More of the same today. For the most part I just got a look at the goalies, which was good since I didn’t get to see much of them yesterday. The four goalies in camp right now are…

Jonathan Bernier, last year’s first-round pick who had a successful year in juniors. Bernier is still recovering from a nasty high ankle sprain. He actually suffered it in the playoffs but played through it for a few weeks, so the Kings have been taking it a little easier on him this week.

Jeff Zatkoff, a third-round pick of the Kings last year who had a strong season at Miami (Ohio) University.

Linden Rowat, who just turned 18 a couple weeks ago and was drafted by the Kings in the fifth round last month. Rowat had a 2.87 goals-against average with Regina of the WHL last season.

Mike Ouzas, who is the unknown wild card. Mike Futa of the Kings worked with Ouzas in Owen Sound of the OHL in 2005-06. Ouzas is 21 and played four seasons of juniors. He’s an undrafted free agent who spent last season with the University of New Brunswick and had a 2.97 goals-against average. He’s not one of the “Rudys.” He’s a prospect brought in by the Kings to get a look.

It seems that most of the players skipped out while we were watching the goalies, but I was able to get Jonathan Bernier and Bill Ranford for interviews. I’ll try to get those up here shortly. Again, for those interested, there’s a full-squad practice today from 4-5 p.m. in El Segundo.

I can confirm that Scott Parse does indeed exist. The funny thing is, he still hasn’t actually signed a contract. It’s been agreed to, and he said he expects to sign it in the next couple days, but it’s somewhat fitting that after all this time, he still isn’t officially under contract.

Tukonen is an interesting guy, from the standpoint that he’s only 20 years old, but it seems as though he’s been around forever (at least to me, anyway).

Here’s the last of today’s interviews. I’ll try to grab a few more guys tomorrow…
Continue reading “Parse/Tukonen interviews” »

Here’s what Patrick O’Sullivan had to say. Keep in mind, I talked to him before I talked to Crawford, so I wasn’t able to bring up some of the conditioning issues that Marc brought up in reference to O’Sullivan…
Continue reading “O’Sullivan interview” »

Here’s the latest from Jack Johnson, who looked impressive this morning and who seems on track to defend his title as “hardest handshake on the Kings.”
Continue reading “Johnson interview” »

From a journalism standpoint, I hope Thomas Hickey, the Kings’ first-round pick last month, makes it big in the NHL. He’s incredibly bright and well-spoken and a very nice kid. And “kid” is the operative word when you see him on the ice. He looks small, but you have to remember that he’s 18 and skating next to guys such as Jack Johnson, who is two years older and had two years in a top NCAA program, and Brian Boyle, who is just an all-around monster.

Here’s the Hickey interview from this morning…
Continue reading “Hickey interview” »

I figured I’d get the Crawford interview out of the way first, since 1) he’s the coach and has a lot of pertinent things to say, and 2) it’s (by far) the longest interview and I wanted to get it out of the way…

Below, you’ll find Crawford talking about his hopes for the camp, his reflections on free agency, his view of the new additions and some of the Kings’ younger players and, everyone’s favorite topic, the goaltending.

So, here you go. I’ll work on getting some of the player interviews up later today…
Continue reading “Crawford interview” »

8 a.m. on a Sunday is really too early for hockey, or much anything else for that matter. But I was able to get out there for the morning session of the camp, and afterward I grabbed interviews with Jack Johnson, Lauri Tukonen, Thomas Hickey, Patrick O’Sullivan, Scott Parse and Marc Crawford. No rhyme or reason to those six…they were just available. I’ll grab different guys in the coming days. I’ll transcribe those interviews and have them up over the course of the afternoon/evening.

Here’s the list of the guys who are participating as part of the “gold” group today and tomorrow. (The second group, the one that’s practicing Thursday-Saturday, is made up primarily of recent draft picks.)

FORWARDS
12 — Patrick O’Sullivan
34 — Lauri Tukonen
47 — Vladimir Dravecky
54 — Teddy Purcell
58 — David Meckler
61 — Trevor Lewis
63 — Scott Parse
68 — Brady Murray
70 — Matt Moulson
73 — John Zeiler

DEFENSEMEN
2 — Richard Petiot
33 — Jack Johnson
37 — Thomas Hickey
42 — Joe Piskula
49 — Peter Harrold
56 — Joe Ryan
62 — Niclas Andersen
64 – Patrik Hersley
71 — Brian Boyle

GOALIES
31 — Mike Ouzas
36 — Jeff Zatkoff
45 — Jonathan Bernier
75 — Linden Rowat

The guys in the gold jerseys are primarily former (or perhaps some current) Jr. Kings. Team officials have taken to calling them “Rudys,” in reference to the well-known Notre Dame walk-on player. A couple of them really held their own with the prospects and one got into a bit of a shoving match with Brady Murray during the first session.

