Saturday practice notes
Not too much came out of today's practice. Rob Blake's equipment remained in his locker stall, so he won't play Sunday at San Jose and I'd have to consider him doubtful for Tuesday as well. Blake has a neck strain. With only four games left, there's no sense in pushing it, but it's disappointing in the sense that the Kings would like to get a look at the Blake-Jack Johnson pairing and get the two of them comfortable with each other.
I got an e-mail asking about Joe Piskula and why he didn't play the other night. There's nothing wrong with him, but just remember that Johnson was making his NHL debut. It would be a little rough to have two defensemen in the lineup who were college kids mere weeks ago. That doesn't mean we won't see them both in the lineup together, especially since Johnson fared well in his debut and Blake is still out.
The chatter coming off the ice today was about the job the defensemen did on the forwards. In particular, Aaron Miller and Jamie Heward drew praise for their work.
Spent some time talking to Mathieu Garon about his future and I'll have some of that up later. For now, here are some articles about three Kings prospects that might be of interest. There's been a lot of talk about Scott Parse recently, and in the Omaha World-Herald he discusses his future.
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About the bloggers
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews.com.
Oh man I was hoping to see Blake and Johnson play together
The season is over already... play Piskula and Johnson... I'd love to see Harrold back up here. These are three guys that are our future and need the time.
Havent seen Heward enough to comment but I hope Miller wants to stay in LA enough to give us a "hometown" discount. I would love to see him back to tutor guys our young D. He proved that his injuries are behind him and he can still play quality defense. IF we can get him cheap for 2 years, I say go for it.