Comments / New

NOTE TO ESPN: aggregating other people’s blogs under one roof without permission or attribution is not blogging (I use Google Reader for that — it’s free!)

You might not know this, but ESPN has a Kings blog. I didn’t know until it started showing up in my Google news “alerts.” In fact, this might be the first post I’ve read.

Kings/Ducks: Much at stake in freeway matchup – Los Angeles Los Angeles Hockey Blog – ESPN Los Angeles
[…] There hasn’t been a bigger game between the Kings and Ducks in a while. Both have the same number of points heading in, but the Kings are eighth in the Western Conference standings and the Ducks are ninth. […] In the grand scheme of Southern California sports, it would be neat if both teams made the playoffs for the first time ever, but it’s looking more like one will advance at the expense of the other. After tonight, they still play three more times against each other, including back-to-backs to end the season.

Hey, he agrees with me!

Tuesday Night: The Good, The Bad, The Real Standings – Jewels From The Crown
LAK @ ANA — the first of four remaining games with the Ducks. As the two teams are tied at 68 points, and as it’s fairly unlikely that both teams will make the playoffs (and not just because it’s never happened), consider this game GAME ONE OF ROUND ZERO.

Back to ESPN:

Martinez gets a seat – Kings coach Terry Murray made another curious move with one of his rookies, delegating defenseman Alec Martinez as a healthy scratch for tonight’s game in place of Davis Drewiske, who hasn’t played since Jan. 6. […] Some have speculated that the Kings are readying Martinez for a trade heading into Monday’s deadline.

Help me out here, people of JftC. As far as I know, the only “speculation” about Martinez as trade bait came from the comments section of LAKingsInsider. He wouldn’t repackage message board comments as “some have speculated”? WOULD HE? [aside to LAKi commenters: you’re sources now. Congratulations.]

Earlier this week, rookie center Andrei Loktionov was returned to the AHL, even though the Kings are struggling to score goals and that’s his speciality.

So true. In fact, so true that it was covered in depth (by me) in the LAKi comments section and here and here (Loktionov Fails to Score From the Press Box).

More line juggling – Murray also decided to break up the “geezer line” of veterans Justin Williams, Ryan Smyth and Jarret Stoll, saying they haven’t been as productive lately. Williams has seven points in the last seven games but Stoll has just two in the last nine and Smyth has three in the last nine but no goals since Jan. 26. Dustin Brown, who continues to struggle with his offensive game, will join Smyth and Stoll, while Williams drops back to a third-line role with Brad Richardson and Michal Handzus, two players who aren’t known for their offense.

This is a summary of the LAKi post entitled, Stoll Line Getting a Different Look. Except the phrase “geezer line.” That’s from Rich Hammond’s L.A. Kings Insider Weekly Feature.

Sturm watch II –As mentioned earlier, Loktionov was sent back to Manchester to work on his game and make room for Marco Sturm, who has been out since Jan. 18 with tendinitis in his right knee. Kings’ management will be watching Sturm closely, as he wasn’t too impressive in his first 15 games in a Los Angeles uniform, totaling four goals and four assists while the Kings went 6-9-0. Sturm admitted he wasn’t 100% during the initial stretch, still recovering from offseason surgery on his left knee, but said he’s ready to give it his all beginning tonight. He’ll be on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Wayne Simmonds, so he’ll be expected to produce in the scoring column.

Mixing it up a bit, this is a summary of the post  Why Sturm is in, and why Loktionov is out, from Hammond’s old blog, Inside the Kings, now captained by J.P.Hoornstra. It’s close to Hammond’s post on the same topic, but the key detail, from Hoornsta (unless I missed it in the Hammond post) is “Sturm admitted he wasn’t 100%…”

It would be nice — even if it’s only a blog, even if he’s only “paraphrasing” what someone said, even if 99.9% of the people who would ever read the ESPN post have already seen the exact same information, better written, on other blogs — it would be nice, if he would attribute the source.

[note to ESPN blogger guy: if you want to pass along long passages of information from other blogs, they have this thing called the block quote.]

Talking Points