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This will be the fifth month of measuring fans' approval ratings of Dean Lombardi and Terry Murray.

Mid-November (team record: 5-6-2): Lombardi, 96 percent; Murray, 89 percent
Mid-December (team record: 12-12-4): Lombardi, 96 percent; Murray, 89 percent.
Mid-January (team record: 17-20-6): Lombardi, 86 percent; Murray, 64 percent.
Mid-February (team record: 24-22-7): Lombardi, 97 percent, Murray 96 percent.
Mid-March (team record: 29-30-10): ???

Who would you rather have, Drew Doughty or Steven Stamkos? Of course, it's a moot point, since the Kings weren't in a position to draft Stamkos anyway, but they were THIS close, as you'll recall. It's still an interesting question. The Kings now appear to have tremendous depth, in terms of young defensemen, but are lacking in offensive depth. On the other hand, Doughty is arguably having more success (so far) than Stamkos.

What did everyone think of FSN's telecast last night?

Keep the ``open forum'' questions coming. Lots of good questions so far...

For those who watched last night's game at home, what did you think of the ``rinkside view''? There have been a lot of comments posted already, and I will let the Kings and FSN people know what you think...

I'll have a report from practice a bit later this afternoon, but for now I figured I'd get your thoughts on this subject... As we all know, Rob Blake is coming back to town Sunday with San Jose. I'm curious to see what people's thoughts are on Blake, four months after the whole situation went down...

The Kings will soon announce their choices for captain and alternate captains, possibly as soon as Tuesday, I would think. Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar are the two names that seem to be coming up for captain, and the conventional wisdom is that Jarret Stoll will be an alternate. I have some thoughts on this, but I want to get yours first. Out of those two, who do you think would be a better captain? Feel free to comment also and explain your thoughts...

I was a bit surprised to see Ersberg come out the winner of yesterday's poll. I figured that Bernier would be the exciting choice and LaBarbera would be the safe choice, but it seems that many of you were highly impressed by Ersberg's trial run near the end of last season. Fact is, no matter how you look at it, the Kings don't have a goalie who has proved, without doubt, that he can handle being a No. 1. So, given that, how would you handle the backup role? Go with the (somewhat more) veteran LaBarbera, or give experience to one of the prospects?

Who should be the Kings' starting goalie this season? It figures to be the biggest question of training camp and one that doesn't have an obvious answer. Should they go with the potential of Jonathan Bernier or the experience of Jason LaBarbera? Or somewhere in between, with Erik Ersberg? Or a wild card? You make the call...

Now that you've given the Kings a second line of Frolov, Stoll and Purcell, what to do with the third line? Remember that this can go a couple different ways. Do you try to create a third line that will bring some scoring depth, or focus on more of an ``energy line''? Who's the right center for the line and who might play well with him on the wings?

Not surprisingly, yesterday's poll results overwhelmingly gave the Kings a first line of Patrick O'Sullivan, Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown. This one will be tougher. Who would you pick to be on the Kings' second line? This has been a problem area for the Kings over the last couple seasons. Michal Handzus, signed last summer to be the No. 2 center, could not fill that role last season and the team struggled to find some chemistry on the second line. Who would you pick?

With training camp fast approaching -- the first on-ice workouts are scheduled for one month from tomorrow -- it's realistic to start thinking about how the Kings' roster might take shape. I thought it might be interesting to see how people thought the roster could/should be constructed. So let's start from the top. If you're Terry Murray, what's your first line? We'll go through the rest of the lineup in coming days...

Sorry about that, folks, but you should be able to comment now. I apologize and I thank you for the patience. I'm curious to hear what everyone thought of today's action. In fact, a poll might be in order. I'll get a few of the Lombardi quotes up tonight...

Since a few days have passed, and a few potential names have surfaced and others have either fallen off the map or proved less likely, here's an updated poll to see who you want to see behind the Kings' bench next season. Pick a name, or write in your own.

Who's your pick?

It's no secret that since Kings president/general manager Dean Lombardi was hired two years ago, his main focus has been on improving the Kings' defense. It seems as though a crucial point has been reached. You might remember that in my last interview with Dean Lomardi, he debated whether now was the time to go ``all in'' with the Kings' young players, perhaps even at the risk of exposing them too early.

Consider the Kings' situation on defense. Right now there's basically Jack Johnson, Lubomir Visnovsky, Tom Preissing and a bunch of holes. The reserve list is starting to fill up with players such as Peter Harrold, Thomas Hickey, Alec Martinez and whichever defenseman the Kings select with the No. 2 pick this year (most likely Drew Doughty or Zach Bogosian). Is now the time to start playing those guys at the NHL level? Or would the Kings be better served by holding off a year on a player such as Hickey and going with a ``bridge'' player, a veteran who will fill that spot for one more season?

What are the factors here? Consider baseball. On one hand, there's C.C. Sabathia, who made his major-league debut at age 20. He won 17 games that season, has never thrown fewer than 188 innings in a season since and won the Cy Young Award last year. On the other hand, there's Edwin Jackson, considered the top pitching prospect in 2003. Jackson made his major-league debut on his 20th birthday and outdueled Randy Johnson. The next year, almost assured a spot in the Dodgers' rotation, he struggled. He now has a career ERA of 5.30.

Would you play a young defenseman, such as Hickey or Martinez or the draft pick, next year? There's the excitement of watching them play for the Kings, and the ability to watch them learn the NHL game, as Jack Johnson did last season. On the other hand, there's the risk that they might be overwhelmed, might start to doubt themselves and have their long-term development harmed.

So here's the question. You bring a prospect to the NHL next season, and there's a 50-50 chance he will either succeed or have his development stunted. Or, you wait one year, and there's a 90-percent chance he will succeed and a 10-percent chance he will have his development stunted. But during that year, that roster spot is filled by a nondescript veteran plugger.

What do you think? Feel free to add to your answer with an explanatory comment...

There seems to be some debate about the Kings' assertion that they're losing more money than before the lockout. Keeping in mind, of course, that the Kings aren't opening the financial books, what do you think?

We did this a few weeks back, but I'm interested to see if opinions are changing at all about which player the Kings should take with the No. 2 pick. You've had a chance to see the highlight videos and see the Central Scouting rankings, so has your mind changed at all? For the sake of argument, we'll assume that Steven Stamkos is going first. A wild guess...

There seems to be some wide debate about both of these guys, so I thought it would be interesting to see what the answers are here...

I'm curious to know what people's thoughts are here. How upset are you about the Kings losing these days?