10 Tidbits on Mattias Norstrom

He never won the Stanley Cup. He only scored 14 goals with the team. He made a single appearance in the NHL All-Star Game. And there are very few, if any, truly defining moments from his 11 years in Los Angeles.

Yet, Mattias Norstrom will forever be remembered as the Captain of the Kings.

He's back in town to be honored in a special ceremony prior to tonight's Kings-Devils game at Staples Center. Along with his family, several former teammates will be on hand to share a few stories and pay tribute to one of the toughest players in franchise history.

Below are 10 Tidbits on the man nearly everybody refers to as a warrior...

Kovy Finally Arrives in LA

Later tonight Ilya Kovalchuk will rejoin the Kings for the first time since his visit to their training facility back on July 13th.

Only this time around, Dustin Brown, Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene probably won't be as accommodating as they were during his last trip to Los Angeles. Having spurned the team for a better contract with New Jersey, he'll be wearing a Devils sweater when he takes to the ice at Staples Center.

The entire summer romance - er, courtship - between Kings GM Dean Lombardi, Kovy, his agent Jay Grossman and all the parties involved has been chronicled to death. By now, everybody knows how it all turned out. Similar to the Rob Blake situation, fans appear to be split into two camps - some feel rejected (they're angry), others are glad he didn't sign here (they're happy, or at least neutral).

We checked in with three well respected experts from ESPN and Hockey Night in Canada to get their take on the situation. Hopefully, they'll be able to offer a little bit more of an impartial point of view...

Future Fridays - Interview w/ Derek Forbort

When you're drafting an 18-year old kid it's a gamble, regardless of the round.

However, when he's 6'5", plays defense, has an off the charts hockey IQ, has already won a gold medal with Team USA and was recruited to a college hockey program that's won seven national titles ...well, the odds are slightly in your favor.

It probably also doesn't hurt that he's from Minnesota - promoted as the State of Hockey.

Add it all up and it's easy to understand why Kings GM Dean Lombardi was willing to trade a first and second round selection to Florida at this year's NHL Draft just to move up four spots - giving him the ability to take Derek Forbort 15th overall.

While names such as the Ducks' Cam Fowler and Erik Gudbranson of the Panthers may have received more buzz before the draft, it's Forbort who many scouts believe may ultimately be the better player.

He recently began his freshman year at the University of North Dakota. The same school where Kings defenseman Matt Greene played three years and was the team captain when they lost in the NCAA Championship final to Denver in 2005.

Later tonight Forbort and his Sioux teammates will take on those same Denver Pioneers in a match-up of two teams ranked in the top-15 this season.

In the interview below he makes his inaugural stop into MayorsManor to talk about the games this weekend and give some thoughts on being drafted by the Kings - plus, he even helped clear up a little misconception that's been floating around for a few months...

In Search of Primary Scoring

Over the last two years much has been made about the Kings need for secondary scoring.

Questions are now coming from other places...and Kyle Clifford may be the answer.

Last season, the addition of Ryan Smyth up front seemed to unlock center Anze Kopitar's true potential. Along with Justin Williams on their right side, the trio was the hottest group out of the gate in the NHL. Of course, injuries to each winger took it's toll and they really weren't able to rediscover their collective magic in the second half.

Perhaps trying to address that issue, Coach Terry Murray decided to give the team a new look this year in training camp. Williams was moved to the second line, along side Jarret Stoll and (what was supposed to be) Scott Parse. Dustin Brown was 'promoted' to the top line. Since then, Smyth has moved to the second line too. For the most part, rookie Andrei Loktionov has taken his place next to Kopitar and Brown. Following all those changes?

Kings 'Youth and Promise' Has Familiar Ring to 'Hawks

The team was coming off a run where they hadn't made the playoffs since 2001-02. However, the roster was filled with promising forwards and a few stud defenseman, including one who will be a Norris Trophy finalist for much of the next decade. Which left goaltending as the only question. They responded with a 100-point season, their first in 17 years. Then, they made some noise in the playoffs, but eventually lost.

All was fine though. They had now 'learned how to lose.' Thus, the trendy pick among experts and prognosticators the following season was to say this was the team that would go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, perhaps winning it all.

No, that quick recap of history wasn't about the Los Angeles Kings. It was the Chicago Blackhawks story in the summer of 2009.

Given the Kings striking similarities right now, you can see why many people are calling them things like 'this year's Blackhawks.'

So, when the two teams meet later tonight it will certainly be a measuring stick game.  Whenever a team faces the defending Stanley Cup Champions it's a chance to compare your progress vs theirs.  This is a little more than that though.  It's almost like a little brother testing his improving strength against an older adversary.

Not only did the 'Hawks win the Cup last June, they also hold bragging rights over the Kings - winning the season series last year 3-1.  All-time, LA needs just one more win to even the series, currently sitting at 73-74-22 vs. Chicago.

Here are five other points of interest in tonight's match-up:

POLL: Which goalie should start vs. Chicago/Dallas?

Later today Kings Coach Terry Murray will probably tip his hand on which one of his goalies will start on Wednesday night vs. the Chicago Blackhawks. More than likely, that will leave the other guy to start vs. Dallas on Thursday.

Last season Murray had mentioned a preference to start his best line-up in the home game of home-road contests played on consecutive nights. He broke from that formula last week by starting his back-up goalie, Jonathan Bernier, in the first game (at home vs. Carolina) - thus, "saving" Jonathan Quick for the road game in Phoenix the following day. His reason given was the division game was where he wanted to start his #1 goalie.

Polls closed, see the results after the jump

Recap of Nick Nickson on NHL Live Radio

Nick Nickson, radio play-by-play voice of the Los Angeles Kings, was on NHL Live radio this morning.

Below is a quick recap of the ten-minute phone interview he conducted with hosts Deb Placey and EJ Hradek (of ESPN).  Among the topics covered included an update on Drew Doughty, a preview of the game-within-the-game aspect of tonight's Minnesota Wild vs. Kings contest, how Willie Mitchell is fitting in and does he think the Kings will pursue a trade for Brad Richards.

Opening Night weather: More Thunder than Reign

Over the weekend we ran an interview with Justin Kemp, President of the ECHL's Ontario Reign - proud affiliate of the LA Kings. One of the questions was about the success the team has had at the gate during its first two years.

Well, their popularity continued Saturday night for the 2010-11 home opener, with an announced attendance of over 9,500 at Citizen's Business Bank Arena. Although the fans saw an exciting back and forth game, when all was said and done, it was the visiting Stockton Thunder who were leaving happy. They prevailed 3-2 in a shootout and left town with the two points.

A full game recap is available on the Reign website (click here to view). Think of the notes below as more of The Mayor's Mumblings...

* There was a frustrating moment for the Reign in the first period on what should have been the first goal of the game.  Jeff Corey skated in on a breakaway and fired the puck so hard it went straight through the back of the net.  It was a goal.  No doubt about it.  Yet, all the officials missed it.  No goal. Coach Karl Taylor says the ref apologized for missing the call.  Corey said he asked the ref about it also, "in a polite manner, of course - and he did acknowledge that it went in."  Wonder if he really was, um, polite about it.