Its always nice to see the Kings win, but.....

Say goodbye to Stamkos, and say hello to another season with Armstrong as our 2nd line center. Not good.

nah we're still on pace for dead last, and the best chance at stamkos

one last time, it's a draft lottery. TSN had an article before the trade deadline that said since the lottery started the last place team has only gotten the first overall pick 5 times. That's less than 50%. Last year the Hawks finished 26th and picked first. As long as the Kings are near the bottom, they have a decent shot.

It was pretty boring game till the last couple minutes!!

on the fourth goal Frolov showed what he's made of.. takes a huge hit at center ice but gets right back up and sets up handzus goal. waht a warrior!!! another solid game by ersberg

Lately I've been rooting for Tampa Bay, but they haven't looked too good. With two games in hand they should be able to get that point.

I am in Manchester (England not NH) for the United/Liverpool match and a man asked me at the airport about my Kings baggage tags. I said they are the greatest last place team in all of sport.

Hooray for the Slingbox which lets me watch Center Ice over here. I'm just happy that Ersberg is playing solidly and giving up something to look forward to for next year. Having the first pick in the draft but feeling awful about our goaltending prospects is far worse than a later pick but a good solid vibe...

this was the Kings chance to help Dallas get home ice agaisnt Anaheim...

What I'm seeing lately from Ersberg, is what goaltending is all about.

Since his recall, I haven't seen him give up a single bad goal. They,ve Either been deflections or defensive breakdowns.
With a windfall of goalies in our system (Quick, Bernier, Zatkoff, Rowat), DL should trade one of them along with Lord Cammilleri, and Dallas 1st round pick to Nahvillie for either Shea Weber or Ryan Suter and a prospect;
OR
Chicago for either Duncan Keith or Cam Barker or Brent Seabrook and a prospect.
We need defense badly.
We're too undersized at the blue-line.
Thoughts.

Way I see it, we're just improving the worth of Dallas' - oh I'm sorry OUR - 1st round pick. It's just one game, and Tampa is still ahead of us anyway. The team needs to win games like these, and keep proving they're never out of the fight.

Well, at least Dallas first and fourth round picks that we own may have just dropped another notch or so...

No Seabrook. Please no.

Anthony I can't believe this but I agree with you 100%!

"With a windfall of goalies in our system (Quick, Bernier, Zatkoff, Rowat), DL should trade one of them along with Lord Cammilleri, and Dallas 1st round pick to Nahvillie for either Shea Weber or Ryan Suter and a prospect;
OR
Chicago for either Duncan Keith or Cam Barker or Brent Seabrook and a prospect.
We need defense badly.
We're too undersized at the blue-line.
Thoughts."

Let's not get carried away here emotionally. Just because Bernier has had a less than a stellar season at the Q and our other 3 goalie prospects have stepped up, that doesn't mean that they should all be valued the same (more or less) in a trade. Bernier should still be considered head & shoulders better than our other goalie prospects. And just because Cammy hasn't been on fire since returning from his injury doesn't mean he isn't a top line caliber.

I love the way this team keeps battling every night against opponents who need the points more than we do. Hopefully this will pay off next year. Kudos to Crawford.
Antother solid game for Ersberg. I say that pretty much after all of his games. When was the last goalie we could say that about?

Antony you are crazy if you think DL is giving up Bernier. Why would you want to trade the jewel of the system? If this guy turns out to be the next Patrick Roy and we traded him...we would go down as the dumbest organization in all of sports.
Besides who's to say that Ersberg doesn't get you the players you're asking for? If Bernier is as advertised, you would have 2 top notch goalies...Thats something we've never been able to say before.
Lets stay the course and let DL work his magic with the organization.

I agree with you NYKingfan, with one exception.
I don't have the same amount of confidence in DL as you do.
What magic so far.
His FA signings?

I can now see Lombardi's wisdom in not bending to Lord Cammilleri for more money.

Hopefully next year Lombardi's wisdom will give us a whole new good defensive team. That way Ersberg and Bernier should shine.

anthony, you win a cookie for that post.

We should definately throw a goaltending prospect into that long-discussed Cammy/young dman trade, if thats what it takes. I would look toward Quick, Taylor, or Irving to move before Bernier or Zatkoff, who have legitimate starting potential.

On Chicago, I wouldn't mind seeing Dustin Byfuglien coming back in that sort of deal. I think the guy's unquestioned size and physical play speaks for itself, plus he may be easier to pry away from the Blackhawks than Barker or Keith.

Next season will be the tell all year for the kings as if we have near the same amount of points at this time next season Crawford and/or Lombardi will be gone.

Wow, Zus only has two more goals than me since X-Mas, and I'm a triathlete/marathon runners, not a hockey player. And my salary is A LOT less than his!
Glad for the win, we sure know how to beat Dallas in the last 1/2 of the 3rd period.

For those of you interested in the kings draft odds/statistics:

-Since 1995, 6 of the 12 worst teams have retained there 1st overall through the lottery = 50%. (TB traded away their 1999 1st overall pick after the lottery so only 5 have exercised their pick; also there was no worst team in the 05 draft so it was excluded). This percentage is close to what is expected (48.2) based on the draft odds weighting.

-Of those 6, 5 were in the first 5 years of the lottery, with only 1 in the last 7 standard drafts (STL in 06).

-Of those 6, 4 won the lottery. In 12 standard drafts, the worst overall team has won the lottery 33.3% of the time, which is slightly higher than the weighted odds, 25%. In the case of the other two teams, a team out of the bottom 5 won the lottery.

