All-Star Commercial Goodness and WJC News!

So the Kings have come up with another good commercial asking fans to vote for Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown in the upcoming All-Stars Game in Montreal this year. We all know they won't get in because the voting is just a popularity contest and the Kings are so far off the radar that they can't ever get any love from the general hockey fan. But at least the Kings marketing team can put together a good showing for their players and their respective personalities. I never said they were great actors; c'mon now, they're hockey players. Cut them a little slack.





Onto World Junior Championship news: Thomas Hickey and Colten Teubert have been named to the Team Canada roster.

Oscar Moller has been allowed to leave the Kings to play for Team Sweden.

Viatcheslav Voinov has been also allowed to leave Manchester to play for Team Russia. Umm, hopefully this doesn't sour relations between Russia and the US seeing as how they're not gonna be able to keep Voinov after he's played for them...

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Preseason - Kings 6, Coyotes 4

Tonight marked the official first day of the preseason with a victory against the Phoenix Coyotes. The Kings were able to subdue the desert dogs, but in reality, that was only on the scoreboard. The Kings had the game in the bag at the end when it was 5 to 4 at which time the Yotes pulled their goalie and the Kings scored an empty-netter. The game was, in actuality, closer than the score made it out to be.

I took in my first game as an official season ticket holder, and I must say, it was quite odd. I had never experienced a preseason game before and really didn't know what to expect. I was glad to have Marie by my side taking AJ's seat for the game. AJ was otherwise occupied with her duel piano training with Eddie Izzard somewhere in the midwest. I have no clue; you'll have to ask her about that.

Attendance was predictably sparse and the usual arena commentator was unavailable for whatever reason. Perhaps he wanted to duel it out with some pianos as well, but his replacement was... subpar, for lack of trying to be nice. The evening continued with a questionable rendition of the National Anthem by a typical twig-like blonde and then the puck finally dropped. As the opening shift commenced, I reminded Marie (read: out loud to myself) that this was just a preseason game and that there was no reason to get stressed or angry. Thus, I did not commence my frustrated ranting as I have done in the past when plays were handled in a sloppy fashion or if passes were missed.

Since the roster was split between Staples Center and the game in Kansas City against St. Louis, the Kings in LA had plenty of young talent manning the points and corners. There was plenty to take notice of:

• Oscar Moller is a speedy sniper and I feel like he could be another Daniel Briere. There's definitely a presence about him on the ice, but I'd like to see a bit more weight on his frame so that he can actually withstand any hits aimed his way.
• Richard Clune is better than John Zeiler. When Marie asked who I would rather keep, I said Clune without batting an eyelash. My reasoning? Clune can dish out the hits, break up plays, and is willing to throwdown with anyone. Zeiler, on the other hand, can't skate, lays down crappy hits, and doesn't drop the gloves.
• Thomas Hickey definitely has promise but needs to get some weight on those bones. What is he, 150-nothing? I don't see him making the roster based on the fact that he wouldn't be able to crack the top 4 and his development would suffer in that regard. Back to Seattle, my friend.
• Brian Boyle was looking quite soft. It actually surprised me at how timid he was being in the corners when going to get the puck. He was knocked down a couple of times with apparent ease. I'm not too worried though, once he gets it in his head that it's okay to play with an agressive edge, he'll be fine.
  
• Viatcheslav Voinov. Wow, he needs a LOT of work if he's going to see any real playing time on this roster. But every time either Marie or I started to get tense when watching Voinov fumble around on the ice, I'd say out loud, "He's just a kid... it's okay..."

The big instance that stuck in my mind was how physical the Coyotes were playing. I don't remember any game against them last season being this physical. I think the 3 fights in the first period was a bit excessive, but, man, Raitis Ivanans gave Phoenix's Adam Keefe the business end of his fists about 59 times in once skirmish. I couldn't believe how much action the penalty boxes were seeing just in the first period.

I really don't want to criticize the quality of hockey on display tonight since it was the first game of the preseason, but the amount of broken plays by both squads cause undo strain on my nerves. There was a lot of north/south movement, but not because those were the systems being employed; rather, there were just so many turnovers and missed passes that plays seemed to appear out of thin air from whomever retrieved the puck.

