When we first announced our Month of Gratitude series, we opened up our platform to you, our readers, to share what you were thankful for about Kings players, both current and past. We’ve covered all the current roster, and thought we’d put a bow on the series — see, just in time to transition from Thanksgiving to the winter holiday gift-giving season! — by sharing some submitted thoughts about some non-roster figures.
Matt Greene
“Matt Greene for the look on his face when he scored that one goal that one time. You know the one I’m talking about.”
Of course we know which goal you’re talking about, dear anonymous reader. The fact that no video of this goal appears to exist on YouTube is a tragedy, so you’ll have to suffice yourself with this SBN writeup and this JFTC game recap and these gifs.
Rob Scuderi
“He knows what he did.”
As a friend of mine liked to note, especially as Scuderi’s career wound down, Rob Scuderi bled for this team.
Jordan Nolan
His “advocacy on behalf of indigenous people”.
Nolan, who currently plays for the San Antonio Rampage, the AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, grew up in the Garden River First Nation in Ontario and is First Nation Ojibwe on his father’s side and First Nation Maliseet on his mother’s. Nolan has long been outspoken in his advocacy for First Nations peoples in Canada and the US. Along with his father and brother, Nolan is part of 3|NOLANS, which offers hockey schools for First Nations youth across Canada.
Good luck to everyone taking part in the @Little_NHL tournament this week. Have fun. Dream big. #almuni #3|N #LNHL2017 #nativepride pic.twitter.com/WRt5pp1g2g
— Jordan Nolan (@Jordan_Nolan71) March 12, 2017
We’d like to thank everyone who supported the water protectors at Standing Rock Sioux Tribe #StandingRock #NoDAPL #LAKings pic.twitter.com/ijqtRrIUUh
— Jordan Nolan (@Jordan_Nolan71) December 7, 2016
Andy Andreoff
From JFTC reader Frank, “That smile he had from his first fight (First Game and First Shift).”
Attaboy, Andy.
Tanner Pearson
From JFTC reader Mads, “His dog, Emma, is a majestic and beautiful rescue and I love her.”
We love and miss Tanner Pearson for many, many reasons, and while he’s scoring goals for someone else now…
…we’ll always have our memories.
And, of course, we had a few nods of recognition for some Kings-by-proxy:
Alex Faust
“Every time Alex Faust tries to fight people on Twitter. It’s like watching an adorable puppy growl at a bear and I’m so grateful for it.”
Every so often, the Kings’ new young play-by-play man gets a little feisty on Twitter when people are too critical of the team, or of his broadcast partner Jim Fox. And every so often, Alex pops back.
I love the fans. I have a mild and pleasant disdain for the idea that a broadcast has any impact on a game’s outcome 😉 https://t.co/E7qnHuxs70
— Alex Faust (@alex_faust) November 4, 2018
Anyone criticizing my partner can fight me. Foxy is the best. The end. 😎 https://t.co/wFZ1ga3W2C
— Alex Faust (@alex_faust) October 30, 2018
Cat Toffoli
“For taking Kings fans’ love for her husband and f*cking RUNNING WITH IT.”
Cat, of course, has her own life and her own friends and people who follow her on social media, but she appears to be keenly aware of the amount of Kings fans who follow her because of her husband, and she gives us exactly what we want: pictures of Tyler with a tiny tiny dog. Thanks for tolerating all of us, Cat.
And some nods for, well, you’ll see:
JFTC reader Tracy is thankful for…
“Stanley I (born June 11, 2012) – Many teams go through ‘lean’ years and have nothing to show for it. It might be tough now, but…we got the cup…we got the cup!!”
and also…
“Stanley II (born June 13, 2014) – See above. Cherry on top. Thanks for all you’ve done for us boys. We are all in this together. We are all Kings.”
And as JFTC columnist Michael put it, he is thankful “that after forty plus years of suffering, we are so spoiled with success that we expect a deep Cup run every year.”
And we can’t possibly argue with that.
Previously in our “Month” of Gratitude series: Kyle Clifford | Nate Thompson | Mike Amadio | Paul LaDue | Jake Muzzin | Alec Martinez | Peter Budaj | Cal Petersen | Ilya Kovalchuk | Trevor Lewis | Dustin Brown | Derek Forbort | Dion Phaneuf | Oscar Fantenberg | Adrian Kempe | Alex Iafallo | Matt Luff | Austin Wagner | Carl Hagelin | Tyler Toffoli | Drew Doughty | Jack Campbell | Jonathan Quick | Jeff Carter | Anze Kopitar