Open forum

I was at the game last night.

Notwithstanding the notariety of the name brand players, did anyone see Kyle Quincey play? This guy is steady eddy. Solid on the backline. Always makes the right break out pass. And when he gets the puck at the blueline he looks to shoot the puck on net to create a play.

This kid is flying under the radar and may be our best all around defenseman on the Team.

Rich - thanks for the open forum... they're always great to read your thoughts. My question is, with Jack Johnson scheduled to return around the all-star break, who do you see as the "odd man out" from our existing defensive group? What do you think the pairings will look like with Johnson back in the lineup? Will we push a defender off the roster or will Murray try moving a D-man (like Harrold) back up on the wing and send one of the younger kids back to Manchester? Just curious on your thoughts. Thanks again!

1. Rich do you think Voinov will make the team next season?
2. Do you think DL will adimately pursue a goal scorer over the summer in free agency? If so whho comes to mind?
3. Why did the schedule makers screw the kings and have them playing basically the last 3 months of the season on the road?
4. With Wayne Simmonds improving game by game do you see him being in LA all year?

What do you feel have been the Kings best line combos of late? Which goalie do you feel becomes the new #1? Which defenseman gets dropped when the JMFJ comes back? (Random Rapid Fire) Steak or Seafood? Vanilla or Chocolate? Wine or Beer? Dodgers or Angels? Megan Fox or Jennifer Anniston?

Rich:

Any ideas why the Kings aren't using Stoll's wicked one-timer on the power play? Stoll plays the point on the PP but never really on his one-time side, and they rarely seem to set up the one-timer.

When Stoll was in Edmonton, it seems like that was the mainstay of their PP. He really has a cannon.

Thanks again for all you do!

If i was GM there is no way Moller goes to Sweden he works for Kings not for Sweden! Now you lose him for 6 weeks instead of one,dumb move. Whats your thought.

With the Kings playing better than anticipated, do you see them making a move (for a proven scorer) before the trade deadline, to help our chances of making the playoffs, or is that just not a priority this year?

Thanks.

How long do you think it will take for the Kings to be a top team (cup contender)? This might not even happen, but the organization certainly have the potential. If you were to take a guess, what would it be?

Thanks for all your work! :-)

Three months into the season, Terry Murray finally listens to me and puts Frolov and Kopitar together on the same line and they produce! Hopefully it continues.
TM, listen closely. Cut Calder off the team. 2nd line should be Sully, Stoll, Brown. The rest of the lines are irrelevant since they all suck anyways. But we can have at least 2 decent scoring lines, which is more than what we have had all year so far.

MasterAL99

On the way home from the game last night I was looking forward having a late snack & read this blog when I got home. And every day at work about 9:00 I have my tea & take a half hour break to read this blog. Then I check it about every half hour through the day. I need to see what crazy things anthony will say. Or what insightful thoughts Quisp may say. Or the way EAT gets so argumentitive when he gets riled up. Really, just think what we would do without it. It has become such a part of our daily lives. Thank you Rich & Jill.

I'd also like to remark on the crowd last night. It was pretty wild. A lot of crazed Kings fans. Now that is supposed to be how a home crowd acts. I'm sure that had to pump up the players. That $10.50 per ticket offer was a great idea to pack the house & put more real fans close to the ice.

I do have one question though. My son was asking me at the game last night & I wasn't too sure about my answer. What is a fore check versus a back check? And why are some complaining that we have only one fore checker sometimes. And how does it effect our offense? I know one is offence & one is defense, but I am still a little confused as what to look for when I am watching the games. Thanks.

Have you had any discussion with Dean or Murray about Ivanans? I'd be curious to hear Murray's rationale for playing Ivanans so regularly (albeit limited minutes) at the expense of other skaters. Last night was another example of him taking a foolish penalty with his gloves on.

I'll grant that I'm biased and don't like to see ticky-tack penalties called against the Kings, but in my opinion, the officiating at games has not been very good or consistent. It seems to me that there are players who always get called for things and others who don't ever get called on them. I also think that more often than not Kings' players end up on the wrong end of those calls. So when the Kings are described as having taken too many penalties in a game, they may not be doing anything too different from what they've done any other day, but are just getting called more often. I've heard that the NHL won't comment on the work done by the refs, but is there any way for a team's management to bring up inconsistent officiating with the league, or is this just something that they have to put up with?

