Jack Johnson surprised by NHLPA announcement

In early December, the NHL announced that next season would bring a radical realignment to the conference format and post-season schedule. The league was to split into four conference, no divisions, and the first two rounds of the playoffs were to be contested within the conference. This would be similar to how the playoffs worked in the 'Gretzy Era' - when the Kings would often meet up with Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.

Another major change that was to take place would be a regular season schedule where all teams would play each other at least once at home and on the road. The positives of such a schedule are endless (and long over due), including stars like Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby coming to LA every year - instead of only once every few years.

Well, the plan was shot down by the NHLPA last week. Privately, some players had told me they weren't happy with the way the NHL went about 'force feeding' them the change. Additionally, Kings' defenseman Jack Johnson had no problem speaking his mind on the record...

"I'd like to see more teams," he began. "I had no idea we disapproved it until it was even announced. I'd like to play all the teams and see everyone. I'm pretty surprised actually that it was disapproved. I guess we'll see where it goes."

Expect much more on this story in the weeks to come.

If you missed NHLPA head Donald Fehr on MayorsManor last spring, here's a quick link. At the time, he was in town to meet with several agents and to review his overall plan. We were the only outlet covering the meetings and provided additional interviews with Anze Kopitar's agent Pat Brisson (link) and Dustin Brown's agent, Scott Norton (link).

The Mayor
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EXCLUSIVE - An open letter from Dustin Penner re: Pancakegate

As most of you know, Kings' left wing Dustin Penner has been a frequent guest on MayorsManor since arriving in Los Angeles last February. He's often brought a great sense of humor and insight to this site when talking about hockey and life in general. A lot has gone down though since he was a last minute scratch against the Columbus Blue Jackets this past Saturday. The following 'open letter' comes directly from the man himself...

So it seems as though I need to address Pancakegate for those in the sports media world, as well as those following #pennercakes on twitter, in light of the recent phenomenon I've created.

Right off the bat, I'd like to clarify a few things.

For example, they were vegetarian pancakes. The injury happened as I was sitting down to eat, not mid-bite. And yes, I did finish them.

There has been some feedback from the media as a whole regarding the lack of transparency involving injuries. So, I decided to be candid.

First and foremost, I think we can agree that having delicious pancakes that your wife made for breakfast, for a 1pm game, is not out of the norm. Secondly, "SOBS" (Sudden Onset Back Spasms) can occur at any moment, doing just about anything you can think of, and is a very serious issue.

Those who have experienced "SOBS," know it is no laughing matter. I'm a little hurt, to tell you the truth, that the plight of my people isn't being taken seriously.

Frankly, I don't mind the attention and there's no such thing as bad press, right? Apparently, I made it onto ESPN's 'Around the Horn' and joined Kings' ATH alumnus Dustin Brown (see water bottle incident) and have also became a twitter sensation overnight (with hashtag #pennercakes). So, I'm hoping to get an endorsement from IHOP or Denny's.

The main thing here though is that we were able to bring attention to a serious issue like "SOBS" and hopefully find a treatment and unmask the mystery of it all.

In closing, for those who know how to laugh and find humor in life I hope they've enjoyed this as much as I did.

In an effort to end the entire experience on a high note, I'm partnering with MayorsManor to sponsor a 'Pancakes with Penner' breakfast. In the weeks to come we'll be setting up a special raffle. Fans will be able to purchase tickets for $1.00 for a chance to have a pancake breakfast with me. All the money raised will go to charity...while we enjoy some delicious pancakes!

Be on the lookout for more information soon.

Thank you for your time,
Dustin Penner

[MayorsManor update 1/19/2012 - Things are happening behind the scenes to put the event together.  Step one in the process was registering and activating the website address - www.PennerCakes.com - which points to this letter for the time being.  More information, including the date, location, how to buy raffle tickets, etc. should be available early next week.  Thank you for your patience.]

