I watched the game on NBC, on a 6" black-and-white TV. As soon as the final horn went -- and I mean within about five seconds -- the local affiliate cut away for the local 11 o'clock news. Didn't even get to see the cup. 

The last Bruin game seven I cared about was the OT loss after the infamous two-many-men penalty. 1978? 1979? 

Congratulations, Bruins. 

I'm looking forward to Jim Rome tomorrow. 

I'm reminded of the classic Onion headline from a couple of years ago, after the Pats' Super Bowl loss:  "PATRIOTS PERFECT SEASON STILL PERFECT TO REST OF NATION." 

Nine days to the draft.

Gretzky Is Sidelined Indefinitely - New York Times - 9/23/1992

Wayne Gretzky did not retire today, but the announcement by the Los Angeles Kings that he will be out indefinitely -- possibly the entire season -- because of a herniated disk in his upper back could be the first step in that direction. Gretzky, hockey's career-leading scorer and the Kings' captain, will not undergo surgery at this time, according to Dr. Robert Watkins, the team's spine specialist. But Watkins did term the injury "one in a million" and said that Gretzky would be treated with medication and exercise.[...] There had been rumors circulating throughout the National Hockey League that Gretzky, hospitalized since last Wednesday after complaining of chest pain, might announce his retirement. But Gretzky said that he had not given consideration to leaving the game. "The only thing I'm dealing with now is getting rid of this pain," said Gretzky, who was accompanied by his wife, the actress Janet Jones. "I haven't thought of anything past that." [...] About the possibility that Gretzky might never return, Watkins said: "It has the possibility of being a career- ending injury, but we're optimistic that the prognosis is good for his recovery." 

Without Gretzky, Kings Rely on Youth, Intensity -- new coach Melrose works to instill up-tempo play and enthusiasm. - Los Angeles Times

All the Kings' men walked past Wayne Gretzky, who was standing with a cup of coffee near the team's dressing room at the Forum on Monday morning. Goodbyes were exchanged as the Kings left for their regular-season opener tonight in Calgary. Gretzky was offering encouragement, which is about all he has to offer these days. His back injury--a herniated disk--has cast a long shadow over the Kings' prospects for the 1992-93 season. Gretzky's own future is uncertain. [...]

So now comes the hard part. The Kings have to make the playoffs.

Weekend's must-see game? West showdown between Ducks, Kings - Cross Checks Blog - ESPN
The marquee NHL game this weekend is a Southern California delight, as the Anaheim Ducks visit the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night with points in the standings rarely meaning this much to both clubs this late in the season.

Actually, the splash page headline was more definitive: 

California Clash -- ESPN
Have points meant this much to both Anaheim and Los Angeles this late in the season? Nope.

And, in fact, it's been often-repeated wisdom that the Kings and Ducks have never been this close in the standings this late in the season. But is it true?

Continue reading this post »

He must have been an especially defensive defenseman to get his first shot in his third season. (Yes, I now know what the card means, but it took me a minute.)

As you probably know, Jamie Storr has been helping the Kings out in practice this week, in place of Jonathan Quick who is somewhere I forget. RudyKelly at Battle of California had some fun at Jamie's expense. I laughed. And then I remembered that Storr:

• is 4th on the Kings in career wins, behind Vachon, Hrudey and Lessard.
• is 2nd in career GAA (2.52) among goalies with more than 100 games, behind Felix Potvin. Quick is 3rd. 
• is 1st in career SV% (.910).
• is 2nd in career shut-outs with 16. Vachon had 32. 
• is 1st in single season GAA (more than 15 games played): 1.90 in 2001-2002.
• is 1st in single season SV%: .929 in 1997-1998. (holds three of the top four).
• was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team twice (qualified as a rookie two years in a row)
• won back to back gold medals for Team Canada at the WJCs, during which he was undefeated.

1971 - Kings trade Denis DeJordy, Dale Hoganson, Noel Price and Doug Robinson to the Montreal Canadiens for Rogie Vachon.