Rich,

DL stated that the rebuilding process would take about 5 years. The Kings are just about 3 years in. Where do you feel they are in the process, ahead of schedule, on track, behind? What is the feeling in the room in regards to making the playoffs this season? Do the players feel like they are building something special? Can you get another interview with DL to find out what we can expect moving into the latter half of the season, trades? If there was one missing link in the organization, at this point what would that be, I assume scoring depth (but in my opinion that is system related rather than talent)?

Thanks-

Excellent and thank you as always Rich:

1.) Do you get the impression from management that the Kings are down in any way on Jonathan Bernier? I realize the whole seniority thing with Quick, but Bernier made the team out of camp last season then struggled in Lewiston, the WJC and his stats are so-so at Manchester.
2.) Any updates on Jack Johnson's contract status?
3.) Do Moller and Doughty now have to do the team's laundry since Simmonds so successfully campaigned for Brown?
4.) You pointed out that this is the midway point of the season, what has been your favorite King's moment or moments thus far. Perhaps a behind the scenes anecdote?

Hey Rich.
Great game last night.

-Has Boyle earned himself regular spot on the roster
-Are Calder, Preissing, Stoll on the trading block
-Do you see either Zeiler or Preissing waived if a trade can't be worked out
-what happens to the line-ups when Moller returns
-what plan does TM have for Armstrong and Richardson
-who gets moved over when JJ returns - Gauthier or Harrold.

Thanks

I don't comment often, but I just want to take this time to say thank you Rich and Jill. Like someone wrote above, I check this site constantly all day just to see what news is happening. I even check it in the wee hours of the morning even though I know there's no updates happening then. Thank you for all your hard work! Here are my questions:

1. Thanks to Lombardi and improved scouting, the Kings are showing some great potential to be a cup contender within a few years if not sooner. But the Kings have had the same potential before in their past 40+ years. What makes this team different and what steps are Lombardi and the management doing to ensure that this potential will not be wasted?

2. I hate the ducks.

another question:

3. What are the attitudes of the players at the present time of the season? Are they developing that "winning" attitude? Is it a positive or negative atmosphere when they lose? What's being done to foster a good attitude and good team dynamics off the ice?

Questions...hmmm.....

1) any luck digging up that old "Ask a King" with Luc explaining the Versailles Treaty?
2) updates on my favorite prospects (I will leave off the obvious ones, since we've been hearing a lot about them -- Hickey, Teubert, Voynov, Lewis): Parse, Loktionov, Cameron, Campbell (heard he's been underwhelming), Martinez (heard same), Azevedo (a point a game so far in AHL, but injured now...call up, or is that madness?), Roe, Cliche (heard he's skating and "close," true?), Clune (about to return...but just how good was his camp from DL's point of view? Is a call-up just my little pipe-dream? I'm guessing yes)...I'm probably forgetting someone.
3) since we are gearing up for the giant second half road trip, I would like to know who rooms with whom on the road.
4) I think you should set up some corner of your blog for predictions by blog visitors. It seems to me that a big chunk of commenting is on the topic of what is going to happen by when and who is going to have this many points, who is going to get traded, etc... It would be unbelievably cool to have a place where we (the loyal and clinically obsessive readers) could go to check up on our past opinions and predictions and see how it's panning out. Now that I'm typing this, I can see there's no way it's going to happen, because it's a web-design issue and probably a lot of work for someone. Okay, but related to that:
5) the search engine on your site: any way to get it to return hits on the comments. I find it very difficult to find the various stupid things I've said and end up poring over entire months of old posts, which is of course fun but time consuming. Is there a way for your IT geniuses to add a button where we can choose to target just your posts or the posts and the comments in order to find what we're looking for?
6) did any of the players feel the earthquake?

how much does frolov love it when heidi calls him fro?

With Quincey, Johnson, Doughty, Greene set for next year and beyond, any thoughts on trading Voynov, Hickey, Teubert, Bagnall or Piskula for some scoring?

Is Loktoinov [sic] on the radar?

Does Lombardi believe the Kings need to add an outside scorer, or is there someone in the pipeline he sees coming up?

