September 2009 Archives

This isn't really a goodbye. We're just moving the party down the street, to a new address. The furniture will look a little different, and the dog might be confused for a couple days, but before long it will feel like home.

The new blog site will be located at www.LAKingsInsider.com. I suppose it would be an understatement to say that I hope you visit, starting tomorrow! The blog will be my main platform, for breaking news, opinion and discussion, while game stories, notebooks, features and the like will be featured prominently on LAKings.com, and also will be easily found by visiting the blog.

To address the main question I've been getting about the new blog, yes, commenting will remain. The ground rules will not change. No profanity, no personal attacks, no persistent, blatant, antagonistic drubbing of the same points. They're simple rules and they have served us well so far, so there's no reason to change. It might take a couple days to figure out the best way to moderate the comments, but they will continue to be a staple of our community.

There's also no reason to change the content of the blog. It's been the subject of endless -- and I do mean endless -- conversation, but I will continue to stress the same point I've made consistently for the past week: it's not going to change. I don't want it to change, and the Kings don't want it to change, so why would it change? Coverage, as I said last week, will only get more comprehensive. That's exciting for me and, I hope, for you as well. Anyone who has doubts is welcome to check it out for themselves. As I have said, the proof will be in the product.

The response so far has been overwhelmingly positive, and I so grateful for that. Thank you for you support and for your trust. Please know this: the money is coming from the Kings, but in my mind I work for the readers, the fans. Everything I do, in writing and reporting, comes from the basic idea that I want to serve the readers the best way possible. You, not anyone in Kings management, will be the ultimate decider of whether this new venture is a success, and that will never be forgotten.

There will be plenty to discuss on the new site. At this point, I just want to express my gratitude to the Daily News. It's no secret that the newspaper industry is a tough one to work in these days, but I have always been proud to work alongside such talented and dedicated people. There's nothing quite like working for a newspaper, and I mean that in the best possible sense. People have asked what the future of this blog will be, and honestly I don't know. I do know that the Daily News values its coverage of the Kings and has always encouraged my desire to cover hockey.

So that's all for now. I'll be working tonight on the new site and getting familiar with everything, hopefully ready for a smooth start tomorrow. Please visit www.LAKingsInsider.com!

Rich

It's certainly not the story is was 20 years ago, but it seems that the possibility exists for another Kings-Wayne Gretzky union. In an interview today with a Toronto radio station, Dean Lombardi said he would be open to the idea of bringing back Gretzky in some yet-undefined role.

Lombardi: Los Angeles Kings have interest in Gretzky

If it's obvious move, if Gretzky is interested in returning to the league in some form. Besides his playing-days ties to the Kings, Gretzky and his family still live in the Los Angeles area.

After practice today, Terry Murray said that he would go with defensive pairings of Davis Drewiske and Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson and Rob Scuderi, and Matt Greene and Alec Martinez for the first two games, while Sean O'Donnell serves his suspension. Murray said he concluded that he wanted more of a puck-moving defenseman to be paired with a ``defensive'' defenseman in each pair, but said he would evaluate the pairs throughout the week.

Just got off the phone with Terry Murray and got his thoughts on today's cuts and how they will impact the opening-night roster. Please forgive any typos...I wanted to get these quotes up ASAP. Murray said team management met after last night's game and informed the players of their decisions this morning.

Here are the quotes...

Two obvious questions: What does the fourth line look like, and what happens when O'Donnell comes back?

Take the second question first. When Sean O'Donnell returns from his two-game suspension, the Kings will have seven defensemen, plus Peter Harrold. Alec Martinez would probably be the seventh guy, and that takes us back to the usual young-player question: NHL vs. AHL? In Martinez's case, it's hard to see him just sitting on the NHL roster, so that probably means a move, and perhaps the return of a forward since Harrold can play defense. The wild card in all this is what might happen if the Kings were to pick up a veteran, left-shot defenseman to put in the mix. It wouldn't be shocking, but it's just a thought right now.

Fourth line? Ivanans and Lewis are most likely in, and then it's either Harrold or Richardson, at least until Clune's groin is healthy. Harrold vs. Richardson? I'm not sure you could convince me that one of them is a huge upgrade over the other at this point.

Jonathan Bernier, Thomas Hickey and Kevin Westgarth have been assigned to Manchester and Brayden Schenn has been returned to juniors.

I'll try to get some comments ASAP.

Based on the stats, and seemingly on the opinions of many observers, Jonathan Bernier had a better camp/exhibition season than Erik Ersberg. Should that be enough for Bernier to earn a spot on the NHL roster ahead of Ersberg, or would Bernier still be better off as the clear No. 1 goalie in Manchester?

Frankly, I'm not sure it matters a whole lot right now. Bernier can go to Manchester and come back up if the Kings decide Ersberg isn't cutting it (see: LaBarbara, Jason, circa 2008), or even if Quick isn't cutting it. It might give Bernier a mental boost to make the team, but what would be best for his development? Hard to say. Here's what Terry Murray said about the goalie choice:

MURRAY: ``Yeah, it will be a tough decision. No. 1 in clear in my mind. Quick is clearly, to me, the No. 1 goaltender. He played well throughout the camp. He earned the right to come into camp as the No. 1 guy, and now the decision is to be made on the No. 2.''

I asked Murray if, regardless of all the discussion about what Bernier can and can't do, Ersberg had done enough on his own to be the No. 2 goalie.

MURRAY: ``He has showed enough, yeah. That's the decision that we have to make, obviously. Bernier and he have played well in the training camp and their exhibition games. We just have a hard decision to make.''

So what do you think?

Who led the Kings in preseason goal scoring? Wayne Simmonds, with five, and as of last night, that was tied for the NHL lead as well. If I had to come up with a top three of most impressive players from the preseason games, it would probably be (in no particular order), Simmonds, Jack Johnson and Ryan Smyth.

It's hard to know what, exactly, to make of this Kings third line. There's Michal Handzus, a 20-goal threat; Alexander Frolov, the Kings' leading goal scorer last season; and Simmonds, who scored only nine goals last season but would seem to have 20-goal potential. It's not a stretch to think that line could be a 75-goal line for the Kings, although things would have to break perfectly for them.

On the other hand, that line's first responsibility is on the defensive end, and Frolov and Simmonds, in particular, handled that responsibility well last season. It should be interesting to see how this line develops, particularly if the Purcell-Stoll-Brown line struggles to put goals on the board.

Here's what Terry Murray said about Simmonds' preseason/camp:

MURRAY: ``Simmonds played, right through the camp, very well. He was one of our better players at the end of (last) year, and he seemed to come in with that same attitude and played well in all situations. One of our top goal scorers at the end of the training camp, and he's going to be an important player for us.''

Brayden Schenn wasn't scheduled to play in the Kings' preseason finale Sunday, but got included when Rich Clune suffered his groin injury Saturday night. Schenn almost certainly will be headed back to his junior team in Brandon this week, but he impressed in his first NHL training camp and coaches no doubt will be eager to see him a year from now. Here's what Terry Murray said last night, when asked if the Kings would have a tough decision about whether to keep or cut Schenn...

MURRAY: ``Not so much, not so much. I made a comment to everyone in the office, just before I came out, about how well he played (Sunday night). He steps into a situation where he hasn't been in the lineup for a couple days, and had a really hard workout yesterday because he was not scheduled to be in this game, and he played so well, the way he did in the first exhibition game. All the ingredients to show me that he's going to be a real important and good player in the National Hockey League.''

-- Ryan Smyth had a four-point night, with two goals and two assists. He was the third star of the game, behind No. 1 Bobby Ryan and No. 2 Ryan Getzlaf.

-- Anze Kopitar had two goals and one assist and finished with a game-high eight shots on goal. No other Kings player had more than four shots.

-- Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Bernier got an almost-entirely-equal split. Ersberg played the first 29:49 and allowed two goals on 14 shots. Bernier played the rest of the way and allowed three goals on 15 shots.

-- The Kings went 3 for 7 on the power play and 3 for 4 on the penalty kill.

-- Jack Johnson led the Kings in ice time, at 24:53. Anze Kopitar led forwards at 22:47.

-- The Kings lost 59 percent of faceoffs. Brad Richardson went 2 for 8.

Rich Clune suffered a pulled groin muscle in Saturday night's game and, according to Terry Murray, will be out ``a couple weeks.'' Murray declined to speculate whether the Kings would keep Clune on the NHL roster and put him on injured reserve if (as seems likely) he is unavailable for the start of the season.

Murray also indicated that Brayden Schenn will go back to juniors, so suddenly this whole roster situation is looking much less murky. Given the subtractions of Schenn and Clune (at least temporarily), it's basically Harrold, Hickey, Ivanans, Lewis, Martinez, Richardson and Westgarth...seven players for six spots.

With Sean O'Donnell out for the first two games, it's probably setting up a Martinez vs. Hickey choice.

As for the goalies, Murray wouldn't tip his hand at all, as he praised both Ersberg and Bernier. In response to my direct question, Murray did say that Ersberg had proved he could handle the No. 2 goalie responsibilities.

It seems as though the players will learn their fates Tuesday morning at the latest.

Kings outshoot the Ducks 35-29 but fall in their preseason finale. Notes and quotes from the locker room to follow...

The Kings scored with their net empty, after a lengthy scrum in front of J.S. Giguere. Anze Kopitar finally knocked it in, with an assist to Ryan Smyth, who now has a four-point night.

The Ducks had a 3-on-1 break. Selanne dropped the puck for Koivu, who then fed it across to Joffrey Lupul. Bernier tried to slide across the crease to his right but had little chance. The goal came with 2:35 remaining.

...and the Kings answer right back with their own power-play goal. Anze Kopitar scored it, with an assist from Ryan Smyth, at the 9:04 mark. Dustin Brown also picks up an assist, after a scoring change.

With Raitis Ivanans in the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct, the Ducks scored on a Ryan Getzlaf goal, with assists to Ryan and Niedermayer (scoring change). The goal came 6:40 into the third period.

Kings are outshooting the Ducks 25-18. Shots are very spread out, but Matt Greene does have a team-high four blocked shots. Jonathan Bernier was tested a couple times on Ducks power plays and stopped 3 of 4 shots in the final 10-plus minutes.

Ryan Smyth scored his second power-play goal of the game, with 4:47 left in the period. Smyth had the puck down low, almost even with the end line to the right of the net, and beat Giguere at a tight angle. Kopitar and Brown got the assists.

Bobby Ryan scored his second goal of the game, on a one-timer from the slot, as Corey Perry charged the net. Jonathan Bernier complained that Perry interfered, and based on what I saw live, Bernier seemed to have a decent argument. The goal came with 7:56 left in the period.

At the midpoint of the second period -- well, 10:11 to be exact -- the Kings swapped Jonathan Bernier for Erik Ersberg in goal. Ersberg stopped 12 of 14 shots.

The Kings outshot the Ducks 14-7 in the first period, but that's largely because the Kings had five power plays (and converted on one of them). Jack Johnson led the Kings with three shots on goal in the period.

Since there was no morning skate today, I haven't had a chance to talk to Terry Murray today, but obviously Rich Clune is not in the lineup tonight. His specific injury has not been disclosed, but from what I'm told, speculation that he got injured when he was hit by a shot in a very delicate area is not accurate. I should know more after the game.

Tonight's lineup...I tried to post it three times but got interrupted by goals!

Smyth-Kopitar-Lewis
Purcell-Richardson-Brown
Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Schenn-Harrold

Johnson-Scuderi
Greene-Drewiske
Hickey-Martinez

Ersberg
Bernier

OK guys, too many goals here...

Bobby Ryan made it 2-1 Ducks 5:19 into the first period. Corey Perry came from behind the net and tried to make a centering pass. It found its way through the crease onto Ryan's stick, and he beat Ersberg before Ersberg could slide across.

Ryan Smyth tied it up with a power-play goal 3:50 into the game. Michal Handzus fed an easy centering pass to Smyth, who skated in alone and beat Giguere with a one-timer from the left circle. Assists to Handzus and Purcell.

