1. I notice you have retained Stoll and let go of Handzus. I did the same thing in my roster. But I felt bad about it, because I can also imagine a world in which Handzus re-signs for peanuts and becomes a forward version of Sean O’Donnell. What do you think about having two kids down the middle (I have Loktionov and Schenn; you have Cliche and Schenn) and having to lose one of Handzus or Stoll?

I felt terrible about letting Zeus go, but I don’t see the Kings rolling with $15 million invested in their top 3 centers again and I had to get rid of one of them. I’d rather trade Jarret Stoll and re-sign Zeus but that seemed like a stretch. Ultimately, I see Stoll occupying Zeus’ role and a young player, either Loktionov or Schenn, taking that 2nd center spot.

2. Johnson and Voynov as a pair? Are you trying to sabotage Voynov?

I can’t tell what to do with Johnson. He can’t play with Greene because they’re bizarro versions of one another and he can’t really play on the right side. He’s gotta play with someone though, and I see Voynov coming up next season and then moving into a top 4 role the season after that. I don’t see Johnson lasting past the 11-12 season anyway, so it doesn’t matter who he plays with too much. I really like Voynov and think he can fits perfectly into the spot currently occupied by Randy Jones. He could easily be Thomas Hickey or Colten Teubert, but Lombardi’s big on seniority so I see Voynov getting the first crack at a spot.

3. Drewiske has been re-signed in your version of reality. Does this mean you don’t think Teubert, Hickey, Muzzin or Campbell will be ready a year and a half from now? There obviously isn’t even room for all of them, but I have to think at least one of them (I chose two: Muzzin and Hickey) will crack the line-up by then.

I think Hickey will be ready. I don’t think Lombardi will agree. I don’t see the Kings breaking in more than one young defenseman a season and I picked Voynov for next year. I think Hickey will probably be ready by 11-12 but I doubt he starts the season. I don’t really know what to expect from Jake Muzzin so I went ahead and left him off. Andrew Campbell kind of sucks so I’m not worried about him. And I hate Colten Teubert so I don’t want him up. I don’t necessarily think Drewiske will be that 6th defenseman because I’m not that high on him, but I think that spot will be taken by an aging defenseman who is good at defense. The Kings will already have Doughty, Johnson and Voynov to move the puck; they’ll need someone to play on the penalty kill.

4. Simmonds and Moller will have been RFA the previous 7/1. Moller is not in your line-up. Does he get traded before next year’s deadline then? Also, a related question: HOW COULD YOU!

Yeah, I gotta be honest: I don’t really see Moller fitting into the team long-term. He’s just… really, really tiny. The Kings already have more than a few little prospects (Loktionov, Brandon Kozun, Justin Azevedo) and only one of them will most likely work out. I like Moller and I think he’d make a great roller hockey player but I don’t really see him lasting. I think we’ll use him to get a rental player or a player with a one-year deal in the summer.

5. Doughty and Johnson are both on the team (yay). They both will be sporting new contracts? How much will each get?

Doughty will be sporting a spanking new contract worth about what Kopitar is getting. Johnson will hold out the first few weeks of training camp, sign a one-year deal, and then move on the next off-season. We’ll all hate him.

6. You have Westgarth making it, over Clifford and Nolan, both of whom will have had a year in Manchester by then (unless Clifford makes the big club in 2010). Is it a youth/experience issue? Am I overvaluing the unknown quantities over the known one in selecting Clifford and Nolan and ignoring Westgarth altogether?

I don’t want Westgarth there, but Terry Murray loves his goons and I think Westgarth will come up starting next year. I didn’t look at it as Clifford vs. Westgarth, I saw it as Clifford vs. Clune. I’m hoping Clune can stick at least for 2 years and then when he moves on (or we all get tired of his stupid antics) Clifford can come up. I don’t really see Jordan Nolan being an NHL player. Just my opinion.

7. Given the way Lombardi works, I have to believe some trades will have been made in the year before this team hits the ice, since DL is going to get something for Ersberg, Moller, Richardson, Parse and maybe Williams and/or Handzus. Obviously, neither of us added any big names from other teams to our rosters, because that’s beyond the pale of the exercise. But what do you think will actually happen? Trades for picks and prospects? Or a bigger trade for a bigger single piece?