I know that this will probably make some people laugh, but I really liked the Kings intro last year. The Hans Zimmer music was bad ass and got the blood pumping (I felt) the punk music to start is cool, I guess, but whats up with Metallica? The tribute to the old Chevy logo was ok, but I wish they'd go back to the movie battle scene intro. I posted this earlier, but am I off base by thinking that the kid Ryan should've at least gotten a good shove the next time he was on the ice for his little chest bump to the glass in the corner in OUR house?!?!?! I get the idea of the hat trick, ok, cool, right on, but really??? Nobody even gave dude a face wash. Other than that, I've got no complaints. Great game last night, I was stoked on the crowd (I was in 304 with some limp wristed Quackers next section over in 303) and those latte sippers started doing that cute little Pennywise song, nice to watch them leaving early. Best song of the night was the "Anaheim Sucks" chant that went extra long. Can't make the Devils or Lighting, but I'll be at the Red Wings. Go Kings

What do you see as priessing's future with the kings. they are paying him alot of money to sit on the bench. Is he not playing because he is just too much of a defensive liability? He has to be worth something to someone. Maybe the senators would like him back!

Rich, I don't know how much Frolov loves it when Heidi calls him 'Fro', but she can call me any name at any time....

As a season seat holder, I am miffed that my prices went up last summer and now with that recent promo folks were able to buy lower bowl seats at a fraction of the price I paid to replace my fellow season seat holders who told the Kings to take a flying leap.

So my question is was it the Kings (Luc-no business experience/Chris McGowan-no marketing success) or AEG (Leiweke-no comment needed) who came up with this promo and do the powers-that-be realize how upset season ticket holders are? Whatever happened to us paying less than any other ticket buyer?

Hi Rich. Thanks for all you do!

For at least the 3rd time I will ask the unanswered question: who pays the salary of a Junior player during the first 10 games they are on the roster of their NHL team? And what rate are they paid? Is it their junior team that is paying their salary (since they are on a junior level contract) or the NHL team they are playing for on a "per game" rate?

Obviously, once they hit the 10 game mark they are now an NHL player and their standard entry rookie contract kicks in, i.e. whatever they negotiated along with bonuses.

Finally, how does a "tryout" contract work? Does that player get any stipend whatsoever on a per game basis? Is there a difference between an amateur (someone in college) and a professional tryout (someone who has been a pro before)? Years back, at the end of a Kings season in the late 90s, Jason Blake had an amateur tryout because his Univ. of North Dakota season had ended. He did well, and the Kings signed him to a pro contract afterwards. So for an "amateur" tryout I would assume he makes only expenses...as any payment would nullify his collegiate elligibility.

Thanks Rich for my persistence. Just curious, that's all.

BRS a short explanation about forecheck and backcheck. Forecheck is when your establish in your defensive zone and you put 1 or 2 guys up front to check the opposite players high to block the other teams possibilities to pass the puck. When you backcheck is when your forwards goes down to help out the defense when the other team is attacking and your team has just given up the puck. You often backcheck with 2 guys so the third forward can stay in the netrual zone and hopefully get the puck from his teammates and start the attack.The third forward will eventually go into his defensiv zone if the other team establish themselves in our zone. Forecheck and backcheck goes hand in hand.

When Jack Johnson comes back, who will be leaving?

Did DL tip his hand list night when he said the Defense was going to get "younger" when JJ comes back. That seems to not bode well for Preissing or O'Donnell. More than likely Preissing. But of the 6 that dress regularly who will not be playing?

Hey Rich !

1) With Jack Johnson's injury causing him to miss half, if not most, of the year, how do you think Dean will handle his RFA status ? A cheaper, short term contract so JJ can prove himself better and get a Kopi-sized contract ? Or base his contract on what he did last year under a different system and whatever he can accomplish with his time in this year's system ?

2) Do you think Dean Lombardi can find any takers for guys like Kyle Calder or Tom Preissing ? Preissing is a constant scratch and Calder is taking up a spot that someone like Moller can take up once he gets back from injury.

3) Given Moller's injury at the WJC and Lombardi's comments about how he was concerned that the Swedish team did not pick up on it, do you think he will allow players to compete again next year ? It sounds like he holds the WJC in high regard so if he does allow them to go, do you think he will send a Kings representative to monitor the Kings players closer ?

4) I see you write on the Kings for the Hockey News. Out of curiousity, how do you like working for them ? They provide some interesting insight although I do not agree with all of their opinions. Do they hassle you to change stuff to fit their viewpoints ?

5) Can you provide some comments on Quick's statement that there is consistency btw the systems implemented in MAN and LA ? Do you sense that even though Purcell and Boyle get sent up and down, they can jump in and play w/o too many adjustments ?

