Why do people keep saying that without Smyth and Scuderi the Kings are the same team as last year? (And why did I buy it, until I looked?)

Okay, so off the top of your head, about how many Kings are absent since this time last year? My guess is 5.

The real answer:

1. Calder
2. Armstrong
3. Zeiler
4. Moulson
5. Boyle
6. O’Sullivan
7. Moller
8. Quincey
9. Preissing
10. Gauthier
11. LaBarbera

And those eleven guys were replaced by these nine:

1. Williams
2. Smyth
3. Purcell
4. Parse
5. Segal
6. Scuderi
7. Drewiske
8. Jones
9. Quick

These are the mainstays:

1. Kopitar
2. Brown
3. Stoll
4. Frolov
5. Handzus
6. Simmonds
7. Richardson
8. Ivanans
9. Harrold
10. Doughty
11. Johnson
12. SOD
13. Greene

Thirteen guys from last year, nine new guys, eleven old guys gone. Roster of 22 this year instead of 23. Sounds like a turn-over of about 44% to me.

Not the same team. Even with Smyth and Scuderi out, you’re looking at seven new guys replacing eleven departed or demoted.

Kings are 2-2-2 in their last six and have lost two in a row

What do you bet we’ll be seeing Peter Harrold and Randy Jones next game? Who will sit?

If Terry Murray is going to insist on playing an enforcer, to say nothing of playing one in key situations

maybe it would be a good idea for Lombardi to go out and get us a real one. Ivanans was a liability last year (“walking obstruction penalty” I believe was the operative phrase) and he was a liability last night.

Random Thoughts

Smyth/Kopitar/Williams

Frolov/Moller/Brown

Purcell/Stoll/Lewis

Clune/Handzus/Simmonds

Waive Ivanans and Richardson; make a trade for a legitimate enforcer; roll four lines; teach Kopitar to hit the net. I wonder how many goals Loktionov is going to have to rack up before he gets the call despite the fact that he’s got the body of a 12 year old.

SOD/Doughty

Johnson/Scuderi

Drewiske/Greene

Quick

Ersberg

I think the defense will settle in just fine when SOD gets back. Quick was no good last night, but I choose not to worry about it.

Kings get Younger, Lose Weight and are Somehow More Experienced

They’re a half year younger, about a half year more experienced, and a pound lighter. From the Kings site:

2008-09

Age:  26.3

Ht:  6-1

Wt:  208

NHL Experience:  3.96 yrs

2009-10

Age: 25.8

Ht: 6-1

Wt: 207

NHL Experience: 4.30 yrs

via A Look at 2009-10 Roster – Los Angeles Kings – News.

[FLASHBACK 10/6/2007] Tonight’s lines – Inside the Kings

Brown-Kopitar-Cammalleri
Calder-Armstrong-Frolov
Nagy-Handzus-Willsie
O’Sullivan-Murray-Ivanans

Visnovsky-Blake
Stuart-Preissing
Modry-Johnson

Bernier
LaBarbera

Tonight’s lines – Inside the Kings.

7 out of 12 forwards from ’07 are gone. Instead of Cammalleri, Calder and Armstrong, we have Smyth, Williams, Stoll and Purcell. On D, on D, 5 of 6 are gone. Only Johnson remains. In goal, well…

[FLASHBACK 10/?/2008] Lines and pairings – Inside the Kings

Here’s how the Kings skated today:

Moulson-Kopitar-Brown

Frolov-Stoll-Moller

Calder-Handzus-Simmonds

Ivanans-Armstrong-Richardson

Patrick O’Sullivan and Brian Boyle were the “spare” players today in the green jerseys, but these lines are likely to shift a bit when O’Sullivan is ready. It’s more stable on defense:

Johnson-Greene

O’Donnell-Doughty

Gauthier-Preissing

via Lines and pairings – Inside the Kings.

Up front, 6 of 14 are gone. Moulson, Moller, Calder, POS, Boyle and Armstrong are replaced by Smyth, Williams, Purcell, Clune and Lewis. On D, Gauthier and Preissing are out, Scuderi, Drewiske and Martinez are in.

