August 2009 Archives

Thanks much to those who passed along birthday wishes. It was a good weekend, and I don't feel THAT much older, thankfully. By all accounts, HockeyFest was a great success, and my former colleague, Eric Stephens, did a nice wrap-up on NHL.com. Helene Elliott of the Times also did some fantastic coverage of the event, but I don't have one specific link, so check out their site and read her coverage from the past few days.

Also, I find it more than a little humorous that various outlets -- specifically on the web and/or in Canada -- have run with the story that the Kings are ``out of the running'' when it comes to trading for Dany Heatley. My question is, don't you have to be IN the running before you're out of it?

The rookie camp is starting soon, and I'm really looking forward to seeing some hockey, as I'm sure you are too! I'll continue to post Luc Robitaille's great Q&A answers as well this week.

This is one of my two favorite answers of the session, in which Luc talks about winning the Stanley Cup with Detroit, not the Kings...

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Question: You're associated so strongly and closely with the Kings, yet you won the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings. Obviously the thrill of winning the Cup is unmatched, but if there any internal conflict because it didn't happen with the Kings?

ROBITAILLE: ``There's no conflict because it wasn't my choice. I clearly remember some years, being in the locker room at training camp, believing we could win the Stanley Cup with the Kings. I always thought, `If we could just do this...' That was my goal. If you remember, the year before (the Detroit Stanley Cup), we beat Detroit and got to Game 7 against Colorado. I really thought that summer was going to be the summer that we rebuilt our team. I knew we needed one center and that was it. I really believed that we were right there, that we were going to compete with anybody in the league. Then I never got an offer.

``I never got an offer until June 30, or maybe two days before (July 1). I wasn't looking for a stupid contract. I was just looking for what I thought was fair. The year before, I led the team in scoring and I felt I was one of the leaders of the team. They offered me a pay cut. I was like, `How could that happen?' I didn't even understand. I took it hard. I took it really hard. I was really, really, really disappointed. I never thought this would happen. So it was not my choice to leave. I remember that I was told, `Why don't you go to free agency, and let us know what you get, and we'll match.' And I said, `That's not the kind of person I am.' I would never do that. I refused to do that in my life. So I said, `You guys should give me your best offer before July 1,' and I never got another offer, so I figured that they didn't want me. I didn't know why they didn't want me.

One of my questions for Luc Robitaille was about the most satisfying goal he scored as a King. ..

ROBITAILLE: ``I'm not sure I can pick one goal. I would say that stepping on the ice, and clearly being really, really nervous on opening night... Stepping on the ice on his first shift and seeing the open goal, after the goalie made a mistake, and yelling at Marcel, `Give me the puck,' and tipping it into the empty net on my first shift and my first shot, that's a cool thing. After that, it always comes down to big goals in the playoffs or overtime or helping the team to an emotional win, but I would say stepping on the ice and scoring, I'll never forget that feeling. I couldn't believe it.''

I asked Luc Robitaille, who played with countless Kings, who he thought his most underrated teammates were. I thought it was a good question for Luc, and I think it's worth opening up for debate among those of you who have watched the Kings for years, maybe even decades decades. Who is your most underrated Kings player?

ROBITAILLE: ``With the Kings there were a lot of guys who were kind of under the radar. Right away, the first name that probably comes to mind is Mike Donnelly. Mike Donnelly, the year we went to the Stanley Cup Finals, scored 30 goals and never played on the power play once. If you go back and look at his stats, he doesn't have a power-play goal that year. To me, to get 30 goals without seeing a minute on the power play, that's truly amazing. I thought he was an underrated player. Tomas Sandstrom was even better. I know we all thought he was good, but he was better than that, because he was a pure game-breaker. He was a very special player. I thought Mark Hardy, when he was with the Kings, was underrated, because he was a much better player than people gave him credit for. Probably one that I never saw until he left, and never realized how good he was, was Jay Wells. He was an underrated fighter too. I'm not sure everybody knew just how tough he was.''

After some considerable technical difficulty, I'm finally ready and able to start posting some of the great Q&A stuff with Luc Robitaille. I tried to keep the questions in chronological order as much as possible, so here's the first part. The question, as posed by a reader, was about the genesis of the relationship between Luc and Marcel Dionne, who invited Luc to live with him and his family when Luc was a rookie with the Kings...

