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Hindsight Fun: Vancouver Province Disses Kings, March 26, 2012

From time to time I come across an article so smug, and so filled with Kings scorn, that I make sure to bookmark it. This is one of them.

It’s titled “Kings Playing More Like Pawns.”

The Angelenos came into Monday night’s affair clinging to the eighth and final spot in the West after a season in which they’d fired their head coach, overpaid to land uninspired forward Jeff Carter in a deal which smacked of desperation and generally under-achieved (they were tied with, yikes, Columbus for 28th in the NHL in goals scored) to an alarming degree.

True, they’d won six of their last seven to at least get back into the playoff picture but that shine which seemed so bright two years ago has dulled considerably and therein lies a cautionary tale for all NHL teams which aspire to greatness.

Herein also lies a tale for hockey writers who can’t see a change that’s happening before their eyes — and who also write off a team with a young, talented core just two years after they first made the playoffs. Doughty was 22. Kopitar was 24.  But it was all downhill from the playoffs of 2010.

Winning six of seven games? Pfft. They’re doomed.

Another favorite bit of mine is when he compares the point totals of Richards and Carter to Chris Higgins — conveniently ignoring details like games lost to injury.

So sure, the Canucks were finishing out their regular season with a whimper. Let’s consider those terrible failed players on the Kings. Keep some perspective here.

Look at it this way. The questions about the Canucks don’t seem quite as pointed as the questions about the Kings.Canucks’ final 20 games:

Kings’ final 20 games:

Maybe you should have been more like them.

Talking Points