ESPN pub

Who cares, ESPN only payes attention to east coast teams. The same guy picked Chicago in 7th or 8th I believe. He said the Kings should stay with the young guys we already have letting them figure out there game, not taking into consideration vetrans are what teaches good young players to be great young players. Besides isnt this the same guy who said Detroit was going to suck last year. Duh.

Buccigross is a moron. Who exactly does he want the Kings to bring up? The first two players he mentioned -- Brown and Cammy -- are scheduled to play on the first line with the team's best center. Jon Klemm and JS Aubin probably aren't even going to crack the NHL Roster!

What an idiot.

Bucci makes some sence.
I feel his frustration when Lombardi's sends mixed messages.
O'Sullivan & Johnson were good acquisitions.
Along with Kopitar, Browm, Cammy, Frolov, Boyle, Lewis, Parse & Tukonen, (all 25 years or younger), the team would have grown very strong and fun to watch.
Veteran leadership is also necessary. However, throwing away alot of money to average players with injuries is a mistake.
The jury is out on Nagy.
Calder & Handzus are a bust (just like McCauley, Thornton, Cloutier, Aubin, Klemm & Wilsie). Calder is unaccomplished and Hanzus has a bum knee
What's gonna happen now is these new players will prevent the O'Sullivans and Murrays from developing. Their power play time will diminish and they'll be sent to Manchester for the mistakes of others, while the're on the bench.
I mean you can't send a player down to the minors if he earns $4 million, that would make Lombardi look bad. Heaven forbid.
Furthermore, prospects such as Lewis, Tukonen Boyle, & Cliche will never get their chance because their salaries aren't large enough and roster spots are limited to average players with big salaries. They will wollow in the minors before they go to Buffalo, Edmonton, or the quacks to become productive.
I beginning to suspect that Lombardi is the problem, not the solution.
He's just an extension of Dave Taylor & George McGuire.

"I mean you can't send a player down to the minors if he earns $4 million, that would make Lombardi look bad. Heaven forbid."

So Cloutier being sent down is what? Way too early to call Calder and Handzus busts, Calder had a good pre-season and Handzus could play this weekend. Go watch the sky fall somewhere else.

LMAO anthony. Calder and Handzus are busts before even playing one damn game? Can we watch a few games before you start with that nonsense.

Wow, zero games into the season and already Handzus, Calder and possibly Nagy are busts... that don't look too good for us.

But I don't see them taking time away from the O'Sullivans of this world, but maybe the Murrays... and then again, this is the chance for the Murrays to try to prove themselves...

While, I'm sure the Tukonens, Lewis's and Cliche's are better off in Manchester this year, playing the full season.

Boyle though... I dunno. 6'7 spells a helluvalotta hope - even if it's shakey skating hope...

Go Kings Go!!!

Who cares? ESPN's coverage of hockey is garbage. Try a real site like TSN.ca! :D

Wow, Anthony, doom and gloom and the season hasn't even started yet. Could you get any more negative?!?!? That sure was a fun post to read.
I'll be skipping posts with an Anthony tag from now on.
Can't wait to get the season started tomorrow, breakfast with the Kings!!

What's wrong w/ Calder and Handzus? Calder's shown some promise on the pre-season. Let's hold our judgement on these players till we actually see 'em play this season.

Didn't imply on how the kings season might turn out.
I'm a very big kings fan and I hope to see them succeed this season.
I'm only implying that some of Lombardi's free agent acquisitions are very questionable.
Handzus & Calder are average players. Just look at their career stats (not to mention their injuries). Them tell me if these two players are worth $6.5 Million between them.
Do some research before you open that hole in your face NMkingFan.

If O'sullivan is playing on a line with Nagy and Handzus...how are they taking away his ice time?

I think the error that the writer made is in assuming that nagy/handzus/calder would be our first line. from what i've seen/read about the preseason games so far cammy/kopitar/brown is looking like our first line. Which would also show that this guy has not looked into the team very much

Well I've seen predictions anywhere from 7th to dead last, all of which seems pretty reasonable. Personally, I think the Kings will make the playoffs, but what if the goaltending doesn't improve like we'd hope? We saw what happened last year when we had Garon, LaBarbera, and Cloutier, so it's a possibility. And, Anthony, why all the negativity? I think the others make a valid point that you have to give the new guys a chance to prove themselves before dismissing them. Honestly, I think Lombardi and Crawford have put together a solid core for the next 5-10 years, I could care less what ESPN thinks.

Bucci makes some reasonable points, but 13th? ouch.

too bad he's the only SportsCenter anchor who knows anything about or cares about the game.

*****NEWS FLASH*****
The NHL Announced Today That What Was TO Have Been The League's 90th Season Has Been Cancelled.

Quotes are slow to come in from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman but we were able to obtain this quote:
"We have decided that since all the predictions have been made by the hockey experts, some going as far as to map out the playoff seeding and knock out rounds along with the eventual champions, we felt that we did not need to waste valuable resources on actually playing the games. What value could they possibly have since we already know what will happen. We will, in lieu of having the games played, take a long look at all the predictions made on the net. We have hired the crack accounting team of Ernst & Younge to survey all the NHL news sites, blogs and fan forums. They will compile a list of all the expert rankings and feed them into their software system. We will then award the Cup to the team who averages the highest in these rankings."

Say the Kings don't sign Handzus, Calder, and Nagy. Then who plays on the 2nd and 3rd lines? It looks like O'sullivan is already going to be on the 2nd line, so I don't see how anybody can say he's not going to get any ice time to develop. Keep in mind also that this is his 2nd year with the team, so to expect him to go out there and know all of the ins and outs of the NHL is unrealistic. He needs somebody like Handzus to show him the ropes. We don't have a true #2 center right now - as much as I like Derek Armstrong, he is NOT a 2nd line center. He is a true 3rd line center in my opinion. I agree that signing Nagy is questionable (I would put Frolov on the 2nd line), but his deal is for only 1 year. If he sucks we flip flop Nagy with Frolov. Calder - which one of our prospects is ready to play on the third line spot?? Tukonen might be able to fill in this role in A YEAR or TWO, not now. Scott Parse? Trevor Lewis? Those guys would benefit from at least 1 full year of AHL experience. In short, I don't think we had any prospects ready to fill the roles that the free agents now have.

I agree with Wanaki. It's not so much that he picked us to finish 13th, it's that it felt like he didn't put any research or effort into it at all.

and I also agree with Philbert. As much as I'd love to give a bunch of NHL-ready young guys jobs on my team, the Kings just don't have this dream situation of an AHL team filled with cheap and ready talent sitting at their finger tips. What talent they do have is on the team.

Bernier starting goalie...