Player evaluation: Harrold
PETER HARROLD
This season: 25 games, 2 goals, 3 assists, plus-3 rating.
Positives: Hasn't made any dramatic improvements, but is slowly and surely establishing himself as an NHL defenseman with a solid all-around game. Harrold has displayed good puck movement in the defensive zone during his limited time in the NHL and totaled 43 points in 49 games with Manchester this season, so he has some offensive upside.
Negatives: Size and speed are two of the drawbacks in Harrold's game, but they won't prevent him from being an NHL player. He could stand to get a little stronger, which would help the team's overall toughness, and as he gets more experience, he should be better prepared to deal with the speed of the NHL game.
Looking ahead: Harrold seems likely, in the long term, to settle in as a fourth or fifth defenseman. With Johnson and Visnovsky already in the fold, the Kings need to sign or trade for at least one more strong defenseman to take some of the pressure off Harrold and allow him to thrive as he continues to develop.
Contract situation: Restricted free agent.
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About the bloggers
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.
That picture of Harold is priceless.
After an astonishing 12 games in 06-07 where Harrold hit nobody, he returned for 25 games this season and got credit for 7 hits. I'm not sure this will put him on the list of feared defenders, but at least he got a taste of what is expected of him in the defensive zone. Management seems much higher on him than I would personally choose to give him credit for, but his offensive skills in the AHL are noted, and here's hoping he becomes the next Rob Palmer, who more often than not looked like a scared kitten when sizeable NHL opponents would bear down on him towards the net, but made a reasonable first pass out of the zone when not being forechecked.
P.S. Nice Photo. I rest my case.
He is never going to be the guy to run over players, but I thought twords the end of the season he played much better positionly. He made a few good plays just getting his stick in the way of passes and poke checking the puck away. He has a decent outlet pass, which we could always use more of. If he is going to stay however, hes gotta really improve his offensive game at this level and be a complete player. I dont think we need another one dimensional player like weaver and dallman and klemm and gle...so anyway I guess we'll see in training camp if he'll make it or not.
Tom Preissing Lite
That is a priceless picture isn't it.
Rich, Harrold will never forgive you for this.
was that really the best picture of harrold we could fine? almost wants to make me take back my assessment that he'll be all right if he works out a lot this offseason.
Not a fan of this guy. His nick name should be "giveaway" for the amount of times he coughs up the puck in the defensive zone that turns into a scoring chance.
I saw him fan on a simple clearout, tried to reach back then fall down while an an opposing forward skated and scored.
Now I know he's young and he's played better since but I just don't see him playing in the NHL level.
That picture is the Kings' 2007 season right there...
why is the organization so big on harrold... i was frankly, dissapointed in his play, and in the teams enthusiasm for him... i'd rather have seen piskula up who's got more of an upside, both size-wise and defensive ability wise....
every time i watched him THIS season, he played virtually mistae free. He's not going to stand out and hit people,but he'll playa solid game i.e. jaroslav modry.
All you hacs hated modry until this year.
I must have missed something too, I just didn't see what the organization saw in this guy. Size, mobility, seemed intimidated most of the time, I just wasn't impressed. Marc Nathan said it best....
PS - Nice foto!
I think he will fit nicely as a 5th or 6th D'man. He has a decent offensive game, and he gets his stick in the way of pucks. I wish we had a more physical D, but I'm sure he's better than anything else in Manchester or they would have been brought up at some point this year.