For Those Scoring Along at Home...

The Kings will go with several new line combinations tonight.

Plus, a possible Elvis sighting at Staples Center?

* Alexei Ponikarovsky returns to the line-up and will move all the way up to the top unit with Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown. With his old team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, coming to town on Monday night, was it important to get back into a game before then? Poni said "Some things just fell into place with me coming back from the injury. It just happens to be right before Toronto comes in. But, definitely, you want to play against the team you spent a lot of time with in the past. It's always exciting."

* The Kings best player right now, Ryan Smyth, will stay on the second line with Michal Handzus and Justin Williams.

Columbus at LA Preview: Kings Players on Rick Nash

Forty games into the season the Kings were supposed to be near the top of the Western Conference. They entered the season with high expectations after a return to the playoffs last year and were thought to be a much better team than the Blue Jackets - who most predicted would be near the bottom of the standings.

Instead, LA enters the game tonight in 12th place, just two points ahead of the Blue Jackets.

The Kings have the third best goal differential in the West (+17), while the Jackets have the second worst (-21). Yet another argument that suggests all the stats in the world mean little compared to the only thing that really matters - wins and losses.

At the 2002 NHL Entry Draft Columbus selected Rick Nash first overall. After his rookie season in the league he was one of three finalists for the Calder Trophy. The following year he had a career-high 41 goals, tying him with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk for the Rocket Richard Trophy as league goal-scoring champion.

Thinking they could build the franchise around him, they made him captain and in 2009 signed him to a eight-year contract extension. That hasn't stopped the trade rumors though. A coaching changes and multiple roster moves haven't seemed to help much, so questions continue to arise about the possibility of the 6'4" right wing being sent to another team.

For now, he's still with the Blue Jackets. In 27 career games vs. the Kings he has 21 points and his 12 goals are the fewest against any Pacific Division team.

He's a player several Kings know fairly well. Ryan Smyth played with him on the Canadian team at the 2005 World Championships. He won a gold medal with Drew Doughty and Team Canada at last year's Winter Olympics. And Brad Richardson played against him quite a bit growing up.

Here are some thoughts from several Kings' players on Nash, the Blue Jackets biggest offensive threat...

How Can the Kings Get Back on Track?

When the Kings lost a few games last week it was easy to blame the four-in-five-nights schedule.

As the losing streak continued into this week some pointed to the injuries of Willie Mitchell and/or Alexei Ponikarovsky. That's too easy though and it hasn't slowed other teams. Take Nashville on Thursday - they were missing Steve Sullivan, Matthew Lombardi, Cal O'Reilly, etc. and they played the night before in Anaheim. Yet, they still beat LA 5-2.

So, what will it take to turn things around?

Here's what some of the players had to say following practice on Friday...

Jack Johnson - I think we need to be a little bit quicker. Teams have been quicker than us, especially in the last few games we've been losing. I feel like they've been out-skating us. When you play a team that seems like they're a little bit faster, you're going to have a long night. As a whole, we need to be on our toes a little bit more and skating more.

WHL Trade Rumors Update - Schenn and Weal

It looks as though a new team may possibly be in on the Brayden Schenn sweepstakes.

As reported here, there is strong speculation that Schenn will be traded by the Brandon Wheat Kings prior to Monday's WHL Trade Deadline - with the front runners believed to be the Portland Winterhawks and his hometown Saskatoon Blades.

Stories out of Saskatoon yesterday already had Blades' GM and head coach Lorne Molleken admitting that he had spoken to the Wheat Kings about possibly acquiring Schenn.

Now, according to an article in Regina's Leader Post, the Kootenay Ice are "among the suitors."

They're battling Saskatoon for the best overall record in the WHL and both teams have made it clear "they want to make a splash at the deadline."

The same article goes on to say the Regina Pats "have already received legitimate offers for star center Jordan Weal, but he's believed to be strictly off limits, unless of course a team literally offers the sun and the moon."

Regina, currently tenth is their conference, is expected to make some moves. The question is, are they buyers or sellers?

More to come as information becomes available.