6) Do you get the impression that the players are getting frustrated with the line juggling ?

Thanks for giving us all a chance to ask you questions and for taking the time to respond !

Do you think the Kings would consider Martin Havlat? He's kind of injury prone, but when he's playing, he's really quite good. He probably could be had for a reasonable price considering his impending UFA status.

Just your thoughts, thanks. I'll take my answer off the line.

Feel free to answer any or all.

1) Do you think Johnson is envious of the freedom to attack that Quincey and Doughty have seen this season under Murray? It seemed that Crawford had a mandate for defensemen to stay back almost always, and that we've yet to see Jack's offensive abilities. Can you speak at all to this?

2) Can you talk about Tom Preissing? It seemed like a very exciting signing at the time, and I still like his cerebral nature as a player. I think if/when he's moved we'll regret it. Could Preissing play a wing?

3) If the Kings could bring back any one player they moved for any reason (trade, free agency, etc.) that's still playing in the league, who would it be?

4) Is it just me or does Frolov almost always seem to be enjoying himself on the ice? Is he just happy-go-lucky or is it a love of the game?

5) Looking at stats on NHL.com, the Kings are very poor in the Giveaways and Takeaways category, what do you think it will take to get better there? Is it just poor passing and our defensive system?

6) Plus/minus is a pretty odd stat. I think that the player in the box should take a minus provided they're there for their own penalty. Thoughts? [And, oh yeah - I used all three homophones in that sentence!]

Rich--you're an LA native, no? What gets your vote for best burger spot in town?

Rich,

Wonderful work as always.

1. Last year Patrick O'Sullivan was a force on the PK, and for many of the early games looked like the Kings most aggressive offensive player. Now his numbers are not bad...but it seems like he is not having as great an impact. Switching lines so frequently maybe a reason, but do you sense anything else?

2. If you look two years out, our DEF would likely have Greene, Quincy, JJ, Doughty, Hickey, Teubert, Voinov, and possibly Martinez...just a hunch from you, who would you guess amongst the youngsters is the most likely not to live up to his potential and not be here?

3. For the close games that the Kings have played and lost this year, you always hear that as a young team, they have to learn how to win these games. From your perspective is that a tangible thing such as working harder or sticking to the system, or is it a "learning process"? If it is a "learning process", in your opinion, just how patient should they be? My impression is that losing begets losing, and although the team may have a new outlook, it can be damaging to their psyche.

Rich,

My personal feeling about JJ is he has the potential of being a really good if not great d-man, with that said do you think that there was to much hype on him, being the next Rob Blake and the answers to our d-men worries.

Also, do you think that the Kings were send JJ down to Manchester for "Conditioning", so that he gets some games in him and maybe gets some confidence back before they throw him out on the ice.

I don't think that sending him down for a month would be a bad thing, just like what they did with POS.

Thoughts?

Also thank you to you and Jill for this REALLY KICK ASS blog!

The recession is pretty big news in the world right now, how does it affect the team presently and in the future? Will it change any long term strategy? If the cap falls and GMs are going to unload players, is Lombardi in the position to pick up players for cheap? Or is there a ceiling dictated by Anschutz or even in his own strategy?

I have one more question, now that it seems like defense is solidifying, what's Lombardi's take on the offense and goaltending foundations? It seems like the offensive prospects have gotten weaker ever since he focused on building the defensemen.

I know Terry Murray likes a physical game and thats why Ivanans gets a decent amount of playing time, but why do you think he pretty much always gets away scott free from criticism/losing playing time when he takes dumb penalties? His penalty last night against the Ducks was ridiculous as he pushed down a guy without the puck right in front of the refs. Yet Murray was only (publicly) upset with Stoll for the delay of game penalty. Ivanans also had decent minutes in the third. Any ideas?

Rich,

I would expect ticket prices to rise as the team continues to get better, buuuutt....

If AEG can justify a ticket price increase after last season, and if the teams continues to grow and improve into a playoff contender as well all hope/think they will....with your knowledge of how AEG seems to operate, do you think they are gonna jump at the chance to really bump up the prices and eventually out-price a lot of the die-hard King fans who've supported this team for the duration?

Now that the defense is somewhat deep and Murray's defensive changes forming a huge difference, do you see the Kings using some free agent money (Calder, Gauthier) on a scorer or does he feel the Junio or Monarch Kings will develop?

Do you believe the injury to Jack Johnson will create an impasse as to his worth in signing him long term?

