|
|
Bloggers 
My HockeyBuzz
Cap Central
Fantasy
Forums
Store
Chat
RSS
|
Season Ticket Login Free Registration! |
Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 |
 |
|
Los Angeles Kings Blogger •
Dean Lombardi said he needed about 20 games to evaluate the team and make any adjustments. He’s already added Randy Jones to the D, but after 21 games, here’s my review of the Kings:
The Smyth/Kopitar/Williams line has been one of the best in the league. Kopitar is finally getting the recognition he deserves and Dean Lombardi is breathing a huge sigh of relief given that he signed him to a 7 year 47.6 million dollar deal. This one worked out. Dealing Visnovski before his 7 million dollar deal kicked in also worked in his favor.
One of the most overlooked stats of Kopitar’s season is that his 14 goals have come on only 62 shots (22.6%) and only 4 have come on the power play.
It’s not going to be as easy the second time around for the three amigos as teams will be a lot more focused on shutting down the Kings top line and I certainly don’t expect Justin Williams to be healthy for the remaining 61 games.
The Stoll/Brown/Parse line is still one of the weakest 2nd lines in the NHL in my opinion. Teddy Purcell couldn’t cut it and was dumped to the 4th line. Parse started off nicely but has been seeing only doughnuts the past 7 games his hard work and coaches praise notwithstanding but 7 games with nothing on the score sheet for a 2nd liner is not optimal. The Kings need a fix here and if Lombardi is looking to upgrade, he’ll look here. If not in the coming weeks, then definitely at the deadline.
Stoll has been having a decent season with 5 goals and 10 assists despite his arthritic condition. I’m not sure if 6 goals and 11 assists is the “better” Dean Lombardi was looking for from captain Dustin Brown, but Brown has played consistently well.
The Frolov/Handzus/Simmonds line As I mentioned at the beginning of the season, if the Kings 2nd line is one of the worst in the NHL, their 3rd line is one of the best. 15 goals and 21 assists is a bit thin however, since this trio is generally matched up against other teams’ top lines the fact that they’re a collective +3 is impressive.
The Richardson/Harrold/Ivanans/Purcell line Since Purcell was dumped he’s done absolutely nothing and was recently a healthy scratch. There’s very little reason to believe Purcell will be on the roster come season’s end. Richardson, who skates fast and does battle hard, still hasn’t shown why he was worth a 2nd round pick and in 20 games has 0 goals and 0 assists. I know Terry Murray claims they do “other things” like expend the energy of the other teams’ defensive corp (really?) but a quick check of 4th lines around the league has the Kings dead last. They have exactly ONE assist in 21 games. ONE.
The defensive. I liken this defense to that of Detroit. Pure and simply, it’s the system. You can’t convince me that Andreas Lilja and Brad Stuart are whirlwind defensemen yet they play on Mike Babcocks stellar system. Much as the same that you can’t convince me that Greene, Drewiskie and O’Donnell should be shutting down guys, but they have. Relying on Doughty to give you 24 minutes a night scares the hell out of me, but he’s been reliable. Rob Scuderi was certainly a welcome addition and a major upgrade over Denis Gauthier but Jack Johnson continues to be an enigma. When is this guy going to break out? 1 goal and 4 assists with increased power play time and Jack is looking more and more like a 1st round disappointment. He’s already -10 which projects to a -40 for the season. Considering the Kings have allowed 45 even strength goals and JJ is -10...
The blueline sorely misses Kyle Quincey’s offense. Take away Drew Doughty’s 16 points and the next best D-man is Jack Johnson, ranked 79th in scoring, tied with rookie Davis Drewiskie (?). Newcomer Randy Jones may take some pressure off. Overall the Kings are in the middle of the pack with 36 defensive points. Flyers lead with 54 and Tampa has only 20.
Matt Greene is 8th in the league with 47 blocked shots
Goaltending
First it was Jason LaBarbera’s job. He failed. Then the Kings traded or Matt Garon and the job was his to lose. He failed. Now they’ve handed the job to Jonathan Quick, which is the first goaltender to actually be developed by the Kings. I think they brought him up too soon. He’s been inconsistent at best. Despite his 11 wins, his save percentage is an abysmal .899 and has given up many bad Dan Cloutier –type goals this season. Personally, I don’t see Jonathan Quick taking this club far into the playoffs. He hasn’t shown he can. Not to say that he won’t step it up, but even if he becomes better, is his save percentage really going to improve? I wouldn’t be sad to see Terry Murray reunite himself with Martin Biron. Erik Ersberg is flat out awful.
