MayorsManor Podcast - featuring Ian Laperriere

Ian Laperriere is one of the most popular players in Kings history, having played for the team from 1996-2004.

In this interview we cover the trade that brought him to Los Angeles, the highs and lows of his career, playoff memories at Staples Center, contract talks with the Kings...plus, a word association segment that is one for the ages. Truly candid comments from Lappy.

[note: this is a duplicate post due to a problem with the feed to itunes yesterday...sorry for the confusion]

To play the podcast, simply click on the title of this article above (MayorsManor Podcast - featuring Ian Laperriere).

The Mayor
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MayorsManor Podcast - featuring Ian Laperriere

Trevor Lewis is wearing #22 this season. Before him were names like Baumgartner, Huddy, Tocchet, Conroy and Halpern. However, for most Kings fans there's only one #22...Ian Laperriere.

And the admiration for Lappy isn't just among the fans.

"Ian, the way he plays, tells it all" said captain Dustin Brown when talking about the four leaders that inspired him earlier in his career. Luc Robitaille specifically called out Laperriere during his Hall of Fame induction speech. So, it really doesn't matter who you're talking with, from coaches to teammates to opponents, everybody has deep respect from what Lappy brings to the game of hockey.

Therefore, when it came time to launch the new MayorsManor podcast, he was the perfect guest. Not only does he have great stories, that French-Canadian accent could only mean one thing - hockey!

He doesn't need much more of an introduction, so let's get right to it.

In this interview we cover the trade that brought him to Los Angeles, the highs and lows of his career, playoff memories at Staples Center, contract talks with the Kings...plus, a word association segment that is one for the ages.  Truly candid comments from Lappy.



update: ALSO AVAILABLE on itunes - click here to start



FOR A LIST OF OTHER MayorsManor PODCASTS - click here


The Mayor
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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...

Two Minutes In the Box... with Willie Mitchell

It seems like nearly every team in the league is always looking to add another top-six forward and a quality defenseman.

Over the summer, the Kings were in that same position. So, while the Ilya Kovalchuk negotiations dominated the early headlines, perhaps the deal deserving equal attention was Dean Lombardi's ability to acquire Willie Mitchell.

The Kings GM loves to compare hockey to baseball and in MLB it's said that pitching wins championships. In the NHL, it's defense (and goaltending...and your centers...but, hey, that wouldn't make for a good story).

Mitchell was coming off a serious concussion that forced him to miss the second half of last season. Just hearing that worried Kings fans who know all too well about how things turned out with players like Jason Allison and Adam Deadmarsh.

Perhaps this was different. Premier teams in the league - such as the Washington Capitals and San Jose Sharks - were also heavily pursuing the free agent blueliner. Low and behold, he signed in LA, making a strong defensive core even better.

Below are some comments from Mitchell about how he's fitting in with the Kings, what he's learned about Drew Doughty and the play of young Jake Muzzin...

MM:  Any thoughts so far after a few games here with the Kings?

Welcome to LA - 10 Tidbits on Willie Mitchell

It's been an interesting summer for the LA Kings in terms of roster moves.

While the July headlines were dominated with news on various left wingers, August will certainly be remembered as the month of D.

Just weeks after word surfaced that Matt Greene could possibly be out until November recovering from a shoulder injury, the Kings once-deep prospect pool suddenly thinned as reports indicated Colten Teubert and Vyacheslav Voinov were hurt as well and would not be ready to start the season.

Enter Willie Mitchell.  Earlier today the Kings signed the unrestricted free agent to a two-year contract...beating out the San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals among others.

Here are 10 Tidbits on the rugged defenseman...

* Mitchell was voted the Vancouver Canucks best defenseman in the spring of 2008 and 2009. He wasn't able to achieve the hat-trick this year after being forced to miss the second half of the season due to a hit from the Penguins Evgeni Malkin in mid-January.

*  He openly criticized the NHL for their response to the hit that left him with post-concussion syndrome, saying “I'm not happy with the hit I took. We're taught from a young age that you don't hit from behind. I had my numbers facing a player in a dangerous zone, a dangerous spot, and he hit me. More than that, I'm disappointed in the league, disappointed in Colin Campbell."  He went on to say that he thinks Campbell often "hands down suspensions and fines (based on injuries), and I think that's the wrong thing to do. You rob a bank and there's $50 million in there or rob a bank and there's $5 in there, you're going to jail for the same amount of time. (Campbell) saw me get up off the ice and didn't make any ruling on it.”

Two Minutes w/ Modano

Had a chance to catch up with Mike Modano yesterday...

As was reported late last week he has signed a one-year deal to join the Detroit Red Wings as their third line center.

A few weeks ago I tweeted that Modano had spoken with good friend Jeremy Roenick at length about his impending decision to come back or retire...and at Friday's press conference it was noted that he also consulted with Brett Hull. What I found interesting yesterday was that he talked with several other athletes as well - and not just from the world of hockey - while mulling things over.

For example, at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe last month he spoke with "a number of guys," including Charles Barkley, Marcus Allen and Joe Sakic.  According to Mike, "Everyone had their own spin on things."  Understandably so when you look at that trio.

10 Tidbits on Alex Ponikarovsky

While it was the Karate Kid receiving the remake treatment this summer, it will probably be another Ralph Macchio flick, The Outsiders, that will have more staying power as the calendar flips to the winter months.

Earlier today the the Los Angeles Kings announced the signing of unrestricted free agent Alexei Ponikarovsky. And although he was formerly known as "The Poni Express", out in Hollywood...er, Hockeywood...he'll simply be Poni Boy.

Here are 10 Tidbits to get you primed and ready to go on the Kings newest left wing...with a special twitter twist:

* First question out of the gate, does Ponikarovsky have the longest last name of any player in Kings history?  No.  Well, he's tied.  There's the popular Mike Krushelnyski from the end of the 80s.  Then, according to several alert tweeters - including @KingsKoolAid, @kevinsyoung and @LHHockey - you also have Sheldon Kannegiesser ('73-77) and Steve Clippingdale (16 games in '76-77) checking in with 12 letters.  @SoundFlyer14 thinks Frank St. Marseille tops them all with 13 "units" (including the period and space).  But, I don't count that way.  That's just me.

* The comparisons to Alexander Frolov are almost too easy - both could be classified as "classic underachievers".  They've even played for the same teams back in Russia, just not concurrently.  Frolov spent time with Krylja Sovetov in '01-02 (just before joining the Kings), while Poni played there three seasons prior.  During the NHL lockout in '04, Frolov spent some time at home playing for Moscow Dynamo.  Poni was there from '98-00 (ironically, just before he came over to play for the Maple Leafs).

* Similar to Ilya Kovalchuck's apparent obsession with the number 17, Poni has one he favors too.  Supposedly, he's been wearing 23 to honor his grandparents and wife, who were all born that day.  He'll need a new number in LA though.  Dustin Brown isn't trading that for a trip to Hawaii or a year's membership at a nice country club.