Corey Perry scored a 4-on-4 goal 2:03 into the first period. Perry shot from a sharp angle to the right of the net. Erik Ersberg looked to be square to the puck and got a good piece of it, but it trickled past him and into the net. Moments earlier, the Kings had a goal waved off because Ryan Smyth was called for goaltender interference.

For those of you who went to Frozen Fury -- and if you did, you're probably waking up right about...now -- how was it? It always seems to be a fun trip, one I've never been able to make, but I definitely will next year!

Any highlights?

Today's morning skate got canceled by the coaching staff, but I'll be down in Anaheim tonight for the game.

Anze Kopitar scored on a penalty shot with 6:35 remaining, apparently after a Colorado player covered the puck in the crease, and Wayne Simmonds scored an empty-net goal with one second remaining for the final margin.

I doubt that we'll hear anything more about Rich Clune until the morning.

Daryl Evans reported on the radio broadcast that Rich Clune will not return because of the dreaded, vague ``lower-body injury.''

Quite a period in Vegas...

-- Colorado took a 3-1 lead in the second period. His first goal came off an assist from Kyle Quincey and his second goal came off a rebound from a point shot.

-- In between, Wayne Simmonds apparently made a mess out of the face of Matt Hendricks, after Hendricks delivered a hit on Jack Johnson that didn't sit well with Simmonds.

-- Did that spark the Kings? Well, Drew Doughty scored a 4-on-4 goal midway through the period to make it 3-2, and then Anze Kopitar tipped in a centering pass from Jack Johnson -- for another 4-on-4 goal -- to tie it with 6:06 remaining in the period.

-- According to Nick and Daryl, Rich Clune was not on the bench during the second period. Hopefully I didn't jinx him this morning...

Joe Piskula has cleared waivers and been assigned to Manchester. The roster is now down to 27 players. From what I can infer, from what Terry Murray has said in recent days, the roster should be set no later than Monday.

Wojtek Wolski gave the Avalanche the lead in Las Vegas with 8:53 left in the first period. His attempted pass in front of the net got deflected back to him, and he beat Jonathan Quick, who had slid over to play the pass.

The Kings tied it with 1:22 remaining. Jack Johnson took a quick shot from the left point and Alexander Frolov, skating in front, tipped it in. Wayne Simmonds picked up an assist as well.

Nick and Daryl's commentary had the Kings playing an aggressive game and getting the better of the chances, with both goalies well tested at various times.

What seemed somewhat unlikely not so long ago now seems to be on the verge of reality: Rich Clune, fourth-line winger. It would be a good move. Clune is basically Sean Avery without the Sean Avery attitude. He protects his teammates, he works hard every shift and he's young and motivated to make an impact in the NHL. There's probably not much offensive potential there, but as we've said before, if you're looking for offense from your fourth line, you're in trouble anyway. What we can't predict, as Terry Murray mentions below, is how Clune will react against real NHL players in real NHL games. Here's what Murray said about Clune's camp to date...

MURRAY: ``I think Clune is making a lot of noise for himself. He has really battled and competed hard. He's been jumping in there. In the last game he played, he got involved a couple times, and that's who he is. He's a gritty guy. He's in your face, he's a middleweight guy that probably is a pretty prevelant player around the league today. The big guys, the heavyweight guys, they feel like, `I can't do that to this guy on the other team, because it looks like I'm beating up on a smaller player.'

``So to have a middleweight, I think it's a nice thing to have. A guy like Clune, in particular, if he is to be on the team he has to be able to contribute in other areas, in terms of playing the game. He has to play special teams, he has to become a penalty killer. There's just an urgency that anyone in that job description has to do other things, and not just competing against other players that are similar on the other team.''

There's another part, however, to being that fourth-line agitator. Avery, for all his faults, was a valuable player when he could stay out of the penalty box himself but also draw opponents into taking bad penalties through his feisty play. That's a delicate balance, particularly for a young player such as Clune without any NHL experience. I asked Murray whether playing with that discipline had been a topic of discussion with Clune.

MURRAY: ``You know, it hasn't been, because I don't want to take anything away from him. I want to keep the emotion and keep the energy, and maybe (have him be) a little bit reckless at times. I want to see what it is he does bring on his own, and then we can fine-tune it if necessary from there. The one thing with him, unfortunately from last year, he just hasn't got a lot of pro games under his belt. So, staying in the game and playing a structured system, that's important for us, as coaches, to be able to evaluate him from that side of it. But overall he has had a good camp.''

Here's what Terry Murray said today about the final decisions the Kings must make in order to get to the opening-night roster...

MURRAY: ``It's going to come down to splitting hairs here at the end, I think, with a couple of the decisions. To me, that's a great thing. Last year it was very easy, in most cases. We were looking for players and we ended up having three rookies coming in and having an impact on our team. This year, with a year of experience in the minors for a lot of these guys, and the off-ice program and just the maturing and understanding that the culture has changed here, that there's an attitude change and everybody has brought themselves ready to play the right way, it's making it more difficult but that's a good thing to have.''

It was only last week when we discussed here whether Teddy Purcell might end up being the key to the Kings' season. If anything, that feeling has only become stronger. As the Kings' second-line left wing, Purcell not only needs to show that he can be a consistent NHL player but that he can score enough to justify second-line minutes and play physical enough to satisfy his coaches and general manager. It's a lot to ask -- particularly of someone who has played only 50 NHL games -- so I asked Terry Murray if it was safe to say that Purcell's play was a key to the season...

MURRAY: ``To me, he's right at the top of the list. Maybe not the very top, but he's certainly a priority for us, to have Teddy Purcell play well and play an important role for our hockey club. He's a very gifted guy. He's got incredible skill and playmaking ability. We've discussed this before; that's where I see him, on the left side where he can be a real good playmaker with Stoll and Brownie. I know that those two guys are going to work hard for him also, and find him opportunities to be the shooter. He's a guy who can finish pretty well.

``He has adjusted well to the left side. I think his play has been pretty good from the start of the training camp. In one of the (preseason) games, I thought he was the best player on the ice for both teams. He was just playing tremendous hockey, playing very competitively and doing the things we talked about many times last year, as far as board play. It's a courageous thing that you have to do sometimes, when you're playing along the boards, and that's where I will keep going at Teddy. He's got to give us that same kind of look in every game that he plays.''

The question is, do you think he can do it?

Fairly uneventful morning, except to note that Raitis Ivanans returned to practice today, as part of the ``red'' line with Peter Harrold, Brad Richardson and Brayden Schenn (they took turns going in and out of drills) and that there were no players missing from camp. All other lines remained the same as yesterday.

Practice today looked much sharper than it did on Thursday. Drills were crisp and the players seemed to be having fun, with a lot of joking back and forth. Doesn't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme, except that Terry Murray called it one of the best practices so far, which I suppose is noteworthy since he was not pleased yesterday.

The team is getting ready to head to Las Vegas, and will return Saturday night.

Some notes and quotes to follow soon...

With eight days before the start of the season, and the training-camp roster continuing to shrink, there's something unavoidable: Brayden Schenn is still here. Not only that, by all accounts he's performing well in games and practice and generally making a strong impression.

So I decided to ask Terry Murray if Schenn had a realistic chance to make the team...

MURRAY: ``I think we'll just keep moving on that one and see how things work out. ... He's not going to play in Vegas. I'm going to give him the night off. But he will be here to practice and continue to work at his game.''

I then asked Murray about his philosophy about players in that situation. You'll remember that Moller and Simmonds made last year's team, but only with the understanding that they were in the NHL to play significant minutes. Would Murray, I asked, be reluctant to keep Schenn if it meant playing him only in a limited role?

MURRAY: ``Philosophically, my personal opinion on that is that you don't want to have a young, 18-year-old player -- and that's what we're dealing with here -- sitting in that `fourth-line role,' playing a minimal amount of time and no critical situations, when he could go play a dominant role and be very effective player and develop his game.

``I went through that, way back, if you remember a player -- and he's still playing -- Dainius Zubrus in Philly. He came out of Tier 2 juniors as an 18-year-old. There was a discussion on him. He started on the fourth line, but moved up very quickly though, but it's not ideal for development.''

This, to me, is a pretty obvious call. The Kings send Schenn to junior for one more year, at least. He has been able to build some good confidence in camp, and make a good impression, but a) He's 18 (and he just TURNED 18) and b) the Kings, with Kopitar, Stoll, Handzus and perhaps Lewis, Richardson and Harrold, aren't lacking for centers. There's no need to take an unnecessary risk in this situation.

It was something you don't see very often... Terry Murray stopping a practice drill, standing at center ice lecturing his players about substandard performance. Murray's on-ice demeanor is typically low-key, but early in practice today, he was clearly irritated by what he perceived to be the Kings' inability to competently complete a simple drill. The talk lasted a couple minutes, and afterward players resumed the same drill. After practice, Murray talked about the need for mental focus.

MURRAY: ``You get near the end of the training camp as a player -- and I went through it too -- and you want to just get yourself going. But you have to have awareness of that. It's important that you approach every one of these games and practices the right way and get focused and prepare yourself to start the season. That was kind of the message at the start of the practice here today. The conversation that I had was, `This has great meaning here, guys.' We have to make sure that, not only physically, but in terms of structure and system and emotionally, you have to be ready to play. That's your responsibility as a player, to come into the games and work at it to get yourself to the right point, where you can hit the ground running at the start of the season. We need some more work.''

Question: Is that the point you tried to make when you stopped practice to talk to them?

MURRAY: ``It's focus and execution. That was just a very fundamental warm-up drill, 7-on-0, passing the puck and regroup, and passes were missing sticks by four, five, six feet. This is the National Hockey League, and there's a fundamental that you need, the focus to be able to execute with the puck or without it. I thought it got better, but again, there are still areas that need to be improved on.''

Here's how the Kings are expected to skate in Saturday's ``Frozen Fury'' game in Las Vegas against Colorado:

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Purcell-Stoll-Brown
Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds
Clune-Lewis-Westgarth

Martinez-Doughty
Johnson-Scuderi
Drewiske-Greene

Quick
Bernier

Quick is expected to play all three periods. As for the rest of the lineup, it's not a stretch to think that's exactly how it could look for the Oct. 3 season opener. There's still an Ivanans vs. Westgarth issue, but if the Kings are looking for some toughness on the other wing, it might be looking pretty good for Rich Clune...

After practice today, Sean O'Donnell discussed, in detail, the incident in Kansas City with the Islanders' Matt Martin that led to O'Donnell's suspension (three preseason games, two regular-season games). O'Donnell explains his side of the incident, and what led up to it...

O'DONNELL: ``That's the main thing, the leading up to it. You look at an isolated play and it doesn't look good, but when you're watching the game... They had talked us about `head shots.' Not even necessarily elbows, but just shots, unnecessary blows to the head when the guy is vulnerable. I felt like there were a couple times earlier in the game where they had some guys, who were trying to make a name -- whatever, they're trying to make the team -- but I felt like Drew and some of our other players had targets on their backs. They were hitting them pretty hard. They were legal, but they were hard, hard hits.

``Nothing was really said. A couple times, I spoke to one of the guys and challenged him to a fight. Raitis challenged a guy and obviously Westgarth was doing his best. (The Islanders) didn't really want to. Then I saw Martin hit a couple people. Like I said, not dirty but questionable, enough to raise your eyebrows. Then I saw him coming on Drew and I yelled over, `Heads up.' Drew got out of the way, but I felt that at the last second, instead of just missing his check, he came up with his shoulder and clipped Drew in the chin. I saw Drew's head go back and so I went over there.

``I probably should have given him a little slash on the ankles and then fought him, but I didn't. I reacted. There's a part of me that feels kind of paternal toward Drew. Maybe I overreacted a little bit, but I went over there and I wanted to initiate a fight. I gave him a cross-check, and in my mind I gave him a cross-check right by the shoulder, in the upper chest. I skated quite a ways. I skated probably 15, 20 feet. When I did hit him with the cross-check, my momentum carried him over and that's what knocked him over and he crumpled down to the ice. You can see where I hit him, and where he ended up was about 10 feet away. So it was more like, I hit him and we kind of slid.