While many are begging for Jonatahn Bernier to be brought up, that’s the mistake the Kings made with Jonathan Quick. Bernier needs to develop perfectly so that when he DOES come up, he grabs the Cam Ward type reigns and never looks back. Jonathan Quick is not the answer.
Improvements:
Last season the Kings played in 51 one-goal games (excluding empty netters) losing 31 of them. So far this season, the Kings have played in 9 one-goal games with a 6-1-1 record.
Granted the Kings have blown 3 third period leads, but overall if they do have the lead going into the 3rd period, they’re a perfect 8-0. Tied, they’re 2-1-1 and they’ve only come back twice in 9 games when down in the 3rd.
Shots on goal: In the last 8 games, the Kings haven’t allowed a team more than 29 shots and have averaged giving up only 24 in that span. Take away the abysmal Atlanta game and the goaltenders have a 2.28 gaa.
The Kings are 16th in the league in taking minor penalties with 87 which is an improvement from their 23rd ranking last season.
The Horror:
What the hell has happened to the Kings stellar faceoff percentage? Ranked 4th last season, these SAME PLAYERS are now ranked 24th?
The penalty kill, which ranked 7th last season with an 87.9 percentage has completely disappeared. Which is weird considering their defense has improved. 26th with a 75.6 percentage does not a championship team make.
But one only has to break out the old saying, “Your goaltender has to be your best player” is also fodder for the average season Jonathan Quick is having. 15 power play goals on 94 shots and a .840 percentage which ranks 43rd is proof positive Jonathan Quick needs to improve.
Overall
As predicted here, I projected the Kings to finish 6th so the great start is no surprise to me. It’s been a damn fun season for Kings fans, but unless there are improvements in the net, the Kings are in for a rude awakening and fans will be wondering “what happened?”. They haven’t lost more than 3 in a row which is fantastic and they’ll spend the majority of the rest of their season in Southern California AND they’ve been relatively healthy. Manchester hasn’t been providing much in the way of offensive options, so look for Dean Lombardi to improve with a scoring winger.
Terry Murray has been proving that his system works. Fans such as myself write about and feel the need for 4th line scoring and a more balanced attack, but his defensive system has been improving since the Kings were giving up 30 shots per game to start the season.
I also believe that Jonathan Quick is on borrowed time. If there’s a deal to be made for a seasoned veteran goaltender, Dean Lombardi makes it and Erik Ersberg is released from his inexpensive contract.
With the Western Conference being as tight as the California budget (5 points separates 2nd to 10th), the Kings are going to have to continue to score… especially if the goaltending doesn’t get any better.
TICKETS, VIDEOS & HOCKEYWOOD
lakings.com
TWITTER
hockeybuzzbarry
KINGS FAN BOARDS
letsgokings.com
kingsunderground.com
READ JON MONCRIEF
http://www.examiner.com/x-2690-Los-Angeles-Kings-Examiner
BLOG WORLD
lakingsnews.com
frozenroyalty.net
lakingsinsider.com
The Smyth/Kopitar/Williams line has been one of the best in the league. Kopitar is finally getting the recognition he deserves and Dean Lombardi is breathing a huge sigh of relief given that he signed him to a 7 year 47.6 million dollar deal. This one worked out. Dealing Visnovski before his 7 million dollar deal kicked in also worked in his favor.
One of the most overlooked stats of Kopitar’s season is that his 14 goals have come on only 62 shots (22.6%) and only 4 have come on the power play.
It’s not going to be as easy the second time around for the three amigos as teams will be a lot more focused on shutting down the Kings top line and I certainly don’t expect Justin Williams to be healthy for the remaining 61 games.
The Stoll/Brown/Parse line is still one of the weakest 2nd lines in the NHL in my opinion. Teddy Purcell couldn’t cut it and was dumped to the 4th line. Parse started off nicely but has been seeing only doughnuts the past 7 games his hard work and coaches praise notwithstanding but 7 games with nothing on the score sheet for a 2nd liner is not optimal. The Kings need a fix here and if Lombardi is looking to upgrade, he’ll look here. If not in the coming weeks, then definitely at the deadline.
Stoll has been having a decent season with 5 goals and 10 assists despite his arthritic condition. I’m not sure if 6 goals and 11 assists is the “better” Dean Lombardi was looking for from captain Dustin Brown, but Brown has played consistently well.
The Frolov/Handzus/Simmonds line As I mentioned at the beginning of the season, if the Kings 2nd line is one of the worst in the NHL, their 3rd line is one of the best. 15 goals and 21 assists is a bit thin however, since this trio is generally matched up against other teams’ top lines the fact that they’re a collective +3 is impressive.
