After Much Speculation...

The Kings have selected center Brayden Schenn with the 5th overall pick in tonight's NHL Entry Draft in Montreal. Schenn is the younger brother of Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn.

Dean Lombardi appeared to be busy just before it was the Kings turn to pick. He was up and down from the Kings table several times right before the pick was made. There was speculation this pick could be dealt, but for now, Schenn is a King.

Solid pick for the Kings. If you were watching the draft on Versus tonight, the look on Toronto GM Brian Burke's face when this pick was announced was priceless! Burke and the Leafs really wanted Schenn.

The Islanders selected center John Tavares with the first overall pick, followed by Tampa Bay who selected defenseman Victor Hedman second, while Colorado took center Matt Duchene third, and Atlanta took center Evander Kane fourth just ahead of the Kings.

Also, the Ducks traded defenseman Chris Pronger to the Flyers in exchange for winger Joffrey Lupul, defenseman Luca Sbisa, two first round picks (one tonight, and one next year) and a conditional draft pick. Philly also gets a minor leaguer in the deal.

As much as it hurts me to admit, this is a great deal for the Ducks. The Flyers just got owned by the Ducks.

Lucky Luc Headed to the Hall

No surprise here. Luc Robitaille is headed for the NHL Hall of Fame. He joins a stellar 2009 class that includes Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman and Brian Leetch. Luc's 668 goals are the most ever by a left winger.

Robitaille was drafted by the Kings in the 9th round of the 1984 draft. (That same season, the Kings drafted future MLB Hall of Famer and 300-game winner Tom Glavine in the 4th round, but Glavine opted to pitch in the Major Leagues for the Atlanta Braves). He won the Calder Trophy as the league's Rookie of the Year in 1987, where he recorded 45 goals and 84 points, and quickly became synonymous with the Kings, becoming a fan favorite. Luc played his first eight seasons with the Kings, his best season coming in 1992-93, where he scored 62 goals and 125 total points. That same year, Luc helped lead an all-star roster that included Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Rob Blake, as the Kings reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first and only time in franchise history. The Kings lost to Patrick Roy and the Montreal Canadiens in five games.

Luc was then traded to Pittsburgh after the 1994 season, and played there for one season before being traded to the Rangers for two years. The Rangers then traded him back to the Kings after the 1997 season, and Luc played for the Kings for four more seasons. As a free agent after the 2001 season, Luc signed with Detroit for two seasons, where he helped the Red Wings win a Stanley Cup in 2002, along with Yzerman and Leetch. Luc then returned to L.A. for his third and final stint with the Kings, which lasted two seasons.

Along the way, Luc broke the all-time records for goals and points (1,394) by a left-winger, and in his last season in the league, he set the Kings franchise record for goals and points. On the night he surpassed former Kings great Marcel Dionne as the all-time leading scorer in frachise history, he fittingly recorded the 15th hat trick of his career. On April 11, 2006, he officially announced his retirement from the game, and retired from the game following the 2006 season after 19 stellar seasons in the NHL. Luc retired as the most popular player in Kings history, and his sweater No. 20 was retired and raised to the rafters of Staples Center on January 20, 2007. His jersey is one of five retired by the Kings, along with Dionne's No. 16, Dave Taylor's No. 18, Rogie Vachon's No. 30, and Gretzky's No. 99.

Congratulations Luc, on a well-deserved honor for your hard work and dedication to being one of the greatest hockey players ever, and one of the nicest and humble people I have met.

Pens Win Cup in 7

Just wanted to congratulate the Pittsburgh Penguins on a job well done. The Pens beat the Wings tonight 2-1 in Game 7 of the Cup Finals to earn their third Stanley Cup title in franchise history. Tonight's game was perhaps one of the best games in years from what I heard. The Pens won the the Cup in back-to-back seasons way back in 1991 and 1992 during the initial Mario Lemieux years. The Pens and Wings met in a rematch of last year's Finals, which was won by Detroit. Evgeni Malkin was named Finals MVP.

On a personal level, I'm thrilled the Pens won. Whatever has to be done to prevent the Squids (Red Wings) from winning is fine by me!

One Last Item On Pronger

Found this post on the L.A. Times' Fabulous Forum blog. There's nothing to the rumor. At least, for now, anyway.

Crawford Hired by Dallas; Pronger to L.A.?

First, the Chris Pronger reports.

There are unconfirmed rumors flying around the internet today that suggest the Kings are on the verge of acquiring Chris Pronger from the Ducks for Jack Johnson and the 5th overall pick in this year's draft next month. The rumor initiated on the website HockeyBuzz and made its rounds through the internet. Some media outlets picked up on the initial report as a done deal but have retracted it since. The rumor is nowhere to be found on any of the major national hockey media outlets such as TSN.ca, or even ESPN.com.

Several sources, including Rich Hammond of the Daily News on his Inside the Kings blog, have claimed to have received word from one team or the other that no deal is in place. Hammond says he received a "Rumor not true" text from Dean Lombardi himself. And granted Hammond broke the Patrick O'Sullivan-Justin Williams trade a day before it happened taht Lombardi denied at first, who's to say the trade won't still happen?

And for what it's worth, Pronger has said he has not been notified either.

However, one source says the two players are still likely to be traded as the teams try to haggle on the draft pick going from the Kings to the Ducks.

All that aside, I think this would be a ridiculously dumb move on the Kings part if they do anything close to it. I can't see the upside behind it when you're trying to build around the youth, and Jack Johnson is part of that youth movement. Obviously this would be a salary dump for the Ducks to get under the cap, but I don't understand it from the Kings side.

Either way, well done by both SoCal teams for stealing some of the thunder of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight in Detroit.

And lastly, former Kings head coach Marc Crawford was indeed hired as the Dallas Stars new head coach yesterday, a day after it was speculated they had called the Kings to ask for permission to talk to him after the Stars fired former Kings assistant Dave Tippett.

Dallas Fires Tippett

Just in a bit ago: the Dallas Stars have fired former Kings assistant Dave Tippett as their head coach. Tippett led the Stars to playoff berths in his first five seasons as head coach until they failed to make the post-season this year. Rumors have it that new Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk has asked for permission from the Kings to speak to another of their former head coaches, Marc Crawford, who is still under contract with the Kings.

He's all yours, Dallas!