Forum answers V

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Question: Can you explain how the Kings were able to claim Kyle Quincey when he was put on waivers by Detroit. It was reported at the time that a number of teams put in a claim for him. The process for claiming players off waivers as I understand it is. The team with the lowest winning percentage at the time a player is put on waivers has the first opportunity to claim him. On October 12, 2008 when we claimed him a number of teams had a 0% winning percentage. So does the order revert back to the teams finishing order in the prior year since it was so early in the year?

Answer: I'll cut and paste Quisp's accuate answer: ``The answer to the Quincey waiver question is that, prior to November 1, the previous season's final standings determine the priority. Kings finished 29th, so they got 2nd priority, behind Tampa. After November 1, priority is determined by current standings based on win% (actually, it's percentage of total possible points).''

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Question: Do the fans here really not know that this is a Daily News site, so asking for you to reprint an LA Times article or asking for you to lead an effort to send e-mails to the LA Times sports editor probably isn't too smart?

Answer: I don't mind linking to any story that is relevant to the Kings, regardless of the source, but yes, it's not appropriate for me to encourage anyone to write letters to an editor.

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Question: Why does the LA Times insist on publishing anything Liweekly says?

Answer: Hmmm... Next question?

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Questions: Is Quincey's contract only for a year and what's his salary? Why do you think Derek Armstrong has been scratched the last couple of games over Brian Boyle?

Answers: 1) Quincey is signed through 2009-10 with a salary-cap hit of $525,000 in this season and next season. 2) It has more to do with Boyle than it does Armstrong. Murray scartched Boyle and instructed him to play tougher. Boyle performed well in practice and earned a spot in the lineup again, so Armstrong was deemed the odd man out.

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Question: What's the quick version Rich Hammond biography? How did you get your start in journalism, when did it first interest you, what school(s) did you attend for it, did you first want to be involved with sports or first want to be a writer? And if you did write an autobiography, what would you title it?

Answer: The quick version? I've never left Southern California for more than about 14 days at a time, nor do I plan to anytime soon. Got interested in journalism in junior high and started taking it seriously in high school once it became clear that I couldn't reliably hit a curveball. Started working at the Daily Breeze, then to the Refgister and now the Daily News for nine-plus years. Graig Woodburn, who regularly covers the Kings, and I have a running joke about the book we will write when the Kings finally win the Stanley Cup. The working title is ``Royal Ascent.''

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Question: It appears that TM is setting up his lines with the defensive end as the top criteria. Can you ask him if that is his primary motive when combining players. I also notice that Ivanas was on the ice a couple of times for face-offs in the defensive end. Does TM consider where the play restarts when turning over his lines at a stoppage?

Answer: Murray made it clear, from the beginning, that defense would be his priority. That's why coming up with a ``defensive stopper'' line was one of his first priorities in terms of putting lines together. As far as the second part of the question, yes, I think that's a fair assessment. I think every coach, to some extent, puts his lines out there based on game situation, how much time is left in the game, etc. How much Ivanans, specifically, played into that particular situation is hard to say.

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Question: pride=passion=power, which part of the formula do you think is missing?

Answer: Power.

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Question: Do you feel the line juggling is worst this year with Terry than it was last year with Marc? That was 1 major knock againt Crow; players weren't able to get used to other and build chemistry. Beginining of this season things seem consistant but once we started to lose, we saw some major moves. (Ie sully 2nd, 1st, to 4th line / ratitis 1st line)

Answer: Allow me to play devil's advocate to the (seemingly) very popular theory that Terry Murray doesn't know what he's doing. Murray was an East Coast coach who had no association with the Kings and very rarely saw them. He has had his eyes on this particular group of players for less than two months now, and he wants to make his own judgments based upon what he's seeing, not what others have seen in the past. So while fans and reports, who have studied every game for the past couple years, might have very set opinions about certain players, Murray is still forming his. Are his opinions correct? Is he making the correct choices? Maybe, maybe not, but don't expect him to have everything figured out in six weeks.

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Question: Who's winning the ping-pong tournament?

Answer: It's hard to track. The competition has switched to doubles, but the teams seem to switch frequently. Doughty and O'Sullivan seemed to have a future together.

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Question: I want to know if during practice LaBarbara is clearly better than Ersberg, even by just a little bit, thus justifying his #1 status. And which one tends to do better during shoot-out drills.

Answer: I really don't analyze practice very much, as there are way too many variables. LaBarbera has been judged much more on games than practices. And it's been a while since I've seen the Kings do a traditional shootout drill, but I'll pay more attention next time.