Last cuts are coming, and my guess at the opening night roster:

[UPDATE: final cuts announced and I was right except for the Bernier/3-goalie plan]

Smyth/Kopitar/Williams

Purcell/Stoll/Brown

Frolov/Handzus/Simmonds

Ivanans/Lewis/Harrold

(Clune [IR], Richardson)

Martinez/Doughty

Johnson/Scuderi

Drewiske/Greene

(SOD/susp.)

Quick

Ersberg

Bernier

That’s my guess. Hickey will get sent down; no loss of face there. DL will keep three goalies up and give Bernier a game or two. If he does the job, Ersberg gets waived. Probably that’s all too whacky and they’ll just send Bernier down. But I think the 3 goalie plan is possible in the short-term. Westgarth will get sent down; Ivanans will live to fight another day. Richardson will get waived when Clune returns.

And there’s still a chance DL brings in one more  old veteran D between now and the beginning of the year.

Kings Roster Down to 31

*waiver-exempt

^juniors eligibility remaining

GOALIES (will re-assign 1)

Erik Ersberg

Jonathan Bernier*

Jonathan Quick*

DEFENSEMEN (will re-assign 2-4; depending on how Harrold is employed)

Drew Doughty

Matt Greene

Jack Johnson

Sean O’Donnell

Rob Scuderi

Joe Piskula*

Andrew Campbell*

Alec Martinez*

Thomas Hickey*

Davis Drewiske*

FORWARDS (will re-assign 4-5)

Ryan Smyth

Anze Kopitar

Jarret Stoll

Justin Williams

Dustin Brown

Alexander Frolov

Michal Handzus

Peter Harrold

Raitis Ivanans

Brad Richardson

Wayne Simmonds*

Marc-Andre Cliche*

Richard Clune*

Trevor Lewis*

Teddy Purcell*

Kevin Westgarth*

Brayden Schenn*^

Kyle Clifford*^

Unless Ersberg is traded, Bernier will get sent down. They could of course send Quick down, as he is waiver-exempt, but that would be scandalous. At least two (and maybe all four) of Piskula, Campbell, Martinez and Hickey will be sent to Manchester. They’re not going to keep both of Martinez and Hickey, since they are similar “types.” Of the forwards who would have to clear waivers, Richardson, Ivanans and Harrold are on the bubble; among the waiver-exempt, Cliche, Lewis and Westgarth would go to Manchester and Schenn and Clifford would return to juniors, but could stick around for their nine games. My guess is, Zeiler getting waived means Clune is staying. One of Westgarth and Ivanans will stay. Harrold will stay due to his versatility. That leaves three of Schenn, Clifford, Lewis, Cliche and Richardson still to be re-assigned. If Schenn and Clifford are going to get their nine games (which I think will happen, but who knows), then Lewis and Cliche will go to Manchester and Richardson will be traded or waived.

Roster I Wish Were Possible

Smyth/Kopitar/Williams

Purcell/Moller/Brown

Frolov/Handzus/Simmonds

Clune/Stoll/Westgarth

(Harrold, Lewis)

Johnson/Scuderi

Doughty/Greene

Hickey/SOD

(Drewiske)

Bernier

Quick

Or, as I like to think of it:

25/35/25

20/20/30

35/20/15

5/15/5

From the Kings site: Clune/Harrold/Westgarth (related: Clune is an EXTREME agitator)

Rich Clune, Peter Harrold and Kevin Westgarth could see playing time on the Kings fourth line this season. Harrold a center/seventh defenseman hybrid, played in 69 games last season at both positions scoring 4-8=12. Westgarth made his NHL debut a year ago and skated in nine games, posting nine PIMs, while adding 165 PIMs in 65 games at Manchester. He is challenging for time on the roster as the Kings enforcer. Clune is an interesting prospect, an extreme agitator on the ice, he returned from injury to collect 87 PIMs in just 35 games with Manchester last season.

via Training Camp Report Sept. 13 – Los Angeles Kings – News.

