Forum answers VI
Here's the sixth round. The questions keep trickling is, but I think one more set of answers after this should wrap it up. Then we can get on with draft talk...
-----
Questions: 1. Mr. Lombardi has talked about turning the players on the Kings roster into elite, world-class athletes. Have you had any insight into how exactly this is being achieved?
2. Irregardless of the NHL/Phoenix ruling today, what is your opinion on the NHL and how it assesses success when it comes to individual franchises? I'm not sure how to clarify that question - I guess I am having a hard time deciphering between whether the fight is because the NHL just can't admit it ever makes mistakes or is the league doing so well that failing franchises are allowed to stick around?
Answers: 1) Given that the Kings are still looking for a strength and conditioning coach, I can't imagine that they have taken great strides so far this summer toward that goal. Players don't need someone to hold their hands. They're professionals and they know what they need to do in order to be in shape, but it always helps to have guidance. The idea behind hiring a new conditioning coach is to get everyone on the same page, and to keep track of their progress. 2) I certainly don't think it's because the league is doing that well. The NHL is a different position than the other three major pro sports because, as much as league officials don't like to hear this, hockey is a regional sport. It's huge in Canada, big in the Northeast and successful in pockets elsewhere. The NHL tries, desperately, to make the league viable in areas such as Arizona and the South, and losing a team such as the Coyotes would be a big step backward in that regard. That, more than anything, is probably why the league is fighting it as fiercely as they are.
-----
Question: You have talked in the past about the tension between faithful reporting and wanting to retain access. Have you ever felt pressured (whether explicitly or not) to not share information? And have you ever simply not reported on a story (no need to be specific)?
Answer: Good question. The only thing I can think of that might fall under this category was the news about the Boston Celtics ownership trying to buy a piece of the Kings. The Kings really didn't want that information reported, and it sort of blew up the potential deal. In general, though, there really aren't problems like that. When I talk to someone, I always have a clear understanding of whether it's on or off the record. That ``tension'' you reference deals more with the type of questions that are asked. Fans sometimes wonder why reporters don't ask the so-called ``tough questions.'' That's where there is a balance. If there is a tough question to be asked, you ask it, but you also have to be respectful, because chances are, the subject is someone you have to talk to on a near-daily basis. If you do nothing but attack, why would that person want to talk to you in the future, about anything? So you have to maintain that balance.
-----
Question: If you were GM of the kings right now. Which would you prefer to look for a scorer first. Would you rather look into the FA's available or would you want to go through trade? possibly kovalchuk as he would be my 1st choice in a trade but the possibility of that is very slim.
Answer: If I absolutely had to acquire a top-level forward this summer, I would look trade first. The caliber of free agents this summer isn't that impressive, although I suppose it wouldn't hurt to grab a guy on a one- or two-year deal. Other than Hossa, who is probably out of most teams' grasp, I can't think of many other guys worthy of a huge contract.
-----
Question: What is the status of Brady Murray? He is still in Switz at least for another year, so is he still Kings property? Why did he go to Europe in the first place and why allow him to do that if the Kings were still interested in him?
Answer: In NHL terms, Murray is a restricted free agent this summer, so I doubt he will be Kings property much longer. He went to Europe because it was a much better opportunity. No doubt he realized that he had a very narrow window in terms of making the Kings, and that he was almost certainly headed to Manchester. I don't know exactly what the pay structure is like in Switzerland, but I imagine that once you get over any ``ego factor,'' in terms of not being in the NHL, there's a good living to be made in Europe.
-----
Questions: The HF boards have Oscar Moller as the Number 1 prospect for the Kings in a recent article. How do you feel about that? Are the Kings that high on him? He's as slippery as a pumpkin seed but does his game translate to the NHL? These are puzzling questions for me. Any interest in Bouwmeester? The Sedins? Is anyone "untouchable in the pre-draft marketplace? Doughty? Kopi?
Answers: 1) Moller clearly needs to put on some muscle, but he's young enough, and motivated enough, to do it. It will be interesting to see how much stronger he is at training camp this year, as opposed to last year. Based simply on talent and leadership ability, he's a NHL player. 2) Any interest? I'm sure there is, but it's a very long, twisting road from ``interest'' to ``signing.'' I wouldn't count on seeing any of those players in a Kings uniform. And I'm sure some players are untouchable. You could put Doughty, Kopitar and Brown on that list, but nobody is untouchable if somone wanted to present a ridiculous trade to Lombardi.
-----
Question: Have you heard any kind of deadlines or must-have objectives from AEG directed to DL in regards to making the playoffs in 2010 (i.e. is his job on the line)?
