Richards to NY; Kings Land Gagne

Hours after center Brad Richards signed a 9-year deal with the Rangers, spurning the Kings and two other teams, the Kings turned around and inked LW Simon Gagne to a two-year deal worth $7MM, reuniting him with recently acquired Mike Richards.

Gagne, a 40-point scorer last season in Tampa and in 2009-10 with Philly, will get $4.5MM from the Kings next season, and $2.5MM in 2012-13. He tallied 74-points for the Flyers in 2008-09. Gagne will like play on the second line with Richards in the middle and Justin Williams on the right. First line should be Anze Kopitar in the middle with Dustin Brown and Dustin Penner on the wings.

This is a solid deal for the Kings as they get a veteran scorer and add some depth. If Gagne stays healthy, he should do well lining up with Richards.

Playoffs Set

After two lackluster performances against the Ducks to end season, Kings finish with 98 points and the seventh seed, and drew division-rival and champion San Jose Sharks in the first round.

Without Anze Kopitar and much of a power play, this will be long (or short) series for the Kings, despite their stellar defense and goal-tending.

On the plus side, Justin Williams is ready and playing in Game One tonight.

So far, 1-0 Sharks. Just under nine minutes in the first...

Magic Number Just Two Points Away

That number is 94 and the Kings currently sit at 92 points, good for fifth in the conference.

They're picking up points left and right, winning big games, but with costly consequences.

Both Justin Williams and Anze Kopitar suffered season-ending injuries in recent games.

Perhaps the deadline acquisition of Dustin Penner looms even larger now.

Despite a few hiccups along the way, the Kings defense continues to be stellar.

And Jonathan Quick has been even better in net, especially during shootouts.

Quick is a perfect 9-0 in those situations.

And we all know how big defense and special teams are come post-season.

It's time to see how resilient this young team really is now by showing they can play through adversity.

Random Stuff

So the Kings are off for another six days. It's been two-plus already. They went 1-2 on their trip through Western Canada, losing in Vancouver, winning in Edmonton, and losing in Calgary. They played well enough to win all three games, but of course, you can't win 'em all.

Now they're in the midst of an eight-day vacation. Wish I could have vacations like that!

So far, they've surrendered the top spot in the West because of the long layoff while San Jose keeps playing. They've also relinquished the division lead, as well. But, they did get Ryan Smyth back. So the next time the Kings play - next Saturday in Phoenix - they will have Smyth back, and Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams should be thrilled! Those two have missed Smyth immensely over the last five weeks.

In the meantime, with the long layoff, I've been trying to get my hockey fix elsewhere. But when you're a Kings fan with Center Ice living in Stars territory, it's kind tough. I don't get as amped for games like I do for Kings games. Seriously, the Stars just don't cut it for me. And some of these other games on the dish just seem to bore me to death.

I suppose the busy holiday will keep me preoccupied until next Saturday night. So until then, I leave you with a litte something-something...

Kings Offense Breaks Through in Win Over Sens

Justin Williams took advantage of two Ottawa turnovers in front of their own goal late in the game and converted them into two goals, turning a close 4-3 lead into a 6-3 win out at Staples. With the win, the Kings have now won three in a row and four of its last five, including a 3-1 win at Edmonton last Wednesday, a 2-1 shootout win at home against Chicago this past Saturday, and a 4-3 shootout win at Staples against the Ducks two nights ago.

The Kings improve to 17-10-2 on the season, good for 36 points and second place in the division behind San Jose, who lost tonight in a shootout at home to St. Louis. The Kings pick up a very important point in the standings.

Drew Doughty got credit for tonight's game-winner that gave the Kings the lead for good late in the second period, and Jon Quick earned his 16th win of the season while in net for the Kings. Wayne Simmonds added a goal on a penalty shot late in the first period.

On the flip side, Anze Kopitar's streak of games without a goal continues to grow as it has now reached 11 games. It's pretty obvious the loss of linemate Ryan Smyth, who isn't expected back until the middle or the end of the month, has had a major impact on Kopitar's game.

As for St. Louis, they head south down the California coast and take on the Kings Saturday afternoon at Staples.

Kings Rebound Nicely

After an ugly week last week, the Kings have looked much better in their last three games, at Tampa Bay, at Florida and back home last night against Philadelphia, going 2-1-0 while posting two shootout wins in the process. But the news hasn't been all good.

Defenseman Rob Scuderi has missed all three games with a lower body injury, but he is listed as day-to-day. And before last night's 3-2 loss to Philly, the Kings learned they would be without the services of Ryan Smyth for up to a month with what is being described as an upper body injury.

Smyth was off to fantastic start for the Kings, netting nine goals and posting 14 assists. The top line combination of Smyth and Anze Kopitar had made for one of the league's top scoring lines so far in the young season. Kopitar continues to lead the league in overall scoring with 32 points (14 goals and 18 assists).

But with Smyth out for a while, the Kings have opted to move Alex Frolov onto the top line with Kopitar and Justin Williams. Only time will tell if Kopitar can continue to lead the league in scoring with Frolov to his left instead of Smyth.

The Kings, second in the Pacific Division with a 13-8-2 mark for 28 points, are off until a date with Calgary at Staples on Saturday.

