There’s a post from Rich Hammond today about the friendship of Jonathan Quick and Matt Moulson, which has granted me an opportunity for self-aggrandizing navel-gazing. Rich says, “It wasn’t easy to see this type of scoring burst [leading the Islanders in scoring] coming from Moulson.” But it wasn’t that hard, either.
Here are some ancient clippings from the insidethekings site:
September 24, 2008 6:01 PM
Quisp said:
Purcell’s dominating season in the AHL puts him a notch above Moulson for now, but it’s clearly possible for either one of them to excel. Purcell is more a natural top-six type. Moulson has been thought of as third line, but could easily be second line material. The interesting thing about Moulson is that he is a natural left winger, and that’s something of a rarity (Luuuuuuuc).
October 21, 2008 11:22 AM
Quisp said:
Anthony, you’re like that that 60s Star Trek creature they kept firing their phasers into, before they realized it fed off the energy; […]But I can’t help myself: [you wrote] “Were Kopitar and Brown healthy scratches tonight? Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot. They were on the same line with the Magnificent Moulson. With the exception of one shift, Kopi and Brown were invisible. They even looked frustrated with their linemate. But what can you say, Terry Murray loves the magnificent Moulson.“
Anthony, I don’t think you should write off Moulson just yet. He is a natural goal scorer. Murray knows it. Lombardi knows it. You’d rather we ditch him now so he can do it for some other team?
October 21, 2008 8:56 PM
Quisp said:
Moulson has a knack for scoring. Moller has a knack for scoring. Purcell has a knack for scoring. Simmonds has a knack for scoring. Give them the time it takes them to feel comfortable, where they stop thinking, “damn, I’m in the NHL!” […] And don’t forget, Moller and Simmonds arrived at least a year early (even by my optimistic projection). When that tree bears fruit, nobody is going to miss Michael Cammalleri.
October 21, 2008 9:18 PM
cristobal said:
Ok quisp. I’ll take your word and wait for Moulson to flower. You’ve been correct about Moller and Simmonds.
November 30, 2008 9:04 PM
Quisp said: Moulson scored 25 and 28 goals in his last two AHL seasons, and last year managed 9 points in 22 games with the Kings (roughly same as Moller this year over the same number of games). [someone commented that] Moulson…”should stop thinking he’s an offensive player because he’s not.” Why? Because, the rest of his career notwithstanding, he didn’t click with Brown and Kopitar who so far this season have clicked with exactly nobody, not even each other?
April 20, 2009 11:33 AM
Quisp said:
Moulson will definitely find a home somewhere. He’s a left wing (always coveted); he’s got the skill set; he’s affordable.
It comes down to a bunch of stuff we can’t know, whether Moulson wants to play for the Kings, likes TM and/or DL, whether they value him or think he’s useful. it will be easy to lose him, since he can sign anywhere and the Kings — who have announced they will be big players in the UFA market this summer — appear to have their sights set a bit higher. […] Moulson’s offensive upside is at least what Boyle’s is. He’s a kid who could easily show up on another team scoring quite a few goals, causing us to gnash our teeth in frustration and shame.
May 27, 2009 11:11 AM
Quisp said:
is also a UFA (VI) this summer. I know people are tempted/inclined to write him off, given his uninspiring performance with the Kings last season. But I hold out as much hope for him as for Boyle. For one thing, he’s a LEFT WING. Which we have exactly one of (Frolov). Two, he’s one of those guys who isn’t especially fast or graceful, or physical, or especially ANYTHING, other than he has a knack for putting the puck in the net. You know, like that Luc guy. Now, I’m not saying he’s Luc, or even 1/2 Luc, which I would take. But I think it’s just as likely that Moulson could score thirty goals for someone else than Boyle being the one to do it.
The problem is, Moulson can sign anywhere he wants after 7/1, so DL would actually have to want him bad enough to stop him from shopping himself elsewhere. And there will be takers, because he’s a guy who can score.
I agree completely that we need help on the left side. Maybe — maaaaaaaybe — Moulson gets signed and sticks this time. I still hold out hope that he’s one of those Robitaille-like guys who can score a ton despite the fact that people think he shouldn’t be able to skate in this league. He has “the knack.”
Thing two, garbage goals.
There seems to be some confusion over what a garbage goal is. Somewhere between Phil Esposito (the king of the garbage goal) and today, the phrase picked up a negative connotation. Espo scored a lot of his goals by standing in front of the net (no one could clear him out) and poking in tasty rebounds. The rebounds are the garbage in this metaphor. It doesn’t mean, “goals that are garbage.” It means Espo cleaned up someone else’s garbage. “Look what I found!” See? Esposito was so good at this, it gave rise to the popular bumper sticker, seen here in mug form.
