Breakout!!!

It's been a slow off-season at The Royal Half. Sure I could be doing Season Reviews and special interest off-season stories... but I'd rather concentrate on the fact that we are only a little more than a month away from the start of Training Camp. There have been a couple big changes at The Royal Half offices which I will soon explore in a post but mainly I've been keeping busy with the amazing Nerd Blogger Hockey League re-drafting that's been going on over at Cycle Like the Sedins.

But recently, the guys over at Fantasy Hockey Scouts asked me to put together a "breakout" preview for their awesome site. (And by awesome I mean that their site helped me come in first in 2 fantasy leagues last season.) They asked me to pick the 2 Kings players that were poised to have the biggest breakout in the upcoming season. Check out the entire Pacific Division post.

The 2 players I picked are Jon Quick and Anze Kopitar. Quick is going to benefit from having a full season behind the Kings defense and Kopitar is going to have a blast with Ryan Smyth on his wing.

The season is starting to get closer and closer. I can't wait.

Re-Nerding The League

James over at Cycle Like the Sedins came up with a great summer idea. What if a select group of bloggers got a chance to play GM and re-draft the league? So instead of wasting the summer away by going outside to the beach or playing frisbee golf with friends (okay, I would never do that in the summer or winter) we will be spending the next few weeks putting together our NHL dream team, with salary cap and all.

Now of course, I was hoping to be the virtual Dean Lombardi of the virtual Kings. But the great Rudy Kelly over at BoC beat me to it. So James gave me the sloppy seconds of being the GM of the Minnesota Wild. And my first order of duty as the new GM and President... a return to the glory years:

When all with the NHL was right.

That's right, we are ditching the abstract bear logo and going with what screams toughness in today's NHL... Lime Green and Gold! I actually got a chance to see the Minnesota North Stars play in Minnesota at the Met Center before they headed south to Dallas to torment the Kings. Unfortunately it was after they dumped the pointed N and switched to the Stars logo that they still wear today.

Before.

After.

Seeing the North Stars at the Met Center was one of my coolest early hockey memories... the place was so compact and you really felt like you were on top of the ice at the highest point. And the crowd screamed the entire game. It was an arena built for hockey and up until that point I had only seen professional hockey at the Forum in LA.

But enough daydreaming about my hockey past. For the #18th pick, I was hoping to grab Jeff Carter. He has a decent enough cap hit at only 5 million a year and he's a complete stud. But Rudy Kelly and the virtual Kings snagged him before I could.

So I went with the 2nd best option... Carter's teammate, Mike Richards.


A bit more of a cap hit at 5.75 million, but maybe a better all around player.. a Captain that you would look to build a team around. Plus he is a hit with the ladies.

That's why he is the Captain.

The only other player I considered at this position was Rick Nash. Nash had 79 points last season and Richards 80. But I like that Richards is a playmaker and a scorer. This draft is far from over as putting together a full NHL team will probably take much longer than James and the rest of the bloggers could have imagined. But the Minnesota New North Stars will be a team to watch in the NHBL. (The Nerd Blogger Hockey League as Rudy Kelly named it)

Bum-ifer

The Los Angeles Kings are the Jennifer Aniston of the NHL. They strive for respect... and never get it. They are popular... but never really had a substantial starring role. And no matter how hard they try... they just can't get a superstar to commit to them long term.

"Hey Jarret Stoll... I heard you are single!"

The incredible NHL Free Agent Frenzy is over and once again the Los Angeles Kings have come away with nothing. Over the last few years Dean Lombardi has cozied up to some of the NHL's finest superstars and offered them the moon... well at least a sizable box to fill on the moon. Names like Chara, Elias, Drury and now Hossa. And like Ms. Aniston making a move for Pitt, Vaughn, Wilson and Mayer... both failed miserably.

Jennifer Aniston photographed at the birth of Drew Doughty.