Answer: No, ultimatums like that do not exist.
-----
Questions: 1) Kind of odd, but do you think there's going to be a coaching change for the Kings this season? Ross McKeon of Yahoo sports said that "Terry Murray is just a Band-Aid, and the Kings know it." Do you agree? If this is the case, when do you think he'll be replaced?
2) Do you really think the Kings will put Frolov on the trading block to acquire a good winger? It seems contrary that we need a scoring winger, and we'd trade our (IMO) best scoring winger to get a scoring winger. In the Worlds tournament, it was clear how talented Fro really is.
3) Is it possible that Brownie could play a third line position next year? With the way he plays, I could see him, Simmonds, and perhaps Handzus being a very physical and formidable third line.
4) Do you think Brown will remain Captain this year?
Answers: 1) I understand the point Ross is making, but to start putting a clock on Terry Murray would be complete folly on my part. As much as I respect what he accomplished, I sort of thought of Andy Murray as being in that same category. He's a ``builder,'' a guy who has the ability to get a lot out of a non-superstar team, but is he the guy to get your team over the hump, into title contention? I'm not sure. The bottom line is that if Terry Murray wins, he's staying. That's the bottom line for any coach.
2) They're not ``putting him on the trading block,'' but if you're going to talk trade, you're going to have to talk about trading players, and Frolov's name will come up because a) he's talented and b) he's entering the final year of his contract. I said this before...it's not that Frolov is expendable. It's that the Kings run the risk of losing him for nothing in 12 months.
3) I wouldn't consider it the worst idea I've ever heard. Brown seemed more comfortable in a second-line role last year and, as you suggest, finding the right mix of players is more important that designating someone as a ``first-line'' or ``second-line'' guy. If you have three good lines, it doesn't matter what numbers you attach to them.
4) Yes.
12 Comments
Leave a comment
About the bloggers
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.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.
Do you think the Kings would trade the 1st round pick to the Flyer's for Scotty Hartnell? I know this is a rumor. but is this the kind of player the Kings need?
re Brown on the third line:
The main issue with Brown/Handzus/Simmonds as a line is who would play on the right side. Brown sucked on the right last year, and talked openly about how difficult it was for him. Does Simmonds switch sides on that line? The funny thing is, x/Stoll/Brown is also really a third line. The Kings have two third lines right now. Or two seconds and a third, or something. Lewis is a great candidate to play on the right side with Handzus and Simmonds, or, for that matter, with Stoll and Brown. What if Cliche (another defensive specialist) has a great camp?
It's obviously premature to try to cobble together lines before camp, to say nothing of rookie camp, prospect camp, summer free agency and the draft. Nevertheless! As of today, it's:
Frolov/Kopitar/Williams
F4/Stoll/Brown
F7/Handzus/Simmonds
Ivanans/F11/F12
F13/F14
Moller, Purcell, Richardson, Lewis, Zeiler, Boyle are the guys who have played NHL games. Cliche, Clune, King, Wudrick, Westgarth, Azevedo, Loktionov are the guys who haven't.
Of all the guys on that list, Zeiler is the only one I can see being a candidate for being on the roster as an F13/14. Maybe they re-sign Armstrong for that purpose. Or it's Ivanans, but so far he's got a semi-regular spot on the fourth line / bench.
If you consider that DL is likely to add a top-six forward (drop him in the F4 slot, although obviously F1-F6 will be shuffled at will), it becomes clear that something's got to give re F7-F12:
Handzus, Simmonds, Moller, Purcell, Lewis, Ivanans, Richardson, Zeiler, Boyle. At least one of those names is not going to make the team, and three or four of them will not play very much (assuming Ivanans is going to dress more than half the time). Moller and Purcell, in particular, are top-six players. So there is a huge issue regarding the concept of the fourth line -- if it's a bruiser/enforcer line, I don't really know what to do with Moller and Purcell, who don't fit there. If it's a speed/energy line, they fit, but then Ivanans doesn't, and we all are assuming that TM/DL want that enforcer around. Maybe Ivanans is the nightly healthy scratch and we go with a fourth line of Purcell/Moller/Lokionov (or Azevedo or someone similarly dangerous). I would love that. But I think it's a loooooong shot.
I'm more worried that DL also sees the log-jam, but will side with the enforcer concept and either send Moller to the AHL for half the season (he's waiver exempt) and trade Teddy.
Chris,
I would not hesitate to trade the first pick for Hartnel. He's the kind of player that the Kings have lacked ever since they traded away Rick Tochett. He would compliment Kopitar very nicely as well...