Phoenix swapped out their goalie at the midpoint of the game. The Kings waited until the third period to give Jason LaBarbera some relief in the form of Danny Taylor. I must admit, Barbs let in some soft goals. Kyle Turris got one right on the doorstep, and it was so predictable that the play seemed like it happened in slow motion. There was another goal like that against Barbs but really, what the hell was Matt Greene doing? Talk about being out of position. Instead of being in front of the net protecting, he was picking daisies in the trapezoid. I have no idea what that was about. But, once again, this is just the first game of the season and it can only get better.

Go Kings!

[Update] The Kings have reassigned three (3) players and released one from a tryout agreement.

Byan Cameron
Matt Fillier
Geordie Wudrick

Olivier Legault
(respectively)

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Prospects Camp - Halfway Done

Since I took some more quick notes on Sunday at the prospects camp, I might as well post them up. I tried to look at some of the guys that I didn’t on Saturday. I’ll do another write up this coming Saturday to round out the camp and I’ll include some more pictures.

Andrei Loktionov – He was one of the first ones I noticed. I thought he wasn’t going to be able to make it out because of his visa issues, but I guess that was squared away. This morning, one of the drills they worked on was with two forwards and one defender. On one of his turns, he looked like he completely lost control of his limbs and his legs were all over the place. I think he fell twice in a five second span of time. But I’ll just chock it up to this being his second day on the ice here and trying to get acclimated.

Viatcheslav Voinov – I thought he was okay on Sunday, but there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement. He has short, choppy strides and he missed some passes here and there, but that was just his second day on the ice, so I’ll cut him some slack. I haven’t yet seen his nasty side, which apparently is there, so we shall see how he grows this week.

Garrett Roe – I looked at him more on Sunday than on Saturday. I noticed that he’s really quick out of the corners. He was able to get to full speed from a dead stop faster than I thought he could. He shortens his strides and is actually more efficient that way. I also noticed that he was up against Colten Teubert a lot and Teubert isn’t one to back down, even if his opposition is only 5’8”.

Jonathan Quick – His movements weren’t as sharp or fast as Jonathan Bernier’s were/are, but that’s not surprising to me. His stick-handling skills around the back of the net were decent, but his passes out weren’t as hard as I thought they could be. The pucks seemed to be pushed out from the trapezoid rather than passed with urgency. I always think those drills are important because the players are practicing active communication between the defenders and the goaltender. The amount of verbal communication is miniscule, but the two seconds it takes to convey their individual desires is attributable to how fast the subsequent break out is. If you watch Bernier do this drill you can see that his head is on a constant swivel on his two defenders and his passes are done with the right amount of urgency. I just didn’t see that with Quick and ESPECIALLY not with Jeff Zatkoff.

Robert Czarnik – I’m actually noticing him more than I thought I would. I like his frame; he doesn’t have too much weight on his 6-foot frame. But he still looks solid and makes quick stops and is also pretty sharp on his turnarounds. He really doesn’t waste strides like some people… *cough* Zeiler! *cough*.

Geordie Wudrick – I definitely like this kid. He’s got an endless amount of enthusiasm it seems, which I think helps in his explosiveness on his turnarounds. After Sunday’s session was over, he was one of the last guys on the ice just playing around and messing around with lifting the pucks in the air. He was picking them up on his stick and tossing them up for Justin Azevedo to try to slap into the net. I don’t think they were able to get one successfully, but it was nice to watch these guys to that.

All-in-all, I liked what I saw on Sunday. The second group (Gold) will be out on the ice for this week, so we’ll see how they do. I’m bummed to see the first group (Purple) leave; mainly because I can now recognize them by the numbers they were given. Now I have to learn a whole new group of numbers. Annoying, but I’ll get over it.

Good work this week, Purple Group!

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Prospects Camp - Week 1

Due to something called "work," I haven't been able to get out to the rink to check out the prospects for as long as I'd like. But I have been able to get out there a couple of times and was out there this morning, with my new camera in tow. I had been reluctant to take any serious notes since we're essentially looking at an unfinished product with these prospects feeling each other out and getting back into the groove of being out on the ice for 2-a-days.

Since I had the time today, I took a few notes. They're not extensive by any means, but here they are:

Jonathan Bernier - He has been one of the few that has easily impressed me with his work between the pipes. He's so calm and doesn't make many overly panicked movements. His lateral movement across the goal line and around the top of the crease is impressive. He knows exactly how much push he needs in order to get from one post to the top of the crease down to the other pipe. The control of his legs is really something worth taking note of.