Once again a July 1st has come and gone and the Kings are left hanging their helmets alone in Malibu... right next to Ms. Aniston. Why can't these two entities ever find love? The Kings have everything a young superstar would be looking for, right? Excellent up and coming players... a young Captain that loves to hit... strong defensive minded coaching that can still allow for some hotshot scoring... and a GM who is dedicated to filling every single empty box he has on his whiteboard. But year after year... the Kings remain at the altar standing around looking to see if their groom is going to show up. And you know what... he never does. Hence my new spec script for a movie with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd... "The Runaway Forward."


For the first time in a long while, Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy and I worked together for a few weeks and we took some quality time to re-create Dean Lombardi's world in his office. Above is what the white board looked like on the morning of July 2nd. No Hossa, no Havlat, no Gaborik (thank god, can you believe what that guy stole from the Rangers!) to fill that all important 1st line left wing box. Worn out from re-freshing my RSS reader every 5 seconds, I causally glanced at LetsGoKings.com and noticed something strange.... which led to this IM exchange with Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy.


It was true... cause it was on Twitter! The Kings signed Stanley Cup Winner Rob Scuderi to a 4 year, 13.6 million dollar contract. Um.. ok. That's interesting... wasn't so sure that Dean Lombardi was in a market for a 30 year old defensive defenseman. But ok... here was a player that had just won the Stanley Cup and done it with a team that was the worst in the league for a few years. Maybe this guy could be a good fit for the Kings. And then I learned his nickname... "The Piece." Check out this amazing story from Puck Daddy if you haven't already. Finally, a hockey player with a real nickname... not "Scudsy" or "Scuds" or "Robby." The Piece. I liked it. And then it hit me... of course... a trade is coming!

Hello, I'm Ryan.

I just didn't think it would be Kyle Quincey. But in hindsight, it makes complete sense. The Kings gave up nothing to get Quincey. They have too many players to fit into Dean Lombardi's "Young Defenseman" Box and to get a good player you have to give up a good player. But did I think that all it would take to land Ryan Smyth would be Quincey, Tom "Vertigo" Preissing and a 5th round draft pick? Wait let me say that again... the Kings rid themselves of Tom Preissing and his contract. And got Captain Canada in return.

Oh, Dustin Brown.. you break all the rules.

Unlike my respected fellow Kings blogger RudyKelly, I am very excited about the acquisition of Ryan Smyth. I have been a big fan of his ever since I dominated my college NHL 96 league with the Edmonton Oilers. (Smyth and Todd Marchant lead the league in scoring that season.) He is hard-nosed, hard-working and hard-to-move-from-in-front-of-the-net. He is the exact type of goal scorer that the Kings need right now and the type of player I hope Dustin Brown can turn into. Sure, everyone loves to talk about his injuries and how his style of play has Smyth on the downside of his career. Well you know who doesn't play like Smyth and is still always hurt? Gaborik. And Smyth is a much better player for this team than Gaborik.

There is still much uncertainty for the Los Angeles Kings this fall. This is the year that they actually have to contend for that 8th playoff spot instead of flirt with it. There is still a long way to go before training camp starts but for once, the Kings are sporting a pretty solid top 6.

Smyth-Kopitar-Williams
Frolov-Stoll-Brown

Stoll is the only real pretender there in the top 6, as he really belongs on the 3rd line. Listen, you are reading the rantings of an idiot who has paid for Half Season Tickets to the Los Angeles Kings for the last 6 non-playoff years. And had already sent in his money for a 7th before the Kings traded for Ryan Smyth. SO OF COURSE I'm going to be excited about the upcoming season. But when you look around and see all the bat-shit crazy moves other teams like the Rangers and Canadiens pulled... you can't help but be hopeful about the Los Angeles Kings chances for the 2009-2010 season. Just please don't let anyone get hurt.

Captain Canada

Said on this here blog Sunday, March 1, 2009:

"Rumors are flying left and right with the trade deadline coming up Wednesday at noon. The only one I've read that has interested me has been the possibility of Ryan Smyth coming to the Kings. If I'm the Kings GM, I make that trade in a heartbeat. There is a reason Ryan Smyth is called Captain Canada and he's the exact type of dirty, hardworking, goal scoring forward that this team needs. And you know what? I might even give up one of my prized young goalies to make the trade. Because after all, Jon Quick is now the Kings goalie of the present and the future."

