Forum answers I
Thanks for all the great questions, and feel free to keep asking them. It's been a busy day, so sorry for the delay in getting to the answers, but here's the first set...
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Question: How many draft picks in the first 4 rounds for the kings this year? Any idea what Trent Klatt is up too? Any news on Zatkoff?
What do you think of the Kings goaltending prospects? How would you tank them? What is up with Clune and Cliche?
Answers: 1) I'll probably make some small mistake on this, but I believe it's accurate. The Kings currently have one first-round pick, two
second-round picks, one third-round pick and three fourth-round picks. The Kings have their own first-round pick and their own second-round pick plus Calgary's pick (Cammalleri trade). The Kings lost their third-round pick in the Cloutier trade but got Buffalo's pick in a 2008 draft-day trade. That pick would go to Anaheim if the Kings trade Sean O'Donnell before the end of the season. In the fourth round, the Kings have their pick plus Detroit's pick (Brad Stuart trade) plus San Jose's pick (2008 draft-day trade). 2) According to Wikipedia, Klatt ``now coaches Bantam A hockey in Grand Rapids, Minnesota along with fellow former NHLer Scott Kleinendorst.'' 3) Zatkoff is eligible to come off injured reserve now, but I haven't heard anything in the last couple days about whether he's ready to play. 4) Just based on where they are now, you'd have to put Quick over Bernier. He's playing in the NHL and Bernier isn't. After that, Zatkoff is showing good development, and Martin Jones looks intriguing. 5) Clune is back and playing for Manchester. I have no idea what's going on with Cliche. He has now been out more than four months with a separated shoulder.
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Question: Can you give us an update on how Matt is doing? Did he land another sportswriting gig? He was a good kid with a passion for his
work.
Answer: Anyone who can actually find a sportswriting job these days is living a charmed life. Last I heard, Matt was persuing some
freelance assignments in his varied interests. I'm sure he appreciates the good wishes.
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Questions: 1) Even if the kings pull off a great second half and manage to make a push for that seventh or eighth spot, would you think it
wise to bolster there line-up through a trade, maybe losing some of there prospects, or just to wait until next year and let the kids get some valuable playoff experience? Then pick up some pieces in the off-season. 2) From what I have seen and to which some have agreed to through the message boards, Sully seems to be unhappy especially after he got that empty netter a week or so ago. Is there any discontent there or am I reading to much into his body language?
Answer: 1) Giving up prospects for a talented player under a multi-year contract? Sure. Giving up prospects for a rent-a-player, just in the hopes of sneaking into the playoffs? Probably not. That's an important distinction, and it can be a tough thing to balance. Certainly, there is some emotional value, in terms of a young team having some success and making the playoffs, but I think Lombardi's thoughts, in terms of trades, will always focus on the long term. 2) I really don't understand this. People who probably have never had an extended conversation with O'Sullivan are going to judge his happiness level by whether he smiles on the ice? You shouldn't take personal offense to that, but I just don't understand it, especially since I've known O'Sullivan for a couple years and I've probably seen him smile...twice.
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Questions: Why does Oscar Moller use a Foote stick instead of one with his name on it? Do you think they will resign Erik Ersberg? Will Erik take another one year contract & is his health now an issue with the team? How long do we have Kyle Quincy signed for? Regarding Kings practice at Toyota Sports Center: how do we know when the whole team will show up? I can call & get the time of the practice, but we've shown up a couple times & only a few guys will be there? Is there some kind of formula they follow? And generally from your past experience do they practice on a Sunday after a 1:00 game on Saturday?
Answers: 1) Good question. I haven't the slightest idea, but I'll ask him if I remember the next time I see him. 2) I can't see them giving Ersberg a long-term contract at this point, but that could always change. The Kings want as much flexibility as they can have with the goalies, which is why they fought for a two-way contract for Ersberg this season. Whether he will take a short-term contract is another question. Obviously he already has a history of playing professionally in Sweden. 3) Quincey will be a restricted free agent after the 2010-11 season. 4) Generally, all the players will be on ice if it's a regularly scheduled practice. If there are two or three days off between games, there might be a built-in rest day. For instance, using the example you gave, if the Kings played Saturday afternoon, and then not again until Tuesday, there's a good chance that most of the team wouldn't skate Sunday. If there was a game on Monday, the whole team would almost certainly skate Sunday. You sort of have to look ahead to the next game, and project.
