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?
