POLL: Least Favorite (active) NHL Player?

With news coming down that Chris Pronger will be out 4-6 weeks (meaning he won't face the Kings at Staples Center on 12/30), there's been an increased amount of anti-Pronger comments today on social media sites - namely facebook and twitter.

As the Kings are off today and it's a relatively slow news period, let's explore the Pronger issue. Is he the most hated man in the NHL?

The league has always had it's villains - Craig Muni, Rob Blake, Theo Fleury, Patrick Roy and Doug Gilmour are just a few of the guys Kings' fans have loved to hate over the past few decades.

But, what about now?  There are a host of players that could have been added to the poll below - all for their own individual and varying reasons. However, these are probably the top vote getters playing at the moment.

So, who is your least favorite player in the NHL right now - for whatever reason, who is he?

[UPDATE: Final poll results available after the jump. Who won - Pronger, Perry, Avery?]

Revisiting The Hockey News Curse

After a red hot start to the 2009-10 season Anze Kopitar was the toast of the league. People everywhere were taking notice that the 2005 first round draft pick was having a breakout year.

Then, it happened. The Hockey News slapped him on the cover and poof, that was it. Instant slump.

Now, before you discount this theory, continue reading. The proof is here. Let it marinate for a minute or two.

When first tackling this issue in January we pointed out several examples of injuries (Joe Sakic, Luke Schenn, Roberto Luongo), poor playoff performances (Joe Thornton, Zdeno Chara) and slumps (Chris Pronger, John Tavares and Michael Del Zotto) linked to players soon after appearing on the cover of the popular magazine.

Sure, Kopitar eventually broke out of his post-cover slump (just five points in 12 games). In fact, about six hours after I wrote the original curse article he went on to post two points against San Jose - his first multi-point night in 23 games. That's a quarter of the season!

The flood gates were open though. In the remaining 18 games leading up to the Olympic break he scored 21 points. Fine, case closed. Or so we thought...

Coach Murray on Mitchell and Clifford

A few quick comments from Coach Terry Murray following the Kings practice today at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, Ca...

MM:  Given Willie Mitchell's injury situation last year, were you holding your breath a little when he was engaged in the fight with Steve Downie?

TM:  No.  It didn't even cross my mind.  All I looked at it as was a teammate jumping in there and playing for a teammate in a situation that was...well, it's what we like to see.  But, I wasn't thinking of anything else.

Regarding Kyle Clifford, was there anything you liked or didn't like about his game last night?

There's nothing about his game I don't like.  If I didn't like his game, as a 19-year old he wouldn't be in the line-up.  It would be time for him to go somewhere else and play if that were the case.  We like his game.  We like his presence, his physical play.  I thought his reads of the system last night were really good.  He was very involved in the game.  He only played seven minutes.  But, at the end of the day, I noticed him as a contributor to our win.

[To see what Kevin Westgarth had to say about Mitchell's fight with Steve Downie and hear his thoughts on the post game celebration from last Saturday, CLICK HERE.]

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/Mayor119
www.facebook.com/MayorsManor

RELATED ARTICLES:

Kyle Clifford on the Impending Roster Decision

Brayden Schenn on the Impending Roster Decision

Kevin Westgarth on Willie Mitchell's fight

In an interview here on MayorsManor a few weeks ago, Kings' enforcer Kevin Westgarth said he was "itching a bit" to get into his first fight of the year, and added "there's no takers."

Last night versus Tampa Bay might have given him just the opportunity. However, he was about as far from the ice as you can get inside Staples Center - resting in the press box after being given the night off.

We checked in with Westgarth at practice today for some thoughts on what played out between the Kings and Lightning though...

MM:  Seeing how physical the game was last night, how bad were you wishing you were out there?

KW:  Ah, pretty bad! It's definitely one of those games where I feel like I can have a big impact. Obviously, you never know which game it's going to be.  I understand the way things work.  By the same token, I'm up there (in the press box) and I see guys like Doughty and Brownie getting kinda some cheap shots on them and that gets me pretty good.  I definitely want to be the guy out there to make sure it doesn't happen.  Hopefully me sitting on the bench makes sure it doesn't happen.  It's too bad we're not playing them again this year.  But, it always comes back around.