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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LA Kings prospects featured in three TV games tonight

Until the AHL or the Canadian junior leagues can find a way to get more air time on the NHL Network, college hockey broadcasts are your best best to regularly check out some of the Kings prospects on television.  Tonight, viewers are treated to a triple header...

Joel Lowry - The Kings 2011 fourth round draft pick made his debut last weekend for Cornell University and picked up an assist. Tonight, he and his teammates will play longtime rival Yale, who went 17-1-1 at home last season and they come in tonight as the the 9th ranked team in the country. Earlier today, Lowry was interviewed for Cornell's 'Freshman Friday' series (link). That game starts at 4:30 pm PST on CBS Sports Network (DirecTV channel 613).

Derek Forbort - North Dakota's 6-foot-4 defenseman was the Kings first round selection in 2010, back when the draft was held in Los Angeles. The Fighting Sioux, Matt Greene's alma mater, are usually one of the top team's in the country. However, they're off to a rough start, including a split at home last weekend vs. St. Cloud State (and fellow Kings prospect Kevin Gravel). Tonight they're in Minnesota at 5:30pm PST to play Minnesota. The Gophers feature one of the best young American born hockey players in the game today, center Nick Bjugstad (who was drafted 19th in 2010, the slot the Kings traded out of to move up four spots and nab Forbort). Fifth-ranked Minnesota vs #15 North Dakota will be on Fox Sports North, DirecTV channel 668.

Nick Shore - LA's third round selection this past June is a freshman at the University of Denver (currently ranked 8th), who will be home tonight to host 14th ranked Minnesota-Duluth. Shore, like Forbort and Bjugstad above, is expected to be part of Team USA's World Junior Championship team later this winter. Tonight's game from Colorado can be seen on ROOT Sports, DirecTV channel 683 at 6:30 pm PST.

MayorsManor interviews with Shore and Forbort are linked below.

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LA Kings weekly prospect report - November 2, 2011

Robbie Czarnik, the somewhat forgotten LA Kings prospect

Czarnik at Kings DevCamp (photo by K. Spatz)

Earlier today we took a look at Kings prospect Andy Andreoff and his possible move from the OHL to the AHL this season.

You can definitely count on fellow Kings prospect, Robbie Czarnik, leaving the OHL though - he's out of junior eligibility.

The 6-foot center was originally selected by Los Angeles in the third round of the 2008 NHL Draft.  He began playing college hockey at the University of Michigan - who gave him a full scholarship at 15 years old - before moving on to play for the Plymouth Whalers.

Last season you didn't hear much about him though, given that Tyler Toffoli was running away with the goal scoring title and Russian superstar-to-be Maxim Kitsyn came over to play in the OHL after the World Junior Championships in January.

So, I asked him, does he feel like the forgotten prospect?

"No, not really," he said. "I don't really look at it that way. They're goal scorers, but I put up points too and I have another side of my game. I'm excited that I’m a two-way forward."

When he was in LA for Development Camp in July he says there wasn't one particular part of his game he was trying to show off. Instead, he wanted the coaching staff to see that he's continued to make improvements in his all-around game - including "puck protection, competing at all times and defensive-zone coverage."

Once Dev Camp was over though, he headed to Miami for a little R&R.

"My girlfriend lives down there," he explained. "So, I went and visited her for a little bit. She goes to Michigan with me. I had never been down there before, but it was a good time. We went to the beach and spent time in downtown Miami, South Beach and then went to the Keys for a few days."

Yes, even though he took his hockey game to the OHL, he still takes classes at Michigan.  Czarnik says he has no ill feelings towards the school - in fact, he loves it. He just felt he could better develop his skills in the OHL.

Czarnik also likes to pester his girlfriend on twitter. Earlier this summer he tweeted quite a few 'Go Mavericks' blats during the NBA Finals.

"I don't really care that much for basketball," he admitted.  "I was constantly giving her a bad time when they were playing Miami and she wasn't too happy about it. I went against the Heat because she's obsessed with the team. So, it was just a funny thing I would play with her about."

He also likes to tweet about some of his favorite TV shows - like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dexter, American Idol and Gossip Girl...wait, what?

VIDEO: Dustin Penner from NHL On The Fly

PennerMania continues.

The newest King, Dustin Penner, called in for a an interview tonight on NHL On The Fly.

In the video below he talks about when he'll debut for LA, adjusting to his new team, being a King after playing for the Ducks, George Parros, Johnny Damon, his first practice, cycling the puck, Anze Kopitar, Wayne Simmonds, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, the Kings system vs. the Oilers system and more.

After the interview Craig Button explains why he thinks the Penner-Kopitar-Simmonds line will work well.

RECAP: GM Dean Lombardi on NHL Network

Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi was a guest on NHL on The Fly Monday night.

Here are the basic highlights. Note - these are near exact quotes, but partially paraphrased for brevity...

