Pronger Trade Rumor Ridiculous posted by Jeff Ponder

It was reported Friday that Chris Pronger found a new home in the town of Los Angeles.  The unconfirmed reports said that Pronger was sent to the Kings for up-and-coming defenseman Jack Johnson and a fifth-round pick.  The LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks quickly shot down the report.  Kings GM Dean Lombardi was asked via e-mail, and he quickly responded with the simplest of replies:  “No.”

The allegations of this deal seemed bogus from the start.  First of all, it is rare that a team would let that information leak before trading is allowed by the NHL.  The Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins were still yet to play a decisive Game 7 of their Stanley Cup Final series, meaning that all 30 teams were not permitted to begin trading players. 

On a pure team standpoint, this is a bad trade for Los Angeles to begin with.  Chris Pronger will be celebrating his 35th birthday this October, while Jack Johnson just turned a young 22 in January.  Los Angeles cannot be thinking that they are in any position to make a Stanley Cup run in the next few years.  Why would they go and get immediate help from a veteran defenseman rather than let a young defensive stalwart develop to make a strong run with his team in the future? 

The Kings have also made it evident that they are holding onto their money as much as possible.  They are currently the last team in spent salary, being over $14 million under the NHL salary cap.  Johnson currently is raking in $2.2 million and is eligible for restricted free-agent status after the 2009-10 campaign. While he will most likely be receiving a raise, Pronger's $6.3 million price tag is still pretty steep for a team looking to save money.  The Kings are likely holding onto their money to lock up players such as defenseman Drew Doughty, star forward Anze Kopitar and goaltender Jonathan Bernier.
Continue reading "Pronger Trade Rumor Ridiculous"

Kings Aim For The 500 Mark in '08 posted by Cori Vallembois

The Los Angeles Kings started 2008 off with a bang when they dominated Chicago by a score of 9-2 on New Year's Day in front of a home crowd at Staples Center.  Since then, the Kings have fallen to Columbus and Calgary in two close contests that could have ended in either team's favor.  Hopefully the Kings can capitalize tonight on a tired Nashville team who lost to the Anaheim Ducks just last night and pull out their second win of 2008.

Still lingering at the bottom of the league's standings, the Kings can't afford any more losses or injuries at this point in their year.  With Cammalleri still out due to a rib injury, the Kings hope Ladislav Nagy can continue his hot streak.  Nagy has racked up 10 points in his last 6 games (4-6) and had an especially impressive showing in the Kings' most recent victory versus Chicago when he recorded his third career hat trick along with two assists for his second career five-point game.

All I want for Christmas is a win... posted by Cori Vallembois

Hopefully Los Angeles Kings players and coaches all got what they wanted for Christmas.  And hopefully the satisfaction of receiving what they asked for will inspire them to give Kings fans what they've been asking for - a WIN.  The boys will have a chance to snap their 7 (yes, SEVEN) game losing streak tomorrow when they face the San Jose Sharks on home ice at Staples Center.

A question on everyone's mind is whether Dustin Brown, who leads the team with 16 goals, will suit up for Wednesday's match up, or if his shoulder strain will keep him in the locker room for the third straight game.  If Brown does not play, the Kings will look to players such as Michael Cammalleri and Patrick O'Sullivan to provide some much needed offense.

Cammalleri started the season dangling at the top of the NHL's goal scoring list, but has struggled to find net recently.  He was credited for the Kings' lone goal on Friday when they faced the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena, but hadn't scored in his previous seven games.  I'm sure Kings head coach Marc Crawford, and Kings fans alike, would be ecstatic to see Cammy finish where he left off and start lighting the lamp once per game again.

Despite being stuck in a defensive role at the start of the 2007-2008 season, O'Sullivan has been pleading his case as to why he should be seen as an offensive threat as well.  In the month of December Sully has tallied 10 points (4 goals, 6 assists), including a short handed goal in the Kings' last game against Nashville.  He is a solid penalty killer, and a decent option for the recently struggling power play unit, as well.

Los Angeles Kings @ Columbus Blue Jackets (12/21/07) posted by Matthew R. Hastings

The Los Angeles Kings gave us hockey fans yet another lackluster performance, one almost not even worth writing about!  They faced-off with the Columbus Blue Jackets in Ohio earlier tonight.

It actually wasn't all bad at first, The Kings got on the board in the first period with a Power-play goal from Michael Cammalerri, his 15th of the season.  Assisted by two potential all stars this season in Anze Kopitar and Captain Rob Blake.  The Kings made it out of the 1st period with a 1-0 lead. 

In the second period the Kings continued to do a good job of keeping the Blue Jackets off the board and staying out of the penalty box.  Then with less than three minutes left in the 2nd period the Blue Jackets got a controversial goal to tie it 1-1.  It appeared King's goalie Jason LaBarbera had the puck covered under his pad waiting for a whistle, when Blue Jacket's forward, Novotny hit LaBarbera's pad causing the puck to slide past him into the net.  Was the ref slow on blowing his whistle?  The Kings bench sure thought so, but anyhow the 2nd period ended in a 1-1 tie. 

The Blue Jackets came out fast and put the puck on net early in the 3rd.  Nicklas Zherdev of Columbus got a bounce and just 37 seconds into the 3rd period the Blue Jackets were in the lead for the first time in the game 2-1.  In the final 19 minutes of the period the Kings managed to put 10 shots on Blue Jacket's backup goalie Fredrik Norrena.  Norrena would stay strong and hang on to get the 2 points and win for the Blue Jackets.