Thank you Dean Lombardi... Thank you.

Free Agent Frenzy on Figueroa

Ladies and Gentlemen... the future of the Los Angeles Kings.

Dean Lombardi did exactly what you want your GM to do on draft day... he entertained a bunch of trade offers... didn't get suckered into making a panic move to get a player... and then drafted the best available player, in this case... Brayden Schenn. The 5th overall pick is nothing to be ashamed of having (well, of course, except for coming in 5th worst overall in the league during the season.) But leaving the 2009 draft with a good solid prospect like Schenn is fine by me.

Now the real fun begins... the blog rumors.. the twitter updates... players asking their wives if it's okay if they pull their kids out of school and start living somewhere else... with 6 million a year more in their bank account.

The Kings are exactly where Dean Lombardi wanted them to be... good young core of players who are hungry for the playoffs and plenty of salary cap space available to sign that player who wants to help the team get there... hence the newest reality game show sensation... Who Wants to Sign with the Kings!

The options for a big name player are actually few... there are the Marian's; Hossa and Gaborik or those conjoined twins that play in Vancouver that are not named Marian.

Hopefully someone from the Kings organization has presented Dean Lombardi with a video yearbook chronicling the short, injury plagued careers of Jason Allison, Ziggy Palffy and Pavol Demitra. Those 3 players alone should warn the Kings to stay away from the extremely talented but intensely fragile Marian Gaborik. And signing him to a 1 year contract makes no sense as Gaborik is not the missing link that will send the Kings into the Stanley Cup Finals next season. We just want to make the playoffs. So you'd have to sign Gaborik to at least a 3 year deal... and then use the cap space that you get from him being injured to change your roster.

The Sedin brothers are crazy. Look, I like working with my friends too... but could you imagine if I made my boss hire both me and my best friend for each job I had? Do these guys live together and are married to a set of identical twins as well? Being an NHL professional means you can play in whatever situation with whomever on your line. Do you really want to sign 2 forwards to big contracts that can only play on the same line?

So that leaves Hossa. Do I think the Kings are going to push hard for him? Yes. Really hard. Do I think he's going to sign with the Kings? No.

What does this mean for the Kings then? It means another summer of sub-tier free agents ala the 2008 summer trifeca (what is the word for 4?) of Nagy, Calder, Preissing and Handzus. Until Michal Handzus woke up this past season... that free agent blitz didn't work out so well. The Kings will chose from names like Gionta, Knuble, Sykora, Tanguay, Cammalleri (don't think so), and Lang for this summer's free agent class. Further proving that high-level, elite free agents just aren't ready to join the Kings. (See Drury and Chara from 2 years ago.)

What do I want to happen?

Scenario 1) I want the Kings to sign Hossa. And play the full season (at least until the trading deadline) with Frolov and Kopitar. Then they can think about trading Frolov before the season ends.

Scenario 1a) Well... this goes against everything I was saying about Gaborik... but the Philadelphia Flyers are in some bad salary cap shape with their aquistion of Chris "Elbows" Pronger. So if the Kings could get Simon Gagne and not give up any of their core... I'd be fine with that. Just as long as he keeps his head up.

Scenario 1b) Dean Lombardi finally understands that he can make a man out of Dany Heatley and he trades for the disgruntled Ottawa winger by giving up Frolov and nothing else.

I love the Free Agent signing period. Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy and I are ready to spend the day on IM trying to out-scoop each other with links to free agent signing confirmations. Hey... that's pretty much what Eklund does all day too.

Don't Call it a Comeback

Earlier this morning, I received an email from the Los Angeles Kings with the subject heading "Be Part of the Comeback" and the email contained this image:

So I clicked on the image and it took me to a site where it asked for my name and my phone number. I entered in the info and then this movie began to play:

So let's think about this for a second. Here is an new ad campaign for the Kings looking to bring on some more season ticket holders... based on the concept of the "Comeback." This concept is that a team has put itself into a 3-4 goal deficit and are fighting back to tie (or lose in a shootout... like the Kings did last season in these situations.) So this campaign wants you to get excited about a team that gets out of the gate poorly at the start of a game... but finishes kinda strong! Where do I sign up to buy tickets!!! I'm not sure if this is the exact message I'd like to be portraying to my fans. I'm pretty sure the Detroit Red Wings campaign is "We score first and win!"

