Photo Day

It's the first day of training camp! And what better symbolizes the start to the fresh, clean slate of an NHL season like some really goofball photos of your favorite players? From Puck Daddy came these gems:

Hey, what's up... I'm Dustin.

Dustin Brown's Team USA publicity photo
OR

His audition for the role of Andy Dufresne in "Shawshank: The Musical!"

Your 2009-2010 Los Angeles Kings Captain.

And then this morning, in a Helene Elliot article about Kings Saviour Goaltender, Jon Quick, this beauty was featured:

The Boy in the Striped Goalpads

That's right, an article about the emergence of Quick as the Kings #1 goaltender going into training camp and we are treated to a photo that displays Quick as the shy nervous kid who never gets picked to play kickball and would rather hang out underneath the bleachers. I'm just glad to see that Jon Quick has really matured over the off-season... he looks much older than last season.


So your captain and your goaltender. One is 24, one is 23. Both get ID'd where ever they go to drink. It's a young team this year Kings fans.



Complete Bull

Sometimes I can't stand the internet. And with Twitter and Hockey Rumor Mongering... I hate it even more. Check out this monstrosity from one of my favorite go-to hockey sites, Kukla's Korner:


But wait... there's more....


I love Kukla's and I don't blame them for this at all, they are just reporting it. But seeing it all laid out like that is ridiculous. It all starts with a fucking twitter post (from John Buccigross!) and explodes into a full-on ESPN.com article about how this trade is a go. Thank god Sheriff Dean Lombardi is there to be able to call this trade what it really is... complete bull.

Do I look like I'm fucking kidding?

This trade makes no sense. Sure Marleau is a Lombardi guy. Dean drafted him and Marleau played under him for 6 years. But would the San Jose Sharks really trade their former captain and one of their best players to a division rival? And would Dean really take on a 29 year old with a 6 million dollar cap hit who will be a Free Agent at the end of the season? Even if the Kings re-signed Marleau to a new contract... there goes the money to keep Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson and Jon Quick and Wayne Simmonds around. Marleau would be the #1 center the Kings have been looking for... and with Stoll going the other way (at least to Canada) could you imagine how great Anze Kopitar would be without the pressure of having to be the #1 center? Hmm, I'm starting to like this trade.

No... are you serious? I'm going back to Canada?
But the waitresses are WAY hotter in LA.

But Frolov is the problem with this trade. One of the major storylines for The Royal Half this season will be tracking Alexander Frolov. He is an UFA and is due a big payday... and probably not with the Kings. But trading him now makes no sense. Especially for a player that will be in the EXACT same situation with free agency at the end of the year. Besides, with Frolov gone...the Kings are back to square one with scoring wingers. Is Ted Purcell really going to be able to step in and take the place of 30 goals this season... no.

In a few hours this trade will probably go down and I'll look like an idiot. But the fact that some jerkoff posts a "tweet" that so and so is going to so and so... and then it gets picked up as a major news story... that's just idiotic. Everyone is trying to outscoop each other. But that's the new NHL... in terms of reporting. It just shows you how great Rich Hammond at Inside the Kings is in terms of having all the facts before reporting them. I used to really enjoy reading John Buccigross... but then I realized I only liked him because he was the one personality at ESPN that actually liked hockey. His columns bore me now and instead of posting twitters that drive hockey fans crazy... he should just spend his time thinking of some clever song lyrics to feature in his latest NHL preview.

Be sure to check out Fear the Fin for your Sharks perspective... they have been doing a great job of providing all the coverage of this crazy trade.

Holy Shit!!!

Training camp starts this Sunday, the 13th! In fact, Rookie camp has already started. After a long and much needed summer slumber... The Royal Half is ready to launch back into its in-depth and patented "Los Angeles Kings Hockey Coverage."

How I spent my summer... in hockey pajamas and carrying a stick.

First off, Season Ticket Holder Buddy and I did renew our seats for the 8th straight season (I count the lockout since we put money down for that year) and we are keeping the same great seats we've had for the past 7 non-playoff years.

But the biggest news of the summer has been the introduction of High Definition into TRH World Headquarters... that's right, I finally bought an HDTV.

I asked for the large one.

I've usually been on the forefront of gadgets and technology, but over the past few years, I've sat quietly by as I've watched most of my friends (and parents!) upgrade to HD. When the question came up "why don't you have an HDTV?" I dug my heels in the sand and proclaimed "not until the Los Angeles Kings are broadcast in HD!" And I continued to wait patiently... as the WNBA broadcast in HD, as the XGames broadcast in HD, as Paris Hilton's My New BFF broadcast in HD...

Just another night of watching pre-HDTV at The Royal Half headquarters.

But this summer... everything changed. Turns out that all of the Los Angeles Kings games for the 2009-2010 season will be broadcast in HD. So naturally, I went out the next day and bought a HDTV. And it's been glorious... better than I could have ever imagined. Sure... watching baseball and football and tennis looks incredibly awesome in HD... but the real deal is hockey. And thankfully the NHL Network has been airing a 2009 HD playoff game each night at 10pm since I bought the television.

I cannot wait to see Ryan Smyth's mullet in glorious HD.

So season tickets... check. Over-sized HD television... check. So what is left for the upcoming NHL season? Oh right... a hockey team!

I'm going to save my Season Preview for when we are closer to the opening faceoff... but it's safe to say that for any Los Angeles Kings fan... this is the season we've been waiting for. No one is thinking Stanley Cup... this season is all about getting that 7th/8th playoff seed. And I'm sure the players have been spending all summer getting serious about making the playoffs.

Ladies and Gentlemen... your starting goalie and top 2 defensemen.

Not exactly the summer training program I think Dean Lombardi has in mind. But at least the veterans have been working hard. Or at least they are just exhausted from showing Ryan Smyth around.

Worst American Idol Audition ever.

The first pre-season game is 2 weeks from yesterday. Opening night is 3 weeks from this Saturday. This truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

Oh and apparently the Kings had some sort of festival last weekend celebrating hockey. Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy and I had no desire to go check it out... at all. It's kinda like how we aren't big jersey wearing guys either. We just care about what happens on the ice. Besides... it doesn't look like we missed anything cool.

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.