LA Kings center Anze Kopitar - What if? And what's next?

March 23, 1994 will forever be remembered as the night Kings captain Wayne Gretzky passed Gordie Howe to become the all-time leading goal scorer in NHL history.

I'm not so sure March 26, 2011 will have the same staying power over time. But, for now, it's the date that Kings players, fans and management can't erase from their minds.

When Anze Kopitar went down with an injury that afternoon it instantly created numerous 'what if' scenarios.

Perhaps, if he hadn't damaged his leg, we'd be talking about the second round today, instead of next season.

Thus, rightfully so, GM Dean Lombardi and coach Terry Murray brought him up several times during our recent de-brief meetings...

Lombardi on Kopitar's defensive improvement - "Over his first couple of years in the league...he was free-wheeling and it looked great on offense, but he was not a great defensive player. I think, this year, he became one of the best defensive players in the league. You've got a guy here now that has has already done the Yzerman, Sakic transformation. It usually took those guys until 25, 26 (years old) before they figured out how to be a complete player. This kid has done it at an early age. I think that's huge, particularly when you’re dealing with big bodies like San Jose down low. But that’s the irony of it. We all looked at it and thought missing his offense (would be an issue in the series), but we end up missing his defense."

They also missed his compete level - "I remember, during the season, the way he (Kopitar) competed with one-goal leads, the way he played at the ends of some games. It said, 'We're going to win this game.' You could just see where this guy said, 'We will not lose this game.' So, that stride is huge."

Kings forward Michal Handzus to join Team Slovakia

Fresh on the heels of announcements that Team Canada will include goaltender Jonathan Bernier and Team USA will feature Jack Johnson on defense, now comes word that Kings forward Michal Handzus will play for Slovakia, the host country for this year's IIHF World Championships.

Although the tournament is set to begin today, reports from Europe say Handzus and Blackhawks' forward Marian Hossa are on their way right now to join former King Pavol Demitra (who had a strong Olympic tournament last February in Vancouver) and current Rangers winger Marian Gaborik.

The team also features Jaroslav Halak of the St. Louis Blues in goal.

Handzus is an unrestricted free agent, having just completed a four-year contract with the Kings. Earlier this week, coach Terry Murray said he'd like to have him back (full interview here).



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Bernier to play for Team Canada, no word on Doughty

Team Canada added four more players to their roster for for the World Championships, including goaltender Jonathan Bernier.

The tournament begins today in Slovakia.

He'll join fellow goalies Devan Dubnyk of the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto's James Reimer (who was already named the starter for game one). None of the trio have been promised the number one role and all are expected to at least see some playing time.

No word yet on defenseman Drew Doughty. However, given that he wasn't part of today's announcement, it's looking like he won't be joining the team. Hockey Canada has stated they don't intend to invite any other players unless there is an injury.

If Bernier does play, it will be his first live action since coming on in relief of Jonathan Quick in a game versus San Jose back on April 4.  For the season, he was 11-8-3 (including three shutouts) with a 2.48 goals-against-average for the Kings.

Of course, Bernier has previous experience playing for Team Canada at the World Junior level (under-20) - something he briefly talked about during his 'looking back' interview here.



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POLL: Who should the LA Kings re-sign?

The Kings have a plethora of restricted free agents to evaluate - most notably, Drew Doughty and Wayne Simmonds.

However, they also have four unrestricted free agents they need to make decisions on by July 1st - Peter Harrold, John Zeiler, Michal Handzus and Alexei Ponikarovsky.

Let's focus on the latter two.

Earlier today I posted comments from coach Terry Murray regarding why he would want Handzus back - including saying, "He's a real linchpin kind of a guy. He's a leader. He’s a great example. He's a professional in all senses of the word - getting ready, doing the work that needs to be done to be a player." (read the full article here)

As for Ponikarovsky, he said "Big body, a 6-5" guy. I need him to score more, though," before later adding "It wasn’t because of poor play. I mean, he's trying, he cares. He’s going to the net. He's using his size most of the time. I just need more of what you've shown for seven years on your resume, a 20-goal scorer. What happened? He can do some good things."