Also, I love getting these emails and phones calls after Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy and I have already put down our deposits for the upcoming season. (That's right, we are gluttons for an 8th season of punishment!) You think the Kings would have some sort of database that lets them know who is getting tickets and who needs to be romanced by the sweet tones of Dustin Brown's voice. My favorite part of the video... when Anze Kopitar is just casually cleaning the visor on his helmet while Brown is talking on the phone. What a method actor. And I love how they shot Brown over the shoulder on the phone... so he could read the lines off the paper in his hands.

DRAFT/CRAZY FUCKING TRADE UPDATE:
Nothing as of yet. And all of the so called actual hockey bloggers are predicting that the Kings won't be making a big move tonight. Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy and I will be watching the draft together live over Slingbox... so I'll be sure to update. In the meantime... the biggest scoop of the day comes over at Battle of California. Enjoy.

Guess Who's Back. Back Again.

After a slight detour to the far east during the Los Angeles Kings ill-fated attempt at securing an 8th seed playoff spot... I have returned to the world of hockey blogging. Inspiration can come in all shapes and sizes. For this particular instance, the inspiration to return came while crawling to work one day on the 110 South.

I am so hiring this for my next birthday.

So what has gone down in the last few months? Well, Kings fans were given the slightest of hopes as the Chicago Blackhawks made it deep into the playoffs and the Pittsburgh Penguins hoisted the Stanley Cup. Here are 2 teams that were absolutely brutal for a few seasons... then rebuilt themselves completely through high draft picks, trades and free agent signings. Sure, for Pittsburgh, having the 2 of the 3 best players in the league on your team helps a lot too... but these 2 teams can be looked at for inspiration as the over the past few seasons... the Los Angeles Kings have been just as shitty as these teams once were.

This week is going to be an enormous one in the history of the Kings. The NHL Entry Draft is on Friday and the Kings hold the number 5 overall pick. And on July 1st, the NHL Free Agent Frenzy begins. The Kings have the salary cap space and the need to trade for an impact NHL player. But a #5 pick is nothing to be ashamed of as a team can easily draft a potential superstar at that position. The dilemma for GM Dean Lombardi is to trade the pick or not. For this Kings fan... I say trade it. I don't care who, but get Vinny Lecavalier, or get Danny Heatley, or get Ilya Kovalchuk... just don't have Kyle Calder playing first line wing next season. (Ed. Note: I know there is no chance in hell that Calder is playing 1st line next season, but you get the analogy.) The elements are available to give this team a serious chance to make a run at a low playoff spot for next season. Whether or not Lombardi goes after them this week is what makes being a Kings fan all that much more fun.

And yesterday, Luc Robitalle was selected to the NHL Hall of Fame. Sure, former Kings Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Larry Robinson, Paul Coffey and even Grant Fuhr have been selected in the past, but Luc is the first true King that I grew up watching to make it into the Hall. (Sorry, Marcel Dionne.) But Luc's entry into the Hall of Fame is significant in another way... it means I'm getting old. Especially when Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and Brian Leetch join him. These are players I dominated with while playing NHL 94.

Um, listen. There is something I need to tell you.

And just when you thought it was safe to re-join the world of hockey blogdom... something like this tragedy happens. If Rachel Hunter and Jarret Stoll can't make it work in this world... then who can? There are 2 scenarios for this one... either Stoll is going to be traded soon and is so heartbroken that he can't go through with marriage... OR... the Melville, Saskatchewan native has just spent his first season in Los Angeles and realized what several pro athletes discover when they move to LA... the girls of Manhattan Beach.

Be sure to catch all the great draft previews going on over at Cycle Like the Sedins. I had my chance to do one for James... but I blew it with my blogging laziness. But stay tuned for some great summer features by yours truly and James over there.

It's good to be back.