2011 Eddie Joyal Award winner announcement

Over his five pro seasons in the NHL, center Anze Kopitar has averaged 26 goals and 44 assists. Yet, he'd have to be near the top of any 'underrated player' list.

Few outside Los Angeles - or maybe the Pacific Division - are aware of just how good he truly is. Last year he became even better too, posting a plus-25 and getting some early talk as a Selke nominee before suffering a late-season injury.

He's also one of those rare players who is good all the time. A few friends could ask him to play a pick up game late one night and he'd still dazzle and amaze at both ends of the ice. Mailing-it-in must not translate to his native language.

[note: apparently, awesome doesn't either...as he explains here]

You can argue that pre-season stats are meaningless, just don't tell Kopitar those games don't mean anything. If he's on the ice with a stick in his hand, he wants to score or be involved in a scoring play.

Two seasons ago, he posted five goals and three assists during the NHL exhibition season - earning the inaugural Eddie Joyal Award (given to the player who leads the Kings in pre-season points, honoring a member of the organization's first squad back in 1967 - more on that in a moment).

Last year, Jack Johnson edged out Kopitar for the 2nd annual award.

Borrowing a phrase that Kings fans hope they'll hear often about Kopitar in the months to come, he was back with a vengeance this pre-season.

Showing no signs of the leg injury that forced him to miss the final weeks of last year's regular season and all of the playoffs, Kopitar - who says he trained harder than ever this summer - appears more than ready to start the new season tomorrow.

Anze Kopitar in the lead for 3rd annual Eddie Joyal Award

Eddie Joyal, early LA Kings star

At the end of Spring Training, the Dodgers hand out the Roy Campanella Award, to a player who best exemplifies the spirit and leadership of the team's former Hall of Fame catcher.

On a more humble note, for the past few seasons, MayorsManor has recognized the player who leads the Kings in pre-season points with the Eddie Joyal Award. It's a small way of recognizing and remembering one of the early stars in Los Angeles.

As the Kings were assembled for their first season in 1967-68, they were a hodgepodge of guys picked and plucked from various clubs across North America. Jack Kent Cooke's upstart group was made up of pieces acquired from the original six teams; plus some free agents, misfits, leftovers, cast offs and other assorted guys on skates. Nobody was quite sure what would emerge.

Joyal, a 6-foot center who had played only 121 NHL games for two different teams over the previous five years, broke out of the pack as one of the early stars. He went on to lead the team in points that year with 57, after assisting on the Kings first ever regular season goal.

More on Joyal in a moment though.

Let's take a look at past award winners and this year's current standings...

The inaugural award was given out in 2009 to Anze Kopitar. That year, he finished the NHL's exhibition season with eight points (5 goals, 3 assists), just ahead of defenseman Jack Johnson's seven points (2g, 5a).  Then, last season, Johnson moved from bridesmaid to the top of the heap. He actually posted the exact same numbers, yet beat out Kopitar for the award.

Entering tonight's game in Las Vegas - with only two pre-season games left for the Kings - Kopitar again leads the team with five points (4 goals, 1 assist). Close behind are Trevor Lewis and Dustin Brown (each with four points), followed by Slava Voynov, Justin Williams, Jarret Stoll and Johnson (all with three points).

Kopitar is also the all-time leading scorer over the course of the previous 13 Frozen Fury games (5g, 4a, 9 points), so that bodes well for his outlook later tonight.

Now back to Joyal...

Throwback Thursdays - Interview with Dave Schultz

These days the connection between the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings is largely off the ice, through members of management.

Back in the '70s it was completely different.

Not only did they come into the league together in 1967, but they shared a few players early on - including the Kings sending two of their more popular players to the City of Brotherly Love in January 1972, Cowboy Bill Flett and Eddie Joyal.

In 1976 Dave 'the Hammer' Schultz joined the list, joining the Kings after winning two Stanley Cups with the Flyers ('74, '75).

As a rookie in 1972-73, he led the league with 259 penalty minutes. He nearly doubled that two years later when he posted 472 penalty minutes, setting the NHL's single season record - a mark that still stands today and will probably never be broken.

He had 232 penalty minutes in his only full season with the Kings ('76-77), a record that stood for 10 years - until being broken by 'Tiger' Williams.

With the Flyers in town tonight to take on the Kings it was only natural that we reached out to the man who was one of the most feared enforcers the game has ever known.

In the interview below he shares some thoughts on his days as a player as well as the Kings and Flyers of current...

LA Kings HockeyFest 2009: Sunday's Runner-Up Session

Pick your Z...

In the Alex Zhitnik or Doug Zmolek spot (#2) - Bob Miller's One Man Show

Like yesterday, the session I entered the day most looking forward to didn't end up earning my top billing when all was said and done. Great show. Great speaker (obviously). Just slightly one upped later in the day.

The voice of the Kings - our Vin Scully - brought a myriad of stories and video highlights from the team's 40+ years in LA.


* He opened things with 1967 and a video package entitled "Getting to Know You."

* Talked about driving up to Jack Kent Cooke's house in a rented Plymouth Omega (no link available). Cooke said he liked small cars too - like Maseratis.

* Bob isn't too fond of the way Cooke treated people or his (less than legendary) marketing ideas. For example, he once suggested that Bob say "...and there goes Marcel down the ice like a Datsun" as a way of plugging their automobile sponsor. Bob politely suggested they go a different direction - like mentioning the Datsun Scoreboard when referring to the score of the game.

* In the early days the Kings had several early players worthy of being in GQ magazine Bob claims. One notable exception was Butch Goring - who once spilled pasta sauce on his white turtle neck on the first night of an eight game road trip. He showed up the next day with what some players thought was a clean replacement. No - he simply turned the shirt around backwards and put a jacket on!

* For the trivia buffs...the hardest shot Bob has ever seen belonged to Dennis Hull of the Blackhawks.

* More trivia? He'll never forget the '76 playoffs. The worst call he remembers making was when Mike Corrigan tied the game against Boston in game six, after being down 3-0 that night. Relax Bob. More fans probably remember Goring scoring to win it at 18:28 of overtime - the longest game in Kings history at that point. Or what happened after - something Bob proudly proclaimed he has never seen since (or before) - a hockey player carried off the ice on the shoulders of his celebrating teammates.

* Of course, there were stories about the triple crown line, the trade of '88 that came with new team colors and more. There were also some less feel-good moments...like "I don't mind telling you I hated the Oilers (of the early 80's), their arrogance really bugged me."

* What had to be the kick to the gut moment of the whole weekend was watching Montreal celebrate winning the cup in '93. Sure, that playoff run was brought up in nearly every session throughout the weekend. Yet, this wasn't about the great Toronto series leading to the finals or even the stick incident in game two. This was a video featuring a celebration by the team that beat the Kings. The prior night Marcel refused to watch the video clip of Simmer breaking his leg. I felt the same pit in my stomach reliving that dreadful day. OUCH.

Bob's session ran 30 minutes over and easily could have gone another hour. The man is a hockey encyclopedia.

If you don't have his book, get a copy now (details and link below). It's easy reading and full of great memories.

Check out Bob Miller's book at Amazon:


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