Both decisions will basically come down to money (of course) and possible replacements (i.e. younger prospects and/or other players available via the free agent market or trade).

Ignoring money - or assuming the contracts were reasonable (as the Kings no longer have to over-pay to get players, they have plenty of prospects now to fill third and fourth-line roles)...

If you were Kings GM Dean Lombardi, what would you do?



Poll closes Saturday at noon PST.

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Kings coach Murray on why he wants Handzus back

Remember high school math? You learned a bunch of stuff you thought you'd never use.

Well, here's your chance.

Michal Handzus' four-year career as an LA King could best be described as a bell curve (go look it up if you forgot).

The signing itself was panned and the first year didn't do much to squash the chatter. After all, four-million is a lot of coin for a guy that scored - gulp - seven goals.

He followed that up with 18 and 20-goal seasons, more typical of what GM Dean Lombardi was expecting. Additionally, he was the Kings best defensive player during that stretch.

This season, he looked to be on the downside of that bell curve - at least offensively speaking - posting just 12 goals. Some critics will argue he was playing with Alexander Frolov the two seasons prior, compared to 'carrying' Alexei Ponikarovsky this season. Perhaps.

Putting it all together, coach Terry Murray said he'd like to have him back...

"He's a real linchpin kind of a guy. He's a leader. He’s a great example. He's a professional in all senses of the word - getting ready, doing the work that needs to be done to be a player. The tough part for him (was that) I had to elevate him to a situation in the playoffs, because of circumstances. Somebody might look at it and say, 'Jeez, I don’t know,' but we know. He's an important guy.'

Oh, and here's one for you - how many games do you think Handzus has missed since signing with LA?  Remember, he was coming off of major knee surgery when he joined the Kings.

Answer - one. ONE GAME in four years.

Yes, Drew Doughty's contract will take top priority in the months to come. However, Lombardi said it looks like the salary cap will be going up, to "around 63 million."

Which is good news if the team wants to try and fit Handzus back into the fold.

Odds are, he'll be back. Expect a one-year deal for about two-million.



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LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi wants 'pissed off' players

At several points throughout the season, Kings GM Dean Lombardi has been talking about how his team handles success and, more importantly, failure.

After being excused from the post-season by the San Jose Sharks - in a series the Kings easily could have won - what's his gut telling him right now?

Lombardi - "I want guys 'pissed off.' I've said it before, you turn the corner when guys go home after a win (by the other team) and they're pissed off. I sense that. I've seen it before, you can tell when they're legitimately pissed off versus 'Yeah, I would have liked to win' or 'Yeah, I'm ticked off, but it was pretty good.' And they actually got there quicker than I thought.

"But, you know what - they really thought they could win this thing (the series with San Jose). And they kinda liked the fact that nobody gave them any chance, their best scorer is out, their other player is coming back from shoulder injury and they have no chance. Well, they took them to overtime in three games and essentially had 'em.

Lombardi on Williams, Parse, Loktionov, Schenn injuries

All things considered, the Kings have been pretty transparent with injuries of late. There wasn't a lot of the mysterious 'lower (or upper) body injury' stuff from several months ago.

Then again, it's hard to mask Anze Kopitar's leg injury when it played out live inside Staples Center and at home on television. Just about every hockey fan has seen the clip by this point.

That being said, GM Dean Lombardi did have some updates on several players during his post-season recap yesterday...

On Justin Williams - "Obviously, there's an issue there. But, it's kind of going to be a player thing (decision). I forget the exact percentage - he can get it 90% back, I think he had it 80% back, in terms of being able to go out there and play. But, the issue is obviously the long term effect. This is one you have to be careful of because this isn't one - like with Parse's hip, where you're like 'OK, you have to have it done' - this is one where you have to make a decision. Do you want to go through this (the surgery)? It will set you back three months, but your shoulder is going to be as good as new. It's one of those decisions where it's more about his long-term benefit than being ready for training camp."

He went on to talk about how great Williams played when he came back in the playoffs - specifically saying he was "outstanding" in the first game, partially because of adrenaline. He also said he almost got the sense the Sharks were "targeting him" later in the series.

