OK, here's the last part of the question-and-answer session. Once again, major thanks to Jim for volunteering his time to give me an outstanding feature on the blog. One of the best parts of hanging out in El Segundo is getting to chat with Jim, get his insights and trade opinions with him. I hope everyone enjoyed the special ``open forum.''

Here's the second-to-last group of answers from Jim...

The Kings have signed forward David Meckler to a standard three-year, entry-level contract. Meckler got strong reviews at the development camp. A 21-year-old Illinois native, Meckler had 23 goals and 13 assists in 76 games for Manchester last season.

The next set of answers from Jim...

Now that the coaching news has died down, we can resume the Jim Fox questions and answers. Looking at some of the questions, I think maybe it's time to have a semi-regular Jim Fox wine column on the site! And I'm particularly happy to see a mention of the L.A. Blades, as I still have one of their jerseys in my closet. Here's the next set of Jim's answers...

Major thanks again to Don for compiling this. He has included the press-conference quotes from Dean Lombardi and Terry Murray as well as quotes from a one-on-one interview with Murray...

Don Fulton went out to the Terry Murray news conference today and filed this great report. He's working on more of the transcript of the day and we'll have those quotes up later in the day. Thanks, Don...

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Hoping to have secured a vital component of its rebuilding plan, the Los Angeles Kings today named Terry Murray as their head coach - the 22nd in team history - at a news conference at the team's practice facility in El Segundo.

Murray, who turns 58 on Sunday, succeeds Marc Crawford, who was fired June 10, and has ties to Kings' general manager Dean Lombardi, as the two worked together in the Philadelphia Flyers organization from 2002 to 2006.

"We are very pleased that Terry has accepted this challenge," Lombardi said. "He has a wide range of coaching experience and he understands the importance of teaching, which is critical to the building process."

Murray takes over a team that tied Tampa Bay with a league low 71 points last season, a task that is not lost on his general manager.

"I think this is the toughest job in the National Hockey League right now," Lombardi said.

For his part, Murray seems excited about the prospects of having such a young group of players to send out to battle each night.

"I'm coming in to this with my eyes wide open. I know exactly what the process is, to move this along and to get this organization back on track. We have some very good young hockey players in this organization, and we're going to get younger and we are going to bring along those young players at the right time and develop them in the right process so that they can feel success in this NHL," he said.

In the press release announcing his hiring, Terry Murray said...

"I am very excited about this opportunity. This will be my biggest challenge as a coach. There is a lot of work ahead and it will take a collective effort to execute the plan we have in place. I am looking forward to training camp and to getting the process under way."

I'm expecting to have the full transcript of today's press conference later...

And now, the third part of the Jim Fox question-and-answer session...

The second part of the Jim Fox answers follows...

Here's the first part of Jim Fox's answers. Once again, Jim has done a fantastic job of answering your questions with insight and honesty, and I'm working to get all of his answers up as soon as possible. Here's the first set...

Here's the Kings' 2008-09 schedule...

Just wanted everyone to know that Don Fulton will be at the press conference today for a full report on the hiring of Terry Murray.

Also, I got some loose, general information last night about Patrick O'Sullivan, and why a contract hasn't gotten done yet. Seems as though it's part of the bigger struggle between teams and agents/players regarding the value of younger players. Teams want long-term deals and agents want short-term deals, since salaries keep rising every year. It didn't sound as though a lot of progress was being made, but it's still only mid-July.

Terry Murray will be introduced as the Kings' head coach tomorrow at 1 p.m. in El Segundo. He signed a three-year contract. Murray will be allowed to pick his assistant coaches but Nelson Emerson, Jamie Kompon and Bill Ranford are expected to return.

Erik Ersberg signed a two-way contract worth $700,000 if he makes the NHL roster.

From the Kings...

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Kings will open their 2008-09 regular season home schedule at STAPLES Center on Sunday, October 12, against the San Jose Sharks at 6 p.m., the Kings and the NHL announced today.

In addition to the Kings-Sharks home game on October 12, the Kings/NHL today announced each club's 2008-09 "at large" games against non-conference opponents: The Kings will play a "home-and-home series" as follows: The Kings host Washington on November 20 and visit Washington on February 5; the Kings host New Jersey on January 10 and visit New Jersey on February 7; and the Kings host Philadelphia on January 3 and visit Philadelphia on February 25.

The complete 2008-09 Kings/NHL schedule is to be released tomorrow, Thursday. The club's first on-ice training camp session date is Saturday, September 20, at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo.

The Kings have signed restricted free agents Erik Ersberg, Gabe Gauthier, Matt Moulson and Joe Piskula to contracts for next season. I'll try to get the terms and money for these deals, particularly Ersberg, since he was headed for arbitration. I'd have to guess Ersberg agreed to a two-year contract, but that's just a guess.

UPDATE: Gauthier signed a two-year contract. Ersberg, Moulson and Piskula signed one-year contracts.

No announcement of a Terry Murray hiring yet. I'm doing my best to stay on top of updates here, and for about 23 hours a day, I'm blissfully ignorant of goofy Internet rumors.

Only the final details stand between the Kings officially hiring Terry Murray. An announcement could come as soon as tomorrow. So that raises the question, ``why Terry Murray?'' He fits two of Dean Lombardi's two qualifications. He's a defenseman, and Lombardi understands the importance of developing the Kings' young defensemen, particularly next season, when there could be a handful of kids on the blue line. He's also familiar to Lombardi, since they were employed by the Flyers at the same time. As a bonus, Murray has won. He showed a sustained ability to get his team to the playoffs and took one, the 1996-97 Flyers, to the Stanley Cup Finals.

On the other hand... there seems to be some surprise that the Kings would hire a coach who has been fired three times, and an older coach. Murray turns 58 on Sunday. That certainly doesn't disqualify him from mentoring younger players, but the thought seemed to be that Lombardi would look toward a coach who had recent experience coaching young players, maybe even a coach without NHL head coaching experience.

One popular name that came up in a few e-mails and comments was Dale Hunter. The Kings did not interview him.

So what does everyone think of Terry Murray?

A source close to the situation just indicated that the Kings are in ``final stages'' of negotiations with Terry Murray. Murray is supposed to meet with ownership today. I would estimate that an announcement will be made tomorrow.

Dean Lombardi's statement: ``We are aware of some media reports as it relates to Terry Murray and our head coaching vacancy. At this time, no agreement is in place with him. However, we have met with Terry on more than one occasion and we consider him to be a strong candidate for this position. We will have no further comment at this time.''

Translation: We'll be preparing the room for the press conference shortly.