New Season

It's that time of year again. The weather is changing outside as summer turns into autumn, and 30 NHL arenas around the North America are preparing their buildings for a new hockey season.

It's been six long months since the Kings were eliminated from the playoffs last season. In the time since, the Kings prepared for what would be very high expectations in the upcoming season, and rightfully so. The Kings finished as the sixth seed out West with 101 points last season before being ousted by Vancouver in the first round of the playoffs, and with the bulk and core of the team returning, the expectations are sky-high.

The Kings were never able to land their much-coveted top-line scorer such as Ilya Kovalchuk, but they were able to add other pieces which many feel could make this team better than last season. For starters, left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky was brought in to add depth to the middle lines, and perhaps the most important signing of the off-season, defenseman Willie Mitchell was added to a very solid and arguably one of the top defensive cores that already includes Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson and Rob Scuderi.

On offense, Ponikarovsky joins Captain Dustin Brown, who returns along with Ryan Smyth, Anze Kopitar, Brad Richardson, Wayne Simmonds, Jarrett Stoll, Justin Williams and Michael Handzus. Hopefully, scoring goals won't be an issue this season, and a healthy Smyth and a more consistent Kopitar should help.

Jonathan Bernier, who signed a two-year extension today, will back-up Jonathan Quick in net for the Kings this season after Erik Ersberg was placed on waivers. He eventually cleared and was sent to Manchester.

With the high expectations comes added pressure for the Kings to improve on last season's 101 points and go deeper in the post-season. Both ESPN and TSN have the Kings ranked fifth in their pre-season Power Rankings, so the recognition is definitely there.

The keys for the Kings will obviously be the same for any other team: staying healthy. But with a year under their belt together, the defense should be better with the addition of Mitchell, and that should make life a little easier for Quick down the stretch. Offensively, the Kings hope Brown steps up from his down year and contributes more in the way of putting pucks into the net. And hopefully the addition of Ponikarovsky will help ease the loss of an inconsistent Alex Frolov, who took his skills to the Big Apple as a free agent.

All in all, the Kings continue to grow as a team. General Manager Dean Lombardi has a done a nice job of drafting and tweaking the roster to build a solid future for the Kings, and hopefully they get over the hump this year and are playing beyond April, and even May under the guidance of Head Coach Terry Murray.

Catching Up

Well it's been a while since the Kings were eliminated from post-season play by Vancouver. They played well at times against the 'Nucks, and looked almost unbeatable at times during those stretches, but when it mattered most, they were dreadful in closing out games. The defense, and to an extent, the goal-tending, as well, was awful. But it is what it is.

Since then, they've hired a new assistant coach to replace Mark Hardy. The NHL Entry Draft was held at Staples last weekend over a two-day frame. And the free agency period went into full swing starting on Thursday.

The Kings have two glaring needs: they need a premier front-line scorer on the top line, and they need veteran depth at defense. I think the goal-tending needs to be addressed as well.

They have not been very busy as far signing anyone over the first two plus days, but they've been busy behind the scenes trying to get things done. They've been mentioned in numerous rumors regarding Ilya Kovalchuk, the top forward in this year's free agent class. And being well below the cap, they have plenty to spend, and would like to. But so far, it's been relatively quiet.

The general consensus is Kovy will wind up in L.A., but at what cost? Reports out there say his camp wants max money (10 years, $10MM per), and as far as we know, only one team is apparently willing to go that far: the Islanders.

Now, I don't think the Kings should go that far to get him. Ten years seems to be a bit much for a 27 year old forward, granted he's one of the top scorers in the league. But even if the Kovy camp wants that much and the Islanders are willing to give him max money, is he really going to take it when the Islanders are so far away from winning? I don't think so, and that leads me to believe Kovy winds up in L.A., and hopefully at half of what his camp wants as far as the years go.

Stay tuned. My gut tells me there will be a resolution on this in the next 24-to-48 hours.

On top of all that, the Kings have also been tied to numerous trade rumors, as well. They were in on two of the top defensemen available through free agency, but Paul Martin signed with Pittsburgh and Dan Hamhuis inked a deal in Vancouver. So where does this leave the Kings? The said trade rumors have them linked to Sheldon Souray and even Tomas Kaberle. (My gut tells me neither ends up in L.A.)

They've also been tied to Simon Gagne, who waived his no-trade yesterday, and more recently, Vincent Lecavalier. (Yes, I know they're not defensemen, but my guess is if something happens with either of them, it's all contingent on what happens with Kovy.)