Kings coach Murray says Wayne Simmonds 'hit a wall'

Obviously, there is more to player evaluation than just stats.

However, let's start there for Wayne Simmonds...

2008-09 - nine goals, 14 assists, 23 points, 73 PIM, minus-8, 127 shots

2009-10 - 16 goals, 24 assists, 40 points, 116 PIM, plus-22, 127 shots

2010-11 - 14 goals, 16 assists, 30 points, 75 PIM, minus-2, 117 shots

Many people were predicting a 'breakout' year for Simmonds this season. The numbers suggest it didn't materialize. He also went through scoring slumps of six, seven, eight plus games where he wasn't scoring a goal - and he was given top line minutes at various points throughout the season.

So, I asked coach Terry Murray - did he regress in his development this year?

Murray - "He hit a bit of a wall. I don't know if he took a step backwards - maybe a half of step. I thought in the first couple of years there was a lot of physical involvement, a lot of grit, a lot more confrontational stuff, more of that - sometimes you have to get into that 'f-you battle' all the time on the ice, send a message that way. I think sometimes this year I would have liked to have seen more of that, in year three. I don't want to say it's a natural progression for young players, where you come in with a big bang and now you're trying to sort out and trying to improve and you kind of have a tough time getting to that point, you have to sort it out. What's critical here is the off-season and, for me, that he continues to push. Not only in the physical part of it, but now you have to analyze your own self and your own game and watch your game again, by actually bringing clips or the game itself home with you and analyzing it, so that you're going to get yourself ready to get back to where we want you to be."



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Coach Murray on what Oscar Moller could have done

Oscar Moller was drafted in the second round of the 2007 NHL Draft.

This year's Kings roster already featured players from the 2008 and 2009 drafts, yet he's yet to crack the line-up on a consistent basis.

After suiting up for 13 more NHL games this season, that's 87 total now for his career - which is nearly as many as he's played for Manchester in the AHL (110).

He was one of the leading point producers for the Monarchs, while the Kings spent much of the season desperate for offense. Plus, with Tomas Sandstrom and Mattias Norstrom no longer around, he's become LA's favorite Swede.

So, was there anything more that he could have done to get some playing time?

Coach Terry Murray - "No, I don't think so. I really liked what he did when he came up. I liked how he played in game two. We were under a very stressful situation with Jarret Stoll being out and he responded and played very well. I liked his game a lot. He's got skill. He's got imagination. He's more of a sturdy player today. He's going through a process too. He was on the team the first year and then, back to the minors. He's grown, he's improved his game. His mind has improved - in how and what he needs to do in order to play in the NHL. He's not going to show Teemu Selanne blazing speed. He's not a fast skater. But, he has intelligence and he has puck skills. That's where he's going to have to continue to give a big focus over the off-season. But, there would have been nothing else. When (Justin) Williams came back and told me he was ready to play, he's going back in."

Murray can continue to praise him, that's all find and well. Yet, you have to wonder - will Moller ever really get the playing time in LA? And, with several larger, high-end prospects on the way, where do you put him?

It's something GM Dean Lombardi is going to have to think long and hard about real soon, as Moller is a restricted free agent.



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photo courtesy of Michael Zampelli

LA Kings coach Terry Murray is NOT happy w/ Scott Parse

Dean Lombardi had overwhelming praise for the fact that Justin Williams even returned to play in the post-season, let alone how well he performed in game one. The Kings GM said 'a lot of guys' wouldn't have played and risked further injury (at this stage of their career), opting instead to shut it down and just return the following season.

Coach Terry Murray had repeatedly said he was waiting for Williams to come and tell him that he was ready before he penciled him in. Once that happened, it was full steam ahead.

Williams played in all six games versus the Sharks and averaged more than 15 minutes of ice time in each contest.

Which brings us to Scott Parse.

He too was rumored to be ready - or at least close to ready - in the days leading up to the playoffs. He finally made his return in game five, playing 10 minutes. Afterwards, Murray said things like "I thought he played pretty well" and "I thought he stepped in and did a pretty decent job."

So, what changed?