Kevin Westgarth on what goes into preparing for a scrap

As sometimes happens when you sit down with Kevin Westgarth, the conversation can drift. His insightful answers to questions on topic A can quickly lead to you asking about topics B, C and D. Such was the case recently when we began talking about something as simple as taping his wrists.

"I do a light tape," began Westgarth, who is celebrating his 28th birthday today. "Even for the game, it kind of solidifies your grip and your wrists. A lot of guys I've run into have either hand or wrist problems. So, in some sense I'm sure it's probably placebo, but I'm sure there's something to it. It keeps things a little tighter and makes you a little more solid."

Not everybody agrees with him, per se. "I've never taped my wrists," said Kyle Clifford. "But, I'm not throwing heavyweight punches like him. So, it's kind of different."

There isn't a guide to follow when it comes to preparing for a game - and the possibility of a fight - says Westgarth, "It's mostly trial and error. In Manch (Manchester, AHL), I was the heavyweight. So, it was a lot of blazing my own trail. But, I tried to learn as much as I could, even from watching guys on other teams that I respected. There was some help from a few of the older guys. But, they weren't as into it as maybe I have to be. In the summers I also try to talk to different guys that I'm training with or just run into. Marty (McSorley), here, is a great resource too."

LA Kings' Willie Mitchell on his past, present and future

Willie Mitchell will be staring at part of his past when he steps onto the ice tonight in New Jersey.

"Where it all started. That's the first thing I think about when it comes to playing the Devils," the 10-year NHL veteran said. "It doesn't matter how many teams you've played for, and I've played for a couple, you always have fond memories of where it all started."

He debuted for New Jersey on March 25, 2000, nearly four years after they selected him in the eighth round of the 1996 draft.

Nowadays, as he hands out advice to young players, they probably hear stories of the experiences he went though as a prospect coming up through the New Jersey organization.

"I think in life in general, you try and learn your whole way. That's the journey of life, learning. If you ever think you can stop learning, you're in trouble," Mitchell said, as we reflected back on pieces of his career that have molded him into the player he's become.

"As a pro, I try to learn every day. I tried to learn from guys before me, guys who spent a lot of time in the league. I was fortunate enough to start in one of the best environments ever with the Devils - Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Larry Robinson, Jacques Lemaire, I could go on and on. There's a lot of Stanley Cups there. And you don't win those without having a good model for success. I tried to learn from those guys."

Some of those lessons have steered him towards being a certain type of player, just don't necessarily call him a leader.

Kyle Clifford raising his own questions during Kings Camp

Last weekend, Kyle Clifford intimated that he wasn't letting himself believe he had earned on spot on this year's LA Kings team.

Given his humble and quiet nature, it wasn't surprising that the 20-year old forward was approaching training camp with anything other than his full passion for the game.

One thing that has changed for him in his second year though are the people around him in the locker room. Most notably, there's somebody missing from the stall next to him.

Did it take coming to camp and not seeing Wayne Simmonds sitting there for the full realization of the trade to hit home?

"Yeah, it's different," Clifford said. "Wayne was such a character guy and a great guy who helped me out a lot last year. He kind of took me under his wing. So, he's going to be missed."

Perhaps one of the things Simmonds cautioned him about was the tendency some players have to go through a 'sophomore slump' their second season.

"You don't want to take a step backward," explained Clifford. "My main goal is to always be moving forward. I take each day one day at a time though. If I do that and listen to the coaches and the veteran leadership in here, I'll keep improving my game. But, I haven't set any goals for number of points or anything like that. Well, win all my fights - but, that's a given every year!"

Another given for Clifford this year will be his equipment. Over the summer, he signed an endorsement deal with Bauer.

"I grew up using Bauer most of my life. So, sticking with one equipment person just makes things a little easier." As he put it, "I'm wearing everything Bauer, head to toe Bauer."

New equipment, a few new teammates - somethings haven't changed though.

"It's still camp. So, it's still tough and it's still grueling," said Clifford. "After coming in and playing last year, now I know what to expect though. With the team we have now it just makes this year that much more exciting too."

LA Kings Training Camp 2011 - Player Groups A, B and C

Saturday morning at 8:30 am the Los Angeles Kings - well, about one-third of them - will take the ice in El Segundo for the opening of the team's main training camp.

Over two dozen of the participants have been in Rookie Camp for the last week or so and the majority of other players and have been around the training facility, working out on a volunteer basis, for the last few weeks as well.

Now, it's all for real.

Saturday's schedule:

Group A – Practice – 8:30 – 10:00 a.m.
Group A – Practice – 10:20 – 11:00 a.m.
Group A – Skate - 11:05 – 11:30 a.m.

Group B – Practice – 11:20 – 12:50 p.m.
Group B – Practice – 1:10 – 1:50 p.m.
Group B – Skate - 1:55 – 2:20 p.m.

Group C – Practice – 2:10 – 3:40 p.m.
Group C – Practice – 4:00 – 4:40 p.m.
Group C – Skate - 4:45 – 5:10 p.m.

Practice is on the main ice, skate sessions are on the Olympic rink.  Sunday's schedule will be group B, C, then A.  Monday will be C, A, B.

The entire training camp roster has been divided as follows:

Simon Gagne likes what he sees so far, even the travel

Which one is Gagne?