``There was no film. I felt that, at no time, did my stick make contact with any part of his head area. The refs felt that when I hit him, it (came up) and I got him. There's no tape. The refs felt it was one way and I felt it was the other way.''

Helene Elliott of the Times relayed Dean Lombardi's reaction to O'Donnell, in which Lombardi expressed disappointment that O'Donnell would lose two games' worth of salary and jokingly hinted that he wished he could pay O'Donnell to be a scout in those games.

``How about an extension for a year?'' O'Donnell said with a laugh. ``I'm not ready to start scouting yet.''

Andrew Campbell and Marc-Andre Cliche have been assigned to Manchester, while Kyle Clifford has been returned to Barrie of the OHL.

Here is how the Kings skated today:

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Purcell-Stoll-Brown
Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds
Clune-Lewis-Westgarth
Richardson-Schenn-Harrold

O'Donnell-Doughty
Drewiske-Greene
Scuderi-Johnson
Hickey-Martinez

Quick
Ersberg-Bernier

It was a "therapy" day for Ivanans, who is nursing an injury that has lingered for a couple days, according to Terry Murray.

Kyle Clifford, Marc-Andre Cliche and Andrew Campbell were not on the ice, so there is little mystery there...

Here's a video of the Sean O'Donnell incident from Kansas City. It's a wide-angle TV view, so it's pretty tough to determine what's going on. In the first few moments, Doughty is standing near the boards at the top of the screen. He starts to skate away and then you see O'Donnell charging in from the middle of the ice. Unfortunately, we'll probably never get a look at the hit on Doughty that sparked the whole thing. I'll attach the video after the jump below, for those who have trouble with the videos...

The Kings' Richard Clune vs. Colorado's Cody McLeod last night. Also of note...the fact that this picture was taken by an Associated Press photographer named Jack Dempsey...

Colorado pushed its lead to 3-1 on a T.J. Hensick goal 5:28 into the period (assists to former King Kyle Quincey and Chris Stewart. Trevor Lewis scored his first goal of the preseason, shorthanded (assist to Brad Richardson) to pull the Kings with 3-2 with 2:12 to play, but goalie Craig Anderson and the Avalanche held on.

Some notes...

-- Erik Ersberg played the entire game and stopped 22 shots. Anderson stopped 31.

-- The Kings had only one power play and failed on it (the also failed on the aforementioned penalty shot by Marc-Andre Cliche). The Kings' penalty kill went 3 for 3.

-- Rich Clune got in two first-period fights and Matt Greene got in a third-period fight.

-- Jack Johnson led all Kings in ice time at 23:38, 14 seconds more than Drew Doughty. Justin Williams led all Kings forwards at 21:09.

-- Williams had a game-high six shots on goal. Rob Scuderi blocked three shots.

-- Trevor Lewis was the star in the faceoff circle, winning 7 of 11. Cliche lost 8 of 10.

Stastny and Hejduk scored second-period goals for the Avalanche, and Marc-Andre Cliche failed on a penalty-shot attempt, so it's now 2-1 Avalanche early in the third period. Ersberg stopped 11 of 13 shots in the second period and is 19 for 21 in the game.

Peter Harrold scored an even-strength goal, 11:17 into the first period, to give the Kings a 1-0 lead over the Avalanche, and that's where it stands in the first intermission. Raitis Ivanans and Jack Johnson picked up the assists. Erik Ersberg stopped all seven shots he faced and Rich Clune managed to get in two fights in the game's first 10 minutes...

Here's how the Kings are expected to skate tonight against the Avalanche in Denver. Note that Ryan Smyth is not expected to be in the lineup against his former team...

Purcell-Kopitar-Williams
Clifford-Schenn-Brown
Richardson-Lewis-Clune
Ivanans-Cliche-Harrold

Johnson-Scuderi
Hickey-Greene
Martinez-Doughty

Ersberg (He is expected to play the entire game)
Bernier

From the NHL... I'll attempt to get some comment from Lombardi...

KINGS' O'DONNELL SUSPENDED FOR REMAINDER OF PRE-SEASON AND TWO REGULAR SEASON GAMES

TORONTO (September 23, 2009) - Los Angeles Kings' defenseman Sean O'Donnell has been suspended for the remainder of the Kings' pre-season schedule and two regular season games as the result of a match penalty in a pre-season game against the New York Islanders, September 22, the National Hockey League announced today.

At 16:37 of the second period, O'Donnell was assessed a match penalty for delivering a cross check to Matt Martin of the Islanders.

O'Donnell will miss the Kings remaining three pre-season games (tonight and Sept. 26 against Colorado and Sept. 27 at Anaheim) as well as the first two games of the Kings' regular season schedule. He will be eligible to return Oct. 8 vs. Minnesota.

First... Wow...the response today has been completely overwhelming. Thank you so much. I should have noted that things will remain normal around here for the next week. I'll let everyone know exactly when the move is being made, and to where. Back to hockey!

Terry Murray has not officially said that Jonathan Quick will start the season opener next Saturday. Unofficially? Well...

``I think, on the issue of our No. 1 goalie, there's no question that Quick is our No. 1 guy at the start of the season,'' Murray said. ``He earned that with the way he played last year.''

So while Murray has not officially announced Quick as the opening night starter, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which that wouldn't happen. A better, more relevant question is, who will be the backup? Erik Ersberg or Jonathan Bernier? Murray isn't ready to reveal that answer yet either, but gave his strongest hint to date when I talked to him this morning.

``It's a very close call, because both have played well and both of them have looked good in training camp,'' Murray said. ``If you look at the way Bernier has developed, I have been very pleased, but for him to be able to continue to play, and play a lot -- meaning in Manchester -- that would be a good thing in my mind.''

Murray noted, however, that the decision is not entirely his. Meaning, of course, that Dean Lombardi's input will also factor heavily into the discussion. In the end, it probably makes sense to have Bernier in Manchester as the No. 1, at least at the start of the season. The Kings would need to watch him carefully, though, to make sure he stays mentally sharp and doesn't get ``down'' about the assignment, the way he did at the start of last season.

Hey everyone... This note marks the start of a new, exciting venture. Beginning next Thursday, Oct. 1, I will no longer write and blog for the Los Angeles Daily News. I will be taking my trade to LAKings.com. I understand that this will raise some immediate, significant questions, so I'm here to explain, but also to express my excitement about this exciting change in my career.

To put it as plainly and simply as possible, I will draw a salary from the Kings, but none of the stories and/or blogs I write will be reviewed for approval by any member of the Kings' staff. Topics will not need approval and interviews will not have any additional supervision. I have been hired to blog, write stories -- including coverage of home and road games -- and produce other content for the website. This is not public relations. I have been told, pointedly, by the highest levels of Kings management, that I should continue to report and write as normal.

Be certain of two things: I will not ``go easy'' on the Kings out of any fear of retribution, just as I will not take gratuitous shots at the team and the organization simply because I have retained the right to be critical. Things will continue on course. Praise and criticism, to the extent I feel either is warranted, will continue to be distributed fairly.

That's out of the way. Now let me tell you what to expect. I can say, with complete confidence, that you will have better, more comprehensive Kings coverage than ever before. When the team is away on its 10-day road trip next month -- and on all of its road trips -- I will be there, giving up-to-the-minute updates on the blog and writing stories for the website. For the first time ever in my career, I will be able to dedicate every working hour to covering the Kings.

I hope that you will be as excited about this as I am. It's been four years since I've been able to travel with the team and truly cover a beat the way a reporter should. That's certainly not a knock on the Daily News. My editors here have been fantastic and have always supported my desire to cover the Kings. The Daily News, I'm certain, will continue to do its best to provide quality coverage of the Kings, but I feel that this opportunity gives me a better chance to follow my passion, and I'm looking forward to the challenge. The look of the coverage will be different, and we'll have to adjust to a new home, but it will be all positive.

Most of all, I just want to say thank you to all of you readers. It's been amazing. When this blog started, I had no idea where it would lead. Thanks to your overwhelming support, it has been a huge success, and thanks to you, we can now take it to an even higher level. I understand that some of you might have doubts about this move, and that's fine. Nothing I say right now is going to completely convince everyone. All I ask is that you give me a chance, a chance to prove that nothing is going to change; it's only going to get better.

I'll keep you updated on the exact name/location of the new blog. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them here. Thanks much...

Rich

Unfortunately, since last night's game was not televised, there's no visual account of this, but there was a rather interesting incident in the second period of the Kings-Islanders game.

It seems as though Islanders forward Matt Martin delivered a rough hit to Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, after which Doughty's partner, Sean O'Donnell, jumped on Martin and drew a five-minute penalty and an ejection. This morning, I called Terry Murray to get his perspective on the incident.

MURRAY: ``The Islanders player came across and it was a situation where it was a shoulder hit to the head area, one of those late hits that needs to be taken out of the game, in my opinion. In that situation, O'Donnell responded to protect his teammate, and that's a good thing to see. With the culture we're trying to build here, that's exactly what we want to see happen. It's a great message to all of the players on the team.''

The obvious contrast is to the incident last season, in which Tampa Bay's Evgeny Artyukhin delivered a questionable hit to Doughty but didn't draw much of a response from the Kings.

Josh Bailey scored a third-period goal to pull the Islanders within 3-2, but Wayne Simmonds scored his second goal of the game, into an empty net, to give the Kings the 4-2 win in Kansas City. Jonathan Quick went the distance to get the victory in goal.

The Kings scored twice in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Wayne Simmonds scored a shorthanded goal (assists to Drewiske and Piskula) and Drew Doughty scored a power-play goal (assists to Frolov and Purcell). The Kings did lose Sean O'Donnell, who apparently got a game misconduct penalty for going after an Islanders player (didn't catch who it was exactly) after a hit on Drew Doughty.

It's 1-1 between the Kings and Islanders in Kansas City. Teddy Purcell opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 8:33 (assists to Jarret Stoll and Thomas Hickey) and Andy Sutton tied it with a goal at 10:45 (assists to Trent Hunter and Jeff Tambellini).

Unofficially, each team had seven shots in the period. Jonathan Quick kept it tied with a point-blank save in the final minute with the Islanders on the power play. Nick Nickson seemed quite excited about it, at least...

From The Associated Press...

-----

DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche will be without Tom Preissing for four to six weeks after the
defenseman had a scope done on his right knee.

The Avalanche acquired Preissing, along with defenseman Kyle Quincey, in a deal that sent Ryan Smyth to the Los Angeles Kings during the offseason.

The 30-year-old Preissing, a former Colorado College standout, had three goals and four assists in 22 games for the Kings last season.

Here's how the Kings are expected to skate against the Islanders tonight in Kansas City:

Lewis-Stoll-Purcell
Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds
Clune-Harrold-Richardson
Ivanans-Cliche-Westgarth

O'Donnell-Doughty
Drewiske-Martinez
Piskula Hickey

Quick

Quick is expected to play all three periods. Here is the Islanders' lineup (No John Tavares):

FORWARDS: Trent Hunter, Nate Thompson, Josh Bailey, Jeff Tambellini, Jon Sim, Greg Moore, Tim Jackman, Tyler Haskins, Matt Martin, Tony Romano, Jesse Joensuu, Michael Haley.
DEFENSEMEN: Bruno Gervais, Andy Sutton, Jack Hillen, Brett Westgarth, Freddy Meyer, Dustin Kohn.
GOALIES: Dwayne Roloson, Nathan Lawson.

A couple Kings-Islanders ties... Jeff Tambellini, Jon Sim and Tim Jackman and former Kings, and the Westgarth brothers will be on opposite sides tonight...

The Kings have announced that they have signed Kyle Clifford to a three-year entry-level contract. It's good for the player and team to get done, but it doesn't really impact Clifford's status. The ``clock'' on his contract doesn't start until Clifford plays in the NHL.