I thought he engaged in good, clear communication with his defenders. For example, after one drill was finished, he called a defender back to him and it looked like they hashed out what Bernier needed from him in that situation. That type of communication is definitely a quality in a player that I like seeing. There was one drill that was a breakout drill starting with the goalie going around behind the net and either passing the puck out to a defenseman or leaving it behind the net. I thought Bernier's puck-handling abilities were controlled enough. I don't remember ever looking at that specific skill so I can't really gauge his improvement in that area. All in all, Bernier has continued to impress even though he let in some pucks here and there. Although, I'd attribute that to the skills of the forwards.

The plain white helmet is a little creepy...

Jeff Zatkoff - In the drill that I just mentioned, I was definitely not impressed with anything Zatkoff was doing behind the net. The way he was holding his stick made him look uncomfortable while he was behind the net. Sometimes he wouldn't even be able to control the puck, which you could attribute to being a bouncing puck, but still...

Drew Doughty - What can I say about this kid; he's just impressive to watch. His skating is so smooth that he looks like he's floating over the top of the ice. His positional play makes me just shake my head because it just looks so easy for him. If anyone has any doubts as to why he was picked 2nd overall, please go to the camp Sunday or Monday and watch him skate. Plain and simple, we struck gold with this kid.

DREW!!!

Justin Azevedo - He definitely looked to have more confidence out there today than at the beginning of the week. His face didn't show the frustrations that were present a few days ago, which I'll take as a good sign. But I still couldn't ignore the fact that he was still getting easily pushed around while on the puck. Perhaps he could stay a little more steady around the corners if he hit the gym this summer while focusing on his core. His center of gravity is already lower than everyone else's but it doesn't really help when you get cross checked on the side of the head. I think if he was 3 or 4 inches taller, that cross check he got from another prospect would have been on his shoulder instead. I wasn't too impressed at the beginning of this week, but he has shown progress and I just have to keep reminding myself that these are raw prospects.

New short stack

Geordie Wudrick - If you don't yet know, this is the kid that talks a mile a minute in interviews that make them absolutely hilarious to watch. He definitely has some sweet skills but I think his excitement with getting the puck makes him kind of go all over the place. Saying that, I thought the speed with which he got his shots off was decent. He also had quick feet while staying smooth around corners.

Colten Teubert - Besides Bernier, Teubert has been the big stand out for me. I can already recognize his skating/movement style, which is very in-your-face. He hasn't been letting down in any of the drills I've seen him do and he's got that steely look on his face that tells you he means business as he's plastering you to the glass. I can already see him becoming a favorite of mine, and I'm sure he's forcing management to take notice of him. He's only 18 and would have to go back to Juniors if he didn't make it onto the Kings roster for next season. In any case, I'm very excited to see how he does at training camp. As a side note: he has a presence about him where I'd be perfectly okay with ripping all his clothes off.

Umm, yes please.

Oscar Moller - This kid is pretty easy to recognize out there. Just look for the shorter kid that can hold his own against the guys that are over six feet tall. The way he's built at 5'11" reminds me a bit of how Lubo skates, nimble with efficient strides. He's got a quick release and is also adorable in the face.

Martin Nolet - This is a defenseman out of the college ranks. The only reason I really noticed him was because he got hit square in the mouth with a puck on Friday and was wearing a full face shield/cage today. I felt bad for the guy, definitely, but I'll give him some props since he definitely held his own out on the ice.

Nolet in the mask and Moller with the puck

Garrett Roe - Didn't really pay too much attention to him, but I noticed that he was a speedy little guy who fought for every puck.

Viatcheslav Voinov - After getting his visa taken care of, he was out on the ice today. For some reason, his movements kept making me think he was a forward. I don't know why, but I had to make an effort to remember that he was a defenseman. After just one day, I can only say that I hope he stays through next week in order to get some practice time in with the other prospects. The other Russian prospect, Andrei Loktionov is still in Russia dealing with visa issues apparently.

There have been 4 German kids that have joined the Kings prospects in this camp; Florian Busch, Frank Hordler, Alexander Weiss, and Andre Rankel. The one that I've noticed the most out of these four is Busch. During any type of one-on-one drills, he definitely utilized his quick shot toward the goal. I thought he also had good maneuvering skills while handling the puck.

German kids

Since today was the first day of seeing the second group of guys that are going to be here all next week, I didn't really take any notes on them. I will say the early standout is Wayne Simmonds and that he's in desperate need of some protein shakes. 6'1" at 162 pounds = lanky as hell.

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