Simon Gagne was one of several big-time additions to the Los Angeles Kings roster this summer, even if his arrival has been somewhat lost in the shuffle. Signing on July 2nd, he fell between the blockbuster trade for Mike Richards, the heavy pursuit of Brad Richards and last month's arrival of Ethan Moreau.

Bringing him in at left wing could be seen as a solution to a collection of ongoing issues, including - one, replacing Alexander Frolov's points (51) from 2009-10 with Alexi Ponikarovsy's output this past season (15 points - yes, you read that right) didn't work out...two, there isn't a lot of depth in the Kings' pipeline over on the left side...three, with left wing Ryan Smyth requesting a trade back to Edmonton this summer, the apparent hole became even worse.

Enter Gagne, who says the Kings tried to get him once before - right before he went to Tampa Bay. No worries though, perhaps his time there was just a training period to get him ready for the travel schedule he'll now endure in the Western Conference.

"I'll get used to it as the season goes on. Plus, if you look at the travel we had last year in Tampa Bay, there was a lot of it. I was talking with some people who work here with the Kings and it looks like the travel we did in Tampa was similar to what the Kings did last year," said Gagne.

"So, it's tough. It will take time, I know that - with the time change being the hardest thing to adjust to, I'm sure. But, at the same time, I'm here for two years. So, I have no choice. It's about finding a way to take care of yourself - like, having good sleep, making sure you're eating well and stuff like that."

One place he's never traveled to for a hockey game is Las Vegas - a place he says he didn't even know the Kings were scheduled to play a pre-season game when he first agreed to terms with the club.

Matt Greene pulls no punches about Penner's conditioning

Matt Greene (photo: K. Spatz)

This needs to be the final article on Dustin Penner's weight...

Matt Greene loves to joke around. He's sarcastic, witty and has some of the best comebacks you'll ever hear.

However, while on stage at HockeyFest yesterday, he became instantly serious about one topic - Kevin Westgarth's singing ability. Greene swears the Kings resident heavyweight does a mean 'Piano Man' at karaoke night.

Westgarth told me it wasn't good enough to break out at his wedding last month - yet, teammates Kyle Clifford and Jonathan Quick back up Greene's claim.

A few hours later, Greene went into serious mode again when Penner's name came up during a one-on-one conversation we had (which I'll post more of later).

"I've known Pens for a long time and I've been working out with him too," Greene began to explain. "He's not out of shape. He's not fat. He's one of the biggest human beings I've ever seen in my life - when you're talking about things like bone structure. If you look at him, he has a barrel chest of a rib cage and shoulders that are twice the size of any other guy that's about his size. He's a big man, a big skeleton. He's in shape, he's been working hard and doing his job."

As for the critics, Greene had this to add...

Murray 'starting to see some signs of progress' from Penner

Earlier today I posted extended comments from Dustin Penner following the Kings Development Camp in El Segundo. He was at TSC working out and shared a ton of thoughts on summer conditioning, next season...and offered up plenty of one liners.

Later in the afternoon Kings coach Terry Murray weighed in on Penner's commitment to showing off more of his talents next season...

On Penner's commitment to summer workouts - "I'm really about that. This goes back to a conversation we had, right at the end of the year. It's important to know who we are as an LA King and become part of our team and our culture, our structure and to be a player that I expect him to be. To play upwards of 20 minutes a night in a game, it's going to demand a lot on the physical part of it. He's been here from the end of the season (at TSC). He's worked very hard with Tim Adams and we're starting to see some signs of progress."

Was it pride that got to him, hearing all of the criticism? - "I hope that's the right way to define it, to term it. 'Pride' is a very good word. I think sometimes as coaches and people in management, even the media, we have a tendency to go that direction to see if there's going to be a response. Definitely there's a reaction here and it's a positive reaction. We need him to just follow through with what he's been doing so far (over) the rest of the summer. It's a big, big push. He's got some catching up to do, I know. This last couple of months here is going to be critical and important, so that I can use him in those situations - and live up to the expectations of being the player he knows he can be."

Welcome to the Dustin Penner Comedy Hour

Dustin Penner is in shape. We're talking lean, mean, wrecking machine.

And that's not the joke here.

In fact, physical conditioning was about the only thing Penner was serious about during an extended conversation at the Kings training facility today, as Development Camp wrapped up. The talk went on so long they were literally shutting off the lights above the rink as we covered everything from his off-season workouts to NHL marketing strategies.

Like he talked about in an exclusive MayorsManor interview (linked here) a few weeks ago, since the season ended he's been training extensively with Kings strength and conditioning guru Tim Adams. For more on what that means exactly, take a look at what Penner shared today...

On coming to El Segundo for the workouts - "I bargained for three days a week, to save money on gas and save the environment because I'm going green. So, I come up here for the big days - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Usually, I'm up around quarter to seven and it takes about an hour to get here and then I'll work out from 8 am to, between 11:30 and 1, depending on what type of workout it is.'

On the type of workouts - "First, there's a 'warm-up' - and I'd put quotations around that. It's about 15 exercises and 50 reps each exercise, one to three times though. That's just 'warm-up', so that can take an hour. And then you go to the track, the soccer field or the beach, which we did for the first time today, and do lunges. We do different variations - like after that you rotate it 45-degrees and step out, and do that backwards."

More on the lunges - "The funny thing is we started at about 1,000 (yards of lunges) the third week of May. I said 'Are you kidding me?' He said 'Just wait until July and we'll be doing 2,000 a day.' I can't wait for 1,000 again."