I see the Kings losing quite a bit of money in the next few seasons; now, most of that will be taken up by new contracts for our young players, but some of that can be used to sign someone. I see the Kings adding one defenseman and one forward. The Kings could potentially sign Patrick Marleau or Ilya Kovalchuk but I thought that’d sound too hopeful.

The toughest person to leave off was Brad Richardson because I really like him, but I look at him as one of those guys that you are forced to dispel to keep up your winning ways. He’ll be like Kyle Quincey and we’ll all miss him.

8. We also appear to have tacitly agreed not to trade away any of the Kings big names who would be still under contract in 2011. However, what do you think the chances are that Kopitar, Brown, Frolov Stoll and Quick — the remaining Dave Taylor picks — are all on the team two seasons from now?

Stoll could be traded but I think it’s unlikely. There’s something comforting about having him in the line-up, the idea that you can put him out there 17-18 minutes a night without worrying about anything bad happening, and I think Lombardi likes it too. Frolov is… kind of unlikely to stay, I think. I just can’t imagine life without him. I think Quick and Bernier will both be fighting it out for the #1 goaltender job in 11-12, but I think by 12-13 one of them will be gone. Kopitar, Brown and Doughty are all golden.

Ultimately, these are both completely wrong and we’re going to look retarded in 2 years. I mean, 2 years ago we couldn’t have predicted that Wayne Simmonds would be this good or that Ted Purcell would be this bad. Whatever, should be fun to watch.

I called Simmonds and Moller (though I thought it would be this year, not last year, that they made it), actually argued that Quincey was better than Bouwmeester before Quincey skated for the Kings (it’s in the archives somewhere), and took a beating for saying Handzus will be worth his money when he’s not hurt. However, my projection of this season from two/three years ago does feature Purcell, Moulson, Lewis and O’Sullivan. What is blogging for, if not to humiliate one’s self for the time-capsule?

The problem is they both have defensive issues, and in that relationship, Jack would be the teacher.

is supposed to have made some kind of break-through, but I haven’t seen him since I heard that, so who knows. Campbell, Muzzin and Teubert are all competing for the big ***hole job.

He’s 5’10"

Of Moller, Loktionov, Azevedo and Kozun (and you forgot Roe and Czarnik), Moller is several steps ahead of most of them. I don’t know what will happen to Kozun and Azevedo, probably nothing; but Moller and Loktionov are going to play in the NHL for awhile, in my ungrounded opinion.

Moller is small in height and weight because he’s a child still. The Moller that’s going to be a top-six forward is 5’10" (maybe 5’11") 195lbs, and he will be able to dish out hits (which he already does, but it’s more pesky at this stage) and will not scare me as much when someone tries to kill him. Moller is actually one of the best on the team at taking checks and not getting taken out of the play (to say nothing of not getting hurt), and he goes to the blue-paint and into the corners more than most of the Kings forwards. His hockey sense, as Murray just pointed out, is possibly the best on the entire team. And he’s a leader (Sweden, etc.). The only thing wrong with this kid is that he’s a kid. Some people get mannish bodies at 18, Moller isn’t one of them. I don’t actually know if Oscar will be thick enough to break into the top-six for good by 2011, but I would be shocked if he isn’t there by the time he’s 22-23.

Roller hockey!

I think Moller will wear an “A” for somebody in the league. I hope it’s the Kings.

Here are the prospects/youngsters who have what it takes to wear the C or an A (in my opinion, which means nothing):

Moller (captain of Team Sweden)
Hickey (captain of Team Canada)
Simmonds
Schenn (Wheat Kings captain)
Doughty
(Teubert is also a captain but I will leave him off the list due to his biserker status.)

But really none of these guys needs to wear an A or C any time soon. Whoever is still here in 5 years (and wouldn’t it be nice if they all were), then we can talk about them. It would be overly optimistic to expect all three of our current captain/alts to still be here in 2015.

Who the captain is after Brown, whenever that is, depends entirely on who rises to the challenge of being a leader. It will probably be pretty obvious when the time comes.

But I would not bet against Moller, Hickey, Doughty, Simmonds or Schenn being Cs or As somewhere in the NHL 5-7 years from now.