Seven defensemen?
Terry Murray pulled something of a surprise move Saturday when he dressed seven defensemen and had Peter Harrold play as a winger. The move was primarily designed to get Tom Preissing back in the lineup, because of his value on the power play, and Murray said he wouldn't rule out doing it again. Murray talked about the way that the Kings practice with seven defensemen and whether he thinks it's a good idea to play that way as well. It seems, based on today's practice, that Harrold will be playing right wing again tomorrow...
MURRAY: ``We have seven (defensemen in practice), so it's just kind of, `Jump in and get going,' just to get the repetitions in and get your work in. That's just the way it is with seven `D.' Guys who are playing a lot of minutes the night before are often standing there saying, `Go ahead, jump in for me,' to guys who are not getting the minutes. So I think that's actually a polite thing to do.''
Question: Is that something you can see yourself doing more in games, with the seven defensemen?
MURRAY: ``I kind of liked it. As I mentioned after the game, to have a player who can jump up and play as a forward, and also jump in as a D-man and play on the power play... Especially a guy like Harrold, who plays very intelligent. He'd never been there before (Saturday) night and his reads were tremendous. He had some opportunities to get a forecheck, he had shooting opportunities, and I see that around the league more. If we could ever get to that, or at least have the option of doing that, I think it would be good for our team. I don't know if I'm going to do that all the time, or if I'm going to do it again. I really don't. It's a great asset, to be able to look at a player and say, `You're playing forward tonight,' if we have an injury or some circumstance that requires it. The last circumstance was, we felt we needed Tommy (Preissing) in the lineup to really contribute on the power play. We went 0 for 7 the night before, and Tommy did jump in and do a good job there with his composure and his experience.''
4 Comments
Leave a comment
About the bloggers
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.
Vincent Bonsignore is a sports columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News. E-mail Vinny at vincent.bonsignore
@dailynews.com.
Copyright Notice |
Privacy Policy |
Information |
Subscriber Services |
Site Map |
RSS 
MNG Corporate Site Map | Newspaper Media Kit
MNG Corporate Site Map | Newspaper Media Kit
| For more local Southern California News: | Copyright ©2011 |
| Los Angeles Newspaper Group |
I thought Harrold as a forward didn't work. He brought his line off sides 3-4 times in the game and just seemed confused half the time. He stood half way into the zone, looking like he wasn't sure if he should stay back or fight for the puck in front.
the use of the word "Tremendous" in the same sentence as the name "Peter Harrold" is awfully gratuitous...
So, when do we get the hard-hitting, in depth questions to Terry Murray and Derek Armstrong about what he's done to accept his position in street clothes on game days? And, how about Matt Moulson's meteoric rise from fourth line to first line to street clothes to first line to Manchester?
Wow. I was starting to like Murray just because of the shots against totals, but I think he's lost the plot. Either that or he wants to be fired to go somewhere else. Back to Philly? It's always sunny...
Marc Nathan - Your comments about Armstrong and Moulson say it all. By Murrays formerly rational thought, Armstrong should have moved onto line 1 for a game or two while Moulson, who skated with determination and drew 2 penalties against Vancouver, should still be on the 3rd or 4th line where he really belongs while he's in the NHL.
This is shocking.
I know most here don't like soccer, but this is starting to look like what the Galaxy went through 2 months ago when Ruud Gullit walked out on them after a few months.
You know, besides this Harrold on the wing thing. I find it puzzling at the very least the Murray got a power-play with 1:36 left in the Calgary game and a face-off in the offensive zone, and Iginla in the box, yet Murray leaves Labarbara on the ice in net. Does that show a real desire to get the team an equalizer? Not to mention, he's got Stoll on the bench and the in-favor-again Preissing comes on as the left-side defenseman with just over 1 minute left. Isn't Stoll the one with a rocket from the point?
No timeout called either, though I don't know if he'd burned it.
What is going on? None of this makes any sense.