VIDEO: Face Paint with LA Kings goalie Jonathan Quick

Below is a short video that covers a lot of ground, as Kings goalie Jonathan Quick talks about three of his masks - the traditional black and silver one he wears most games, the 'Rogie Vachon' model worn with the purple and yellow vintage jerseys and the Team USA mask he took to the Olympics in 2010.

Check it out...

For more articles on Kings goaltenders and their masks, click here to read an article about Jonathan Bernier's lid being selected as tops in the NHL and click here for a sneak peek we gave earlier this year to prospect JF Berube's new design (and one of the sharpest looking masks you'll see).

The Mayor
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CONTEST: Tebow your way to Kings Meet the Players Party

We have one final pair of tickets to giveaway for tonight's Meet the Players Party. If you'd like to snap a pic or get an autograph from - or even just say hi to - your favorite LA Kings player, you'll want these tickets.

Entering is easy. In honor of Jack Johnson striking a Tebow pose as part of his post-goal celebration last night, we want to see you 'doing the Tebow' in your Kings jersey. You have until noon today (PST) to get your submissions in. Post them on our facebook page, send them over via twitter or email them to the address on our contact us page listed above. Your choice.

One random winner will be selected this afternoon.  If you're not quite sure what to do, just watch Jack do it here.

Good luck!

The Mayor
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Quotes from the Capitals locker room after 5-2 loss in LA

Only a few players in the NHL are as synonymous with their teams as Alex Ovechkin is with the Washington Capitals. It's nearly impossible to think of one without the other.

He's played the LA Kings just seven times in his career though, winning the first two meetings and now having dropped five straight - after last night's lopsided 5-2 loss.

When the dust settled, here's what they were saying in the Caps locker room...

Ovechkin on the overall game - "I don’t think it’s all about me; it’s all about us. We wanted to have a good start and we had a good start. Two mistakes cost us almost the whole game—Wideman lost a guy in our zone and he got a goal and Laich lost a puck. I’m not calling out only these two guys, I had mistakes in our zone and everybody had mistakes in our zone and that cost us the game."

Ovechkin on his team's performance - "I think we had a pretty good start. We had emotion and we scored the first goal. After that we just stopped playing and my line had a couple of chances. Including that, we didn’t do anything in the offensive zone and I think there was communication in the neutral zone and we started playing in the defensive zone."

VIDEO: Jack Johnson scores, talks about doing The Tebow

Goal celebrations may be on the decline in the NFL, yet the LA Kings sure seem to be getting into the act. Fresh on the heels of Drew Doughty and Jarret Stoll doing the 'love tap' celebration a few weeks ago in Chicago, defenseman Jack Johnson posed for a quick 'Tebow' after he found the back of the net tonight vs. Washington...

After the game, Johnson explained it this way - "Have some fun while you’re scoring. I was watching the Broncos game with some buddies that flew in from Michigan and they said that if you score, you have to ‘Tebow’. I said, ‘You’re on!’"

He also said that it was a one time thing and don't look for him to do it again in the future.

As for the overall game, Johnson went on to say "It’s a great feeling to give our goalie some breathing room finally. They’ve been playing out of this world all year. It’s nice to kind of give them a break here finally."

The game was also filled with plenty of intensity, something Johnson welcomed - "It’s fun, it’s refreshing to play a team like that. Everyone wants to see new teams and I thought it was a fun hockey game."

What about that Ovechkin guy? "It’s fun to play against guys like that," said Johnson. "It’s just as much fun for us to play against him as it is for fans to watch him. He’s a great player and it’s fun to play a team we don’t see very much."

For a different look at Johnson's 'Tebow' - here's video from the Washington feed. See what the Capitals announcers had to say as it all unfolded.

More notes and quotes up later.

The Mayor
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Mike Richards has something his linemates don't

The Capitals will be without forward Nicklas Backstom and defenseman Mike Green tonight, as they flew back to D.C. earlier today with nagging injuries.  Kings forward Mike Richards certainly won't be crying over their absence. He's played against both guys enough in his career to know the damage they can inflict on their opponents.

