LA KINGS OUTSIDER 2.0

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 ...

Jonathan Quick Is A #1 Whether You Like It Or Not  About a year ago to the day, I wrote the following in my 2009-10 Season Review: Goaltending post . The Kings may start out with a Nashville-type split in goal to start next season but it’ll be Bernier’s net by the All-Star break.   So that didn't quite happen.  Jonathan Quick proved that last year was no fluke.  Jonathan Bernier finally stepped into the NHL full-time as Quick's backup.  The tandem provided the most solid goaltending the franchise has seen in decades.  They combined for another 46 wins, .914 SV % (10th), 2.39 GAA (6th), and 9 shutouts on the season.   JONATHAN QUICK 2010-11 Stats: 61 GP, 35 Wins, 2.24 GAA, .918 SV%, 6 Shutouts Signed thru 2012-13; $1.8M Whether it was the embarrassment of his performance down the stretch and in the first round against Vancouver last season or the footsteps of Jonathan Bernier behind him; Jonathan Quick arrived to training camp on a mission....

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...

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...

This will be the first-installment of my Season In Review.  My thoughts on each player's 2009-10 season and what to expect in 2010-11 from them.  I've also included my Fantasy Projections for fun .  In honor of Dean Lombardi; we'll start from the net out.  The Kings goaltending this year was great at times and terrible at others. And when I say Kings goaltending; I really mean Jonathan Quick. Terry Murray admitted to possibly playing Quick too much to secure a high-seed in the playoffs. That decision hurt the Kings more than it helped them down the stretch and ultimately cost them in the playoffs.   Read the rest after the jump...

Far Too Much Of This From Quicker Kings players along with the coaching staff were available to the media Tuesday and Hammer got some great quotes from head coach Terry Murray on the series, the season and everything else . I thought his most telling remarks were regarding the goaltending situation . “Maybe (I) played (Quick) a little too much down the last month. But at that point, I had already made a commitment to him, and maybe had backed away, a little too far, from Ersberg being able to jump in and get some rhythm to his game and give us those solid games that would have spelled relief for Quick. And I thought about that, long before we got to the end of the year." MAYBE you played Quick too much?  MAYBE you backed too far away from Ersberg?  The season's over now.  Let's be real here.  Stats don't lie.  Read my take after the jump...