* The up and down year for the Kings is par for the course when you're dealing with young players. After starting the season 12-3 some guys thought this was going to be easy and they forgot how hard they have to work. We won a lot of early games when we didn't actually play that well. I hope we've learned from it. I think we have.

* Have you learned anything that changes how you approach the trade deadline? No. Many parts of our plan are coming together. Maybe some of our young players took a stumble, but in most cases our projections for where we'd be are pretty much on the mark. We knew then and we know now what we need.

* We haven't looked back on not completing a deal with Ilya Kovalchuk because that deal never made sense for us. We have a strong nucleus that's starting to come together. They need time to mature and we want to keep them together. We felt coming into the year we'd be one of the best defensive teams and we are. We'd like to improve the offensive, but not at the expense of doing something extreme.

If you'd like to listen to this interview via Kings Vision, click here.

The Mayor
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NHL Draft - triple header today

Later this afternoon -when the euphoria of the pseudo trade deadline has passed - you can catch up on your 2010 NHL Draft prep with three match-ups to chose from. Tonight's televised games feature some WHL action and three of the top teams in college hockey. You'll have a chance to see over a dozen players that will likely hear their names called come draft time.

Spokane Chiefs at Everett Silvertips (WHL)

In 2007, 2008 and 2009 the Kings took players from the WHL in the first round. In fact, the WHL has had more players drafted than any any other league worldwide in recent years - so, there's plenty of talent being showcased in the Western junior league.

Tonight's game features three players ranked by the NHL's Central Scouting Service. For those unfamiliar, their midterm rankings categorize all top draft-eligible prospects by area (North America-Europe) and position (skater-goaltender) in advance of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft being held in Los Angeles this June.

NHL Central Scouting ranked players in this game:
Everett Silvertips
Goaltender Kent Simpson (#7 N. American goalie)
Skaters - Alex Theriau (#74) and Radko Gudas (#131)

Simpson is a 17 year old goaltender from Edmonton, Alberta who is among the top three WHL netminders in save percentage. Theriau is a 6'2" defenseman from Duncan, British Columbia, also 17 years old.

Gudas, a 5'11" 19-year old from Prague, Czech Republic, represented his country at the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Championships. He also participated in the Kings rookie training camp back in September...and in an interview here, he had this to say about the experience:

"It was a pretty good experience. I was there in the summer in (Kings) development camp and they invited me to the rookie camp so I really enjoyed it. LA’s a great city and the training camp and rookie camp were pretty good...there were many things I learned. The hockey is different from Europe so I had to change my style for playing to another system and smaller ice."

Being a year older than most draft eligible players has led some scouts to say he could be NHL ready next year.

Everett forward Tyler Maxwell (jersey #9) was also invited to that camp after not being selected in the '09 draft. He currently sits second on the Silvertips in goals (27) and points (55). However, at 5'9" he's a long shot for the NHL. Maybe Manchester someday?

The game can be seen on FoxSports Northwest (channel 687 on DirecTV) at 7pm PST.

Minnesota State Mavericks at Wisconsin Badgers (NCAA)

Wisconsin, the highest scoring team in the nation, is currently ranked #1 in the country. Meanwhile, Minnesota State is ranked #22.

Tyler Pitlick, a 6'2" center for Minn-State, is ranked #21 by NHL scouting - so he has an outside shot at going in the first round of the upcoming NHL draft (you have to factor in the European players, plus the goalies).

John Ramage, a 6'1" defenseman for Wisconsin, is ranked #187 - so he's projected as a mid to late round draft pick up.

Other players to watch:
UW Junior defenseman Brendan Smith has been mentioned among the leading candidates for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.

Jordy Murray, former Kings coach Andy Murray's 'other' son, also plays for UW. As most of you know, Jordy's brother Brady was drafted by the Kings and is still team property. Jordy injured his shoulder in December, however he's been playing much better in 2010. (Read the MayorsManor interview with Andy Murray, where he talks about his sons, by clicking here).

Current Kings defenseman Davis Drewiske played four years for the Badgers, winning an NCAA Championship in 2006 (beating Peter Harold and his Boston College teammates).

David Backes of the St. Louis Blues (their 2nd round pick back at the '03 draft) is a former Maverick. He's also getting ready to play for Team USA in the Olympics.

This game can be seen on the NHL Network starting at 6pm PST (channel 215 on DirecTV)

Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks at Ohio State Buckeyes (NCAA)

Although this game does not feature any players from the NHL's mid-term draft rankings, the Buckeyes are ranked #25 in the country entering action tonight.

Ohio State alum Ryan Kesler, a former first-round draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, will play a big role for Team USA at the Olympics starting next week.

David Steckel - the Kings first round pick in the 2001 draft (and now with the Capitals) - also went to Ohio State.

The Big Ten Channel (DirecTV channel 610) will broadcast this game beginning at 4pm PST.

For the full list of draft-eligible skaters and goaltenders ranked by the NHL's Central Scouting division click here.

Read. Watch. Enjoy.

The Mayor
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