The plot thickens a bit more...

The Kings today assigned Drew Bagnall, Gabe Gauthier, Brandon Segal and John Zeiler to Manchester. The first three aren't a surprise, and Zeiler's departure isn't a huge surprise either, but it makes the fourth-line situation a bit more interesting.

Not sure how I missed this one a few days ago... As you might know, I'm a big fan of Greg Wyshynski's NHL blog on Yahoo, and last week he did his season preview of the Kings. As always, it's entertaining and a good read.

Preview: Introducing the 2009-10 Los Angeles Kings!

Brayden Schenn seems to have won the first-annual ``Oscar Moller Award,'' given to the young player who generates the most surprising buzz in training camp. Schenn is still a longshot to make the team, but considering he didn't even turn 18 until late August, he is doing quite well for himself in his first camp. Schenn talked the other day about his training-camp experience...

``It's pretty much what I thought it would be,'' Schenn said. ``Everyone is competing and trying to make the team and make an impression. I kind of expected that. For me, my focus is just on getting better each day and trying to make a good impression.''

I asked Schenn if his brother had given him any particular advice. Luke Schenn, a 2008 first-round pick who played 70 games on defense for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season.

``He pretty much just said, `Don't read into anything. You've got to worry about yourself, and that's pretty much all you can do,''' Brayden Schenn said. ``He said to try to get better each day, and that's where my focus has been on.''

In contrast to previous seasons, the Kings -- with 12 days still remaining before the start of the season -- already appear to have their top three lines set, with...

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Purcell-Stoll-Brown
Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds

What, then, to do with the fourth line? One ``agitator'' and one ``enforcer''? Two of one and none of the other? Ivanans or Westgarth? Clune or Zeiler (or Clifford)? Is Harrold your center, for certain? Others? Remember, also, that there will likely be two spare forwards on the roster, so keep in mind that you're selecting five players for three spots, essentially. Also keep in mind that Harrold can play defense if needed... So, what do you think?

For the record, I'm largely non-committal on this issue. I'd like to see the Kings give chances to Clune and Harrold, but I really don't have a strong opinion on Ivanans vs. Westgarth, etc.

From the Tampa Bay Lightning...

``TAMPA BAY - The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-assigned right wing Lauri Tukonen to Lukko Rauma of the Finnish SM-Liiga today, Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Lawton announced. The Lightning now have 41 players remaining in camp. Tukonen, a native of Hyvinkaa, Finland, did not appear in any preseason games with Tampa Bay.''

Tukonen, as you probably remember, was a first-round pick of the Kings in 2004.

There's a lot less of Raitis Ivanans this year. Ivanans weighed in at roughly 260 pounds last season, and he said the Kings asked him to drop a significant amount of weight during the summer. Ivanans said he lost 17 pounds.

``They want me to be a little more mobile and have a little more speed out there,'' Ivanans said.

And does he feel any different on the ice?

``I don't know,'' Ivanans said. ``I feel the same, but hopefully it will show during the year.''

After a round of cuts, it never hurts to keep tabs of where the roster stands. With just under two weeks before the start of the season, the Kings have 35 players on the training-camp roster...

GOALIES
Jonathan Bernier
Erik Ersberg
Jonathan Quick

DEFENSEMEN
Drew Bagnall
Andrew Campbell
Drew Doughty
Davis Drewiske
Matt Greene
Thomas Hickey
Jack Johnson
Alec Martinez
Sean O'Donnell
Joe Piskula
Rob Scuderi

FORWARDS
Dustin Brown
Marc-Andre Cliche
Kyle Clifford
Richard Clune
Alexander Frolov
Gabe Gauthier
Michal Handzus
Peter Harrold
Raitis Ivanans
Anze Kopitar
Trevor Lewis
Teddy Purcell
Brad Richardson
Brayden Schenn
Brandon Segal
Wayne Simmonds
Ryan Smyth
Jarret Stoll
Kevin Westgarth
Justin Williams
John Zeiler

Alexander Frolov did some tough skating today with Jarret Stoll, under the eyes of coaches Mark Hardy, Jamie Kompon and Bill Ranford. Afterward, Frolov said he had no concerns about the sore groin that kept him out of practice on Friday.

``I think it was probably just some scar tissue. It's better now,'' Frolov said. ``When you have something like that, at first you're not sure if it's scar tissue or something else, so you have to be careful so that you don't make it worse.''

Frolov said he would be able to play in Tuesday's preseason game if the Kings wanted him to play.

I also asked Frolov if he was keeping a close eye on contract talks between the Kings and his agent...

``I don't really follow it right now,'' Frolov said. ``Most of my concerns are just about the start of the season.''

Here's the list of the Kings' roster cuts today...

Assigned to Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League:
Justin Azevedo - C
Corey Elkins - C
Bud Holloway - LW
Dwight King - LW
Andrei Loktionov - C
David Meckler - LW
Juraj Mikus - C
Oscar Moller - C
Patrick Mullen - D
Jordan Nolan - C
Scott Parse - RW
Michael Pelech - F
Viatcheslav Voynov - D
Geoff Walker - RW
Jeff Zatkoff - G

Assigned to junior team:
Colten Teubert - D (Regina)

Released from Training Camp tryout:
Dennis McCauley

That takes the training-camp roster down to 35 players.

Oscar Moller has been assigned to Manchester. Other cuts are expected to be announced very shortly.

The practice schedule got adjusted, so it's just Frolov, Stoll, Quick and Ersberg on the ice today. Frolov appears, at least, to be skating/shooting normally. A significant number of cuts will likely be announced this afternoon.

-- The Kings' line of Anze Kopitar (1-1=2), Justin Williams (2a) and Ryan Smyth (1g) combined for five points (2-3=5) and a plus-6 rating...

-- Defensemen Thomas Hickey and Alec Martinez were each a plus-2 tonight...

-- Jack Johnson played a game high 24:04 and had one assist. He now has four points (2-2=4) in three pre-season games...

TERRY MURRAY:
(Re Brayden Schenn playing opening night): "That's not really a question for me. There's a whole lot of things above that one that need to be answered first. He's played well. He came out and scored two goals tonight and the line was good again with Clifford. Whoever they have played with in the exhibition games or in practice they have looked really good. It's pretty impressive that they are only 18 years old."

(Re Bernier's play throughout pre-season): "He will be here in practice tomorrow. He played very well and I like his awareness. He's got skill, he's got talent and he's bringing it out through hard work and I like that."

KINGS FORWARD BRAYDEN SCHENN:

(Re playing at the NHL level): "You just got to get used to the pace and the tempo of the game, but for now its just taking it one day at a time and just getting focused on getting better each day. Everyday is a new challenge, adjustment to getting used to the pace of the game out there and you know I'm sure as days go on here I just want to try to make a good impression.''

A big night for Brayden Schenn, who scored two goals. Schenn scored on the power play, 4:10 into the game, then gave the Kings a 3-0 lead with 4:28 left in the second period. In between, Ryan Smyth scored a second-period even-strength goal. Saku Koivu scored the Ducks' only goal, with 32 seconds left in the second period on the power play. Anze Kopitar added an empty-net goal for the final margin. Jonathan Bernier stopped 19 of 20 shots and played the entire game. Kings assists went to Justin Williams (two), Kopitar, Jack Johnson, Davis Drewiske, Thomas Hickey and Dustin Brown.

Notes and quotes to follow...

Jonathan Bernier is expected to play the full game tonight when the Kings host the Ducks. That would be Bernier's second full game. So far, Bernier and Jonathan Quick have each played a full game, while Erik Ersberg and Jeff Zatkoff split the game in Phoenix (with Ersberg getting two periods).

It will be interesting to see what the Kings do after tonight. Four goalies is a lot to have in camp when there's only one practice group (which there will be, starting Sunday), but certainly not impossible. Three goalies can be an awkward number to practice with, but the Kings did so deep into training camp last year. What does it all mean? Mostly the obvious, that Bernier needs to play well tonight, because decision time is nearing fast.

Here's what Terry Murray had to say regarding the practice of playing a goalie for an entire preseason game, rather than splitting the periods:

MURRAY: ``Years ago, you used to always split the game, and go two periods, one period, because you were a little nervous about the conditioning side of things. I think the guys came into camp in pretty good shape. I see it now, where we had two days of practice and then a game, that they're very attuned to their conditioning. They work hard all summer long, and it's not a concern. I feel that they're just so ready to go, that they really do want to play all three periods.''

The Kings are likely to make another round of cuts after tonight's preseason game against the Ducks. Will this be Brayden Schenn's final game with the Kings, before he is returned to his junior team? Quite possibly, but Schenn has responded well to every challenge the Kings have given him so far. Schenn will get one more chance to impress tonight. Here's what Terry Murray said about Schenn's training camp thus far...

MURRAY: ``He's here, he's a young guy, and I think that when you have a junior player around for as long as we have with him, the best thing to do is play him and let him get a real good experience of what's going on at this level and see if he can push his game to the next level. We're seeing that. That's probably a reason why I keep looking to get him into the games, he and Clifford, because they are able to rise up to the occasion and perform very well, as they did (Thursday) night. There were times when that line was playing incredibly well, for 18-year-olds. As long as they're around this team, I'm going to keep getting them in there and giving them a great experience.''

Certainly things can change over the next two weeks, but as for now, it appears as though Terry Murray would like to see a second line of Teddy Purcell, Jarret Stoll and Dustin Brown.

MURRAY: ``That line, that's what I had penciled in back in the late part of the summer, to take a look at in training camp. I still want to stay with that. I like what I've seen from Teddy Purcell. I think you've got two guys, on the middle and on the right side, who have speed and can shoot the puck and score. I think Teddy Purcell is a guy who can handle the puck, and he sees the ice very well and can make plays. I'm hoping he can be a good complement to the two of them. As a result, I'm looking for good chemistry there.''

That, barring injuries or a change of mind, leaves the Kings with three set lines:

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Purcell-Stoll-Brown
Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds

That also, more likely than not, puts Oscar Moller in a position of having to knock Purcell out of that second-line spot. It's logical to assume that if the choice is between a) playing Moller on the fourth line or having him as a ``spare'' and b) having him play major minutes in Manchester, the Kings would choose the latter. What do you think?

Here's the Ducks' lineup, courtesy of our Ducks writer, J.P. Hoornstra, on his blog. I don't think I would want to be a ref in this game...

Beleskey-Koivu-Selanne
Calder-Ebbett-Perry
Donally-Nokelainen-Weller
Artyukhin-Marchant-Parros

Mikkelson-Brookbank
Whitney-Eminger
Festerling-McCarthy

Hiller
Pielmeier

Jarret Stoll, who missed the start of training camp as he recovered from symptoms of arthritis -- particularly in his right wrist -- completed his first full-team practice today. Stoll also skated Thursday, with the group of players who didn't play against the Sharks, and after practice today he gave an update of his status...

``It's good,'' Stoll said. ``It's way better. I skated yesterday, for one practice with the players who didn't play, and I felt good. I thought maybe I would be a little sore and stiff after that first time back, but it wasn't, so that's pretty encouraging, for sure. ... A couple more practices, and hopefully next week get into a game, for sure. A couple games, maybe all of them.''

After Saturday, the Kings play Tuesday in Kansas City, Wednesday at Colorado, next Saturday in Las Vegas and next Sunday in Anaheim. Here's what Terry Murray said about getting Stoll into preseason games...

``I don't have a plan,'' Murray said. ``I want to have a conversation with him, now that he has had a couple practices, and just get a general `How are you feeling? How are you doing? What do you see? How do you feel? What do you think you can do when you get into a game?' I'll sit down and go over the schedule with him, as to what we have remaining, and let him basically tell him when he's good to go. As soon as he gives me the green light, I'll put him in right away.''

Barring setbacks, it seems likely that Stoll will indeed be ready for the season opener.