The forward drills were surprisingly intense. Lots of one-on-one battles and work in the corners and in front of the net. The defensemen seemed to be doing more skating drills and the goalies were very individual-drill oriented, and the Kings brought video cameras onto the ice to record them individually.

It’s a bit early to talk about impressions. Even Crawford said that this week is more about improvement than competition. Wednesday night’s scrimmage will be a good chance to see some competition. But if you’re looking for some initial thoughts…Boyle did indeed play defense and he looked smoother than I expected, for someone who doesn’t have a ton of experience at the blue line. Hickey is tiny, but remember that he’s younger and much less experienced than most of the other guys out there. Johnson looked very solid and, when I talked to him later, seemed to have put on some muscle in the last couple months. None of the forwards particularly jumped out, but again, they were working on a lot of battle drills. Zeiler seemed to have a lot of energy out there.

I’ll start transcribing interviews in a bit. I’ll probably skip the practice this afternoon (in other words, I’ll probably be asleep) so if anyone goes — it’s from 4-5 p.m. — and wants to post their observations, that’s both welcomed and encouraged. I’ll go out to tomorrow’s afternoon practice.

There had been some discussion about the seating at the development camp, and it seems as though there has been a change in policy. LAKings.com now has this paragraph posted above the schedule: “The Rookie Camp will be free and open to the public. Wednesday’s scrimmage game will be a ticketed event, however, coming on a first come, first served basis. Stay tuned to LAKings.com as more details on how to obtain the tickets will be released soon.”

That makes more sense to me. Restricting the lower seating makes sense if there’s going to be a big crowd on hand, but not on a Tuesday morning. So it seems as though it will be back to the way it was last year.

The camp gets going tomorrow, with skill sessions from 8-11:30 a.m. and a practice from 4-5 p.m. I’ll be out there throughout the week, trying to grab as many interviews as possible.

Calder called a couple hours earlier than I expected — and quite frankly, before I’d had some time to prepare a lot of questions — but here’s what I got from him…

Q: What was the free-agent process like for you? Did you talk to a lot of teams or were you focused on the Kings right away?
A: I talked to quite a few teams. The process is pretty nerve-racking and exciting at the same time. To be able to come here with good intentions and try to win, it’s exciting. Dean and Ron, they’re great and I’m really looking forward to working with them.

Q: What was it about the Kings that you found attractive?
A: I wanted to go somewhere I could play and help out, play my style of game and have it be suitable with the other players on the team. I thought my best fit was right here. When you look at the young core of players, with Kopitar and Brown and Frolov and Cammalleri, it’s great. There’s a core of guys and you can build around them. That’s awesome. The defense is immaculate. We’ve got six or seven defensemen back there who can really carry a team.

Q: Have you talked to Crawford at all about what your role might be?
A: I’ve talked to Marc and all the coaches. I know my role. I have to get in on the forecheck and do all the little things that maybe don’t show up as much, but they have to be done. I have to provide that every game.

Q: Things have been rough for the Kings recently. Do players still see this as an attractive place to play?
A: It’s definitely an attractive place to be. The weather and the travel and all the little things, that’s a big attraction. Things are going to get turned around here. Teams go through slides all the time but it’s great to give yourself a challenge. We want to get better and it’s going to come from all the young guys. It’s going to be fun and I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Q: Did Dean sit down with you and give you his vision for the future of the franchise?
A: Oh yeah, we talked quite a bit. It was great to look at where he wants to go in the future. It’s good to have a relationship like that with the GM.

Q: Can you talk about what happened last year with Detroit? I imagine it wasn’t easy moving to a new team.
A: There was a little bit of an adjustment period, for sure. Their lineup was so deep and they had so many good players on their team. It was awesome and a privilege to play for them. Unfortunately we parted ways but you can’t dwell on the past. You can only be optimistic about the future.

Q: Were there some positives you took away, in terms of playing on such a good team?
A: Definitely. When you play with great players such as them, you learned from everyone. That was the good thing about it. There are always some things you can learn. I’m going to try to learn here as well.

Q: You’re a guy who has been mostly consistent throughout your career, in terms of stats and effort. Does that help you, in terms of knowing where you fit in on a team?
A: That’s a big thing, for sure. I know what I want to bring to the table every night. If I can try to do that, I know I can help the team. It’s better when you’re consistent and you can do well from year to year.

I’m expecting to get Kyle Calder on the phone in a little while. If anyone has any questions for him, feel free to post them here.