O'Sullivan returns
Patrick O'Sullivan returned to the ice today, one day after he signed a three-year contract. He couldn't be missed out there, wearing a bright green jersey, and he made it through what seemed to be one of the Kings' more rigorous practices of the last month.
There will be quotes from Terry Murray later, but Murray indicated that it is ``realistic'' to think O'Sullivan could play this weekend, although possibly not in both games, as the Kings play both Saturday and Sunday. Here's what O'Sullivan had to say about his first day back with the Kings...
``It was the first day but I felt pretty good. My legs were burning a bit there at the end, but obviously while I was missing camp, I was making sure that I was training as hard as I could and skating as much as I could, because I realize that that's a big part of getting ready for the season and I missed out on that. But I put as much effort in as I could, every day, to try to be ready when I did show up, and I was surprised. I actually felt not bad today. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow.''
On whether he had been skating with any teams over the last month...
``Not really. I skated with some college guys and some pro guys that hadn't left for AHL camps yet, stuff like that. I also skated by myself a couple times. I was on the ice four or five times a week, which obviously isn't the same as being here with the team and NHL players. Certainly it will probably take a little time to get my timing back. That's the biggest part. I really tried to focus today on the news systems. I asked a lot of questions. So I'm going to take it a day at a time, try to take in as much as I can and just try to get better every day.''
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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
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Vincent Bonsignore is a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News. E-mail Vinny at vincent.bonsignore
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Sounds good. I think Coach Murray should sit Sully Saturday and play him limited minutes at the home opener Sunday. Then take things day by day.
I tend to agree with Marc Nathan - that Sully will most likely lead the Kings in goals.
Terry Murray would be smart not to bench him.
With Sulli making $4Mil this coming year, he'd better work his a$$ off.
While I am sure that having Anthony agree with me is not necessarily a good thing (grin), I agree with Coach Murray that it may be prudent to spot him in these first couple of games, and not force him into a situation where he's over extending himself and is vulnerable to injury. If we're choosing between the team opener and the home opener, I would like to see him play at home. It would give him one extra day to get ready, and the fans (all 9,000 of them ;) ) would certainly give him a warm reception, which would give him a bit of added adrenaline/incentive.
Gotta figure by that first road trip to St. Louis and Nashville (a game I will be attending fwiw) he will be well on his way to leading the team in goals :)
Marc Nathan is correct. Muscle pulls, or worse, tears, happen when you are out of game shape. Spot Sully for two weeks before giving him 20+ minutes of ice time per night. Everyone wants him to play his normal game minutes, but his body probably won't let him do that right now.