LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

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 ...

Top-10 Player in the NHL? Anze Kopitar (6 G, 8 A, 14 PTS, +2, 0 PIM) Grade: A Lady Byng? Selke? Hart?  The sky is the limit for Kopitar.  No one has benefited more from Mike Richards than Kopi.  Like Jim Fox enjoys pointing out every game, Kopi is looking to shoot from all over the ice more than he ever has in his career.  He’s playing like a true #1 center.  He’s leading the Kings forwards in PP, PK, ES, and overall ice-time right now.  His faceoff % is up too.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Gagne and Williams will stay relatively healthy all year, if so, Kopi should set career-high’s across the board.  The only thing holding him back from a perfect score from me is the blatant turnover he had against NJ at home that led directly to a goal.  Can’t get that one out of my head. Trevor Lewis (0 G, 0 A, 0 PTS, +0, 2 PIM) Grade: B I really like what I’ve seen from Lewis this season especially on the penalty kill.  He’s ...

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 ...

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 s...