Los Angeles Kings @ Detroit Red Wings (Game Recap 12/19/2007) posted by Matthew R. Hastings

Different Game, Same Story for the Los Angeles Kings.  On Tuesday against Colorado the Kings took a bad early and it set the tone for the rest of the game, well against the Red Wings it was no different!  Jason LaBarbera was looking to build off that performance he gave Monday night against the Avalanche, but in this game he would get no help.

Cammalerri took holding penalty just 22 seconds into the 1st period, and just like that the Red Wings are up 1-0 less than one minute into the game!  The Red Wings got another goal from Hudler toward the midway of period one.  With a 2-0 deficit, the Kings were in another hole early.  Detroit forward Franzen was called for a holding penalty with two minutes left in the 1st period.  The Kings, Dustin Brown then cashed in on the golden opportunity to get them back in the game by netting a Power-play goal. 

The Kings came out for the 2nd period and shocked the Red Wings, by not only scoring 15 seconds into the period but tying the game as well.  The people in the Hockeytown thought they were going to be in for a game, but then the Red Wings woke back up with some help from the Kings. Three minutes after tying the game Zetterberg flipped the puck towards Kings goalie Labarbera when defense-man Tom Preissing deflected the puck with his hand confusing goalie Jason LaBarbera, Thomas Holmstrom was then able to poke the puck into the goal to give the Red Wings the lead right back at 3-2. 

After that it was no looking back as the Red Wings poured it on.  The Red Wings got 3rd Period goals from Cleary, Franzen, and Filppula to cap of the win.  The game that was once tied 2-2, was quickly changed by four straight goals from four different Red Wings.  Future Hall of Fame goalie Domink Hasek was sharp enough for the Red Wings stopping 18 of 20 shots.  Once again bad penalties and mistakes cost the Kings.  The Red Wings showed why they have been an elite team for the last 10 years.  All the players on the team know their role and they combine it into the system to work.  They also get good goal-tending, make teams pay for the mistakes made, and they capitalize on the Power-play.   

Colorado Avalanche @ Los Angeles Kings (Game Recap 12/17/07) posted by Matthew R. Hastings

The Avalanche came into the Staples Center without Captain and Leader Joe Sakic, but were still able to hold off a late rally by the Kings to win 4-2.

The Kings came out slow and lifeless, which led to a Dustin Brown, Holding penalty 2 minutes into the 1st period.  It only took Ryan Smyth 25 seconds to make Dustin Brown and the Kings pay for the penalty, by putting the Avalanche up 1-0.  Only a minute later, Jan Hlincka got a break away and backhanded the puck over Jason LaBarbera's right pad into the net to give the Avs a 2 goal lead less than four minutes into the game.  14:12 into the 1st period the Avs young sensation Peter Stastny made it 3-0 with a goal assisted by Hejduk and Liles.  It was all Av's in the 1st period out shooting the Kings 16-4.

Jason Labarbera was excellent in the 2nd and 3rd period saving 24 shots in 40 minutes.  All together he made 37 saves in his first game back from injury.  If he can keep this up, he may give the Kings chances to win and he certainly did in this one.

 At the beginning of the 3rd period the Kings came out looking like a completely different team.  They were pressuring, hitting, moving the puck.  They had the Av's on their heels which turned into some Powerplays.  Dustin Brown made up for the goal on his penalty by getting a power play goal of his own at the beginning of the 3rd to make it 3-1.  Just 4 minutes later Handzus scored a Short-handed goal while Cammalerri was in the penalty box for the Kings.  The Kings had made it a one goal game with over 15 minutes left in the 3rd period.  The Kings would get some chances but would not be able to notch another tally to tie it, instead The Av's would get an empty net goal to secure the victory 4-2. 

Scuderi, Kings agree to four-year deal

The Los Angeles Kings have a four-year deal in place with free agent defenseman Rob Scuderi, who is leaving the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.The contract was agreed to Thursday, the second day of NHL free agency.Scuderi was part of Pittsburgh's top shutdown defensive pairing along with Hal Gill, who left the Penguins on Wednesday and signed with the Montreal Canadiens. Scuderi led the Penguins with a plus-23 rating and had a career-high 16 points in 81 regular-season games. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NHL

Ex-Penguins D Scuderi signs with Kings (AP)

[read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Stars name Crawford to replace fired Tippett

A Canadian cable sports channel is reporting that the Dallas Stars have fired coach Dave Tippett after seven seasons.Dallas Stars spokesman Rob Scichili says in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Wednesday night that the Stars had nothing to release at this time.TSN, on its Web site, quoted unidentified sources as saying the Stars had asked for permission to talk to former Los Angeles Kings coach Marc Crawford. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NHL

Stars hire Marc Crawford as coach (AP)

[read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Report: Stars fire head coach Tippett

A Canadian cable sports channel is reporting that the Dallas Stars have fired coach Dave Tippett after seven seasons.Dallas Stars spokesman Rob Scichili says in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Wednesday night that the Stars had nothing to release at this time.TSN, on its Web site, quoted unidentified sources as saying the Stars had asked for permission to talk to former Los Angeles Kings coach Marc Crawford. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NHL