Here's what Terry Murray said about Alexander Frolov's absence from practice today:

MURRAY: ``He came out of the game yesterday with just a little bit of a sore groin. In the middle of the third period, he felt it, so he's going to rehab and take a day of rest and hopefully get back at it tomorrow.''

Here's the Kings lineup for tomorrow night's game against the Ducks at Staples Center (edit). A lineup with Clifford, Clune, Ivanans and Westgarth? What's the NHL record for fighting majors in an exhibition game? Bernier is expected to play all three periods.

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Clifford-Schenn-Brown
Clune-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Richardson-Westgarth

Johnson-Scuderi
Drewiske-Greene
Hickey-Martinez

Bernier
Ersberg

Alexander Frolov has "a little bit of a sore groin," according to Terry Murray. Frolov did not practice today but did off-ice work. He will not play in tomorrow's game. Rich Clune will take his place alongside Handzus and Simmonds.

More notes soon, including tomorrow's game lineup.

Alaexander Frolov is not practicing this afternoon. I should be able to get a reason after practice. Here's how they're skating, with Stoll back on the second line...

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Purcell-Stoll-Brown
Clune-Handzus-Simmonds
Ivanans-Harrold-Zeiler
Richardson-Moller-Lewis

Johnson-Scuderi
O'Donnell-Doughty
Drewiske-Greene
Hickey-Martinez

Quick
Bernier

Rich Clune left the ice early in the morning session...because he's also participating in the afternoon session. If nothing else, it's an indication that the coaches want to get a real good look at Clune.

Practices are at 10 a.m. and noon today, with the youngsters on the ice right now. Most of the guys who played last night will skate in the afternoon. No roster has yet been posted for tomorrow's game against the Ducks, but hopefully I will get that by the end of the day.

-- Dustin Brown scored the game-tying goal with 9.5 seconds remaining in the third period, off an assist from Andrei Loktionov. The goal came with the Kings on the power play and with an extra attacker (6 on 4).

-- The Sharks outshot the Kings 26-25, including 8-1 in overtime. Jonathan Quick played the entire game and made 25 saves.

-- No Kings player had more than three shots on goal. Oscar Moller and Alexander Frolov each had three.

-- The Kings, officially, were 1 for 8 on the power play and 8 for 8 on the penalty kill. The Kings had to kill two San Jose power plays in overtime.

San Jose's Jason Demers scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Sharks the victory in Ontario. Sharks goalie Thomas Greiss stopped Andrei Loktionov, Teddy Purcell, Brayden Schenn and Trevor Lewis in the shootout, while Kings goalie Jonathan Quick stopped the first three shooters before Demers' goal.

The Kings killed all nine San Jose power plays, including two in overtime. The Kings scored one power-play goal (Dustin Brown's late third-period goal, with an assist to Loktionov) on eight chances.

Dustin Brown just tied the game, on the power play, with 9.5 seconds remaining in the third period.

No goals in the second period...the most excitement seemed to be fights featuring Raitis Ivanans (who got an instigator), Kyle Clifford and, at the end of the period, Jack Johnson.

In Ontario, Benn Ferriero scored a first-period goal and the Sharks took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The Kings went 0 for 3 on the power play in the first period.

Could it be that the key to the Kings' season -- or at least the first part of it -- will be Teddy Purcell? Given a couple recent developments, it's not such a ridiculous argument.

First, there's the issue of Jarret Stoll's arthritis. Stoll was back on the ice today, and has said that he intends to be ready for opening night, but should circumstances change, the Kings would have to start looking at a backup option. It probably wouldn't be Michal Handzus, since Terry Murray seems to prefer trying a third line of Frolov, Handzus and Simmonds.

So, then what? It's very possible that Oscar Moller would end up at center, with Dustin Brown on his right wing. That opens a spot for...drumroll please...Teddy Purcell.

At the start of camp, I wouldn't have put much weight behind that idea. Purcell has yet to prove that he can be a consistent NHL scorer, and has frustrated coaches at times with his play. Based on what we've seen so far in camp, however, Purcell looks different. He has added some muscle and, more importantly, is playing an all-around more aggressive game. Murray praised Purcell's effort during Tuesday's exhibition game as the best game Purcell had played for him.

Or perhaps, even if Stoll is ready to go for the first game, Purcell could beat out Moller for a top-six spot? Or do you think there's a better option for the Kings?

Kings center Jarret Stoll, who has been recovering from symptoms of arthritis, is back on the ice in practice today, according a post on the Kings' official Twitter account. Stoll is not scheduled to play in Ontario tonight, but the Kings have five more preseason games after tonight.

A couple things that have come up in comments that would be good to address...

-- Got a question about the Kings' new European scout, Todd Woodcroft. Woodcroft was most recently a pro scout and the video coordinator for the Minnesota Wild.

-- There was a question about why David Kolomatis, the Kings' fifth-round pick, isn't in camp. As reported last month, Kolomatis developed mononucleosis last month and was ruled out of camp. Also, if anyone is wondering about Geordie Wudrick, he developed appendicitis. That's a particularly tough break for Wudrick, who impressed at the developmental camp in July.

-- Tonight's preseason game against San Jose will only be broadcast on 1150-AM.

Barring any changes, here is how the Kings will skate in Thursday's preseason game in Ontario:

Purcell-Moller-Brown
Frolov-Loktionov-Simmonds
Clifford-Schenn-Lewis
Ivanans-Cliche-Segal

Johnson-Drewiske
O'Donnell-Doughty
Campbell-Mullen

Quick
Bernier

Terry Murray said after today's practice that he intends to have Quick play the entire game.

The following players have been returned to their junior teams:

G Jean-Francois Berube (Montreal, QMJHL)
D Nicolas Deslauriers (Rouyn-Noranda, QMJHL)
G Martin Jones (Calgary, WHL)
RW Brandon Kozun (Calgary, WHL)
RW Linden Vey (Medicine Hat, WHL)

Also, center Tyler Maxwell and defensemen Milan Doczy and Radko Gudas have been released from their tryouts. The Kings are down to 52 players on the training-camp roster.

NHL.com did a nice piece today on Derek Armstrong, who is in camp with the St. Louis Blues but says he won't complain if the Blues send him to the AHL...

Armstrong happy to have opportunity

Jonathan Bernier played the entire game in goal at Staples Center last night and stopped 20 of 23 shots. The first Phoenix goal was a nice shot from an almost impossible angle. The second goal was unpreventable, as the puck made a hard deflection off Rob Scuderi's skate. The third goal came off a centering pass, with the Phoenix forward alone in front. In all, Bernier didn't seem to face a lot of sustained pressure. Here's what Terry Murray had to say about Bernier's game...

``This was actually the first time I have seen him in an NHL game and he was good here,'' Murray said. ``Especially late in the third period, he had a play that came to the net from the point and the puck was knocked down in front and he made a real quick save on that. That's the talent that's there and he stayed on it to stop any second or third opportunities.''

Murray also pointed out how Bernier would skate to the bench during breaks in action in order to communicate with coaches and teammates.

Embedding this video from the Kings. Let's cross our fingers that it works...

(click below for the video...)

The selection of the first star last night couldn't have been more appropriate. Jack Johnson played a smart, aggressive game, and got rewarded for it with two goals -- one of which would have made highlight reels if the game had been recorded, etc. -- and one assist.

Johnson, last night, looked like the defenseman we've seen in highlight videos from his college days. If he can maintain that, and if the Kings find the correct partner for him, the defense will improve even further, and so will the offense.

Here's what Terry Murray said about Johnson's skilled shorthanded goal:

``It was a pretty spectacular goal,'' Murray said. ``Exhibition game or not, you still have to go out and do it. On a four-on-three penalty kill situation on top of all that, it was a great effort. He took it into his own hands to do something spectacular at that time and he did.''

Here's what Johnson said about possible improvements to the Kings' power play, on which he played the point last night with the first unit:

``It's just confidence,'' Johnson said. ``You know everyone's getting to know each other more and, I mean, you can't have good players out there with no confidence. Nothing's going to get done. Last year we couldn't figure it out and we definitely had the personnel out there. I think it's just the confidence and zipping around and shooting whenever you can. Not looking for anything extra. Confidence is everything. You're not playing well unless you're confident. Those two go hand in hand.''

-- It's too bad the game at Staples Center wasn't televised, because there were two highlight-caliber goals. Justin Williams scored one, when he did a nice toe drag in the right faceoff circle and eventually scored on his own rebound. Jack Johnson had the real highlight, though, on his second goal, the one that proved to be the game-winner. Johnson scored a roofed a backhand shot for a shorthanded goal, in a truly impressive offensive burst.

Terry Murray, quite rightfully, was impressed with Johnson's effort.

``It's a great sign to see a young player play with that take-charge attitude,'' Murray said. ``He had the attitude that is important for a young player in order for a young player to move forward in this league.''

-- The Kings' locker room at Staples Center, and the entire hallway area, has been completely renovated. It looks amazing, really. There is wood paneling everywhere and everything in the room is new and updated. I was in a bit of a hurry, and couldn't get pictures, but I'll try to track them down. Everyone who saw it was very impressed.

-- At Staples Center, Johnson was the first star and Williams was the second star.

-- Terry Murray also had strong praise for Teddy Purcell and Jonathan Bernier, calling the game the best that Purcell had ever played for him.

-- At Staples Center, Johnson led the Kings in ice time (25:15) and hits (four, tied with Kyle Clifford). Justin Williams had six shots on goal and Purcell had five. Jonathan Bernier made 20 saves.

-- In Phoenix, the Kings had only 14 shots, and Simmonds had four of them. Simmonds also had a team-high four hits. (EDIT: NOT assists, of course...)

-- Final cuts will be made tomorrow, but Terry Murray said they will be limited to junior players returning to their teams.

I'll have a bunch more notes and quotes to post tomorrow...

The Kings won 4-3 at Staples. Teddy Purcell's third-period slap shot made it 3-2, and Jack Johnson's second goal made it 4-2 before the Kings held on.

The Kings fell 4-2 in Phoenix. Wayne Simmonds scored both goals for the Kings. Voinov, Drewiske, Handzus and Frolov had assists.

Postgame notes and quotes to follow...

It's still 2-1 Coyotes in Phoenix, now in the third period.

In L.A., Keith Yandle scored a second-period goal to give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead, but Justin Williams answered with a nice goal. Williams did a little puck drag at the right faceoff circle, shot, got his own rebound and scored. It's the second intermission, tied 2-2.

At Staples Center, the Kings and Coyotes are tied 1-1. Jack Johnson scored on the power play with three minutes remaining, and Mikkel Boedker scored on the power-play for Phoenix with 1:12 remaining. It's Jonathan Bernier in goal for the Kings and Al Montoya for the Coyotes.

In Phoenix, the Coyotes lead 2-1 in the second period. Jim Vandermeer started the scoring with a first-period power play goal, and Wayne Simmonds tied it with a shorthanded goal late in the period. Vernon Fiddler gave the Coyotes a 2-1 lead in the second period.

A (very) amateur photographer's first look at the arena...

Here's how the Kings are expected to skate in Phoenix tonight...

Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds
Gauthier-Richardson-Lewis
King-Azevedo-Meckler
Ivanans-Cliche-Zeiler

Drewiske-Greene
Campbell-Voynov
Bagnall Martinez

Ersberg
Zatkoff

I'll be out at Staples Center tonight, so there will be some type of chat, for discussion and updates from both games. Come on by!

Here's the expected roster for Tuesday's home exhibition game against the Coyotes, with expected line pairings:

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Moller-Loktionov-Purcell
Clifford-Schenn-Mikus
Clune-Harrold-Westgarth

Johnson-Scuderi
Doughty-Hickey
Piskula-Teubert

Bernier
Jones

If you walked through the Kings' training facility on any morning this summer, you had a decent chance of seeing at least a couple Kings on the ice. Dustin Brown and Matt Greene, in particular, made an effort to recruit as many players as possible to skate and train in Los Angeles.