The Mayor
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(h/t to Neate Seager for the Leader Post link referenced above)

RELATED ARTICELS:

Another Deadline for Brayden Schenn

Interview with Jordan Weal

Updates on LA Kings Prospects - 1/7/2011 article

New Video Interview with Brayden Schenn

In the video below LA Kings prospect Brayden Schenn talks about his recent shoulder injury, trade rumors, the gold medal game vs. Russia, breaking Team Canada's points record at the World Junior Championships and more...




Video courtesy of Global Saskatoon.

For updated trade rumors and likely scenarios involving Schenn's WHL status, click here.

The Mayor
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Prospect Update and DVR Alert

Let's take a quick trip around the North American rinks and see what's going on with some of the Kings prospects...

NCAA / College Hockey

- Derek Forbort (D, 2010 first round pick), fresh off winning the bronze medal with Team USA at the World Junior Championships in Buffalo on Wednesday, returns to the line-up tonight for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. They're game with Robert Morris University will be televised nationally on FCS (DirecTV channel 617) at 5:30pm PST (replayed tomorrow morning on the NHL Network).  Saturday night's game will be on channel  623.

- Kevin Gravel (D, 2010 fifth round) is having a tough freshman year at St Cloud State, as his team is near the bottom of their conference (WCHA). However, next month they'll get a rematch with Forbort and the Sioux on home ice, after dropping a pair at UND this past November. In 18 games played he has two assists and is a minus-6.

Making The Case For Langenbrunner and the Kings

The NHL's trade season is nearly upon us and with it begins the wild speculation from fans and media alike.

Let's just try to mix in a little logic every once and awhile for good measure.

First off, Brayden Schenn isn't being traded straight up for Tomas Kaberle. Come on Leafs fans, seriously.

Ignoring bigger deals that could possibly come later - i.e. Jarome Iginla, Brad Richards, etc. - there's a small trade that's likely to get this week... Jamie Langenbrunner is on his way out of New Jersey.

As reported yesterday, the Devils have asked the 35-year old right wing to waive his no-trade clause. In fact, he sat out last night's game between New Jersey and Philadelphia, believed to be a precursor to a trade.

In LA, the question is would the Kings be interested...and (for some) if so, why?

Well, at the very least, they should be for the following reasons:

WJC Recap and Look Ahead to 2012

Below are some post game notes on last night's gold medal contest, as well as updates on two of the key stories coming out of this year's World Junior Championship...

* Don't make plans for New Year's Eve this year. Now that Russia has jammed Canada for the gold medal this year, the pairings for the 2012 WJC have been set. Pool B features Canada, the U.S., Finland, Czech Republic and Denmark. Which means two things - Canada vs. USA on 12/31 and that if they were to meet again, it would be in the gold medal final!

* 2012 Pool A will be Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia and Latvia.

* Maxim Kitsyn (Russia), Brayden Schenn (Canada) and Derek Forbort made it a clean sweep for players representing the Kings this year - picking up gold, silver and bronze. This was at least the second time in history the Kings had current prospects on all three teams. In 2009 they had Thomas Hickey and Colten Teubert (Canada, gold); Oscar Moller (Sweden, silver) and and Viatcheslav Voynov (Russia, bronze).

Kings - Predators Preview w/ Nashville's Marcel Goc

Against many odds, the Nashville Predators continue to find ways to win enough games to make the playoffs year after year. Last season marked their fifth post season appearance in the last six years.

Yet somehow, coach Barry Trotz, the second-longest tenured coach in the NHL behind only Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff, is repeatedly over looked for Coach of The Year honors.

In net, things are pretty solid with 6'5" Pekka Rinne. On defense, their young Canadian-American duo of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter rivals the Kings' Drew Doughty / Jack Johnson tandem, in terms of talent and future upside.

They also have another good one on the way in Ryan Ellis, the Team Canada captain who was just voted top defenseman of the World Junior Championship yesterday.

Offensively, well...they're still searching for the right mix of responsible forwards and ones skilled enough to put the puck in the net on a regular basis. For now, it continues to be 'scoring by committee.'

They're biggest off-season move was signing center Matthew Lombardi away from the Phoenix Coyotes - something that should have given them more team speed, in addition to some goals. Unfortunately, he's been out with a concussion since the second game.

They still had Steve Sullivan, a Kings killer (more on that here), up until two weeks ago - he's now out with a lower body injury.  Plus, they recently lost Jordin Tootoo for an unspecified period of time when he admitted himself into the league's Substance Abuse Program.

