One year ago
by Quisp on Oct 6, 2011 11:11 AM PDT
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10/9/2011 Tonight’s lineups " LA Kings Insider
Ryan Smyth - Kopitar - Brown
Richardson - Stoll - Williams
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Michal Handzus - Wayne Simmonds
Clifford - Brayden Schenn - Westgarth
Mitchell - Doughty
Scuderi - Johnson
Quick
2011:
Thursday practice update " LA Kings Insider
Simon Gagne - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams
Brad Richardson - Mike Richards - Dustin Brown
Plus, of course:
Willie Mitchell - Drew Doughty
That's eight new names out of nineteen, nine counting Dustin Penner, who is hurt for the moment.
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I really love what I've seen from Richards so far
and I think the team is better now. That said, Simmonds will be missed on the third line. The trade definitely filled one hole and opened another. Only the one that was filled is much more important than the one’s that open.
*one that's open
unrelated but I hate how we can’t edit comments after we post them. Oh well, I can continue to practice my proofreading
Unless
Simmonds will be missed unless Penner / Parse step up. Too ealy in the the season to know if that is going to “pan out” or not yet … You can bet I’ll be fixated on those two the first 20 games though.
Simmonds didn’t even make that big an impact last season. He was solid but mostly unremarkable, only stepping up his game later in the season. Parse/Penner will score enough to make you forget.
Ironically, the Flyers seem to have challenged Simmer to take his game to the next level (they’ve got him in the top six, and he’s playing on the PP), and he seems to have embraced it. Maybe he lost his mojo with us because he felt stifled.
"After months of reading other people’s catchy sigs (like yours), I decided I needed one, too." -- DougX
by VoluminousTuna on Oct 7, 2011 1:47 AM PDT via iPhone app up reply actions
Hunter
I think can step up just fine in the RW3 spot. Though I’d prefer to see Lewis there, but with Richardson having to play on the wing for Penner I get it.
"And in net, number 39, DAAAAAAN CLOOOOUTIER"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
by TradedForAPick on Oct 6, 2011 11:41 AM PDT up reply actions
Loktionov
So if Loktionov is best suited for a top 6 role and not a 4th line center moving Lewis to a wing, and he is obviously so much better at his natural position than on a wing himself, under what conditions will we ever see him with the big club? When Stoll moves on?
Unless Stoll moves to the wing, yes.
"After months of reading other people’s catchy sigs (like yours), I decided I needed one, too." -- DougX
by VoluminousTuna on Oct 6, 2011 12:27 PM PDT up reply actions
WRT Lokti.
He won’t unless the Kings develope him as a right winger. Lewis is next in line to succeed Stoll (if Stoll doesn’t resign next season). Lokti is not a 3rd line specialist. Lokti is being groomed as a top6. He is not being groomed to hadle the toughest defensive match ups in the AHL. The Kings have 2 top 6 centers who are going nowhere for a long, long time, and there will be injuries, but the Kings need to open up options for Lokti so that he doesn’t only fit 1 position in the line up.
No. Lewis is just as likely to move to right wing. It's Kopitar and/or Richards who will (including this season) be handling the tough defensive assignments.
The third line does not have to be the stopper line just because it has been for the last few years under TM.
That is assuming TM is not the coach next season, because if he is, this is TM we’re talking about. The guys not exactly known for changing anything other than the lines. I think grooming him for the right this season opens up things more for Lokti in the future. It’s just a thought.
Oh god, so much expectation! So far to crash. Doughty’s going to suck and pull a groin muscle. Richards will score 10 goals and get a DUI, Gagne will get 2 and blow an acl. JJ will be -60. Brown will lead the team in scoring with 45 and we’ll miss the playoffs.
God I hate the day before the season opener.
Conservatively...
I’d say we’re at least 15 points better, just comparing the names on the 2 lists.
We should see:
- More goals scored, which will win more games outright,
- More goals scored, which will lessen the 1-goal-game deltas, thereby allowing less teams to rally a late game/3rd period tie (and resulting in loss/OT loss)
- The overall D as being one more year experienced, matured and knowledgeable/comfortable with team structure.
- The Goalies with one more year experience, maturity and confidence.
I will say nothing of the Power Play … until I see it.
15 pts better sounds reasonable..
Specially when you consider the amount of injuries the kings obtained throughout the season… If the kings can stay healthy.. I wouldn’t be surprised if they surpass predictions
that said, I can’t wait til tomorrow, and pray i can find a way to watch it at work
You guys are already drinking, huh?
15 pts would be great, but it’s not going to happen. The division is way too tight for that sort of improvement from an already highly competitive team.
Richards should give us both a better PP (I know, I know, Kopi’s the annointed “PP specialist” but seriously, he isn’t that great on the PP and Kompon hasn’t helped matters) and PK, goaltending should be solid, so it’d be reasonable to expect more regulation victories.