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Question: The Clash or U2?
Answer: Both, but I'm big into U2 because I grew up listening to them. New tour soon!
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Question: What do you think is happening with Brian Boyle? Do you see him joining the Kings again this season? Has he missed his opportunity for this year, barring injury? Do you think the expectations for Boyle by the Kings are realistic? Is heing being expected to be something he is not because of his size? Do you think it is time to trade Boyle to an organization that will accept him as the player he is, rather than lament the type of player that he is not?
Answer: Well, whether you agree with what the Kings are doing or not, they've been very consistent. They want Boyle to play a more physical game, to be stronger in all areas of his game. To this point, he hasn't been able to perform to their satisfaction. If you want to make the argument that he should be used in a different role, or that the expectations are too high, you're certainly entitled to that, but it's not going to change the reality for Boyle. Until he can show, at the NHL level, that he can be that type of player, he's not going to have a future with the Kings. From talking to Boyle, it's clear that he understands this. In my conversations with him, he has never complained about anything. He has said that he understands what he needs to do. That's probably the best answer I can give.
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Question: Why is John Zeiler taking up a roster space with the Kings? In 79 career NHL games, he has 1 goal and 3 assists. Shouldn't we see either Boyle, Lewis, Moulson or Purcell with the Kings instead of Zeiler?
Answer: Because there are different players for different roles. Zeiler is an energy player, not a goal scorer, and he's not being put in a goal-scorer's role. If you want to argue that the Kings have too many ``energy'' players and not enough goal scorers, you'd have a pretty strong argument, but in general, fourth-line players are fourth-line players for a reason. They're on the roster to run around and hit people, not to score 40 goals. Perhaps you disagree with the need for a fourth line such as that, but that's pretty much standard practice in the NHL.
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Question: Rich, I love the work you do here and the Hockey News. Is there any way you would go work for the Hockey News full time if they asked you? Like a Adam Proteau or Mike Brophy kind of deal?
Answer: And leave the thriving newspaper industry? What, are you mad???
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Questions: 1. Why are the next 3 games not televised by FSN? 2. Do BOB and Jim still travel/attend road games that aren't televised?
Answers: 1) I believe the Chicago game isn't being televisesd because of college basketball. I presume that both UCLA and USC are slotted in for live telecasts on Fox Sports. As far as Montreal and Ottawa, the Kings are not televising any games from Canada this season. I'm really not certain what the reason is behind that. Typically, I believe, they have done Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, but not this season. 2) Typically no, but I know that Jim is heading to Canada this weekend for some other obligations. But I don't believe Bob will join the team until they get to Washington.
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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.
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I hope Center Ice will show the CHI telecast if FSN will not show the game. However, I think I remember the last time this happened, the game was blacked out anyway.
rookie players rarely get their own sticks or blades (e.g. preferred curve, heal or toe) until they are established in the league. Until that happens they usually use another player's curve that is similar to their own preference. In many cases, the curves vary only slightly, but in some cases their are drastic differences. Zetterberg's blade is almost completely flat with a slight curve at the heal of the blade while we all remember McSorley's blade which had a drastic cruve from heal to tip ... can we say illegal? :)
Cliche is still listed as "month to month" on the Manchester site.
txfan, not exactly the case as Wayne has his own stick at the moment.
I would like to second TB's question about Ersberg as trade bait. It strikes me that signing Ersberg before 7-1 is likely to be tricky, since both parties have reason to be uncertain about the future, neither party being (or appearing be) sure about how Ersberg fits into the Kings' plans. It seems to me that the one thing DL can't do is sign EE to a "great" (for EE) deal; it has to be affordable for the Kings, to give them room to deal with Bernier and Zatkoff. Since EE undoubtedly knows this, he might be inclined to test free-agency. Since DL knows that EE knows THAT, he might be inclined to trade him first. Hence: tricky.
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?
Although I fully support a Quick-Bernier future, I highly doubt he'll be NHL ready come next season. If he does in fact trade EE, he'd better get an equal or better quality goalie in return.
I guess it looks like I'll be changing my login name soon.
Rich,
You are dead-on with the draft picks for this year. For those interested they also have for this year:
5th round: 2 (their own and one from the T.J. Fast trade - I believe it's St.Louis'?)