1975 - Kings trade Terry Harper, Dan Maloney and a second round pick (Jim Roberts) to the Detroit Red Wings for Bart Crashley and the rights to Marcel Dionne.

1988 - Kings trade Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, their '89 first round pick (Jason Miller), '91 first round pick (Martin Rucinsky), '93 first round pick (Nick Stajduhar), and $15MM cash to the Edmonton Oilers for Wayne Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley.

1989 - Kings trade Mark Fitzpatrick, Wayne McBean and future considerations (Doug Crossman) to the Islanders for Kelly Hrudey.

1990 - Kings trade Bernie Nicholls to the Rangers for Tony Granato and Tomas Sandstrom.

1991 - Kings trade Mikko Makela to the Buffalo Sabres for Mike Donnelly.

1991 - Kings trade Randy Gilhen to the Rangers for Corey Millen.

1994 - Kings trade Doug Houda to Buffalo for Sean O'Donnell.

1995 - Kings trade first round pick (Alexandre Volchkov), 1996 fourth round pick (Justin Davis) to the Capitals for Byron Dafoe and Dmitri Khristich.

1996 - Kings trade Marty McSorley, Jari Kurri and Shane Churla to the Rangers for Mattias Norstrom, Ray Ferraro, Ian Laperriere, Nathan Lafayette and fourth round pick (Sean Blanchard).

1999 - Kings trade Olli Jokinen, Josh Green, Mathieu Biron and a first round pick (Taylor Pyatt) to the New York Islanders for Ziggy Palffy, Bryan Smolinski, Marcel Cousineau and a fourth round pick (Daniel Johansson).

2000 - Kings send two fifth round picks to the Senators to trade up to the fourth round and select Lubomir Visnovsky.

2001 - Kings trade Rob Blake and Steve Reinprecht  to the Colorado Avalanche for Adam Deadmarsh, Aaron Miller, Jared Aulin, a first round pick in 2001 and 2003 (Dave Steckel and Brian Boyle).

2001 Kings trade Aki Berg to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Adam Mair and a second round pick (Mike Cammalleri).

2002 - Kings trade Brian Smolinski to the Ottawa Senators for Tim Gleason.

2006 - Kings trade Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger to the Carolina Hurricanes for Jack Johnson.

2007 - Kings trade Brent Sopel to the Vancouver Canucks for a second round pick (Wayne Simmonds) and a fourth round pick (Justin Jokinen).

2008 - Kings trade Lubomir Visnovsky to the Oilers for Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene.

2009 - Kings trade Patrick O'Sullivan and a second round pick (Brian Dumoulin) in a three-way trade with Edmonton and Carolina which brings Justin Williams to the Kings, while Erik Cole goes to Carolina and O'Sullivan to the Oilers.

2009 - Kings trade Kyle Quincey and Tom Preissing to the Avalanche for Ryan Smyth.

Kovalchuk To Jersey Might Be The Stupidest Hockey Trade Ever - Habs Eyes On The Prize

How it looks, is that Devils GM Lou Lamoriello has paid the rental player rate for a player who essentially becomes just that. He's also gone out and gotten the most ill fitting player his team could have in terms of system adherence. The always defensively conscious Devils have now a player who rarely commits himself to his own end.

Sounds like a topic for a poll to me. We have one nomination, Kovalchuk to New Jersey. The comments from the Habs blog (link above) nominate Thornton to the Sharks. But I'm sure we all have our favorites. Dump yours in the comments and I'll put 'em in a poll so we can get to the bottom of this. 

Here's what I have so far (alphabetical order, sorted by idiot team), but please fill in the numerous blanks. [UPDATE: lots of great suggestions have been added; thanks! Keep them coming. In a couple of days, we'll roll out the first of four polls, to select the worst trade pre-1979, to be followed by polls for 1980-89, 90-99 and 00-present, and then we'll poll the winners off each other, sort of Sweet 16 style. Then we'll finally know...]