``This was the first year we tried to do it, and we had a really good response,'' Brown said. ``Obviously a handful of guys didn't come, or couldn't come, but at any point during the summer we had 10 guys on the ice, with different guys coming in and going out.

``It was a good thing to build on, and the next step is, it would be good to have more guys here year-round. It's good to get together when we don't need to be together, when we don't have to be together. ... I think we got a real good response from it.''

Click below for the entire 2009-10 Kings broadcast schedule. Of the 82 games, 65 will be televised on either Fox Sports West or Prime Ticket, and three will be televised nationally. For the first time, all of the games will be televised in high definition. You'll get plenty of hockey at the start, as all of the first 16 games will be televised.

Also check out a blog item from our media columnist, Tom Hoffarth, on the schedule.

What should you expect from Justin Williams this season? Well, this is what he expects from himself.

``I'll take it as it comes, but if I don't score at least 20 goals on an offensive line, it's a disappointing year.''

Williams said he has completely healed from last season's Achilles' tendon and finger injuries, and that he feels more comfortable with the Kings than he did after last year's midseason trade. Williams also had this to say about potential linemate Anze Kopitar:

``He's an extremely skilled, large man out there,'' Williams said. ``He's fun to play with.''

Williams also helped shed light on the Kings players' new t-shirts, which read ``What We're Here For'' on the back.

``The wording is a little different,'' Williams joked. ``The reason we're here is for each other and the reason we're here is to make the playoffs this year. That's goal one for this year.''

Rob Scuderi, whose shot-blocking ability was a big reason why the Pittsburgh Penguins lifted the Stanley Cup in June, declined to make the traditional championship trip to the White House last week.

A political statement? No. Thursday was the second birthday of Scuderi's daughter, Kate, and the family spent the day at Disneyland.

``Disneyland did take precedent over the president, probably for the first time in history,'' Scuderi joked.

Kate Scuderi didn't cry at the sight of Mickey Mouse. The proud father reported that she went right up to Mickey and gave him a hug. Rob didn't wince either.

``I've seen some rats that size in New York City,'' Scuderi joked.

Scuderi, wearing No. 7, has been paired with Jack Johnson so far in training camp.

Dean Lombardi made so secret, at the end of last season and during the summer, of saying that he wanted Anze Kopitar to be in the best shape of his career for this coming season. On Sunday, Lombardi was still awaiting the results of the Kings' start-of-camp physical tests, but Kopitar said he felt confident that he did his job.

``I was here for three weeks,'' Kopitar said of his work with the Kings' training staff. ``I feel I did everything in my power to prepare for this season.''

Kopitar said he wouldn't shy away from high expectations for the Kings this season.

``Everybody is expecting the playoffs,'' Kopitar said. ``We have to put some pressure on ourselves. ... That's just the way it is.''

Kopitar also said that he had built some chemistry last season with Justin Williams and that he was familiar with Ryan Smyth's game. That's important, since Kopitar-Smyth-Williams could end up being the Kings' top line.

All six goalies in Kings camp -- Jonathan Bernier, Jean-Francois Berube, Erik Ersberg, Martin Jones, Jonathan Quick and Jeff Zatkoff -- are well regarded by coaches and management, so there's no shortage of competition among the players. It is presumed that Quick has the inside edge on the No. 1 job, based on his play last season, but Bernier will get a long look.

``I don't think anybody really knows what's coming up,'' Bernier said. ``We're in a big battle right now, and the best one is going to get the net.''

Bernier reiterated what he told me during the summer, which was that last season, while personally difficult, was a good learning experience for him.

``Last year was probably the hardest year of my career,'' Bernier said, ``but I learned a lot. I had a lot of ups and downs but I think it was really helpful.

``I think it was more (tough) mentally. I don't think it was physically. I got hurt early in camp (last year) and I was pretty upset. I thought I would get in a (preseason) game or two, and then I was disappointed when I got sent down. When Quick got called up, I was disappointed, but I just had to battle through it.''

This time last year, Jonathan Quick was, by all reasonable standards, no higher than fourth on the Kings' goalie depth chart. He enters camp this year as the favorite to earn the job, based on his strong rookie season last year.

I asked Quick if he prepared any differently, or had a different mindset, heading into camp this year.

``Not really,'' Quick said. ``I still have a lot to prove. I only played a half season last year, and I know that nothing is going to be given to me. I still have to play my way on to the team.''

Oscar Moller put it mildly when he said he was ``one of the lightest guys on the team'' last season. So, much of Moller's focus during the summer, with the encouragement of Terry Murray and staff, was toward putting on muscle. Moller said he is up to 186 pounds, from 180 last season.

That should help, as should Moller's versatility. If the Kings start Alexander Frolov on the third line, and Jarret Stoll is healthy, it could open a spot for Moller as the second-line left wing, opposite Dustin Brown. I asked Moller, a natural center, if he was equally comfortable playing center and wing.

``I've played more as a center iceman so far in my career, but I played a lot of wing last season,'' Moller said. ``There's a lot more -- I don't want to say pressure -- but responsibility, playing center, a lot of work in the defensive zone. That's probably the biggest difference, but I would feel comfortable if they put me (on the wing).''

On Sunday, Ryan Smyth didn't look like a player in his first day of training camp with a new team. Smyth often jumped into drills without hesitation and chatted and offered encouragement to teammates. Not that there won't be a bit of an adjustment period...

``Obviously it's about getting the systems down right and knowing what they want,'' Smyth said. ``That's part of the transition that you have to adjust to.''

Another one? The Los Angeles area, which is a bit more, shall we say, ``cozy'' than the Denver suburbs.

``The homes are right on top of each other here, but we found a nice place,'' Smyth said.

One thing Smyth doesn't want to change is his on-ice success. In 12 full NHL seasons, Smyth has made the playoffs nine times. Does he have his sights set on the playoffs this season?

``We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves,'' Smyth said, ``but every team's goal is to shoot for making the playoffs. I don't think it's an unreasonable thing for this team to shoot for.''

Who knew a 26-year-old man could get arthritis? Not me, but just reading about it on Wikipedia made my joints start to hurt a little. Jarret Stoll has been dealing with the condition for approximately six weeks, with the pain most pronounced his his right wrist, but Stoll said he's not worried about missing time.

``The story is that it's getting better every day,'' Stoll said. ``By no means am I expecting to miss the start of the season. The way I'm thinking, I'll probably play next week.''

Stoll said he started experiencing symptoms in early August, but has not felt any side effects from the medication he is taking to calm the symptoms.

``Within two days, I started feeling better,'' Stoll said. ``I was stepping out of bed instead of rolling out of bed.''

I have a bunch of stuff to post from training camp today, but since someone asked earlier (and before I forget), here's the roster for Tuesday's exhibition road game against the Coyotes. The rest of the roster will stay in L.A., and is eligible to play in Tuesday's game at Staples Center, but I have yet to see an official roster for the home game. The home game will be broadcast on 1150-AM and the affiliates with Nick Nickson and Daryl Evans. Here's the road game roster:

Goalies
Erik Ersberg
Jeff Zatkoff

Defensemen
Drew Bagnall
Andrew Campbell
Drew Doughty
Davis Drewiske
Matt Greene
Viatcheslav Voynov

Forwards
Justin Azevedo
Corey Elkins
Alexander Frolov
Gabe Gauthier
Michal Handzus
Raitis Ivanans
Dwight King
Trevor Lewis
David Meckler
Brad Richardson
Wayne Simmonds
John Zeiler

Coaches
Mark Hardy, Jamie Kompon and Bill Ranford

Here are the lines for the Kings' third group:

Frolov-Handzus-Simmonds
Lewis-Gauthier-Vey
Loktionov-Mikus-Nolan
Meckler-Cliche-Parse

Doughty-O'Donnell
Deslauriers-Martinez
Gudas-Mullen

Rich Clune, preparing for an interview with the Kings' website:

"I left my teeth at the hotel."

Jarret Stoll is not on the ice today, as he recovers from a surprising bout with arthritis. Stoll said he has been taking medication and receiving shots for the pain in his right wrist and said "by no means am I expecting to miss the start of the season." Stoll said he wanted to skate today but was held back, and said he wants to play in exhibition games next week.

Without Stoll, here's how the group is skating:

Purcell-Moller-Brown
Ivanans-Richardson-Zeiler
Holloway-Azevedo-McCauley
King-Pelech-Walker

Drewiske-Greene
Campbell-Voynov
Piskula-Doczy

For what it's worth, here's how the first group of Kings skated:

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Clifford-Schenn-Kozun
Clune-Harrold-Westgarth
Elkins-Maxwell-Segal

Johnson-Scuderi
Hickey-Teubert
Bagnall

If you're headed to El Segundo to check out the first couple days of training camp, note that the Kings will be skating in ``groups for the first couple days. Here's the breakdown of who is skating in which group:

GROUP A

Goalies
32-Jonathan Quick
75-Jean-Francois Berube

Defensemen
3-Jack Johnson
7-Rob Scuderi
37-Thomas Hickey
78-Drew Bagnall
79-Colten Teubert

Centers
5-Peter Harrold
11-Anze Kopitar
47-Corey Elkins
55-Brayden Schenn

Wingers
14-Justin Williams
33-Kevin Westgarth
49-Brandon Segal
51-Brandon Kozun
56-Richard Clune
57-Linden Vey
60-Tyler Maxwell
64-Kyle Clifford
94-Ryan Smyth

GROUP B

Goalies
36-Jeff Zatkoff
45-Jonathan Bernier

Defensemen
3-Matt Greene
43-Joe Piskula
44-Davis Drewiske
76-Viatcheslav Voynov
81-Andrew Campbell
83-Milan Doczy

Centers
9-Oscar Moller
28-Jarret Stoll
62-Justin Azevedo
70-Michael Pelech

Wingers
13-John Zeiler
23-Dustin Brown
41-Raitis Ivanans
50-Bud Holloway
54-Teddy Purcell
74-Dwight King
82-Geordie Wudrick
85-Geoff Walker

GROUP C

Goalies
31-Erik Ersberg
65-Martin Jones

Defensemen
6-Sean O'Donnell
8-Drew Doughty
53-Alec Martinez
59-Patrick Mullen
73-Radko Gudas
80-Nicolas Deslauriers

Centers
26-Michal Handzus
48-Andrei Loktionov
52-Gabe Gauthier
67-Marc-Andre Cliche

Wingers
15-Brad Richardson
17-Wayne Simmonds
24-Alexander Frolov
58-David Meckler
61-Trevor Lewis
63-Scott Parse
71-Jordan Nolan
77-Dennis McCauley
84-Juraj Mikus

The training-camp schedule can be found here:

Kings 2009 training camp schedule

Today is reporting day for Kings players, and they'll be on the ice tomorrow morning in El Segundo. I'm excited for the start of camp, and I intend to be out there all day tomorrow to get a bunch of stuff for the blog.

Below, I'll post the training-camp preview that I wrote for today's paper. How would you answer the questions? What are you most excited, eager and/or anxious to see/hear about in training camp?

To San Jose: Dany Heatley, fifth-round pick in 2010 draft.

To Ottawa: Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek, second-round pick in 2010 draft.

What do you think? Did the Sharks get stronger or weaker?

The anniversary of 9/11, while still difficult, presents a good opportunity to remember the lives of Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis, members of the Kings' scouting staff who perished at the World Trade Center.

NHL remembers Bailey, Bavis, Sweeney on Sept. 11

Click below for a video tribute to Bailey and Bavis, courtesty of Bob Miller and Fox Sports West.

Well, that's the two-word text-messaged response from Dean Lombardi, in regard to the ESPN-reported Marleau/Frolov-Stoll/Heatley trade: ``Complete bull.'' Then there's this, from Ottawa GM Bryan Murray, on ESPN's website: ``It's simply not true. I've had conversations with teams today but still I'm not close to a deal [involving Heatley].''

John Buccigross of ESPN is reporting that, as part of a three-team trade, the Kings would acquire Patrick Marleau from the Sharks and send Alexander Frolov and Jarret Stoll to Ottawa. The Senators would then send Dany Heatley to San Jose.