Do you root for the King?

P.S.-thanks for the heads up on that SI article on Avery. Priceless.

One more thing, do you think that other players are learning how to take face-offs from Stoll ? That is an area we need to improve on.

Thanks Rich. Always appreciate your works. I can't thank you enough for all your efforts getting us updated.

Looking at the improved defense this year, I can't help but thinking what if Rob Blake signed with the Kings. Obviously that means our defense will be without Sean O'Donnell today. With SOD being more of defensive-minded D and Blake is the other way around, the defensive pairing would have been different and Blake would have been the "mentor" of Drew Doughty. Plus, Blake would be wearing a letter "C" on his jersey. With all these assumptions, do you think it worked out better for the Defense, Doughty, and the team overall without Rob Blake as a Kings? I personally think it worked out better without Blake, but I am just curious what you think. Thank you!

shaken or stirred?

Finish this sentence...Preissing will be traded on ___ to___ for_______.

You are the best. Not good or great, the best.

Rich,

Do any of the Euro players get their teammates involved in hall-soccer before games or at practice?

How do the Kings work "film" with the players? Do they watch every game as a group? Study individually with coaches? What's the process of teaching, with film, what coaches want and what players need to improve?

Have you any knowledge of whether Lombardi has ever entertained the thought of offering a '08-'09 contract to any of the veterans that are not currently playing - Sundin (before he signed) or Shanahan, McLaren or Kaberle?

Do players get to stay on the ice after practice and work by themselves or in small groups? Do guys like O'S and Brown shoot on a goalie, or does Kopi work with linemates? That sort of thing?

Do players on the team get on the stationary bikes after the game to increase stamina and fitness? Are the coaches and management happy with fitness levels? In my opinion, weight is a great asset to have if it doesn't slow a player down, are the players like Simmonds, Kopi, Brown, O'S, Purcell focused on putting on "good" weight and muscle?

Thanks a bunch.

did Calder tip Brown's goal last night? I didn't think so, but someone tells me he did. I have yet to go back and watch for myself.

To voice of reason
Hands down the munch box in chatsworth the best burger in town.

Almost forgot, Hope I'm not too late.

Has the ice been any better since the NHL-Ice guy was here last month?

I don't understand the degree of expectation that is set on rookies. Some bounce up and down, like Boyle, and some remain, like Simmonds. I am happy with Simmonds play, but his offensive contribution is minimal. When watching the games, I don't see glaring errors made by Boyle. What is it that I don't see? Does Simmonds have a different locker room presence or attitude that defines in a greater manner than Boyle? What is the quality that Simmonds possesses that allows him to remain in the NHL? as opposed to the Manchester others?

1.What are their plans with Zeiler with Armstrong and others getting healthy? He still has two more years on that 1 way contract and players like Moulson and Lewis more than able to take his shifts.
2.What are the thoughts on last years draftees and their seasons so far?
3. Which prospect in the organization is opening the most eyes?
4. Best inexpensive place to grab a bite to eat before/after the games?

Keep up the great work.

One more question-group I forgot,
Do you know of any movement amongst the NHL teams to push the NHL to move to a larger ice surface?
What's your opinion on ice size?

Here's a question that struck me during Tuesday's telecast- why was Heidi Androl doing a report for the Ducks? Doesn't she work for the Kings?

Rich,

I don't recall this question being asked in the past, so here goes!

Has there been any discussions within AEG or the Kings brass as to utilizing Kansas City as an AHL affiliate? Makes all the sense in the world. Half the distance from Manchester and AEG owns the new building. If the Kings (we hope) are not a viable option for relocation, why wouldn't the fans of Kansas City embrace this idea. I firmly believe an NHL team would fail, provided they were immediately successful.

Thanks for all your great work.

Great day peoples ? :)

Last year I used pc, but now mac air and I was thinking about downloading Youtube.
Never did it with my dell pc. BUT
yesterday, I used a piece of software moviesherlock (http://www.moviesherlock.com/ - www.MovieSherlock.com or somethng like this, please contact me if I am wrong with url).
It converts more than 59 movies with single click!
But what is bad - the software is too simple no extended options :( But I want to copy downloaded movies to my iphone 3G or add to itunes library.
How you guys solve the problem?

BTW: I am very amazed with my mac book air, much more than with dell. He is so amazing and touchines...

Pentiums melt in your PC, not in your hand.