Kings ownership is pretty peeved at this point that nothing has happened yet. They want to make a big splash because they are that close to being a Cup contender, but obviously Dean Lombardi has a plan and wants to stick to it. In the end, I think they still end up with Kovy, and they'll probably move one of the goalies (either Jon Quick or Jonathan Bernier) for a defenseman. Question is, who?

They'll make their big splash.

Back on Track?

Well, we can only hope after the last two wins.

The Kings had struggled all season against Nashville and Vancouver. For some reason, they just couldn't find a way to beat either team. But in the last two games, with Jonathan Bernier in net giving Jon Quick a little rest, they found a way. On Tuesday, Bernier pitched a shutout as the Kings beat the Preds 2-0 in Nashville.

Last night's game was even more impressive. In fact, it might have been their best game of the season, at the most important time of the season.

The Kings erupted for five goals to start the game before the Canucks ever got on the scoreboard, and with the help of Dustin Brown's second career hat trick, the Kings walloped Roberto Luongo and the Canucks 8-3 at Staples.

The Kings dominated this game from start to finish on both sides of the ice despite Bernier giving up two quick goals to Vancouver in a 39 second span in the middle of the second period.

They did lose Jeff Halpern in the process, unfortunately. He took a hard check into the boards in the first period on a charge from Tanner Glass that resulted in the infamous upper body injury. There appeared to be contact from Glass to the head, which resulted in a power play for the Kings. Glass could receive additional supplemental discipline from the league for the hit.

Meanwhile, Bernier, who was called up last week to backup Quick after Erik Ersberg suffered an injury, was sent back to Manchester this morning. Ersberg will return Saturday as Quick's primary backup.

Last night's offensive outburst, coupled with some stingy defense was exactly what the Kings needed, even as they followed up a pretty impressive win in Nashville two nights earlier. The important thing for the Kings is to not let up. Keep going forward. Keep up the intensity from last night, as well as the sense of urgency.

Next up for the Kings, two against the Ducks: Saturday at Staples, next Tuesday in Anaheim.

So Much For That...

Just as quickly as the Kings seemed to have rebounded from their recent struggles, they fall right back into it. They've lost their last three games, and look to rebound yet once again tonight in Minnesota and tomorrow in Nashville.

The offense is sputtering once again, and the defense and goal-tending haven't been much better. After their 4-3 shootout loss in Denver on Wednesday, the Kings scored just one goal in their last two games against St. Louis and Dallas.

They get Matt Greene back on defense tonight, replacing Randy Jones, and Jonathan Bernier has been recalled to replace Erik Ersberg, who's out with an injury, as Jon Quick's backup.

One thing I've noticed in the past few weeks aside from the fact they seem to be playing in a panic mode is there seems to be a lack of a sense of urgency. Some guys are playing with that sense of urgency, but some guys are playing like it's just another game, and now's not the time to act as if these final nine or ten games are just that. There have been a lot of mistakes that have led to goals that should have never happened, and when you get into the playoffs, it's nearly impossible to recover quickly from such mistakes.

It's time to buckle down. The time is now!

Brown an All-Star

Earlier today, Kings captain Dustin Brown was chosen to represent the Kings in this year's All-Star game in Montreal at the end of the month. While it seems the fans continue to vote for their favorite players to start (this seems to be a growing problem in baseball and the NBA, as well) rather than for those who actually deserve it, it's nice to actually see the league recognize players who should be there. Brown, who has 13 goals and 13 assists in the Kings 39 games this season, has been a mainstay on the Kings top line for several years now.

The young nucleus built with and around Brown on the Kings has them headed in the right direction, with players like Anze Kopitar, Alexander Frolov, and Patrick O'Sullivan on offense. And despite a very tough schedule the second half of the season (they finish the season with 12 of their last 16 games on the road), they are right in thick of the Western Conference playoff chase even as they sit in last place in a very tough Pacific Division, just one point behind fourth place Dallas.

The Kings have played some very good hockey this season, especially against some of the top teams in the league, and have gotten some rave reviews from some of their opponents this season. They recently took both San Jose and the NY Rangers to overtime before losing both games, one in a shoot out, and beat Philadelphia last week in a shoot out. They boast one of the league's best and best young defenses, and their penalty kill ranks 7th in the league, thanks in large part to the return of Sean O'Donnell and rookie Drew Doughty. And they have two very good young goaltenders, Erik Ersberg and Jon Quick, with Jon Bernier getting some experience and waiting in the wings with the Kings AHL affiliate in Ontario, CA.

The Kings appear to be in great shape for the future, and have their fans excited about hockey again. Now if they could just find a way to beat their crosstown rivals once in a blue moon, all will be good in Kings Hockeyland!