ROBITAILLE: ``When I got drafted, and before I got drafted, I knew of Marcel. I obviously didn't know him, but I knew his name. Really, I'm not sure if I had seen him play, with him being in L.A. and me being in Montreal. But I remember my first training camp in L.A. He was walking out and he saw a couple of us speaking French. It was Steve Duchene and myself. He stopped by and bought us our cab ride, and we thought it was the greatest thing in the world. The first two camps, I didn't make the team. The third camp, they made me his roommate.

``After I had that success in junior, they made me his roommate. He was picking my brain all the time, trying to learn more and more about me and what were my interests. I think he was interested in how much passion I had for the game. That was his biggest thing, he told me later. So the first couple years, I maybe talked to him once or twice, but the third year we were roommates, and that's when I really got to know him and we got closer.''

Question: And that was the year he invited you to stay with him?

ROBITAILLE: ``Yeah. The way that happened was, he didn't know me. I knew I had a good shot at the team, because I had won awards in Canada and so forth. Being insecure the way that I am, I was working hard, and I remember Marcel asking me at one point, `If you make the team, what do you want to do? Have you thought about where you want to live?' And I thought, `Well, no. I never thought about that. I just want to make the team.' Then my answer was, `Well, if I make the team, I want to live in a boarding house. I want to live with people so I can just focus on hockey.' He told me later that that shocked him, because I was the first kid... I didn't know, but he had asked all the kids who he thought would make the team, for years, what they would do. Marcel was the kind of guy who would try to help people like that. They always said, `I want to be in an apartment. This is going to be great. I want to be in Hollywood or somewhere cool.'

``Jimmy Carson and I were basically the first players to tell him something else. He asked (Carson) later too, but he asked me first. We both said we wanted to live in a boarding house because we wanted to think about hockey. He was so happy to finally see kids who had the right thinking, that it was about hockey for us. He told me later that he called his wife and said, `This kid can help our kids speak French, and this is good.' She thought it was great. She didn't know, at the time, that it would turn out that his kids would teach me English. I didn't teach them much French, but they taught me how to speak English so it was great.''

Kevin Westgarth, the Kings' Princeton-educated enforcer, is writing diary-type blog items for The Hockey News' website. In this edition, Westgarth talks about getting ready for training camp and shares some thoughts on offseason training and new strength coach Tim Adams.

Kevin Westgarth's Blog: Preparing for a new season

I got the chance to do a great Q&A with Luc Robitaille yesterday, and the transcription process will soon be underway, so look for that a bit later. It's always fun to sit down with Robitaille, who can talk enthusiastically and intelligently about a variety of subjects. I also learned a few things. Do you know, for instance, the genesis of the Kings' black-and-silver color scheme? If you don't, it's quite a story. I'll try to get that posted, in a couple parts, as soon as possible...

No other real big news this morning. The Sun Times, the paper that covers the junior-level Owen Sound Attack, reported that David Kolomatis (a fifth-round pick of the Kings) has mononucleosis and will be sidelined for six weeks, which essentially ends his chances of participating in Kings training camp.

It's a big week in Canada, as prospective members of the 2010 Olympic team are gatheing in Calgary for an orientation camp. The Kings' Drew Doughty and Ryan Smyth are present, and while Doughty's youth and relative inexperience probably make him a longshot for the 2010 team, he's clearly happy to even be in the discussion.

After the first day of camp, Doughty talked to reporters about the call he got from Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman, informing him of his selection to the camp.

``I saved his message so I could hear it over again, but I dropped my phone in the water and now the phone doesn't work,'' Doughty said. ``I can't hear what he said. Really disappointing.''

You can read the Edmonton Journal story about the camp here. It also notes that in the camp's first session, Doughty was paired with Chris Pronger.

By the narrowest of margins -- 33 votes, as of this typing -- you picked Alexander Frolov to be the Kings' first-line left wing, completing a first line of Frolov, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams.

The trouble with analyzing Frolov is, what more can be said? After the departures of Patrick O'Sullivan and Jason LaBarbera, Frolov probably became the player who inspires the most debate among Kings fans.

Frolov has been a 30-goal scorer in two of the past three seasons, although his point totals have decreased from 71 to 67 to 59. Roughly half of fans look at those numbers and scream for a contract extension. The other half will sigh and wonder if Frolov will ever reach his full potential.