Injuries always happen to every team. We’re not alone in that regard. The Kings aren’t very deep in terms of pure scorers. Furthermore, we’re unlikely to win as many shootouts as last year (Quick is far better than say, Labarbera, but there’s still a high degree of luck to it).
The true test is how many playoff series we win. Hopefully somewhere around 4…
Conservatively 15 points better? That doesn’t seem like a conservative guess. 15 points better than last year would put us with the second most points in the league behind only Vancouver. While its possible that we take a big jump, I wouldn’t call that a conservative guess by any means.
More goals scored, which will lessen the 1-goal-game deltas, thereby allowing less teams to rally a late game/3rd period tie (and resulting in loss/OT loss)
That’d be great, except it doesn’t happen pretty much at all over the past two years to the Kings. Last season we were 26-0-1 when leading after two periods and in the 2009-10 season, we were 29-0-2. While some of these games may have gone to OT and given the bonus point to our opponents, the Kings haven’t really suffered from giving up leads late in games.
True, and we don't even need to jump nearly that high
Last year two more regulation wins agains SJ would have made the Kings division winners.
by Uni on Oct 6, 2011 4:44 PM PDT up reply actions
Admittedly- 15 points might have been a bit much when I typed that this morning. (I’ll also admit that I’d forgotten we actually tallied 98 last season- so suddenly 113 sounds like a LOT.)
But, we ARE a better team for sure. 15? We’ll see. I’m at least willing to be READY to expect a 113-point season … and that’s a big change for any long time Kings fan. Today we can see the collective roster that could possibly actually get us there. (When’s the last time, if ever, we could say that and be ready to back it up?)
Too Many Shootouts Last Year
Seemed like in the last three weeks of the season.the Kings handed out bonus points to division rivals like they were M&Ms.
Are Teemu Selanne and Melanie Griffith Twins?
Fifteen point improvement? That would put the Kings at 1-3 overall in the league.
113 points is about as likely as 90 points, possible but not very likely. I think 100-105 is reasonable to expect. I would actually, now that I think about it, be more surprised by 113 than I would if they missed the playoffs entirely.
Manchester Monarch Shirts
Anyone else notice the two guys wearing the Manchester Monarch shirts at the Bruins game tonight? Center ice glass seats between the benches.
by OCFF on Oct 6, 2011 4:58 PM PDT via iPhone app reply actions
More Changes Than Imagined
It seems that the core of the team has been around forever so I was surprised to read that there are eight new players. At the same time, the changes have made the team better.
Beyond what Richards and Gagne bring to the top two lines, I am really excited to see the depth in the third and fourth lines. Players like Moreau, Hunter and Fraser (presumably) will have a difference. Despite the loss of Simmonds and Handzus, the Kings have more depth than ever before.
I’m sure most of us remember many years where the Kings didn’t have enough legitimate players and now they have more than enough. It’s a great situation to be in.
Rich Ramus
They moved Gagne up to the 1st line?
I preferred when they moved Parse up there and kept Gagne with Richards… If you’re gonna give Parse a chance, give him a fighting chance (as a top-6), not in a “checking” line he’s ill-suited for…
The more you drink, the less gruesome I look.
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I don’t know. I’m ok with putting him on the third line with Stoll for two reasons:
1. You want to put out the best lineup to win the given game and Gagne on the first line probably does that
2. If Parse earns a regular spot in the lineup it is going to be on the 3rd or 4th line anyways in a “checking” line role so if he can’t handle it now, he isn’t going to be able to later. Our top-6 is pretty locked in so the only spots he can take are going to be on the bottom lines.
To be fair, our third line isn’t even the defensive stopper line anymore. Seems like our second line is. Parse can use his speed to open things up for Stoll and Hunter.
"After months of reading other people’s catchy sigs (like yours), I decided I needed one, too." -- DougX
by VoluminousTuna on Oct 7, 2011 1:37 AM PDT via iPhone app up reply actions
I think they plan to match up Richard’s line with Brad Richard’s line and want Richardson checking Gaborik.
by m_and_m on Oct 7, 2011 7:26 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Rangers' lines?
I feel like I just journeyed across the Rangers’ blogosphere (all the newspaper blogs Hammond links to plus Blueshirt Banter), and I can’t find anyone who’ll definitively say who’s skating with who on the forward lines.
So far, this is what I’ve pieced together based on several combined readings (including reader comments!):
Dubinsky-Richards-Gaborik
Fedotenko-Anisimov-Callahan
Wolski-Stepan-Zuccarello
Some guys presumably centered by Boyle
Their D pairs were readily available, though:
Girardi-McDonaugh
Sauer-Del Zotto
Erixon-Eminger
I hope we can take advantage of how young and inexperienced their D is.
"After months of reading other people’s catchy sigs (like yours), I decided I needed one, too." -- DougX
by VoluminousTuna on Oct 7, 2011 1:35 AM PDT via iPhone app reply actions
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