What I Learned by Listening to Kingscast Podcasts of the Kings Fest or Hockey Fest or Deanopalooza or whatever it’s called

1. Stoll thinks possibly his LW is Smyth and is more sure that his RW is Brown (maybe that’s from the Inside the Kings comments section, I forget).
2. Terry Murray is going to start Smyth on the first line with Kopitar and Williams.
3. SOD is going to start off camp paired with Doughty.
4. Scuderi is going to start off paired with Johnson.
5. Drewiske is essentially considered a top six d at this point.
6. TM thinks Bernier, Hickey, Teubert and somebody else (Voynov?) should probably spend a year in the minors.
7. DL is thinking of adding a 4th line center and a depth defenseman.
8. DL is high on Purcell.
9. DL is scared of Dany Heatley, in the best possible sense (and so am I).

Here’s my question. If DL expects big things from Purcell, doesn’t this mean he’s going to find room for him in the top-six? If not, wouldn’t we then have to have a viable third line that’s not a checking/shut-down line? You can’t expect big things from an offensive player and then put him on the fourth line playing six minutes a game.  So, if you’re me (and I am), I think we’re looking at:

Smyth/Kopitar/Williams

Frolov/Stoll/Brown

LW3/Moller/Purcell

LW4/Handzus/Simmonds

But wait. What about the possible C4 addition DL alluded to? That makes just about zero sense unless he’s thinking Moller might be starting the season in Manchester. WHICH IS ANNOYING. Grrr. Okay, let’s pretend he does pick up some old vet to center the 4th line.

Smyth/Kopitar/Williams

Frolov/Stoll/Brown

LW3/Handzus/Simmonds

LW4/Crusty Old Guy/RW4

Purcell on the off wing on the third line? Maybe. No Moller? (again, WTF.) To me, the “maybe a fourth line center” thing means they’re still thinking about a knuckle-dragging fourth line. Which sucks. A third line of Purcell/Handzus/Simmonds, and a fourth line of Zeiler/Crusty/Westgarth, and Moller and Lewis in the AHL. Maybe he’ll wait till camp to see how Moller, Purcell, Lewis et al look, before he brings in Cliff Ronning or whoever.

This is a Pointless Exercise

But still I find myself thinking about it. Because it’s August.

The following jersey numbers are unclaimed as of now:

4 – last worn by Rob Blake. Reserved for Hickey?

10 – last worn by Alyn McCauley. Reserved for Schenn?

12 – last worn by POS

19 – last worn by Kyle Calder

21 – last worn by Denis Gauthier

22 – last worn by Brian Boyle. Hold for TWO-bert (see below).

25 – last worn by Matt Moulson

27 – last worn by Kyle Quincey

29 – last worn by Jeff Giuliano

and blah blah blah, who cares after that?

Teubert wears #20 for Regina, but that’s obviously not available. He wore #2 for Team Canada, and that’s not happening. Oh, I get it: TWO-bert. He likes 2′s. So he’ll take 22. Duh. Loktionov will take #90, right (his Windsor number)? But we still need a good 12, 19 and 21.

Random Non-Binding August Line-up Musing

Frolov/Kopitar/Williams

Smyth/Stoll/Purcell

?/Moller/Brown

Lewis/Handzus/Simmonds

(press box: Harrold/Zeiler)

Scuderi/Doughty

Johnson/Greene

Hickey/SOD

Drewiske

Bernier/Quick

Kings Players With Height Rendered as Font Size

(bored while waiting for UFA news) Kings U-22 Team

Schenn/Kopitar/Simmonds

Wudrick/Moller/Loktionov

King/Azevedo/Kozun

Clifford/Roe/Vey

Campbell/Doughty

Hickey/Teubert

Martinez/Voynov

Bernier

Jones

(It’s not easy to put a team together, using only players 18-21.)