Kings Win in the Desert

Final: Kings 5, Coyotes 3.

Anze Kopitar got the scoring going for the Kings with his 11th goal of the season. But down 3-2 heading into the third period, the Kings scored three times to ice the game. Ryan Smyth picked up two more goals to give him eight on the season. Along with Justin Williams, who added a goal of his own, the Kings top line poured in eight points (four goals and four assists).

With the win, the Kings improved to 9-4-2 for 20 points, good for second place in the division, one point behind San Jose. The 20 points tie them with Washington, who are without Alexander Ovechkin for an extended period time with an upper body injury, for fourth most in the league.

Kings Beat Stars Again

This is almost becoming routine again.

Anze Kopitar netted a hat trick and Michal Handzus netted the game-winner less than a minute into overtime in a 5-4 win at Staples. The Kings played two solid periods and skated out to what appeared to be a rout in the making, leading 4-1 after two periods. But they become lackadaisical defensively in the third period and allowed the Stars to hit the back of the net three times to tie the game at four apiece before Handzus's winner.

Meanwhile, to go along with Kopitar's three goals to give him a team-high eight, Ryan Smyth assisted on one of them to give the Kings top line four more points. Between Kopitar, Smyth and Justin Willaims, the top line now has 39 points in 10 games. Dustin Brown and Alexander Frolov, who returned to action tonight after being benched on Monday night in Dallas, each grab a pair of assists, as well.

Next up, the Kings take to the desert to take on a revitalized Phoenix Coyotes club on Saturday.

Kings Snap Skid

So, I almost didn't go to the game tonight. Bought tickets a couple of weeks ago not knowing that the Dodgers would be playing tonight in Game 4 of the NLCS. After what I just saw, I'm glad I went. (And I took my camera but forgot I had it and didn't take any pictures.)

The Kings rolled into Dallas here tonight and ended a three-game skid with a resounding and convincing 4-1 trumping of the Stars. Jon Quick was solid in goal tonight, and the Kings first line of Ryan Smyth, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams provided all the scoring the Kings would need in the second period.

The Stars had taken a 1-0 lead late in the first period, but Smyth, Kopitar and Williams each scored in the second to give the Kings a 3-1 lead. Smyth's goal was on the power play. He assisted on the other two goals. The first line totaled six more points tonight. Wayne Simmonds scored a back-handed empty-netter late in the third to ice the game for the Kings.

The finished the six-game trip 3-3, and head back to L.A. 5-4-0 (10 points) to take on the Stars again on Thursday night.

Kings Improve to 3-1

After a couple of solid wins in which they scored six goals apiece against San Jose and Minnesota following the loss on opening night, the Kings took to the road to begin a six-game road trip and came away with a well-played defensive effort in St. Louis, beating the Blues 2-1.

The Kings were just 4 of 11 on the penalty kill going into the game, but tonight they killed off all five St. Louis power plays.

Ryan Smyth, his fourth of the season, on a power play, and Michal Handzus, his second, recorded the two goals tonight. The Kings top line of Smyth, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams has now combined for a total of 20 points in four games.

Meanwhile, Drew Doughty took a puck to the face midway through the second period and left the ice, but returned for the start of the third period.

The Kings hit Long Island in New York for a date with the Islanders on Monday afternoon.

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.

O'Sullivan Traded

In what appears to be a salary dump (at least to me, after a first glance), the Kings shipped forward Patrick O'Sullivan to the Carolina Panthers today just before the trade deadline, for forward Justin Williams.

I've been reading some of the feedback from fans at both LGK.com and some of the other hockey sites, and obviously most people don't like this deal straight up. But after looking a tad further into this, looking at some of the other factors possibly involved behind the deal, I came to the conclusion (along with a friend of mine who will remain unnamed) that this was probably a salary dump, and the Kings were probably gearing up for a busy off-season this summer. (Remember O'Sullivan signing that big four year, $21MM deal in the off-season?)

Personally, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if the Kings went hard after Marian Gaborik this summer. It's the only explanation I can think of after giving up on such a promising young kid in O'Sullivan. The offense this year has been inconsistently sporadic at best, and my feeling is because they don't really have a proven veteran scorer on their top two lines to take the scoring burden off Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar or Alex Frolov.

I was also reading from the fans that their impression is the Kings have all but given up on this season. They haven't played well in the last week or two, and have fallen further behind the pack for that elusive eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with some tough losses, too many, in fact. But because there is so much parity in the conference right now, there is still hope, albeit a longshot at this point with too many teams ahead of them to climb.

Having said all that, would it be that bad to miss the playoffs one more season, then go sign that big veteran scorer they've really been lacking for a few years, and then make a serious run next season with everyone a year older and more mature? I don't. And I know Kings fans are tired of not making the playoffs, but obviously Dean Lombardi has a plan, and the best plan of is to stick to your plan and let it play itself. The Kings were never expected to be in contention this far into the season anyway. But should they manage to get into the playoffs, that would be nice, too.

A couple of other notes, both Erik Ersberg and Sean O'Donnell agreed to contract extensions today, and Tom Preissing was assigned to Manchester this afternoon after clearing waivers.