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Kings Links: Willie Mitchell… Expected to be Ready for Camp!

Posted on by Eric Kveton

Hope everyone has recovered from their Labor Day weekend. And how were we welcomed back to work, school, and/or generic life? With NEWS! ACTUAL LOS ANGELES KINGS NEWS! It’s been a dramatic offseason for certain teams, but aside from a few expected lineup changes, the Kings have been awfully quiet.

After a month or so of inactivity, nice to have a good reason to post some links.

  • Willie Mitchell was spotted on the ice yesterday. But we’ve seen that a few times this summer; it remains a welcome sight, but it’s not a big deal. What IS a big deal is this tweet from Helene Elliott:
    <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>Was told that Kings are expecting Willie Mitchell to be ready when camp opens next week. He missed all of last season.</p>&mdash; Helene Elliott (@helenenothelen) <a href=”https://twitter.com/helenenothelen/statuses/375328420453834752″>September 4, 2013</a></blockquote>
    <script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
    Not a full endorsement of his health, but a great sign that his recovery has progressed well.
  • Rookie camp starts tomorrow! The Mayor has an update on the roster and schedule, with the relatively important reminder that Martin Jones has still not signed a contract with the Kings for the upcoming season.
    Here’s the Kings’ official information page. Check out camp on Thursday or Friday, a rookie game vs. the Ducks in Anaheim on Saturday, Hockey Fest on Sunday, and another rookie game vs. the Ducks in El Segundo on Monday.
  • AEG’s awesomely-named chief operating officer discussed preparations for the upcoming Kings-Ducks outdoor game with Jon Rosen at LA Kings Insider. The money quote from Kelly Cheeseman has been circulating Twitter for the last few days:/

The league has so far shared with us that we’re selling at a record clip, faster than any of the previous Winter Classics or games.

Should’ve given LA two outdoor games instead of New York, eh?

  • After seeking approval from the league, the Kings have updated the logo at center ice of the Staples Center. Yep, home plate is out in full force… here’s a look from Staples Center GM Lee Zeidman.

    • Staples_center_ice_medium

Be sure to check out the Staples Center time-lapse video of the ice painting as well. Some people have expressed concern about losing the puck in the “black ice”; I think the one inch of frozen water in between that paint and the puck should do wonders.

  • In a shocking move, ex-King goaltender Mathieu Garon has been invited to LA’s training camp. I’d just like to add that I totally predicted this three months ago, losers.

    Well, I suppose I was a little off. After all, it’s just a paid tryout, and there’s no way the Kings are going to pay him $1 million plus to back up Jonathan Quick. Ben Scrivens has got that covered, for a lot less. But it’s still pretty interesting! Plus, this Garon news is also an excuse to post a fantastic video from 2006 that Cam Charron tweeted a while back, which contains the following noteworthy moments:

    1. Jonathan Bernier being drafted…
    2. … and Pierre McGuire asking what that means for Mathieu Garon.
    3. James Duthie reminding us that the Kings tried to get Roberto Luongo.
    4. Dean Lombardi publicly acknowledging that we’re blowing it up (and thank God we did).
    5. Dean Lombardi joking about Marc Crawford’s job security in said rebuild.
    6. The first Patrick O’Sullivan trade.
    7. Trevor Lewis being drafted.

      <iframe width=”420″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/fdYZXWsfIYE” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

  • Finally, a belated shout-out to our good friend Flubber McGee, who can now be found being hilarious over at The Royal Half. His latest article uses NHL14 to demonstrate just how effective Daniel Carcillo could be in a Kings uniform./

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