UPDATE 2: The first poll (1962-1979) is here. The second poll (1980-1989) is here.

• Atlanta Thrashers trade Ilya Kovalchuk to the New Jersey Devils for Johnny Oduya and Patrice Cormier.
• Boston Bruins trade Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks for Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and I forget who else, what does it matter.
• Calgary Flames trade Brett Hull to the St. Louis Blues for Rob Ramage.
• Calgary trades Doug Gilmour to Toronto Maple Leafs for Greg Leeman and several other spare parts. 
• Chicago Blackhawks trade Dominik Hasek to the Buffalo Sabres for Stephen Boureguard.
• Chicago trades Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield to Boston for Pit Martin, Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris. Boston wins two cups, with Esposito winning league MVP twice, leading the league in goals and points several times and becoming the first player ever to break 100 points in a season. And as for the two "other" guys the Bruins got: Ken Hodge had four 20 goal seasons, one 30 goal season, two 40 goal seasons, and one 50 goal season before being dealt to the Rangers for the guy who would be the Bruins leading scorer for the next several years (see below); and Fred Stanfield quietly amassed six consecutive 20 goal seasons (in three of which he had over 50 assists). 
• Edmonton Oilers trade Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorley and Mike  Krushelnyski to the Kings for Martin Gelinas, Jimmy Carson, their  1989 first round pick (Jason Miller - played six NHL games), 1991 first round pick (Martin Rucinsky), 1993 first round pick (Nick Stajduhar - played two NHL games) and $15 million cash.
• Oilers trade Mark Messier for  Bernie Nicholls, Steven Rice and Louie DeBrusk.
• Florida Panthers trade Roberto Luongo to the Vancouver Canucks for Todd Bertuzzi, who plays 7 games and leaves.
• New York Islanders trade Zdeno Chara and a 1st (Jason Spezza) to Ottawa Senators for Alexei Yashin.
• Islanders trade Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen to Florida for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.
• Islanders trade Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe and a pick (Jarkko Ruutu) for Trevor Linden, who later that year Milbury trades to Montreal for a 1st round pick (Branislav Mezei), who plays 24 games and is then traded for Jason Weimer, whom they waive.
• Los Angeles Kings trade 1st (Phil Housley) to Buffalo for Jerry Korab.
• Kings trade their 1st (Ray Bourque) to Boston for back-up goalie Ron Grahame. Grahame wins 23 games in the Kings net over three seasons.
• Kings trade Larry Murphy to Washington Capitals for Brian Engblom.
• Kings trade rights to Kevin Stevens (726 career pts) to Pittsburgh Penguins for Anders Hakansson (15, 12 and 4 goals for the Kings over three seasons).
• Kings trade Wayne Gretzky to the St. Louis Blues for  Craig Johnson, Patrice Tardif, Roman Vopat, their 1996 fifth round pick (Peter Hogan) and 1997 first round pick (Matt Zultek).
• Montreal trades Patrick Roy and Mike Keane to Colorado for Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky and Andre Kovalenko.
• Penguins trade Sergei Zubov to the Stars for Kevin Hatcher. 
• Penguins trade Markus Naslund to the Canucks for Alek Stojanov.
• New York Rangers trade Rick Middleton (988 career points) to Boston for Ken Hodge, who then retires. Middleton scored about 900 points with the Bruins; Hodge had 68 for NYR.
• Rangers trade Petr Nedved and Sergei Zubov to the Penguins for Ulf Samuelsson and Luc Robitaille. 
• (by popular request) Philadelphia trades Ron Hextall, Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, '93 1st round pick (Jocelyn Thibault), Chris Simon, '94 1st round pick (Nolan Baumgartner) and $15M cash to Quebec for Eric Lindros.
• Toronto trades their 1st (Scott Neidermeyer) to New Jersey for Tom Kurvers. Kurvers scores 15 goals for the Leafs over two seasons.
• Vancouver trades Cam Neely and a 1st (Glen Wesley) to Boston for Barry Pederson.