It's a safe bet that Frolov's goal total will remain consistent, although the assist total needs to be higher for a first-line winger. The main drama for Frolov figures to be off the ice, since he's due to be an unrestricted free agent this summer. If the Kings don't lock up Frolov before the start of the season, his name will be mentioned roughly once every 34 minutes in trade rumors, which could turn into quite a distraction.

What might be a more relevant question here is, what do you make of this potential first line? Given the options, it seems fairly realistic, and would likely also create a realistic second line of Ryan Smyth, Jarret Stoll and Dustin Brown. But is Frolov-Kopitar-Williams the correct fit for the Kings, in terms of their styles meshing together well?

I'll be able to sit down on Wednesday with Luc Robitaille for our blog Q&A, which should be great given the high level of questions. It's my challenge, over the next couple days, to get a representative sample of the questions ready, but Luc is always a good interview, so I'm looking forward to posting the answers...

By a fairly significant margin, you selected Justin Williams as the Kings' first-line right wing.

Since the beginning of this blog, perhaps no single incident sparked more discussion than the O'Sullivan/Williams trade (although Juraj Mikus is getting close). That's two-pronged. One, O'Sullivan seemed to be a polarizing figure for fans and two, the trade was arguably the most significant in Dean Lombardi's tenure, as he traded one potential top-six winger for another.

It's not a stretch to say that Williams is the single most important player to the Kings' success or failure this season, based on one simple evaluation. What was the Kings' biggest problem last season? Scoring goals. If Williams does end up being the first-line right wing -- and I think that's a good assumption -- who is he going to be? Will he be the two-time 30-goal scorer, or the guy who played a combined 81 games in the past two seasons? If it's the former, the playoffs start to seem much more realistic.

By all accounts, Williams is healthy and ready to go. Those looking for another point of optimism can look at Michal Handzus, who was mostly dreadful in 2007-08, his first year back after ACL surgery, then mostly fantastic in 2008-09. Players typically take a big step forward in their second season back after ACL surgery, and Williams will be in that position this coming season.

What do you think? Will Williams be the answer to the Kings' offensive woes?

For those planning to attend the Kings' Hockey Fest this coming weekend, it really looks to be shaping up to be a nice event. In particular, I'm looking forward to the ``kick-off party'' on Friday night, and I hope to get a chance to meet some of you. Saturday's highlight figures to be the reunion of the Triple Crown Line, and I'm also looking forward to the ``experts panel'' hosted by Jim Fox and John Buccigross. Sunday is my birthday, so I don't know how much I'll be around, but Bob Miller's ``one-man show'' should be worth the price of admission alone. If Bob takes requests, ask him about the interview he did that upset Jack Kent Cooke. Anyway, for more information, you can check out lakings.com/hockeyfest.

The poll results are close at wing, but it seems that Anze Kopitar is your overwhelming favorite to be the Kings' first-line center. So for that reason, and because today is Kopitar's 22nd birthday, let's start with him.

Perhaps no Kings forward had a more difficult-to-figure 2008-09 season than Kopitar. Some fans wondered where the offense went. Terry Murray demanded better defense. Dean Lombardi wanted him to eat fewer of those famous Kopitar pancakes and get in better shape. Quite a bit for a 21-year-old third-year player to take in.

The reality, whether it's completely fair or not, is that Kopitar, as the Kings' highest-paid player, is going to have to be all things to all people. Murray is a defense-first coach, and has to feel comfortable using Kopitar in all situations, but as a first-line center, Kopitar must contribute more than the 66 points he totaled last season (down from 77 the previous season).

Did Kopitar feel pressure, in his first season with the big contract and as an alternative captain? Perhaps, and perhaps he was hampered by Murray's season-long quest to find satisfactory lines, which might have impacted Kopitar's ability to develop chemistry with teammates.

Kopitar's talents, particularly his strength on the puck and vision, are tremendous. Lombardi publicly called out Kopitar at the end of last season, and during the summer, about being in better shape. If Kopitar shows that improvement, will it take him over the hump and help him become an elite player?

What do you think? Is there any concern about Kopitar, or is his development right on schedule?

In thinking about the upcoming season, it occured to me that before we start analyzing individual players, it might be wise to establish some sort of expectation level. For instance, do you see Dustin Brown as a first-line winger or a second-line winger? That's an important question to answer before you start to address what you should expect from Brown this season.