Cut and Paste from my comment on ItK re the Kings’ “third line”, so I can find it later when I want to remember what I said without having to search the unsearchable archives

How many third lines do the Kings have?

The main issue with Brown/Handzus/Simmonds as a line is who would play on the right side. Brown sucked on the right last year, and talked openly about how difficult it was for him. Does Simmonds switch sides on that line? The funny thing is, x/Stoll/Brown is <i>also</i> really a third line. The Kings have two third lines right now. Or two seconds and a third…and no fourth. Or something.

Lewis is a great candidate to play on the right side with Handzus and Simmonds, or, for that matter, with Stoll and Brown. What if Cliche (another defensive specialist) has a great camp? What if anyone pulls a Moller/Simmonds and makes the team ahead of schedule? There is no room, without some kind of — dealing.

It’s obviously premature to try to cobble together lines before camp, to say nothing of rookie camp, prospect camp, summer free agency and the draft. Nevertheless! As of today, the Kings’ roster starter kit includes:

(1) Frolov/Kopitar/Williams

(2) F4/Stoll/Brown

(3) F7/Handzus/Simmonds

(4) Ivanans/F11/F12

(press box) F13/F14

Moller, Purcell, Richardson, Lewis, Zeiler, Boyle are the guys who have played NHL games. Cliche, Clune, King, Wudrick, Westgarth, Azevedo, Loktionov are the guys who haven’t. Of all the guys on that list, Zeiler is the only one I can see being a candidate for being on the roster as an F13/14. Maybe they re-sign Armstrong for that purpose. Or it’s Ivanans, but so far he’s got a semi-regular spot on the fourth line / bench.

If you consider that DL is likely to add a top-six forward (drop him in the F4 slot, although obviously F1-F6 will be shuffled at will), it becomes clear that something’s got to give re F7-F12: Handzus, Simmonds, Moller, Purcell, Lewis, Ivanans, Richardson, Zeiler, Boyle. At least one of those names is not going to make the team, and three or four of them will not play very much (assuming Ivanans is going to dress more than half the time).

Moller and Purcell, in particular, are top-six players. So there is a huge issue regarding the <i>concept</i> of the fourth line — if it’s a bruiser/enforcer line, I don’t really know what to do with Moller and Purcell, who don’t fit there. If it’s a speed/energy line, they fit, but then Ivanans doesn’t, and we all are assuming that TM/DL want that enforcer around. Maybe Ivanans is the nightly healthy scratch and we go with a fourth line of Purcell/Moller/Lokionov (or Azevedo or someone similarly dangerous). I would love that. But I think it’s a loooooong shot. I’m more worried that DL also sees the log-jam, but will side with the enforcer concept and either send Moller to the AHL for half the season (he’s waiver exempt) and trade Teddy.

Crackpot Roster Musings: Kings 09-10

Assumptions: Kings sign one of Hossa, Gaborik or Havlat. Kings keep the number five pick and select MSP, Kane or Duchene, whoever is left. 

FORWARDS:

If Hossa or Havlat:

Frolov/Kopitar/Hossa-Havlat 

Williams/Stoll/Brown [North American drive-to-the-net ass-kicking, hits and goals]

Lewis/Handzus/Simmonds [shut-down]

Purcell/Loktionov/Moller [the real first line]

If Gaborik:

Frolov/Kopitar/Williams

Gaborik/Stoll/Brown

Lewis/Handzus/Simmonds

Purcell/Loktionov/Moller

[The #5 pick will obviously have the opportunity to dislodge one of Lewis, Purcell, Loktionov or Moller (or Wudrick, for that matter). I'm willing to imagine that one of the realistically too-young prospects surprises everyone and makes the team, but I've chosen Loktionov as my representative of that crackpot fantasy. Could easily be Kane, Duchene, MSP -- whichever one -- or Wudrick.]

DEFENSE:

Johnson/Doughty

Quincey/Greene

SOD/Hickey

Voynov/Drewiske

 

GOAL:

Quick

Ersberg

Revised Kings Depth Chart