Meet Mr. Grease

By Rich Hammond on October 8, 2007 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) |

Kyle Calder played for the Blackhawks in this decade, but he looks like he could have been an Original 6'er back in the 60s or 70s in Chicago. Some guys just look like hockey players, and Calder's style on the ice has earned him the nickname ``Grease,'' for the way he battles in front of the net.

Calder was perhaps the least heralded of the Kings' free-agent signings, but he's been solid thus far in a limited role. He doesn't yet have a point, but of the 10 forwards who have played all three games for the Kings, only four -- Calder, Cammalleri, O'Sullivan and Armstrong -- have an even or better plus-minus rating. Calder is even. Calder plays a style that doesn't get noticed much, except by grateful teammates.

``It's kind of the ugly part of the game,'' Calder said. ``You go in and get your nose dirty and you get rewarded. It gets me going. The more I get hit, the more effective I feel I'm being. If I'm causing havoc and making the other players think about me, then I'm doing my job.''

Calder nearly got rewarded with a goal Saturday night, but it was waved off because his stick was just above parallel when he made contact with the puck in front of the net.

1 Comments

lunchbox said:

thanks for the feature on Calder Rich. he's my favorite FA pickup and i really appreciate the extra bits of info you've provided.

October 8, 2007 8:02 PM

J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra
@inlandnewspapers.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.