Hello Kings fans, I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Adam Kirshenblatt and I have been asked to take over the reins as the Kings writer for HockeyBuzz. Some of you may remember me as the hockey history and Hall of Fame writer for the website but I had to leave for a while to focus on school.
Part of that whole school thing was taking a post-graduate program in Sports Journalism where I was taught by some of the industry’s finest from Sportsnet, TSN, CBC, and Canadian Press. Also as part of that I interned at The Hockey News for five months where I learned from some of best hockey writers and editors in the world.
I am very excited to be your voice of the Kings in the HB community. The Kings are one of the most important teams in the NHL and has a storied history. From Dionne to Gretzky to Robitaille to Blake and to Kopitar, there have been a lot to be excited about since their inception in 1967.
Throughout my time here I want to be interactive with the fans and have good hockey discussions with you guys so feel free to connect with me on Twitter (@Kirshenblatt) or you can email me at
[email protected].
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The NHL is a what have you done for me lately league. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve helped the team in the past, for most players it is all about the now. Nobody in the NHL knows that more than Kings forward Dustin Brown.
Brown had been with the franchise through some tough times. The Kings were a middling team fighting tooth and nail to make the playoffs throughout the 2000s until they finally bottomed out in the 2007-08 season, where they finished low enough to draft Drew Doughty second overall. Brown through it all was considered to be a forgotten all-star on those teams, where he never got the attention he deserved because the Kings were lost in the shuffle.
Fast forward a few years and the LA Kings world is different as they would win two Stanley Cups in three years with Dustin Brown leading the way as captain. The success was so grand that he went on to sign an eight year, $47 million contract to keep him in Los Angeles for the rest of his career.
However, as we all know when we get older things tend to slow down. After the first Cup win in 2012 Browns production dropped from 54 points to 27 points in 2014. That’s not a lot of production for a guy who has a $5.875 million cap hit until 2022. Brown would then not be able to get over the 30 point mark until last season.
By this point, fans and media had left him for dead. He was an albatross contract that is impossible to move. Prior to last season, the Kings took away his captaincy to make way for Anze Kopitar to be the leader of this team, leaving Brown a minimal role in the dressing room. Then this past off season there were rumors that the Kings may consider buying him out of his contract.
This is probably the closest to rock bottom in Brown’s career but nothing gets the production going like a chip on your shoulder. So far this year Brown has had a renaissance scoring four goals and seven points in five games. The production he’s had has brought him back up to the top line where he’s playing with his old center, Kopitar, where they both had their best success in their careers.
It’s important to acknowledge that it is early in this season and there’s no use getting too excited over five games. However, Brown being productive this year and onward will have a huge impact on the Kings ability to contend in the coming years.
In my opinion the Kings are at a crossroads where their old core is getting older and they need to start transitioning the younger players. The San Jose Sharks are a team who are a perfect example of the type of transitioning that is required. They’ve had to go from a focus of Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau to giving more responsibility to Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture. The development of guys like Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson will be key to that type of transition and the longer Brown remains productive the more time the Kings have to get those kids ready to be the leaders of this team.
Luckily, coach John Stevens has had some experience in this department when he had to help the Philadelphia Flyers transition from a team build around Jeff Carter and Mike Richards to a team led by Claude Giroux. So he is no stranger to pointing a team in the right direction.
For now, this is one of the better feel good stories in the NHL if he can maintain it and no one deserves it more.
More to come for tonight's game.
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»