Roster Questions Have Been Unexcitedly Answered

I have returned from Frozen Fury!! The game was... so-so, but they won 5-3 so it was a good ending for Kings fans. I will have a full recap in a day or two, so stay tuned!

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On the news front, according to TSN, all roster questions have been answered regarding who will make the lineup for the season opener.

• Brayden Schenn has been returned to the Brandon Wheat Kings
• Jonathan Bernier has been sent to the Manchester Monarchs along with Thomas Hickey and Kevin Westgarth

This means a few things. The first being the 4th line center position might possibly just go Peter Harrold. Secondly, Erik Ersberg will take the backup role on the bench while Jonathan Quick starts the season in net hopefully being just as awesome as he was at the end of last season. Thirdly, Raitis Ivanans is a better player than Westgarth, which is something I've thought from Day Uno.

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Another update from last week (23rd): Rich Hammond of the Daily News will be newly employed by the Los Angeles Kings to basically do the same exact thing he was doing before. The most important part of this news is he will be able to provide for Kings fans real coverage on the road. The lack of road coverage for almost all teams is pretty despicable so I see this as a GREAT THING. He reiterated that he will not be censored by the Kings and will have full editorial control over his content. Naive me will believe this until his content proves otherwise. I'm really excited for this venture the Kings have decided to take and am happy for Rich Hammond for being the first beat writer to gain this type of recognition, visibility, and clearance by the team.

When the story broke, Frozen Royalty gave immediate props, Jon Moncrief was quick to the draw, and James Mirtle of course took note. Today Puck Daddy wrote an interesting writeup of what this could mean for Kings fans and how they get their team news.

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A Bump In The Road

The Kings have finally pared down the roster to a manageable number. Out of everyone that's been assigned to Manchester or their respective Junior teams, the most surprising is that Teddy Purcell was sent to Manchester. He came to training camp looking like he bulked up, which he did and is sitting at 202 pounds; I thought he had a solid showing. I never once thought he'd be assigned to Manchester before the season began. I'm not sure what he did exactly to warrant him being assigned, but I have a feeling it wasn't just him. If you couple Oscar Moller and Wayne Simmonds' fantastic camps with Purcell's non-flashy camp, that might have been the kicker to give the former two a chance to prove themselves with some real NHL games. If they don't last, they can easily be sent down and Purcell can be brought back up. If Patrick O'Sullivan and the Kings can come to terms, one of the two kids can also be sent down.

Quote from Terry Murray courtesy of Inside the Kings: "With some guys, like Purcell, I tried to be specific in things I saw and things I'd like to see a big focus on."

Hrm, pretty vague... Anyway, I had a preview up and running for later this week, but now that Purcell isn't on the roster, I'm going to have to tweak it a bit. Stay tuned for another Kings World Podcast episode that you can grab up Wednesday morning and a season preview in a few days. I originally wasn't going to do one, but what the hell.


Finally, for your viewing pleasure. This video is amazingly awesome. It's only one minute long with 4 players from Manchester acting like goofballs. Kudos to whoever made it!

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