Mulligan: Kings 2011-12 Season Preview
by Quisp on Dec 21, 2011 11:18 AM PST
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PrintWell, it's been a weird, long off-season. The Kings staggered through their 33 game exhibition schedule, finishing up with a mediocre record of 15-14-4. Drew Doughty is signed and looks to be in game shape just in time for the season to begin. New-comers Mike Richards and Simon Gagne found some pre-season chemistry with Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams and Dustin Brown, all of whom wisely paced themselves through the grueling pre-season and appear ready to hit the ground running once the season begins tonight. Richards, Doughty, Dustin Penner and Willie Mitchell all nursed pre-season injuries and hopefully have gotten the injury bug out of the way now that the games count.
In just a few hours, the Kings are poised to begin a truncated 49 game regular season. They need a record of 30-15-4 to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive year. With the added pressure of high expectations, coach Terry Murray took the unorthodox step of donning a Darryl Sutter mask, which he will wear throughout the season.
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Richardson-Kopitar-Brown
Gagne-Richards-Lewis
Penner-Stoll-Williams
I actually like these lines a lot. Pretty excited for the season opener.
Free Marc-André Cliche.
I like em too. Only one that might struggle to find chemistry is Richards line. They’ll be a good stopper line, though
For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled.
So far Lewis has shown a Craig Johnson level shooting ability
For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled.
by Nut on Dec 21, 2011 12:57 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
Pfft. Richards already started shooting first, when his passes to his other linemates didn’t work out.
Gagne and Richards have great chemistry. Besides, Lewis is better than, say, Williams on a stopper line.
Dinglebarnin' It JftC
Exactly. No coincidence that Richards had the 9 goals in 10 games streak going when he got hurt. He spent way too much time the first 14 games setting up wingers who aren’t finishers. He got more assertive and began to shoot more.
Fail on TM’s part for taking 22 games before letting Gagne and Richards have their first shift together . I saw them in Philly play for years and they really are good together, Richards knows where Gagne is and will find him. You have two players who played three years full time, and part of the time on MR’s first two seasons and clicked from their earlierst shifts. Gagne spoke of that success after he signed with the Kingsand how much he was looking forward to hat magic they had again. We only got it for 1 game and two period.s
I think MR willl not only get Gagne going, but Lewis will benefit as well.
If Andreas Nodl (who has barely 4 th line skill) got 11 goals playing wing with Richards last year, Lewis should do great.
The best thing about Richards coming back is that the Kngs desparately missed his leadership. Them going 1-6 without him speaks volumes.
Preach. Preach!
It’s not like he’s going to score a goal a game for the rest of the season, but he is more aggressive. And putting Penner there instead of Gagne to shut down the opposition’s best — I was so frustrated. Penner recovering from a leg injury, no less.
Please just keep them together!
Dinglebarnin' It JftC
I really like the idea of a shortened the bench
Now the team can focus without being distracted by Hunter or Fraser.
Are Teemu Selanne and Melanie Griffith Twins?
god I hope he doesn’t play westgarth.
Westgarth is now 1st in the NHL in Goals Against ON/60 and 2nd in Penalties Taken/60. Also only one fighting major all year. I really don’t understand why he keeps being allowed to play. I said before that he might be one of the worst player in the NHL, now I’d contend that he might actually be the worst player in the NHL.
Free Marc-André Cliche.
I like that, it’s more of what Stevens was doing — trying for three scoring lines. Lord knows the third line with Stoll and a Grit Brigade wasn’t set up to do anything particularly well. OK, except taking penalties.
I really hope the “defense first wins you games” stuff is partly rhetorical at this point. They know they need more scoring than last year. Hence the failed attempt to open it up under Murray.
Dinglebarnin' It JftC
So who just watched that presser?
Coach Coherder ended the Q&A by saying “peace” and holding both hands up in the peace sign. Epic.
Just watched the press conference.
Sutter looks and sounds scary. I think this is a good thing.
DL introduced him and I was impressed that Sutter was a 40-goal scorer and captain of the Blackhawks.
I wish I could have heard the questions from the press. They said they were passing around a mic but I could not hear it well enough.
Seems to be a lot of questions regarding the PP. I wonder if Sutter is going to take complete control of that.
No questions about the goaltending. I don’t know what his philosophy is on riding the hot hand or giving the back-up enough games to stay sharp. I think this will be important if the Kings are in playoff contention during the trading deadline and might look at a trade.
He’s definitely not a nice guy. He’s straight-forward as hell, that was obvious. I love the fact that we’re not going to be hearing any “they played hard” comments again this season.
At the same time, he showed an obvious passion for the game when he said felt like he was 25 out there, while also answering another question regarding discipline saying that players need to be pushed and pulled. Together these answers tell me that he is firmly aware of his role as coach to drive the team, and yet he very much identifies with the team, almost at a player level. I think he’s going to take losing very personally and absolutely hate it.
How'd you see it...
When I log in all I get is fucking Pizza Hut and childish Carl’s Jr commerical…and they don’t even feature Doughty and Penner pigging out.
Are Teemu Selanne and Melanie Griffith Twins?
by USHA#17 on Dec 21, 2011 1:36 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
I watched it live on Hammond's blog
It’ll take some time before it goes up on Kings Vision, these live streams always do.
In the meantime you can watch some monumentally bad acting in a clip the world never needed to see about Baily and Westgarth taking over the Pawnstar guys’ store.
doesn't sutter look like...
a cross between robert englund and bill murray,,,?
welcome, dr. freddy venkman…(!)
in 1984, i was hospitalized for approaching perfection....
hehe...
but i’m the scourge of carpathia, the sorrow of moldavia…(!)
…alright, alright…
i’m kidding…
in 1984, i was hospitalized for approaching perfection....
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