One bright spot through all of the team's challenges though has been Marcel Goc.  They signed the German-born center to a free agent contract in the summer of 2009 and it's been paying dividends. His 30 points (12g, 18a) last year were career highs and he's on pace to surpass them again this season. He comes into tonight's game with 16 points (7g, 9a).

This morning I spoke with Goc for a quick preview of tonight's game...

MM:  You've faced the Kings twice so far this season.  What have you seen from them that's different, if anything, compared to what you remember from last year?

All Three Kings Earn Medals at WJC (updated)

The gold medal game at last year's WJC was one of the best hockey games you'll ever see, at any level. A true classic.

While many hoped for a rematch this year, it wasn't meant to be - as things didn't fall into place in the preliminary rounds to set that up. Instead, they met in the semi-finals on Monday, with Canada advancing to the gold medal game later tonight.

Defenseman Derek Forbort (Kings first round selection at last year's NHL Draft) and his U.S. teammates were sent on to play for the bronze, where they just defeated Sweden 4-2. This marks the first time in tournament history where the U.S. has medaled in back-to-back years.

Another Deadline for Brayden Schenn

Brayden Schenn will be leaving the World Junior Championship later today with another medal to add to his collection.

It could be gold.

However, if the Russian team can somehow wrestle that away from Canada, it will be silver for the second year in a row.

Schenn's only other remaining item of business at the WJC is to try to break a 33-year old Canadian record for the most points in a single tournament. He enters tonight with 16 points (7g, 9a), just two shy of Dale McCourt's 18 points in 1977.

On a quick side note, McCourt was awarded to the Kings as compensation for Detroit signing Rogie Vachon in August of '78.  He refused to come to LA and a nasty court battle ensued.  McCourt, LA and a court battle...for some reason that has a familiar ring to it.

After the game, attention will almost immediately be directed toward a new question - Where is Schenn headed next?

POLL: What's Your Line?

At some point in your life you've probably heard Albert Einstein's quote about insanity being defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Perhaps that's why - among other reasons - coaches tend to mix up their line combinations. And Kings coach Terry Murray is certainly not adverse to testing the chemistry of different players.

Last year the hot line was Ryan Smyth, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams.

This year, a variety of wingers have spent time up front with Kopitar - including the now injured Scott Parse and recently acquired Marco Sturm.

Last week the majority of MayorsManor readers voted to start Jonathan Bernier against Phoenix and Jonathan Quick versus Philadelphia (full results available here). Murray saw it the opposite way and the Kings lost both games. Coincidence? Most definitely, but still...

Let's try the offense this time. If you were the coach, who would you play on the Kings top line? Assume that Kopitar remains at center. From the list below, select two players to be his wingers:



Poll closes Thursday at 10am PST.

The Mayor
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30 Second Timeout... with Marco Sturm

It's been two weeks now since Marco Sturm played his first game with the Kings. Along the way he's picked up a couple of goals, an assist and is a plus-3.

From the outside looking in, he appears to be getting his strength and speed back - the two things he'll need to be successful in the second half of the season. 

In fact, yesterday on NHL Live radio, Kings' broadcaster Jim Fox said Sturm has "an intimidating quickness that backs off defenders" - something that can create more room for linemates Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown.

Here are a few thoughts from the Kings' German-born left wing...

MM: First off, how do you think things are going so far?

MS: It's been OK. I'm just trying to get back in the mode of playing hockey again, it had been a while. So, the first few games were kinda weird. But, slowly, I'm catching up a bit and playing with the Kopitar line makes things a little easier.

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Martin Jones Named AHL Rookie of the Month

The last few days have gone pretty well for Kings goaltending prospect Martin Jones.

Yesterday, he posted his second shutout of the season, beating the Connecticut Whale 3-0.  Then, earlier today, he was named the AHL's Rookie of the Month for December.

Originally assigned to the Ontario Reign (ECHL) to start the season, Jones was called up to Manchester (AHL) once Erik Ersberg was released.  While many thought he would be there to back-up Jeff Zatkoff, Jones has continued to put up strong numbers, forcing the team to go with a more balanced workload (18 games for Jones and 22 for Zatkoff).

