This is harder than I thought it would be.
A little backstory: I first joined this scrappy new team by sending a rather simple e-mail to our Royal Highness (I am going to use that repeatedly to refer to Niesy until it catches on as an actual nickname, which will probably be never) asking if she could use any additional help. Her exact words were something like: “well, we need someone to track scoring chances, write about the prospects, or do a daily link collection.” Writing about prospects sounded like fun, and then I thought about it and figured hey, a daily collection of links, how hard could that be? I could do both! I’d be a hero to millions!
Yeah. About that….
So this is your (much more time-consuming to gather than I thought it would be) collection of links, which as of yet I have been unable to come up with a name for. If you’ve got any suggestions, of course go ahead and post them, I’m all ears eyes. Preferably a name will be snappy, clever, and have some connection to the Kings franchise and/or our blog name, because otherwise you’re just naming your links something generic and stupid like, I dunno, “Morning Buzz”. For instance.
Actual links below the jump!
Kings Links
- Obviously any collection of links should start with plugging ourselves, since we’re awesome.
- A break-down of the last quarter of the season shows the Kings are no pushovers. Also watching them play since the Carter trade should have been able to tell you that; in case you were wondering, no, apparently no one in the actual hockey media has actually watched them play since the Carter trade, as we’ll get to later. [JFTC]/
- Let’s talk about injuries! Sedin didn’t practice, Carter did, and poor Brad Richardson’s appendix exploded. [JFTC]
- I did a recap of the Kings’ prospects in Manchester. Come and learn exactly what you already probably assumed: we’ve got a bunch of good defensemen, two good goalies, and absolutely jack shit at forward. [JFTC]
- Keeping it in the slightly incestuous SB Nation family, Rudy Kelly chimes in with the greatest series preview ever written. This is absolute fact. [BoC]
- Quisp takes umbrage with the idea of this Kings team ending up with a similar fate as the ’06 Oilers, first put forth by the Hammond blog. [MSS]
- A couple highlights from that aforementioned Hammond blog: Rich offers up his own keys to the series [Kings Insider] and posts the first-round local TV schedule for you lucky bastards who actually get to hear Miller & Fox for another two weeks [Kings Insider]./
- Over at the LA Times, Lisa Dillman has a piece on how the Kings got here. “Detours”, she says, as we all nod in agreement. [LA Times]. Also there’s a nice piece on Anze Kopitar getting his first taste of playoff hockey in two years. [LA Times]
- The Royal Half checks in with a helpful primer for Canucks fans who may not have paid attention to the Kings in those aforementioned two years, comparing those who are no longer with us with their 2012 equivalent. As overly negative and depressing as I may often find his articles, the running joke was really funny. And hey, we have way less useless guys now, apparently! Oh look it’s Richard Clune, I totally forgot he played on that team. That’s kind of depressing, given the total lack of anything productive he’s done in Manchester since. [Royal Half]
- Hey look, someone in the Canadian media likes us! Haha, they spell “offense” with a C. You wacky Canadians. [Victoria Times-Columnist]
- To counterpoint, here’s Harrison Mooney at the Vancouver Sun comparing us to random other kings. I think this was supposed to be funny. In theory. [VS]/
Kings-Canucks Series Previews
- Normally I hate the silly Puck Daddy gimmicks, but Zombie Drew Doughty is terrifyingly awesome. [PD]
- (Insert joke about ESPN covering hockey here.) [ESPN]
The actual article is fine but for God’s sake DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS. Holy shit. They make PD commenters look like a meeting of a Mensa chapter. [NHL.com] - Wow, of all the people to actually give us a chance, Fear the Fin?! I guess it might have something to do with maybe “actually watching us play”. Anyway this is a really excellent breakdown of the Kings-Canucks series (and Hawks-Yotes & Preds-Wings too) using advanced stats and the like. [FtF]
- I’m not gonna lie, I stopped reading this allegedly “comedic” analysis of the Kings like less than halfway through. Nucks Misconduct, everyone! Gonna be a fun two weeks. [NM]/
Other NHL Links
- The Edmonton Oilers won the draft lottery! So yes, after that trainwreck of a year, the Blue Jackets don’t even end up with the 1st overall pick. That seems both so wrong and yet so, so right, somehow. [TSN]
- Speaking of the Blue Jackets and their awful, awful season, I think it deserves one last final look, so here it is. This article is actually subtitled “The Negatives”. Hahaha. [Jackets Cannon]/
- Down Goes Brown offers up his Eastern Conference predictions. In case you were wondering, yes, that was a joke about Brian Boyle hitting someone. He actually does that now. [DGB]
- Not sure what the point is of Power Rankings in the playoffs, but NHL.com did them anyway. Honestly shocked we weren’t ranked last. [NHL.com]
- A ranking of the odds of an upset in all 8 of the first-round matchups, in case you’re the gambling type. We’re given a “moderate” shot, which is probably the nicest thing I’ve seen said about our chances by anyone not at Fear the Fin so far. [Y! Sports]/
- The Coyotes get greeted at the airport by a huge group of fans. I have nothing to say to make fun of this, that’s actually really cool given all the relocation rumors and the like. [CBS]
- So yeah, the Oilers won that lottery, and over at Copper & Blue Derek Zona was kind enough to transcribe a conversation he picked up from the tap he’s got on their GM’s phone. [C&B]/
- Finally, from a Habs fan here’s a guide to becoming a bandwagoner for another team, should your team already be eliminated (Ducks fans, start your mouses!). Apparently our main appeal to East coasters is our late start time. I would love to argue, but actually watching hockey until 1 a.m. is pretty damn cool, I’m not gonna lie. [Active Stick]
That’s all for now. Let me know if any of the links don’t work, and if you’ve got any other Kings blogs you think I should keep my eye on in the future, feel free to chime in. Thanks!