFF CARTER .  After his epic pass of the skate to Dustin Penner on the Kings game-winning goal, Carter disappeared of the scoresheet. It’s easy to speculate that his ankle is still bothering him. Hopefully, the week off helped his rehab along a bit more because the Kings will need Carter to contribute in the goal column vs. St. Louis. 2.   GIVEAWAYS . Obviously the statistic varies from arena to arena but the Kings had 58 giveaways to 36 takeaways. There were times in the series where the defense was unable to clear the zone that lead to scoring opportunities for Va...

Los Angeles: Upset City? Despite the Canucks capturing their second consecutive President’s Trophy; they play in the worst division in the NHL.  The Northwest Division is the only division in hockey featuring one playoff team.  With Daniel Sedin unlikely to play Game 1, the Canucks potent offense doesn’t look nearly as impressive.  Canucks fans will turn to the final nine games of the season in which Vancouver went 8-1 without Daniel to prove that they’ve got enough depth.  I’d argue that eight of those nine games came against non-playoff opponents.  The only playoff opponent? A 1-0 victory over Los Angeles where Luongo stood on his head and stopped 40 shots. Make no mistake about it: the Kings offense has struggled to score all season long up until the last month of the season.  The Kings believe they have a real shot to upset Vancouver.  And they should be confident that they’ve got a chance to take down the top team in the regular season. The K...

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 Kings can score now. Each team relies on their top-line to lead the way offensively.  The line of Kopitar-Brown-Williams were the Kings' top three point producers this season.  Vancouver's top line of the Sedins and Burrows also led the way for the Canucks.  Both lines have produced at a similar pace this season.  L.A.'s top trio has combined for 69 goals while Vancouver's has combined for 72 goals.  Both lines led their respective teams during their four regular season matchups this season.  For Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar (goal, 3 assists) and Justin Williams (2 goals, 1 assist) led the way.  Vancouver was led by the NHL’s favorite Swedish twins, Daniel (goal, 3 assists) and Henrik Sedin (2 assists).  The Kings offensive struggles have been well-documented.  They were shutout a league-high 10 times this season.  With that said, the Kings have only been shutout once since the acquisition of Jeff Carter (vs. Vancouver 1-0).  ...

Jonathan Quick: Vezina Worthy The Kings choked again!  Ryan Clowe stole the Pacific Division from us!  Jonathan Quick can’t win the big game!  Forget all that… On March 1 st , the Kings were sitting in 10 th place with a 29-23-12 record after winning only five of fourteen games in the month of February but after the acquisition of Jeff Carter; Los Angeles has gone 13-5-3. The Canucks, winners of back-to-back Presidents’ Trophy are looking to make back-to-back Stanley Cup appearances after falling to Boston in the Finals a year ago.  Much has been made of their regular season success in recent years but Vancouver is still in search of that elusive first Stanley Cup. This teams split four regular season games by a total of one goal.  Two games were decided by a goal and another by a shootout .  Goaltending in the series will be huge. GOALTENDING Both Jonathan and Quick and Roberto Luongo have had Vezina-worthy campaigns.  Quick’s numbers have ...

"Reunited & It Feels So Good.." It’s no secret.  The Los Angeles Kings are floundering.  The Kings have won only two of their last ten.  The entire roster has struggled to score goals, averaging only 2.05 goals per game, dead last in the NHL. The Kings averaged 2.55 goals last season (25 th in the league).  Dean Lombardi did his best to bolster their anemic offense in the offseason.  Unfortunately, the results this season have been mixed at best. Fans were ecstatic when Dean Lombardi acquired Mike Richards prior to the Draft.  He was fantastic during the first two months of the season posting 20 points in 24 games.  Unfortunately, Richards has only 11 points in 29 games since suffering a concussion in early December.  PASS. Perfect, DL got a #1A center to compliment Kopitar.  Only box that needed to be checked was a top-line left wing… Dustin Penner.  His late-season struggles followed him into this season.  He’s got fi...