So let's start there, and since we're all about interactivity here, a poll is in order. Select who you believe should be the three forwards on the first line. Keep in mind, as a coach must, position and which players you believe might fit well together. Then we'll start the breakdown of the theoretical lines...

A sampling of thoughts and opinions from around the continent at the end of the Team USA Olympic orientation camp...

Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com has come up with the nickname of ``The Nasty Boys'' for the American trio of Dustin Brown, David Backes and Ryan Kesler. He also quotes Team USA general manager Brian Burke as saying of Brown, ``I got to watch way too much of Dustin Brown the last few years in Anaheim. He's a pain in the ass. He's a good player and he's a big body that hits and plays with a high level of belligerence, which I like. And so, to me, there's a guy who can play up and down and play on the fourth line or he can play on the first line.''

NHL.com looks at Rob Scuderi and Brooks Orpik, former teammates in Pittsburgh who were back together at the camp. Incidentally, Orpik was a strong target of Dean Lombardi last summer, before Orpik chose to remain with the Penguins.

Burke gives his further thoughts on the team in this Canadian Press story.

Kevin Allen of USA Today sums up the camp, and notes that the selection committee (which includes Dean Lombardi) will meet in early October and that the team is expected to be named in late December.

Finally, the Canadian Press offered its opinion on which 14 players are most assured of spots on Team USA at the moment. Dustin Brown, Jonathan Quick and Rob Scuderi made the ``cut,'' but Jack Johnson did not.

Kings goalie Jonathan Quick is spending this week in Illinois at an Olympic orientation camp for Team USA. Quick is one of three goalie at the camp (along with Ryan Miller and Tim Thomas), and as the following story from the Canadian Press points out, Quick would seem to be in a good spot, given that three goalies will make team USA.

Only three goaltenders taking part in American Olympic orientation workouts

Dustin Brown, also at the orientation camp, had this to say about Quick: ``He came in last year and stood on his head for us. I think this is a huge confidence booster for him to be invited here. He came in last year in L.A. and nobody knew who he was. He's a pretty good goalie and I think he's going to surprise some people.''

The question for Quick might become: will getting a spot on Team USA be easier than holding off Jonathan Bernier and/or Erik Ersberg?

A reader sent along a fascinating excerpt from the new book by Washington coach Bruce Boudreau, who previously served as coach of the Manchester Monarchs. In this excerpt, Boudreau discusses how he was originally booked on the flight that claimed the lives of scouts Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis on Sept. 11, 2001, and how a decision by then-coach Andy Murray essentially saved Boudreau's life...

Excerpts from "Gabby - Confessions of a Hockey Lifer"

Here's the roster and schedule for the upcoming rookie camp. Most importantly, Juraj Mikus will be there...

PRACTICE AND GAME SCHEDULE FOR KINGS ROOKIE CAMP

(Subject to change):

Sun., Sept. 6: On-ice practices from 10-noon and 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Mon., Sept. 7: On-ice practices from 10-noon and 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Tue., Sept 8: On-ice practices from 10-noon and 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 9: Pregame skate from 9-10:30 a.m.; Game vs. Phoenix at 6 p.m.
Thu., Sept. 10: Pregame skate from 9-10 a.m.; Game vs. Phoenix at 2 p.m.

KINGS ROOKIE CAMP ROSTER
(Subject to change):

Forwards:
Justin Azevedo
Kyle Clifford
Corey Elkins
Bud Holloway
Dwight King
Brandon Kozun
Andrei Loktionov
Tyler Maxwell^
Juraj Mikus
Jordan Nolan
Michael Pelech
Brayden Schenn
Linden Vey
Geoff Walker*
Geordie Wudrick

Defensemen:

Andrew Campbell
Nicolas Deslauriers
Radko Gudas*
Thomas Hickey
David Kolomatis
Alec Martinez
Patrick Mullen
Colten Teubert
Viatcheslav Voynov

Goaltenders:
Jean-Francois Berube
Martin Jones
Jeff Zatkoff

* On tryout

As previously announced, the two rookie games against Phoenix will be played in El Segundo on Wednesday, Sept. 9 (6 p.m.) and Thursday, Sept. 10 (2 p.m.) Ticket information for those games has not yet been announced.

Marty Murray, captain of the Manchester Monarchs last season, has signed with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. Murray, 34, led the Monarchs with 39 assists and 54 points in 76 games last season. Murray played 19 games with the Kings in 2006-07 and had two assists.

