Forum answers VII

This should be all of them…thanks to everyone for the great question. Hopefully I did an adequate job of answering them…

I’m heading out to the morning skate today, so there should be some reports shortly…

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Question: What do the players think of the thermablade? Are any of them testing it in practice?

Answer: I don’t believe any of the Kings have tried it in practice. Not that I’ve heard of, at least.

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Question: The first thing I do when I come from work I log on this site to check what is new on the KINGs.I am from Slovenia and of course I am a big Kopi fan,but he did not impress me this season/so far/.Do you think he will find his offensive play and how much time will DL give him before he will try to trade him.I know Kopi is young and he is still learning but he is No.1 C and we all know what that means and the question is can he handel the task??

Answer: First of all, thanks for reading! It’s always a lot of fun to see that people from all of the world are reading. I don’t believe that Kopitar is in any danger of getting traded. He does seem to be having the most trouble, out of any of the Kings, adjusting to Terry Murray’s defense-first philosophy, but I haven’t heard anyone complain about Kopitar. Terry Murray goes out of his way to defend Kopitar and talk about how hard he’s working at his game. I tend to think that after an adjustment period, Kopitar’s numbers will rise, but that’s just a hunch.

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Question: There was a question earlier about practice schedules and that made me curious about what a typical day for player is like. Being a professional athlete seems like an awesome job to have; but I assume there is more to it than what we casual fans see. What is a typical day like (separate game day from non-game day as they are probably different and road/home differences). What other obligations could a player have on any given day (autograph sessions, commercial filming, pubilc appearances, etc.) and don’t forget having to placate reporters trying to write their blog šŸ™‚

Answer: Yes, those pesky reporters with their blogs! Game day is more straightforward. They will arrive in the morning and attend whatever meetings might be scheduled, then hit the ice around 10 a.m. for about 25-30 minutes. After that (and the aforementioned media obligation…) players are free to head home and relax. Some will stay and work out in the weight room and others will, of course, play Ping-Pong for a while. On game days, though, guys usually want to go home and rest. Practice days can vary wildly. There are meetings (power play, penalty kill, etc.) and there is time in the weight room or with the trainer. Young guys will often stay on the ice with coaches long after practice ends, in order to get more work done. Public appearances are typically limited during the season, and they’re usually done when the team has a couple days off in a row. A lot of the TV interviews you see are filmed in El Segundo, after practice.

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Question: Does Luc Robitaille ever work on shooting with the younger FWs on our team? Luc was one of the greatest shooters and “1-timer” masters of all time. He might be able to teach young-uns like Simmonds, Moller, Boyle and others a thing or 2 about shooting & scoring goals. Does Luc have any team duties like this?

Answer: No, I have never seen Luc on the ice, and I don’t think he has any real desire to step on what the coaches are trying to do. He’s front-office and they are coaches, and that line doesn’t get crossed.

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Question: According to the NHL, the Rose Bowl is being considered as a future location for the Winter Classic. Good idea or bad idea, and how would you organize it (in terms of teams, date, surrounding events)?

Answer: I’d rather see it at the Coliseum. I think it would be better for fans to watch in person and, as a couple people have pointed out, the Rose Bowl stadium tends to be occupied on Jan. 1… It would be natural to have the Kings and Ducks play it, and it would be quite a scene. But before we get ahead of ourselves here, I think it’s a longshot at best.

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Question: absent injury, which D-man is the odd man out? i can’t see the kings carrying 8, especially when the forwards get healthy.

Answer: Good question. Harrold can fill that forward/defense hybrid role, but it’s hard to see him staying as a forward ahead of some of those other guys. That’s a tough one. Harrold deserves to stay, but Gauthier fills that “physical” role and if Preissing doesn’t get traded, he probably isn’t going anywhere. If I had to bet, I’d say Gauthier but that’s far from a sure thing.

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Question: Rumor has it (and we know you don’t like rumors Rich) that the Bolts are shopping Steven Stamkos. Your thoughts on how he’d fit with LA (personally, I like the idea) and what it might take to land him. Picks and/or one or two of our young defensive prospects? Your thoughts…..

Answer: You’re correct that I typically ignore all rumors, but…where in the world did you find this one? Hilarious! I wouldn’t spend too much time worrying about that one. I can’t imagine any scenario in which Tampa would trade him, or any scenario in which a team would give up the mountain of picks/prospects to get him, to be honest with you.

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Question: I know we’re veering into the “tea-leaf reading” section. My question, boiled down is: what do you think DL’s decision-making tree looks like with regard to goaltending? Who is the most vulnerable?

Answer: I don’t see Quick or Bernier going anywhere. Zatkoff is so intriguing a possibility that I think the Kings want to get a better look at him. Of course, heading into 2009-10, that leaves the Kings in a similar situation to where they were last September. It’s hard to call Ersberg a “veteran,” but unless two of those kids clearly show that they’re ready to carry the load, the Kings are almost forced to keep around an older, more experienced guy. Tricky, indeed!

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Question: Rich: bass uses the same “instrument” that guitar uses, the notes you have to play just correspond to bass lines from the song. and no vocals? that might be the most fun of all the instruments, if you get past the fact that it’s also the most embarrassing.

Answer: Good to know. And I’m still trying to find a song to fit my (very limited) vocal range.

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Question: I can relate to your work situation. The comapny I work for closed for two weeks over Christmas and New Year’s. They paid the eves and holidays, but not the other six weekdays surrounding them. I was fortunate enough to have accumulated enough vacation time to cover the unpaid days. However, not everyone had that luxury.

Answer: Tough times for everyone. Believe me, every time I get too down on my situation, I think about all the people who would be happy to have ANY job right now.

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Question: Rich, How long until our cubbies will win a world series? or at least a playoff game

Answer: I prefer to just presume that they’re never going to win, and then if they do…well, never mind. They won’t.

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Question: Here ya go, Rich;-)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Century-Bell-222-30-size-Helicopter_W0QQitemZ120369555876QQcmdZViewItemQQ

Answer: Hmmm…this isn’t working out. Maybe if I got on the cliffs of Palos Verdes, I could hang-glide to Woodland Hills.

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