I'm making my calls/contacts on this at this moment, but right now there's no independent confirmation on my end from the Kings. We'll see what develops tonight.

Anyone have a score update? We had to evacuate our building for a bomb scare. It's always something...

Jean-Francois Berube keeps the shutout going against the Coyotes. Brayden Schenn had an assist on Voynov's second-period goal, so it's a three-point day for Schenn so far.

Viatcheslav Voynov scored on a slap shot from just inside the blue line, 7:09 into the second period, to give the Kings a 3-0 lead.

Then, just 16 seconds later, Brandon Kozun scored for a 4-0 Kings lead.

The highlights of the first period: two goals by Brayden Schenn and two fights by Kyle Clifford, giving Clifford a total of four fights in four periods. It's Jean-Francois Berube in goal for the Kings.

I'm going to try to embed the video here on the blog...

Brayden Schenn just scored his second goal of the game, this one on the power play, to give the Kings a 2-0 lead over Phoenix in the rookie game in El Segundo.

A reminder that today's rookie game will be streamed live at lakings.com/rookie09 at 2 p.m.

Having read through the comments about last night's game, I would agree with those who thought that Andrei Loktionov and Thomas Hickey were the Kings' two standouts, in terms of skill. Colten Teubert and Kyle Clifford showed a lot in terms of their willingness to mix it up, but that type of play made it difficult to make sweeping judgments based on the game. There was so much energy -- even if it wasn't properly directed -- by young players intent upon making a good impression that it was hard for the game to get any type of flow.

Martin Jones allowed six goals, but seemed to be more a victim than the problem. Would those of you who watched the game agree?

The Kings' prospects showed a lot of fight Wednesday night, but not enough offense and defense as they fell to Phoenix 6-1 in the first game of a two-day rookie tournament in El Segundo.

Michael Pelech, a 2009 sixth-round pick, scored the only goal for the Kings, but by that point -- midway through the second period -- the Kings trailed the Coyotes 3-0.

Goalie Martin Jones, who earned a free-agent contract from the Kings after his strong play in training camp last season, allowed all six Coyotes goals.

The game was often interrupted by fights, started by young players looking to make an impact. Colten Teubert, a 2008 first-round pick, got a 10-minute misconduct penalty in the first period and 2009 second-round pick Kyle Clifford got in two fights.

The second game of the tournament will be played today at 2 p.m. at the Kings' training facility in El Segundo. Regular training camp begins Sunday morning.

FIRST PERIOD
PHX 1-0: Chad Koalarik unassisted, 5:21 (PP)
PHX 2-0: Colin Long, unassisted, 17:10

SECOND PERIOD
PHX 3-0: Brett Maclean, unassisted, 8:42
PHX 3-1: Michael Pelech, from Geoff Walker, 10:50
PHX 4-1: Ryan McDonough, 16:36

THIRD PERIOD
PHX 5-1: Brett Maclean, 2nd goal, 2:47
PHX 6-1: Kevin Porter, 10:00 (PP)

I'll be out at tonight's rookie game, so check back around 6 p.m. for coverage. I'll be trying something new, which is to ``tweet'' the game action as it happens. The tweets should show up on the main blog page, on the right-side column below the advertisement, but if you're having trouble finding them, just click twitter.com/insidethekings.

A kind reader named Chasen passed along a link to some great photos that he took at rookie camp. He got some nice tight shots of the prospects as well as some action shots. You can check them out here.

The Kings had their final afternoon practice session before the games against Phoenix tomorrow (6 p.m.) and Thursday (2 p.m.). Tickets for those games, which are $10, will be available at the door in El Segundo (and on the Kings' website right now).

Martin Jones is scheduled to start in goal for the Kings tomorrow, with Jean-Francois Berube taking Thursday's game. After today's practice, Terry Murray talked to Jeff Zatkoff, the third goalie and ``senior'' member of the rookie goalie crew, and told Zatkoff that he would not play in the rookie games but would get time in one of the regular exhibition games.

One player you won't see over the next couple days is Geordie Wudrick, who suffered a bout of appendicitis last week and missed the camp. That's a tough break for any player, and especially for Wudrick, who had impressed at the July developmental camp. Wudrick, a third-round pick last year, had 35 goals and 22 assists for Swift Current of the WHL last season.

I talked to Terry Murray, Colten Teubert and Kyle Clifford today, so I'll have some quotes and notes from those guys soon...

I'm heading out to the rookie camp practice this afternoon, so that will be followed by a full report and hopefully some good interviews from players/coaches. For now, feel free to check out TSN's preview of the Kings, posted today.

Young Kings on the verge of something big

Here's the final part of the Luc Robitaille Q&A. I hope everyone enjoyed it this week!

-----

Question: The Hall of Fame. It's been a couple months now since you got the call. Has it settled in? Are you starting to get excited about the ceremony?

ROBITAILLE: ``I'm starting to get nervous, because I have to get hotel reservations and get all the tickets ready. (laughs) There are a couple things that are selfish. They retire my jersey, and the Hall of Fame, because that's just me. But it's never something that I set out to do, so I think it's amazing. I really do. I think it's amazing that I got there.

``I clearly remember being picked in the ninth round and taking the subway home. My dad was kind of sad, and I look at my dad and I'm like, `I'm on a list! I'm on a list! They've got to look at me now! I've got a chance!' Did I ever think I would have a chance to get 500 goals, 600 goals and be in the Hall of Fame? Never. The only time I ever thought about it was when I got to 500 goals. Someone mentioned it to me and I thought, `Man, I've got a shot now.' But it's still surreal a little bit, but it's something that I take great pride in. It's just one part of my life, but they can never take that away from me, that's for sure. So it's pretty cool.''

Question: Along those lines, if someone in your life who was young -- whether it's a son or a nephew or niece or anyone -- came to you and said, ``I want to be a pro athlete,'' what would you tell them?

ROBITAILLE: ``Actually, I've been asked that a few times. To me, it's very simple. If you want to be a pro athlete, once you get to a certain level, everybody is great. Once you get to be a pro, it's not just about being good, it's about being a good pro athlete. You don't want to just make it. You want to stay there. What's the name of the Raiders quarterback, the left-hander from L.A.''

Question: Marinovich.

ROBITAILLE: ``Yeah, Marinovich. He made it pro, but he never really made it. So you have to ask, `How much are you willing to do in order to make it?' Then, on top of that, `How much more are you willing to do, than everyone else?' If you're willing, every day, to work harder than everyone else and be better, the odds are that you're going to make it. But that's got to be within your heart. It can't be your dad or your coach saying, `You've got to work harder' It's got to be you. That doesn't necessarily always just working. How much earlier are you willing to go to bed?

Question: A reader wrote that he is a new father, and wanted to know some of your favorite moments as a father.

ROBITAILLE: ``I think I'm a better father today than when I was a player, because I was sometimes so focused. My favorite thing is that I let my kids do their own thing. When I was a kid, nobody ever forced me to play hockey. My dad never forced me to play hockey. I just loved it. There's a great book called `The Outliers,' and it says if you practice 10,000 hours at something, you're going to be an expert. I realized that, without anyone forcing me, I probably did that in my first 10 years, from the time I was 5 to 16 or something. I just practiced all the time. Nobody forced me.

``So my two boys are doing great. Steven has great success. He's on a TV show coming out this year, Vampire Diaries, and that's what he loves. The one thing is that we were able to help him and guide him through that. My other one, I don't know where he's going to end up but he loves to play the guitar and sing. He writes his own music and he's 14. I can tell you that I've never said, `You have to practice your guitar.' Every time I turn around, he's grabbing his guitar and he's playing. They're doing their passions, so for me to see them doing their passions... Jesse did a little show on the Third Street Promenade this weekend, and it was the greatest thing.

``It reminds me of what my dad must have felt when he watched me practice. I remember thinking, a few years ago, about how I never thought about it, but my dad went to every practice and every game. I thought, `That must have been long for him,' but it's not when it's your kid. For me, it's to see them do their passion. That's the greatest thing.''

Question: Because you played in the league for so long, and because you occupy this role now, do you have any opinions about ways in which the league could improve, either on the ice or in terms of improving popularity?

ROBITAILLE: ``I really like the way we're going as a league right now. If you go back and look at the NBA, Magic and Larry Bird kind of saved the league at that time. Even though there was Kareem and a lot of other guys, it was Magic and Larry Bird. Then it was Michael Jordan. That's not a lot of guys. It was them, and then you started liking other guys. It was Shaq and Kobe, and now LeBron and Kobe, and you always hear just a few names.

``I believe that, for the first time, the league is trying to do the right thing and really trying to promote a few players. It's Sidney and Ovechkin, and at the end of the day those are our guys. They're breaking records and they're leading the league in scoring. I love the fact that they're doing a big event on New Year's Day. The outdoor game is huge. They're really trying with the awards show, bringing it to Vegas. At least they're trying to make big events out of things. They're starting to promote the league more as a player league. You always remember things because of the players. I love the 49ers, and it's because of Joe Montana. I remember Joe Montana. That was my guy. I liked Magic with the Lakers. I loved the Lakers, but it was because of Magic. You always relate to a player. For years, the league always said, `Logo, logo, logo, team, team, team.' Now the league is kind of turning it around and promoting the players.

Question: When you thought about retirement, did you always see yourself staying in hockey in some way? Did you anticipate a job such as this one?

ROBITAILLE: ``I didn't know. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I think that as I got near the end, Tim Leiweke sat down with me and started to talk to me about what I wanted to do. I think he finally said, `Why don't you come on board and just be a consultant?' At the time, the things were happening in Kansas City and I thought it would be a great way for me to learn. Then he gave me an opportunity to join all the meetings that they had.

``Seeing what was going on inside AEG, and the size of the business and everything, at one point Tim and I had a discussion and I said, `I think you need to change the model of the Kings.' I remember him asking, `What do you mean?' I feel fortunate that I was with other franchises, so that I could bring that back. I remember explaining to him that we needed people who worked for the Kings full time, even on the business side. I felt I could fill the gap between AEG and the Kings. Tim works so hard on everything, and he doesn't have time to deal with every single thing, so I felt that I could be a little bit of that bridge in between, so that we could become more of a stand-alone franchise. Tim agreed to it. He thought that was the right thing.

Question: You guys, as players, go through so much physically. Three years after retirement, do you still feel it?

ROBITAILLE: ``My lower back was getting worse and worse every year when I was playing. I remember asking Kelly Hrudey, `What's the biggest thing after you retire?' And he told me, `It took me a year.' And I said, `What do you mean, a year?' He said, `It took me a year to figure out that you can get out of bed and nothing hurts.' And I was like, `Really?' And he was like, `Yeah, it's the greatest feeling.'

``I had never thought of it that way. My last couple years with the Kings, I would really show up really early and work on all kinds of stretching until I felt pretty good. When I retired, the first few months I really didn't do much. Funny enough, I was in worse shape then. A lot of times you would take Motrin or Advil or whatever it took -- that was legal, by the way -- to help you feel good. When I retired, I just stopped everything. The first three or four months after I retired were the most painful for me. My lower back was in real bad shape. So I had a minor surgery done to my lower back, where they burned all the nerves around there and got rid of the pain. Then I started a program to straighten it out. I can honestly tell you that it took me six months, and after six months I remember jumping out of bed and nothing hurt. I thought, `This is awesome!'

``To this day, knock on wood, I get out of bed fine. I'm really careful what I do when I'm working out. I try to not do anything stupid, but it's the greatest feeling. I remember there were some mornings when it was hard for me to turn on the water faucet. I would tilt forward just a little bit, and it would kill my lower back. It's a great feeling now that nothing hurts.''

In a story in today's Regina Leader-Post, Colten Teubert talks about his thoughts heading into his second NHL training camp with the Kings. Last season, Teubert had 12 goals, 25 assists and 136 penalty minutes in 60 games for the Regina Pats of the WHL, and also played 14 games with the Ontario Reign of the ECHL.

