As part of its coverage of the NHL draft combine, TSN did an interview with Dean Lombardi, during which he doesn’t tip his hand about which direction he’s leaning (although we all know it’s a defenseman) and talks about a couple of the prospects in particular.
Monthly Archives: May 2008
Draft combine blog
TSN.ca is doing an extensive blog about the NHL’s draft combine in Toronto, where general managers and scouts are getting a look at some of the top prospects. The only mention of the Kings so far is about Dean Lombardi talking to Nikita Filatov. I think it would be more interesting to read about Lombardi talking to Doughty or Bogosian, but oh well. The blog is a good read…
Return of the mullet?
Barry Melrose will be the new coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, according to Damien Cox of the Toronto Star.
Patrick O’Sullivan interview
Here’s the interview I did yesterday with Patrick O’Sullivan. He discusses his experience at the World Championships this month, as well as his personal development as a player, his hopes for the Kings’ improvement and his contract situation this summer.
It’s been very interesting to watch O’Sullivan develop. I still remember watching him at his first prospects camp and thinking he had all the talent in the world, then watching him consistently go backward until he eventually landed back in the AHL. Then he started a tremendous comeback and essentially reinvented himself in the eyes of the Kings. Along the way, he’s gone from being a quiet kid to a more confident player.
Here’s the full interview with O’Sullivan…
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Kings in Kansas City
The Kings announced today that they will play a preseason game against St. Louis in Kansas City, where AEG opened an arena last year. The game will be played on Sept. 22. The full press release from the Kings follows…
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Danny Taylor interview
Here’s the interview Don did this week with Danny Taylor, the much-traveled goalie who logged some big miles between Los Angeles and Reading near the end of last season. Don gets the scoop on what that was like for Taylor and also gets to know Taylor a little bit, going into what should be a crucial summer for him.
Hope everyone enjoys another of Don’s great interviews. I’m working on getting the Patrick O’Sullivan interview up today…shouldn’t be long. Enjoy…
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Crawford talks Game 2
Thanks to Thomas LaRocca of the Kings for passing along the second part of the Marc Crawford Stanley Cup Finals podcast. Here’s the link…
Also, we’ll have a series of interviews in the next couple days. I talked today to Patrick O’Sullivan, who said that contract negotiations with the Kings are progressing but that he doesn’t consider a deal to be imminent. I’ll have the whole interview up tomorrow. Also, Don has tracked down Daniel Taylor and is trying to get a couple other prospects this week.
Kings visit Bogosian
As part of Dean Lombardi’s North American tour to visit draft prospects, he met with Zach Bogosian this week. Here’s a short story from the Peterborough Examiner, with a couple quotes from Bogosian and the assertion, from Bogosian’s father, that Bogosian wouldn’t mind playing for a West Coast team.
Crawford talks Cup
NHL.com is supposed to be doing podcasts with Marc Crawford after each of the Stanley Cup Finals games. I haven’t seen the Game 2 version, but for those who want to here Crawford’s thoughts about Game 1, you can click here. Crawford also comments here about the job Tomas Holmstrom did for Detroit in Game 1.
Everything’s great! (well, somewhere)
The Sports Business Journal published a story today about the NHL’s financial resurgence. The story read, in part:
“The league’s revenue rose 11 percent to $64.66 million over the same period. (from the 2006 to 2007 fiscal year). … Licensing surpassed pre-lockout levels of $4.04 million for the first time, hitting $4.3 million, and playoff assessments hit an all-time high of $6.09 million for fiscal 2007. Savings and cash investments added another $3.5 million to the league’s coffers. Those numbers represent only NHL revenue. Additional revenue from NHL Enterprises and member clubs pushed overall league revenue to $2.3 billion over roughly the same period.”
Meanwhile, a certain hockey team in Los Angeles is losing more money than ever. No wonder they don’t want to talk about it anymore…