In fact, Richards has played more games against the Capitals than his two wingers combined. Left wing Dustin Penner has only seen the Caps four times in his career and right wing Jarret Stoll has faced them five times. You could even add in Anze Kopitar's five games and Dustin Brown's seven, and you'd still only have 21 games total - not enough to surpass Richards' 22 regular season games.

However, it was a post-season encounter with the Capitals that was quickly brought up when he was asked about his favorite memory against them. "We (Philly) beat them in game seven in Washington my third year in the league," recalled Richards. "It was a pretty good series too. We were up 3-1, they came back to tie it 3-3. Then, we ended up winning in overtime against them."

As for tonight's game, Richards shared the following outlook - "They'll be a tough opponent for us. As good as they are offensively, they still play a good defensive system. Obviously with Ovi and Semin, even without Backstrom, they still have a good offensive team. They have three or four guys on the back end who really move the puck well. So, it's going to be a tough challenge for us and we just have to be good defensively."

To read Brown's pre-game comments, including his thoughts on Alex Ovechkin and how to beat the Caps, click here.

The Mayor
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Dustin Brown on Ovechkin and how to beat the Capitals

Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (photo: M. Zampelli)

With the Capitals in town for a game against the Kings tonight, it's one of those rare opportunities to see Alex Ovechkin on the West Coast. Although he's played over 500 games in the NHL, only six of them have come against the Kings - split evenly, with three on the road and three at home.

He has six points in those six games (two goals and four assists), with both goals coming in DC. Even so, Kings captain Dustin Brown sounded like a man with a plan when asked for his memories of playing the Capitals in the past and to share any thoughts on the game tonight...

"It's always exciting when you have a player like Ovechkin coming in," began Brown. "He's one of the premier players in the league. We don't play him very often. We've always played really good defense (vs the Caps in the past) and that's why we've been successful against them. They're pretty high-powered offensively. If we can just make them play defense - they don't like doing that. I think that's how we won last time. Ovechkin scored on the very first shift in Washington and we didn't really give up any chances after that, and we dominated the game. So, we need to key in on a couple of their players and make sure we're really good defensively."

The game last year Brown referenced was won by the Kings 4-1. Jonathan Bernier was in net that day and only faced 23 shots. Coach Darryl Sutter is giving him the start again tonight.

As for Brown's individual performance vs. the Capitals, he has one goal in seven career games - and it came at home on November 20, 2008.

The Mayor
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Big week for five of the LA Kings college prospects

As noted several times here on MayorsManor over the last few seasons, there has been a slow migration around the NHL away from relying so heavily on Canadian junior prospects. Conversely, we've seen a substantial increase in American-born players being taken in the first and second rounds of the NHL Draft.

The Kings are right near the top when it comes to U.S. players currently on the team and/or in the pipeline. With the big club, you have Jack Johnson, Matt Greene, Rob Scuderi, Dustin Brown, Trevor Lewis and many others - plus, Jonathan Quick in net.

And the team has a slew of players currently enrolled at major U.S. colleges, including 2010 first round pick Derek Forbort.

Last week, five of the college prospects made some news...

- Forbort was expected to be a major part of Team USA's defensive core at the World Junior Championship. Instead, he was injured along the boards early in the tournament (believed to be his knee) and didn't play in the team's final few games. He returned to the University of North Dakota last week. However, he did not play in either of their games over the weekend. So, we'll need to monitor the situation going forward.

- Kevin Gravel (fifth round 2010) has been coming on strong. He was named to the above mentioned USA squad and scored the game winning goal for them in their final game vs. Switzerland. The win ended an otherwise disappointing tourney for the Americans, who finished seventh overall.

VIDEO: Kings coach Darryl Sutter on Saturday Night Live

It took Wayne Gretzky a full year of playing in LA before he was invited to host NBC's Saturday Night Live.  Darryl Sutter hasn't even been the coach of the Kings for three weeks, yet one of his recent press conferences made its way into a skit last night...

Even so, Sutter's best presser to date has to be this one.

The Mayor
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