-Despite having an almost 1 in 5 chance (18.8%) to win the lottery, in 12 drafts, NO second place team has won. Of the bottom 5, First has one 4 times, Third place has won 3 times, Fourth once, and 5 twice.

Interpret it as you will, but the best position, lottery wise. is clearly first, or worst, overall.

-J

With those two goals, Handzus tripled his non-ENG, non-SHG output for the season.

Anthony, I agree..his F/A picks have sucked big time. I'll let him weave his magic with the draft and if in 3 years if this team is not competing for a cup, then we should legitimately discuss whether he should remain or not.
I can't say that if we are in the same position next year that he should be fired...It takes a few years for the draft results to come in. Although, I do expect them to be batting for a playoff spot next year.
I was all for Crawford being fired in December, but this team has played hard since then and he should get some of the credit for that. A lot of teams in the Kings position (dead last) would have mailed in the remainder of their season and doomed the fate of the coach..this team didn't do that and continues to play hard right up to the end. To me that shows they have respect for the coach...and even more importantly, themselves.

Agreed nykingsfan.
Next year will be a make it or break it season for MC. That's for sure.

And possibly for DL. If you ask me, he should go too.

Those draft stats are really important. There is a huge incentive to tank at the end of the season to get the worst record. Last place has a 50% chance of 1st and 50% chance of 2nd pick overall. 2nd place has a 20% chance of 1st pick 40% chance of 2nd pick and 40% chance of 3rd pick. In a draft in which Stamkos is head and shoulders above everyone else, the Kings should not win anymore games. I really don't think a win or two at the end of a season will carry over to a team that will look reasonably different come next season.

The Kings have proven to be expert losers this year, lets hope they keep it up.

Go Bruins!

Since we all know the Kings need to add D men right away a play for Shea Webber of the Preds is not a bad idea. He's a young version of Rob Blake and at 22 years old has 3 years in the NHL so far.
He's a restricted FA - with all the picks the Kings have he's certainly worth a first rounder.
He would become the Kings best D'man immediately.

Weber, Johnson, Visnovsky, Blake, Pressing, Harrold...That's a pretty good six d-men although I would like to see some more toughness ala Mike Commodore or Kurt Sauer. As to making a play at Weber if you can offer Cammi and Dallas' first or a second that would work although I don't know if the Preds would bite on that one. As to Crawford being fired I think that there is a 50/50 chance of him being fired if the Kings are at the same point in January of the next season. DL will keep his job. I still would like to see where we are at in year 4 of his tenure. If we aren't competing for a playoff spot next year I still think it won't make or break him but, put tremendous pressure on him going into year 4.

The Kings have almost no chace of getting any of the Hawks young players.
The Hawks are ahead of the Kings with their young players and not looking to
get rid of them. Seabrooke
has been horrible as of late anyway.Hawks have no use for Lord Cammi or goalies either. They have a ton of their own prospects. Nashville needs goaltending and I do
not see them trading Weber
for anything less than
Bernier. Goaltenders can be
picked up cheaply in this
league. Huet and Bryzgalov
moved fr next to nothing.
Anthony, your thought of
players to acquire are good but the chances of making a deal for them are
very low. I would suggest
moving Lord cammy to Blues
for one of their young
defensive prospects.

Metalmaster,
What's wrong with trading Bernier. Why not do it if we can receive an elite D-man.
Bernier's season hasn't been the best. He's been struggling against 15 & 16 year old forwards.
While Bernier's stock is high, why not give him up for Weber, or Cam Barker, or Ryan Suter. I feel comfortable having Ersberg in goal. And we still have a surplus of goalie prospects.
This is the time for DL to make that WTF trade. Package Lord Cammi with Bernier for a Kick-ass D-man, who knows how to punish a forwards like Ryan Smyth (who camp in front the goal crease).
FYI, I believe that our true future goalie is Jeff Zatkoff. His win loss ratio is almost 3 to 1.
And most College articles state him as the closest thing to a human wall.

There is nothing wrong with trading Bernier if you
think he is not going to be a franchise goalie. Do
you want to take that risk?
Zatkoff looks good in
college but that is night and day from NHL. I do not
disagree with the players you mention wanting but I
do not believe they are
available. Hawks drafted
Barker #3 overall and now
that he is playing well do
you think they really want to trade him? They have
Khabby (6.5 million) and a
prospect Crawford in goal
so do they want Bernier? I
know that they have no interest in Cammy because
they have a logjam of good forwards and prospects. For
a trade to happen it takes
two parties not just one.

Agreed,
Who would you suggest we make this WTF trade with.
And who would you ask for in return.
And do you see Lord Cammi returning next season?

Anthony and Metalmaster you guys crack me up. I get my daily fix of drama between you two guys. Although I have to agree with Metalmaster. There is no way that the hawks trade any of thier young guys. Instead they'll be looking to shed Khabibulin's bloated salary. I don't know why anthony is so hell bent on trading Bernier? Yeah Zatkoff is playing great but, wouldn't you rather have 3-4 really good goalies you could choose from than run into the nightmare at goal that has been the last two seasons? Anyways anthony I have a solution for all your trades. Play NHL 08 and try and make all the moves you come up with. Even the AI on the game won't go for some of those trades!

I'm cracking up too. I don't see Kings doing a lot
of trading but I could be wrong. I think DL will be
stockpiling system with draft picks. I do see Cammy
being moved but have no clue what the return will
be. I can see him going to
Blues. Khabby will be with
Hawks next year as I cannot
see another team picking up
that salary.