The Patriot Ledger newspaper of Quincey, Mass., did a feature story today on Brian Boyle, hometown boy and former Kings forward who was traded to the New York Rangers on June 27. Boyle signed a two-year contract with the Rangers after the trade and will contend for a spot on the NHL team during training camp.

In the story, Boyle said about his time with the Kings, ``It could have gone better, obviously. I put a ton of pressure on myself. It wasn't that I was lethargic, or thought I'd earned a spot (in Los Angeles). It was kind of the opposite. I let things get to me a little too much ... but I think that's going to be beneficial, as a learning experience.''

Hingham's Brian Boyle eager to start new season with new team

As part of its recap of the first day of the Team USA Olympic camp, ESPN.com looked at Rob Scuderi's day with the Stanley Cup, which he took on July 17. The website said ``Scuderi's father is a retired police officer, so the Cup made a visit to a local police station. His mother is a high school teacher on Long Island, so Lord Stanley made a visit to her school. Scuderi, a native of Long Island, also took the Cup to the rink where he played minor hockey growing up.''

Scuderi is one of four Kings -- along with Dustin Brown, Jack Johnson and Jonathan Quick -- participating in the orientation camp this week in Woodridge, Ill.

Road to Vancouver begins for Team USA

For those who have inquired, the Kings' first day on ice in training camp will be Sunday, Sept. 13. The first preseason games (split squads) will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 15. As previously reported, the rookie group will be on the ice for the first time on Sunday, Sept. 6.

Mark Mullen has been hired by the Kings as a scout, according to a press release issued by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the junior-level United States Hockey League. Mullen, 28, spent last season as an assistant coach in Cedar Rapids. He retired as a player following the 2004-05 ECHL season, after four years at Boston University. It's not immediately clear which position Mullen will occupy, but given his background, it's probably safe to guess that amateur scouting is in his future.

Mark Mullen Accepts Position with Los Angeles Kings

With the start of training camp now less than one month away, here are some of the things I'll be working on and that you can expect soon...

-- The Q&A with Luc Robitaille will hopefully be done this week. There are a ton of great questions, and I'll do my best to get a representative sample of them answered.

-- I'm hoping to chat, in the next few days, with Tim Adams, the Kings' new strength coach, and get his thoughts about the team and his first couple months on the job.

-- Training camp previews will start this week, with player-by-player breakdowns.

I'm open to suggestions for anything else that folks might be interested in...

The Kings' rookies will hit the ice for the first time on Sunday, Sept. 6, instead of the previously reported Sept. 5.

On its website, The Hockey News is counting down -- or counting up, as it were -- its playoff predictions for the 2009-10 season. They have the Kings slotted at No. 12, noting that the Kings have ``the deepest core of prospects in the league'' but will have trouble making the playoffs in the deep West. I saw another set of predictions today that had the Kings at No. 10.

I've yet to see a publication ``predict'' that the Kings will make the playoffs, but a) I'm certain I haven't seen them all, so please point one out if you see it, and b) it's still early, so not all of the preseason prognostications are out there yet.

What do you think? Is No. 12 excessively low?

The Hockey News 2009-10 NHL regular season predictions

The Ducks today acquired Evgeny Artyukhin from Tampa Bay in exchange for forward Drew Miller and a third-round draft pick. Artyukhin, you might remember, is the guy who delivered the hit on Drew Doughty last season, the hit that led to Terry Murray, Dean Lombardi and others questioning whether the Kings did enough to retaliate. First Kings vs. Ducks preseason game? Sept. 19.

A quick note on the upcoming training camp... The group of Kings rookies will start their mini-camp on Saturday, Sept. 5. As previously reported, they will play a two-game series against the Phoenix Coyotes rookies on Wednesday, Sept. 9 (6 p.m.) and Thursday, Sept. 10 (2 p.m.) at the training center in El Segundo. A player roster has yet to be announced officially, but I'll be sure to post it when I receive it.

