Aubin to Kings
Looks like a one-year, $525,000 deal for goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin. Why? I'm not exactly sure, but I'll try to get an answer on that before the end of the day.
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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.
Aubin, Ersberg, and Quick? If that is the case either Quick or Ersberg is ticketed for the ECHL. Maybe the Kings are planning on doing something with Cloutier or his health is an issue. Someone on another board pointed out that Cloutier, Labarbera, and Quick are all coming off injuries...
Jonathan Bernier will be starting for Team Canada in tomorrow's game against Team Russia.
Was anyone able to watch game 1 using www.tsn.ca broadband??
Looks like Dean learned from last year and is stocking up on NHL backup caliber goalies.
If he as he hinted they consider carrying 3 goalies for the start until it sorts out then you need at least 2 guys down in Manchester plus some guys in Reading that are of decent quality so that those teams can be competetive.
619- I tried wathcing online but it detected I was outside of Canada so it blocked me from viewing.
Why add another mediocre goalie who is 30 years old and has recent stats to rival Cloutier's pathetic numbers? This makes little sense unless Lombardi has figured out a way to jettison Cloutier. Then Aubin is a cheap backup this year for LaBamba.
I'll be up at 6 am tommorrow to watch the game here in Canada. Hopefully Hickey does a little more in this game, he was basically invisible yesterday. But maybe that's a good thing?
Wow, HockeyBuzz.com got one right for a change
"Why? I'm not sure..."
How about because the Kings EASILY have the worst NHL caliber goaltending in the league, and adding another below average goaltender to the mix pretty much ensures us another season of disappointment when the final buzzer sounds.
There were a few other choices here, but the economics of the situation probably made Aubin the frontrunner.
May this all pave the way for a VERY fair, VERY equal battle in training camp.
I agree. This is a very odd signing, like Pat said maybe DL has something up his sleeve, possibly with Cloutier. Aubin has had flashes of greatness, but nothing very consistent.
I think Jason LaBarbera may very well shut a lot of naysayers up.
"the Kings EASILY have the worst NHL caliber goaltending in the league" uhhh...do you really think the Kings have worse goaltending than Tampa Bay, Colorado, the Flyers or the Oilers, all with shaky goaltending too. If 38 year old Rollie the goalie goes down for the Oilers, there ain't much backing him up.
Enough with the outlandish statements, post those on another board.
Two words...
Contingency plan
To see the Super Series go to:
http://www.hockeywebcasts.com
I couldn't get anything on TSN.com either. This site was referred to when I bopped around looking for an alternative.
Pat- As Rich has said in his update it's an insurance policy. And a cheap one at that too. If Cloutier is still hurt and LaBarb goes down we have no NHL experienced goalie. He's basically a Sean Burke.
Marc- What other choices? Ed Belfour? No thanks!
I would still like to see DL go after Henrik Lungqvist in Tampa, the Kings have the "D" to make this guy tremendous and he also has the talent with the right "D" in front of him. Come on DL, go gettum.