6th round: 2 (their own and one from Chicago.)
7th round: 3 (their own, Vancouver's through Labarbera trade and St. Louis').
The Kings also have Philly's 2010 2nd rounder and San Jose's 2010 5th rounder
Let's not have anymore trades for renta players - Dean is a good judge of talent and will not waste picks - we are finally getting to the position of having guys other teams want on their roster - were still way ahead of schd - playoffs this yr would be great - not at the loss of picks though-
Jesse .. did you happen to notice the word "rarely" in my post. Having worked in the industry for many years I think I can speak to the process that takes place when players want to create their own shaft or blade. I guarantee you that there are players that have their own shafts and blades made for them - especially once they make the NHL squad, however, this RARELY occurs UNTIL they make the squad. This may simply be a personal preference for Moller or Simmonds or any player for that matter. Hockey equipment is very personal and some players tweak designs to fit their own needs / desires / tendencies etc.
Did "energy" players come into vogue when the NHL expanded into 30 teams? Apparently not enough "quality" players to go around.
The term "energy" player did, but not the player itself.
The difference is, 30 years ago, those energy players scored 15 goals/20 goals per year because defenses were so slow and goaltending wasn't exactly what it is today.
John Zeiler playing in this league in 1980 would be a 15 goal scorer...see the difference? The game has changed so much that the grinders, the muckers, the guys who fight it out in the corners, the "ENERGY" guys don't score the way they used to.
Talent is better, not worse due to the flood of Eastern European players, and rise of US Born players coming from areas outside of the Northeast and Upper Midwest.
mrbrett,
Zeils really isn't a 4th line NHL'er.
We all know that.
I have seen POS smile once before. A couple friends and I attended a practice back when he first came to the Kings. We were sitting front row and a friend turned around to talk to us. At that moment POS rocketed a shot at the glass right in front of us and nearly scared the piss out my friend and made him duck down to seat level. POS was smiling! He came by later and greeted us. I hope POS is with us for a long time.
Brickwall, love your comment :) Sully takes a little while to warm up to people...the one time I met him in the Reserve Room, he was holding up the wall until my friend and I went over to talk to him. When we talked, he was beyond nice.
On the ice, you can tell when he's mad, because if you read his lips (and I have) you'll notice the frequency of "f" bombs increase :) Although I've seen Kopi drop 'em too.
Sully is fine! You guys worrying about him now are probably the same ones blaming him for being a holdout during this summer's contract talks, when that wasn't entirely the case. Leave him alone and let him do his thing...he's a critical part of this team.
And he's missing 5 teeth already. Not smiling on the ice might help make sure the rest stay where they are.
Meg is right. He's holding his remaining teeth in with his lips. All this talk of "have you seen POS smile" is making me think someone should do a Kings cheesecake calendar. Come on, you know you want one!
I hereby stick up for Zeiler. He works hard. He hits people. He did that funny through the legs wrestling reversal move in a fight a few weeks back. He may be doomed, who knows? But he's okay by me.
Ersberg -
(1) Don't change your name, no matter what happens. It's too confusing when people change names.
(2) I don't think DL will trade EE for another goalie. If he thinks JB won't be ready next year, he'll sign EE. My guess is he thinks JB will be ready next year and he will deal EE if the situation arises -- and I think it will arise because this is the time of year when goalies start to get hurt. The other variable is EE himself: maybe he won't be willing to negotiate now, but will want to wait till 7-1. Which would force DL's hand.
I take it back. He could trade for another goalie who had another year on his contract, thus buying himself another year's worth of time to decide on Bernier. That's possible. But I don't know who that would be.
Still, don't change the name. I didn't change mine when Quisp cereal was pulled from the shelves. What? That was 1973? Never mind.
Quisp.
Don't you risk losing your claim to the Quisp-Fortune inheritance if you change your name?
Oh, I blew that inheritance long ago.
MrBrett7,
Following your logic above.....If Alexander Frolov played in 1980, would he have scored 65-70 goals a season? I tend to think not.
The biggest difference in goaltending in the past 30 years IMO is the goalies equipment. The pads and everything else are so much bigger.
Even Mario Lemieux said late in his career "there's not any holes there anymore." He was referring to any potential openings to shoot the puck when skating in alone on a goalie.
To Bob Bobson: Center Ice is showing the Chicago feed.