No way I'd trade a 1st round pick for an oft injured, 20 goal scoring forward. Hartnell is MAYBE worth a 2nd round pick.
I would not trade the Kings first round pick for Scott Hartnell, but I would love it if DL traded for him. If he traded Teddy Purcell for him I would be fine with that.
Quisp,
How would Hartnell at F4 and Marco Sturm sound at F7? I hope John Zeiler doesn't play a minute on the Kings this season though. Zeiler sucks. Also, your blog is awesome Quisp. I wish I could figure out why I can't comment, but at least I can read it. Good stuff.
What's with the Hartnell ideas? Is he an UFA next year? Is that why his name is coming up in trade rumors?
He's ok but not worth giving up our 1st round pick. We need an offensive game breaker...which he is not.
Quisp- I assume you meant Brown sucked on left wing.
I guess the more and more I hear and think about it Gaborik is our best bet if focus is to plug that LW hole. Yeah he's been injured last couple seasons but that has been a bigger deal for Minnesota because they didn't really have any other offensive guns.
At worse looking at where he only played half a season in 06-07 he still tallied 30 goals. And we have guys on the roster and prospects that can fill that spot if he gets hurt. Not at same level but if Gaborik gets hurt I don't think we will hurt as bad as Minnesota did.
I get though from a cap perspective it eats up space if he's hurt but you can't predicit injuries. It's not like he's soft and getting hurt everytime some gives him a bump.
JB- i don't watch to much of minn but isn't gaborik a RW?
I haven't really seen anyone bring this up, so my apologies if some one already did, but Gaborik was plagued with groin injuries throughout his career. Last season, he had hip surgery - the thinking is that maybe it was never truly his groin after all, since it was a nagging injury. Gaborik rehabbed in Colorado where Alex Rodriguez consulted Gaborik for advice on how to rehabilitate the injury. Once Gaborik came back last season, he played some of the best hockey I'd ever seen him play. He should still be considered a risk, but I'm not sure the risk is as high as it has been in recent years.
There isn't anyone in the "Hossa" category, Rich? Come on! People see Gaborik as, apparently, an oft-injured, average player. Well, I'm being facetious, but who on earth, who has seen this guy consistently, would not put him in Hossa's category? He's a sick, amazing talent. You've got to think that his most 'injured' years are now behind him, since he's had corrective surgery. This guy is amazing, and if he can stay even reasonably healthy, will outscore Hossa by a significant margin. He's also much quicker, and would give the Kings their first true sniper in quite a number of years.
Trading for Lecavalier and then signing Gaborik would make this team elite, overnight. Can we handle that, cap-wise? I think so. Gaborik is also relatively young, better defensively than he's given credit for (he's been, after all, in Lemaire's system...and still put up ridiculous numbers), and could be considered part of the "core". That's the guy I want, no doubt about it.
In regard to Moller: perhaps he doesn't fit perfectly on a so-called "fourth line", but he's so solid on the defensive side of the puck that it wouldn't hurt at all to place him with a couple of bruisers/bangers. Hey, he'd bring a bit of offense to that line. I wouldn't mind at all seeing him play that type of role. Besides, he checks and gets dirty, mucks & grinds with the tenacity reserved for much larger players. If he's gained any muscle weight at all this off-season, he would be an excellent defense-first winger on that line.
Finally, PLEASE stop with the Hartnell talk already. The guy is a cheap-shot, POS player (and I don't mean O'Sullivan). There are other options, guys that play a similar game and actually play with a modicum of honor. If the Kings were to trade their first pick for him, it would be the worst deal in the history of this franchise. Period.
So: trade for Vinny (if possible), Heatley (as a second option), and sign Gaborik this off-season. JJ should be the main piece of the deal, if the stories are true (about his attitude, father, etc.). We have several young defensemen who can step in and have an impact, and he'll be in the East, so even if he excels, we wouldn't have to hear about it (or see it) too often : )
P.S. And allow Boyle to play his game! Give him that second-line center role, and allow him to play his way out of it, rather than into it. If he's allowed to play, he will succeed in this league. Hopefully it will be for the Kings, and not Anaheim (which is where he'd surely end up, where he'd kill us over and over...that's just our luck).
P.P.S. The aforementioned is predicated on the idea that we trade for Heatley rather than Lecavalier. If the latter occurs, give Boyle the third/fourth line center gig. Either way, LET HIM PLAY HIS GAME. He will show what a terrifically talented player he is. I'd bet the farm on it.
RE:allow Boyle to play his game, I have only on thing to say,
AMEN!