Recap of Jim Fox on NHL Live

Kings' TV analyst Jim Fox joined the crew of NHL Live this morning for a brief interview. Here's a quick recap of the conversation, where they talk Marco Sturm, Jarret Stoll, the Blackhhawks, the Ducks, his now famous red jacket and more:

- The Kings have struggled against the Blackhawks this year. It seems like they can't figure out a way to generate enough offense against Chicago. (note: they've scored one goal, one goal and two goals in the three games vs. Chicago)

- The Ducks Jonas Hiller is underrated because of his ability to single handedly win games - something we don't see much in the NHL any more.

- The battle in the Western Conference is so tight. There are going to be some real good hockey teams that don't make the playoffs this year. San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan commented that the only way to guarantee a playoff spot is to win your division. After that it's wide open.

- The two games where the Kings gave up a lot of goals (six vs. Phoenix and seven vs. Philadelphia) were uncharacteristic of this year's team. Coming into the season most people looked at the Kings and wondered if they could get balanced scoring from the offense. The Kings are a team that has to rely so heavily on their system that if get a little bit off, it's going to hurt them. That's what happened the last few games.

- The quote of the interview: In two other recent games, the 5-0 win at Colorado and the 4-0 win over San Jose - "I haven't seen a higher top end of a Kings team in my 20 years as a broadcaster." They played as well as any Kings team I've seen.

Toews, Smyth, Momma and What You Missed...

Researchers say one of the most popular vacation weeks among the American workforce is the time between Christmas and New Year's. With that behind us, it's now on to 2011.

The Kings are home tonight to take on the Chicago Blackhawks. Ryan Smyth had this to say about the game "Chicago set the barrier high with winning the Stanley Cup last year. They have a couple of wins against us this season, which we felt we played fairly decent for the most part. But, (we) fell short of the points."

Jonathan Quick will start in goal for Los Angeles, who will be looking to bounce back after dropping three in a row to Phoenix, Philadelphia and San Jose.

Corey Crawford was in net for Chicago last night, losing 2-1 to Anaheim (their third straight loss also). So, perhaps the Kings will face Marty Turco.

In somewhat surprising news, 'Hawks captain Jonthan Toews will return to the line-up. He was expected to be out several more weeks with a shoulder injury. Instead, he was out just six days.

WJC2011: Three Kings Prospects Eyeing Gold

As noted in our World Junior Preview last week, three of the leading contenders for medals this year were the U.S., Canada and Russia.

With only four teams remaining in medal contention, all three are still alive in the tournament (along with Sweden).

Thus, each of the the Kings prospects participating in this year's WJC - Brayden Schenn (Canada), Derek Forbort (USA) and Maxim Kitsyn (Russia) - could come home with medals.

Better yet, when the semi-finals begin later this afternoon, they'll all be just one win away from the gold medal game on Wednesday.

Schenn, the Kings first round draft pick in 2009, is running away with the WJC scoring lead. He currently has 16 points, while his next closest challenger has only nine. He also leads all players in goals (7), assists (9) and plus-minus (+10). About the only flaw in his game you can find right now would be his faceoff percentage. As Canada's top center he's taken more draws than any of his teammates. However, he's only won 56% of them - a less than impressive number.

Meanwhile, left-winger Kitsyn (selected in the sixth round this past June) is having a strong tournament for Russia - including a big goal yesterday to tie the score with less than two minutes remaining in their quarter final match-up with Finland. Overall, he has seven points (4g, 3a) and is a plus-5 through the first five games.

WJC Memories with Captain Canada

Ryan Smyth is a hockey legend north of the border.

You could probably argue he's nearly as symbolic of Canadian puck play as their red and white maple leaf - having played in eight IIHF World Championships, two Olympics, the 2004 World Cup of hockey, served as captain six times and won five gold medals. It's no surprise he's known as Captain Canada.

However, long before his resume was full of international acclaim, one of his first assignments for Team Canada was the 1995 World Junior Championship in Red Deer, Alberta.

Smyth grew up in Banff (less than two hours away), so the stands were filled with plenty of friends and family. His regular junior team, the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, were about six hours away and it would still be several more months before he made his NHL debut with the Oilers during a late season road trip to Los Angeles.

As usual, Canada won gold that year.

Recently, Smyth shared some thoughts about being in that tournament - way back when he was still a teenager...