Still going with the open forum answers. Looks as though there will be a couple more sets of answers to go…
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Questions: 1. Does Justin Williams seem to be fitting in with the team and his new teammates? 2. Are you surprised by the play and consistency of Wayne Simmonds? 3. Do you think we will make the playoffs next year? 4. If you could sign one free agent in July who would you sign?
Answers: 1) I’m only around the players for a very limited time every day, but I took Williams’ interest in ping-pong to be a good sign. He’s interacting. 2) Yes, very surprised, and you used the correct word with “consistency.” I’m very impressed with his ability to maintain a solid level of play deep into the season. The fact that he made the team out of camp was surprising. The fact that he’s still going strong in mid-March is highly impressive. 3) Yes, I think that’s a reasonable projection. 4) Michael Cammalleri. Just kidding. Marian Hossa.
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Question: Rich whats the deal with Zeiler? He got a 4 year contract but in your opinion how long will he be here? He brings nothing to the team in my opinion.
Answer: Zeiler showed something in his first season, mainly with his willingness to skate and throw his body around, but his game really hasn’t evolved at all. The four-year contract he signed came at a very low price, so if he doesn’t make the NHL roster next season, he would simply fall into being a minor-league player who would be exposed to waivers (I believe) if he got called up.
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Questions: 1) Why is Harrold playing forward? Is there really no better options…Boyle, Lewis are better than Harrold at forward… 2) Why is Calder still in the line-up? 3) Whats the FSN HD Broadcasting situation next year?
Answers: 1) Because the coaches like the job Harrold is doing at forward and didn’t like what they saw from Boyle, which has been well-documented. Lewis got a little look at the NHL and should get a much longer look next season. 2) Because even though a lot of fans don’t like him, the Kings’ coaches do, especially the way Calder plays defense. 3) It hasn’t been announced yet, but the word I got from FSN’s since-departed PR person was that the network’s goal was to get every pro game on the network broadcast in HD later this year. We’ll see.
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Question: Here’s my question from a previous thread: What I want to know is why the Kings often lapse into prevent D with a lead in the third. A lot of times, it doesn’t work, especially against teams like Detroit, who smoked us witha two-goal lead in the third when we went into “no offense” mode. 3 shots in the third and zero in the final 12 minutes or so. Not acceptable. This happens in virtually every game in which we have the lead. Is this a concerted effort or just a byproduct of youth and inexperience?
Answer: Well, given my other job responsibilities, I probably don’t get to watch as many NHL games these days as a lot of you do, but I think it’s fairly natural for a team to fall into more of a defensive game when leading in the third period. Plus, it’s not just that the Kings are “falling back,” it’s that the other team is doubling its effort to push forward. Add this to the fact that we know Terry Murray’s emphasis, all season, has been on defense, and collectively it sort of explains the “prevent” defense. YOuth probably plays into it as well.
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Questions: 1) Oh, I forgot to ask about what DL thinks of prospect Jordan Schroeder.. I think he would be a nice fit for this team.. 2) Also, why TM has been making Brad Richardson a healthy scrach..?
Answers: 1) I really haven’t talked about draft prospects yet. It’s a bit early. 2) I heard that, the other night on Kings Talk, Ron Hextall mentioned that he wanted to see more offense from Richardson. That was the first I had heard of that.
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Question: Did Dean have to consult with Leiweke before making the Williams trade or does he have unlimited say over the hockey dept. or only up to a certain dollar acquisition amount?
Answer: I know that Lombardi prepared a “briefing” folder for ownership, with a few different charts and numbers, leading up to the trade deadline, but I don’t think the Williams trade had to be approved because it didn’t have big financial implications. They will probably sit down early in the offseason and talk budget, just as they did last season.
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Questions: 1) Rich, is today a good for the ‘long’ story to the Sully trade? 2) Do you know if many people have renewed their season tickets? If that number is up or down from this time last year? 3) What aspect of this blog/covering the Kings do you get the most personal pleasure/fullfilment from?
Answers: 1) Yeah, it’s fine, but I honestly don’t remember which parts of the story I didn’t tell before. So…the three-team deal was in place, and the Kings were looking at Williams’ medical records. The Kings nearly pulled O’Sullivan from the lineup on Tuesday, because they knew the trade was going down. On Tuesday night, the Toronto paper had a blog item about the Kings being interested in Williams. I messaged Lombardi to ask him about it, and he said no. Shortly before that, Edmonton had called off the trade because they found out the Kings were getting Williams and they didn’t like it. Lombardi thought I had broken that story, and he was trying to scare me off of it so that he could save his trade, so he lied about Williams. He didn’t know that I was merely following up on the Globe and Mail report, so he really wasn’t doing himself much good. So anyway, the next morning, he had to include the second-round pick in order to get the Oilers back to the table. The trade got done and Lombardi came clean about lying the previous night. I think that’s pretty much the quick version of the long story.
2) I don’t think that period is over yet, so no, I don’t have that number yet. 3) Wow, tough question. I probably enjoy the ability to sit down with people such as Lombardi and Murray and pick their brains. I don’t have any desire to be a GM or a coach, but I think it’s fascinating to talk to someone in-depth and get them to dissect the way they do their jobs. A lot of it ends up being off the record, which isn’t necessarily good for my ability to report, but it does help me understand what’s happening and I find it really interesting on a personal level.
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Question: Rich, how can we ensure the kings keep Frolov?
Answer: Talk to him and tell him to a) consistently play at a high level and b) not ask for an obscene amount of money in 15 1/2 months.
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Question: Do you agree it is time to do away with the term “core”? Hasn’t it been done to death at this point? All it seems to do is give fans a group of players they can feel betrayed about losing, even if its in the nme of making the team better. Your thoughts?
Answer: Well, yes, I agree with you. Every team has a “core,” but that core is constantly changing, and it does seem as though a segment of fans takes the term “core” to mean “players who will be here forever.” Two years ago, the “core” of the Ducks was Selanne, Pronger, Niedermayer and Giguere. That’s going to have changed quite a bit by the time the 2009-10 season starts, right? So I would recommend to Lombardi that if he wants to talk about a core, he explain himself a little more clearly, because some people are taking that word and attaching their own meaning to it.