``If you go there expecting to get cut, you're going to get cut,'' Teubert said. ``There's no way you can have that kind of attitude going into an NHL camp. You have to be there prepared to battle and try to make a spot for yourself.''

Teubert, Eberle have positive attitude heading into NHL camps

(photo from Regina Pats)

Philippe Boucher, one of the real good guys in a league full of good guys, announced his retirement Thursday. Boucher was a defenseman for the Kings from 1995-2002 and played in 748 NHL games with Buffalo, the Kings, Dallas and Pittsburgh.

Penguins defenseman Boucher announces retirement

Question: If there was one moment you could re-live -- not change the outcome, but just do it again -- in your Kings career, what would it be?

ROBITAILLE: ``A couple moments, I think. Obviously going to the Finals that year was very special. Every one of those playoff rounds was awesome. The first three rounds, we lost the first game and people were counting us out every round, and we kept battling back. That was an amazing group.

``Then I would say the year before I left to go to Detroit, that year I clearly remember that we were maybe eight points out in February, and we won maybe 21 of 24 games and tied a bunch. It was an amazing run, and then to beat Detroit after being down 2-0, believing in the locker room and battling and saying, `We have to get the first goal.' Then obviously that 3-0 game, when we came back to beat them, and going all the way to Game 7 against Colorado.

``If you go back, it's kind of funny because Colorado won the Cup that year, but there was a goal that was in, and Ray Bourque knocked it out of the air. When you see that one replay, that they didn't have at the time, the puck was in. We would have been up 2-1. It was 1-1 at the time. Maybe that turns the whole series around. But that was a great memory. But that year -- and I explain this to Tim Leiweke sometimes -- that year there was as much buzz in our city about the Kings as ever. It was crazy. It just shows you that it doesn't take much.''

Question: Jeremy Roenick's name still generates a lot of talk among Kings fans, and I ask you this because you've been close with him. Do you get a sense, in hindsight, of why things didn't work out for him here?

ROBITAILLE: ``JR, throughout his career, was a pure athlete. He was the kind of guy who played 20, 23 minutes a game, so he got in shape by playing hockey. As you get older... I clearly remember myself, in '97, I had to make a stand and turn my career around for the next 10 years. JR realized that during the year he was with the Kings. The year before, in Philly, he had a good year. Not a great year, not a Jeremy Roenick year, because he was hurt a little bit, but he was still an impact player.

``When he came to us, and he would tell you this himself, he went to Italy two or three weeks before camp. If you go to Italy, you can't really work out. There are no gyms there, really. It's kind of funny. I've been to Italy a few times and it's hard to find a gym. So probably, in hindsight, that was his biggest mistake. So he showed up for camp, and this was an era, under Andy (Murray), when we all showed up at camp in good shape. He was maybe 15 pounds heavy, I remember. He knew that, but the way his career went, he would always lose the weight as he went, and by the time he was a month into the season he was fine.

``Unfortunately for us, we didn't start so great that year. Things didn't go great, and it wasn't clicking with him. He was getting the ice time, but he just wasn't clicking. When a player loses his confidence, it's hard, and he lost his confidence. If you remember that year, just when he was starting to play good, he got hurt. But that's when I gained a lot of respect for JR. I didn't really know JR before that. I knew him, but not as a friend. I knew him as a player and we would see each other and talk. But he was hurt, and I saw this guy work so hard. He would work out twice a day, every day, and by the time he got back he was almost there, but he just never clicked. He was in great shape, but there weren't a lot of games left and he just never clicked. I think Andy couldn't find him a line, and nothing was clicking. He was trying hard.

``You look at his career since, and he went to San Jose and he was a good player, but he was playing on the third line or fourth line. I just think that year was kind of the year that changed his career. To a certain degree, he had to show up in tip-top shape and he didn't, and he kind of treated it like when he was young. The way Andy's system was, it was such high energy, such bang-bang energy, and it just didn't click. He lost his confidence, and when you lose your confidence it's hard to regain. I wanted him to come to our team, because he brings a lot of energy.''

Question: Hockey players are generally considered the most accessible of any of the athletes in major pro sports. Do you have any theories as to why that is?

ROBITAILLE: ``I think it's a couple things. In hockey, I don't think you can be successful... You can be the greatest player, but if you're not a good teammate, you can't have success. So there's a respect for the game that we have. This one, it does come from Canada. When I was a kid and I was 9 years old and we would go play a tournament in a different city, I remember that everyone would have to wear a white turtleneck and gray pants, and we had our team jacket and our team hats.

``The biggest award we were trying to win, every tournament, was `most disciplined team.' So when we weren't playing, we all sat in a row in the stands. We represented the team. I clearly remember having to ask the coach to go to the restroom. Probably that was a way to protect us, but we had such discipline and respect. We were having so much fun, but we had discipline. Then I think you grow up and you respect the game. There's a certain respect for where you're coming from. There's one thing about Canada vs. the U.S., I always tell people. There are four different leagues here. You can say, `It's all about football,' but that's not true. When football ends, every American will turn to baseball or basketball or NHL or soccer or something. In Canada, when hockey ends, it's still hockey. In July, it was still hockey in Montreal and Edmonton. That's the thing. It never changes.

``You have to have a certain kind of respect for it. I think if you're Canadian, you respect it more than if a kid comes from Russia or Czechoslovakia. There's still a lot of Canadians in the league, so there's that respect for the game. I really, truly believe it comes from that, because it's borderline crazy up there. But because you respect it, then you respect the reporters and you respect your GM and your coach. That's why you don't hear as many stories. There are still a few, but they're few and far between. I think it comes from that.''

Finally, here's the roster by position...

Here's the numerical roster...

I'll post the training-camp roster in a few different forms, for those who might like to print it out and take it to El Segundo. Here's the alphabetical roster first...

It seems as though technical difficulties prevented tickets for next week's rookie games from going on sale today at 10 a.m., as scheduled. The Kings' website now says that tickets will be on sale at 2 p.m. A reminder: tickets can only be purchased, for $10, at LAKings.com/rookie09, not by phone.

Click below for the entire 2009 Kings training camp schedule. All practices will be at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, unless otherwise noted. It's not yet known which players will be in which ``groups.'' I'll be posting the full training-camp roster soon as well...

Tickets for the Kings' ``rookie games'' against the Phoenix Coyotes in El Segundo, to be played Wednesday, Sept. 9 (6 p.m.) and Thursday, Sept. 10 (2 p.m.) will go on sale today at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at LAKings.com/rookie09. Tickets cost $10 each and proceeds go to the Kings Care Foundation. Only 500 tickets to each game will be sold. The Thursday game will be streamed live at LAKings.com.

I'll also have training camp information shortly...

Question: A two-part question. Who hit you the hardest when you played, and who was the most intimidating player you played against?

ROBITAILLE: ``I think the hardest hit I ever got was... One of them was my teammate, and I can't remember who it was. It was some young kid we called up. It might have been Sylvain Couturier who ran into me. But the hardest hit in my career... One time Ray Bourque, in Boston, I had my head down in the corner and he came in from the front of the net and he hit me. I lost my wind and I remember being on the ice looking around. The hardest hit I ever got was in Minnesota and it was Mark Tinordi. We were on the power play and I cut across the middle. I turned around and he was right there. He hit me so hard that my stick flew all the way into the stands. He didn't knock me out but he hit me real hard. Those are the ones I remember.''

Question: Anyone you ever felt intimidated by?

ROBITAILLE: ``Intimidated...no. The toughest guys to play against were always the defensemen who just played it right, you know? Ray Bourque was hard to play against because he didn't play dirty but you didn't have any room against him. Probably the hardest competitor was Chris Chelios. Him and I had many go-arounds at it. If you wanted to battle against Chris, he made you pay a hard price for it. In those days, you didn't get suspended for slashing. He should have got suspended every shift. (laughs) Him and Chris Pronger were really, really dirty. You know that if you beat them once, you were going to pay a price the next time. But that's why they were so great.''

I'm glad to report that finally, after considerable technical difficulties -- in short...iPhone ``Voice Memos'': great for short recordings, death for long recordings -- I'm ready to post all the rest of the Luc Robitaille Q&A. Honestly, transcribing interviews usually isn't fun, but I really enjoyed getting to listen to this again, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it as well. I'll break it into readable segments over the next couple days.

The following is an awesome story, one that I had never heard before...

Question: You're the only player to wear every Kings jersey that has existed. Which was your favorite?

ROBITAILLE: ``My favorite -- and there's a reason for it -- my favorite is the one that we had in the Gretzky era, and I'll tell you why. When I was in junior, Wayne bought our junior team in Hull. My last year in junior, after Wayne bought the team, he changed the colors to black and silver, and I loved those. Even though I had never really seen the Raiders, I loved the Raiders' colors. I clearly remember, in my second year with the Kings, Bruce McNall had taken over control of the team and he brought in a jersey to the locker room. It was very, very dark blue, silver and gray, but really dark blue. Borderline black, but it was dark blue. If you remember, in Bruce's company everything was dark blue and gray and silver.

``So he showed it to me, and I didn't know this at the time, but Bruce knew he was trying to get Wayne. I didn't know that at the time, and I remember telling Bruce... He asked me, `What do you think of this?' He had my number on it, on the jersey, and I said, `I like it, but you should see what we did in Hull. It was black. It was the same thing but it was black and silver, instead of dark blue.' I said, `I loved those.' And you know Bruce, he was like, `Oh yeah, yeah.' But then I told him it was Wayne who designed them. I didn't know he was trying to get Wayne at the time, but he knew that. Then, a week later, it was the All-Star Game in St. Louis. I was there and they showed tapes of myself in junior. Bruce saw that jersey and he put two and two together, and then he was really into it. I remember that day in St. Louis, he told me he thought he could get Wayne Gretzky. This was in February. I thought he was nuts.

``I do believe, to this day, he changed the colors to help him get Wayne. Wayne had changed our Hull colors. We were blue and we went to black and silver, and we won everything. So for me it was, `We changed those colors and we won everything, so I want to do that.'''

Question: When Bruce showed you that dark blue jersey, did he already have the new logo?

ROBITAILLE: ``No, he didn't have the logo at that point. I saw the logo for the first time when Wayne got traded and he showed the jersey.''

Question: This guy is going to kill me if I don't ask this question. I'll just read it to you. He says, ``The old between periods feature `Ask a King,' back in the late 80s, early 90s, which had fans writing in questions for Kings players to answer. Someone wrote in a question for Luc to the effect of "please explain the effect of the Versailles Treaty on pre- and post- war Europe. The video response had Luc in a professor's garb with a pointer...

ROBITAILLE: ``With Nick Nickson...''

Question: ...answering the question (more or less straight-faced) while referring to a big board with a map of Europe on it. My question for Luc is: What are your memories of this? Is it in the archives somewhere?

ROBITAILLE: ``(laughs) I clearly remember Nick Nickson coming in and doing that. They literally had to teach me what to say, because I had no clue what in the heck we were talking about, but I clearly remember Nick working with me on answering the whole question. It was great. That was (former TV producer) Bob Borgen's planning at the time. That was a fun time. I saw that somewhere last year. Someone pulled out that clip.''

Question: You guys should put all those on the Web site or something...

ROBITAILLE: ``We should. I can't remember where I saw that, but I started to laugh.''

A highly placed source reports that the ice surface is being painted at Staples Center tonight...

(OK, the source is David Courtney, per Facebook. But it's a good source, right?)

Before things get heated up with the start of training camp, a philosophical question...

Vancouver's signing of Roberto Luongo today, to a 12-year, $64-million contract extension, raised a question in my mind. On the Kings, a team full of young talent, is there any player to whom you would justify giving a 12-year contract?

The understanding, of course, is that you're locking up a talented player for the rest of his career, but the clear risk is that the player might suffer a devastating injury or not play up to expectations.

What do you think? Anyone? Drew Doughty?