Hockeysfuture.com, which does a strong job of tracking NHL prospects, posted its updated rankings of the Kings' top 20 prospects. They are, in order:

1. Thomas Hickey
2. Jonathan Bernier
3. Brayden Schenn
4. Oscar Moller
5. Vyacheslav Voinov
6. Colten Teubert
7. Ted Purcell
8. Andrei Loktionov
9. Trevor Lewis
10. Martin Jones
11. Kyle Clifford
12. Jeff Zatkoff
13. Alec Martinez
14. Justin Azevedo
15. Nicolas Deslauriers
16. Davis Drewiske
17. Juraj Mikus
18. Garrett Roe
19. Scott Parse
20. Dwight King

If we're talking about long-term potential, I would probably go with a top 10 of Bernier, Hickey, Moller, Voinov, Schenn, Teubert, Loktionov, Clifford, Zatkoff and Lewis.

How would you rank the top 10?

Luc Robitaille, Kings president, team icon and one of the newest NHL Hall of Famers, has graciously agreed to do a Q&A with our Inside the Kings readers. It's something that has been asked about frequently on the blog, so I'm happy to be able to do it. As always, this is your forum so the questions will come exclusively from you. Please feel free to post any questions you might have for Luc. I'm anticipating doing the Q&A as soon as next week...

Following up on the weekend story about Kings prospect Colten Teubert, whose big hit separated the shoulder of Boston prospect Jordan Caron, it appears that all is forgiven. In a story in today's Boston Globe, by the great Kevin Paul Dupont, Caron said Teubert apologized and that Caron won't hold a grudge.

``I told him I would have done the same thing,'' Caron told the Globe. ``He was just taking his check in the middle like he should. He didn't jump up. His elbow was down. Just my bad luck, I guess. Like I said, I would have done the same thing.''

Caron is expected to be sidelined for 4-6 weeks.

Kings defensive prospect Colten Teubert made a big impact during a scrimmage Saturday at the tryout camp for Canada's world junior team. Teubert delivered an open-ice hit to Jordan Caron, the Boston Bruins' first-round pick, broke Caron's collarbone and sent him to the hospital.

And this is what Teubert does to guys who are on his side...

TSN highlights of scrimmage

Former Kings prospect Jared Aulin, perhaps best known in Los Angeles for his purported brief fling with Paris Hilton, will get a training-camp look from the Columbus Blue Jackets next month. Aulin, 27, appeared in 17 games with the Kings in 2002-03 and totaled two goals and two assists. He hasn't played professionally in North America since 2006-07, when he totaled two goals and two assists in 13 games with Springfield of the AHL.

Aulin gets chance with Jacket

The development camp for Canada's world junior team wraps up this weekend in Saskatoon, and a handful of Kings prospects have had a chance to impress. Forwards Brandon Kozun and Brayden Schenn, defenseman Colten Teubert and goalie Martin Jones are attending the camp.

Here are a couple stories about the camp, including one on the Schenn brothers:

Schenn checks out kid brother

Canada brings beef for 2010 world junior team

Today's column by Gary Loewen in the Toronto Sun references a recent radio interview with referee Kerry Fraser, in which Fraser admits to missing a call in Game 6 of the Campbell Conference Finals between the Kings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Those who watched the series, and have good memories, might recall that Gretzky's stick clipped Doug Gilmour's chin, and drew blood, but no penalty was called. Gretzky later scored, the Kings won the game and then won Game 7 in Toronto. In the interview, Fraser admitted that a penalty should have been called and, according to Loewen, ``faced the wrath of a handful of callers with long memories.''

Sixteen years later.

Here's a clip of the incident:

In honor of Jeremy Roenick's retirement, let's all take a moment and share memories of Roenick's best moments with the Kings.

OK, that should take care of it.

NESN.com, the website of the big Boston-based cable network, did a big profile of Dean Lombardi today. Lombardi spent his recent vacation back home in Massachusetts, and while the story does cover a lot of familiar ground in terms of team-building, it gives some new insight into Lombardi's background and relationships. An interesting read on an early-August morning...

Mass. Native Lombardi Has a Plan Fit for the Kings

Scott Fisher of the Calgary Sun has a nice piece of Kings prospects Martin Jones and Brandon Kozun, who have followed similar paths in the past year. Jones and Kozun, teammates for the WHL's Calgary Hitmen, attended the Kings' developmental camp together last month and are now at a camp for Canada's national junior team.

Hitmen pair heading to camp

Thanks to everyone for the patience and kind words during vacation. With just over a month to go before training camp, it's almost time to get going with season-preview stuff. For now, here's the final set of questions and answers from the recent ``Ask Jim Fox'' segment. Jim was kind enough to go through some of the comments and answer a few of the remaining questions.

Stay tuned for more new content soon...