Harrold makes the big change

By Rich Hammond on November 7, 2008 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) |

Peter Harrold found himself out of the lineup for a few games before he returned, quite surprisingly, as a right wing alongside Brian Boyle and Patrick O'Sullivan. Harrold, a defenseman throughout his entire career, accepted the role and, by all accounts, has done a strong job. The Kings initially made the move because they wanted to get veteran defenseman Tom Preissing back in the lineup, because of his power-play attributes, but wanted to keep Harrold in the lineup as defensive insurance. Thing is, Harrold has looked good enough as a winger to keep that line together. Harrold had an assist in Thursday's victory over Florida. Here's what Harrold said about his transition...

Question: Are you feeling pretty good about how things are going?

HARROLD: ``Yeah. Those two are making the transition pretty easy. They're helping me out whenever they can, giving me pointers, and obviously they're both very good hockey players. I've been fortunate to be on a line with those two guys and have them help me out.''

Question: When the coach comes to you and tells you, `We want to try this,' what's your first thought?

HARROLD: ``I was kind of shocked. I'd never played forward before. To try it in the NHL for the first time was actually kind of a fun challenge. I didn't expect it but I'm starting to like it. It's actually a lot of fun, so I'm enjoying it.''

Question: Anything in particular that you always have to keep in mind as a winger?

HARROLD: ``Well, I've been a defenseman my whole career, so I try to make sure that I'm on the right side of the puck the whole time and not make any defensive mistakes. That's the most important thing, that I'm not a liability on defense. I try to take care of my own end first, and then pitch in on the offensive end.''

Click below for comments from Terry Murray regarding Harrold's play on the wing...

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Question: With Harrold, what was it that made you initially think that might work?

MURRAY: ``You know, I'm not sure if there was one particular time or incident. I was thinking about it probably two to three weeks before the move was made. It's more prevelant in the game today. You're seeing it around the league with different teams that are having great success with it. Playing Montreal in the playoffs last year with the Flyers, you see (Mark) Streit and I can remember games that he played in the regular season and he scored huge goals. He's one of those glue players, one of those core players who really make a contribution and have the asset of being able to go back on the power play and use those same skills, getting the puck to the net and seeing the ice. It's incredible when a player wants to buy into that role, what his contribution can mean to the team. So far, to me, it has worked. Then, just going back on your original question, the other side of it was that we felt, after having a couple games of not having that offensive-zone time on the power play, we needed to have the experience back there (with Preissing). So that kind of brought it all together.''

1 Comments

Anonymous said:

Many fans have criticized, even ridiculed, this experiment, but it makes sense to me.

Harrold has very good overall skills & hockey sense, but is probably better offensively than defensively (although he is not as bad on D as some complain).

He has an especially good slap shot--low & hard & especially dangerous from medium-distance (1/2-way in, or so, from the blueline).

TM obviously likes Harrold's offensive talent better than Brad Richardson's, at this point. And Harrold is 5-10 lbs heavier than BR also.
Also, being a defenseman for so long, Harrold would still be better than than many FWs when in the defending/checking role.

The experiment looks OK so far.

It should be maintained & continued for now,
at least, IMO.

Who knows--Harrold might make a real solid 3-4th line RW, who plays the PP to boot.

A few more games will give us more indication if that is going to actually happen.

With all the great defensive talent coming in over the coming couple years, it may be Harrold's best & only ticket to stay with the Kings.
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--Sergei Prozacutov

November 7, 2008 9:17 PM

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
.com.