The Richardson/Harrold/Ivanans/Purcell line Since Purcell was dumped he’s done absolutely nothing and was recently a healthy scratch. There’s very little reason to believe Purcell will be on the roster come season’s end. Richardson, who skates fast and does battle hard, still hasn’t shown why he was worth a 2nd round pick and in 20 games has 0 goals and 0 assists. I know Terry Murray claims they do “other things” like expend the energy of the other teams’ defensive corp (really?) but a quick check of 4th lines around the league has the Kings dead last. They have exactly ONE assist in 21 games. ONE.
The defensive. I liken this defense to that of Detroit. Pure and simply, it’s the system. You can’t convince me that Andreas Lilja and Brad Stuart are whirlwind defensemen yet they play on Mike Babcocks stellar system. Much as the same that you can’t convince me that Greene, Drewiskie and O’Donnell should be shutting down guys, but they have. Relying on Doughty to give you 24 minutes a night scares the hell out of me, but he’s been reliable. Rob Scuderi was certainly a welcome addition and a major upgrade over Denis Gauthier but Jack Johnson continues to be an enigma. When is this guy going to break out? 1 goal and 4 assists with increased power play time and Jack is looking more and more like a 1st round disappointment. He’s already -10 which projects to a -40 for the season. Considering the Kings have allowed 45 even strength goals and JJ is -10...
The blueline sorely misses Kyle Quincey’s offense. Take away Drew Doughty’s 16 points and the next best D-man is Jack Johnson, ranked 79th in scoring, tied with rookie Davis Drewiskie (?). Newcomer Randy Jones may take some pressure off. Overall the Kings are in the middle of the pack with 36 defensive points. Flyers lead with 54 and Tampa has only 20.
Matt Greene is 8th in the league with 47 blocked shots
Goaltending
First it was Jason LaBarbera’s job. He failed. Then the Kings traded or Matt Garon and the job was his to lose. He failed. Now they’ve handed the job to Jonathan Quick, which is the first goaltender to actually be developed by the Kings. I think they brought him up too soon. He’s been inconsistent at best. Despite his 11 wins, his save percentage is an abysmal .899 and has given up many bad Dan Cloutier –type goals this season. Personally, I don’t see Jonathan Quick taking this club far into the playoffs. He hasn’t shown he can. Not to say that he won’t step it up, but even if he becomes better, is his save percentage really going to improve? I wouldn’t be sad to see Terry Murray reunite himself with Martin Biron. Erik Ersberg is flat out awful.
While many are begging for Jonatahn Bernier to be brought up, that’s the mistake the Kings made with Jonathan Quick. Bernier needs to develop perfectly so that when he DOES come up, he grabs the Cam Ward type reigns and never looks back. Jonathan Quick is not the answer.
Improvements:
Last season the Kings played in 51 one-goal games (excluding empty netters) losing 31 of them. So far this season, the Kings have played in 9 one-goal games with a 6-1-1 record.
Granted the Kings have blown 3 third period leads, but overall if they do have the lead going into the 3rd period, they’re a perfect 8-0. Tied, they’re 2-1-1 and they’ve only come back twice in 9 games when down in the 3rd.
Shots on goal: In the last 8 games, the Kings haven’t allowed a team more than 29 shots and have averaged giving up only 24 in that span. Take away the abysmal Atlanta game and the goaltenders have a 2.28 gaa.
The Kings are 16th in the league in taking minor penalties with 87 which is an improvement from their 23rd ranking last season.
The Horror:
What the hell has happened to the Kings stellar faceoff percentage? Ranked 4th last season, these SAME PLAYERS are now ranked 24th?
The penalty kill, which ranked 7th last season with an 87.9 percentage has completely disappeared. Which is weird considering their defense has improved. 26th with a 75.6 percentage does not a championship team make.
But one only has to break out the old saying, “Your goaltender has to be your best player” is also fodder for the average season Jonathan Quick is having. 15 power play goals on 94 shots and a .840 percentage which ranks 43rd is proof positive Jonathan Quick needs to improve.
Overall
As predicted here, I projected the Kings to finish 6th so the great start is no surprise to me. It’s been a damn fun season for Kings fans, but unless there are improvements in the net, the Kings are in for a rude awakening and fans will be wondering “what happened?”. They haven’t lost more than 3 in a row which is fantastic and they’ll spend the majority of the rest of their season in Southern California AND they’ve been relatively healthy. Manchester hasn’t been providing much in the way of offensive options, so look for Dean Lombardi to improve with a scoring winger.
Terry Murray has been proving that his system works. Fans such as myself write about and feel the need for 4th line scoring and a more balanced attack, but his defensive system has been improving since the Kings were giving up 30 shots per game to start the season.
I also believe that Jonathan Quick is on borrowed time. If there’s a deal to be made for a seasoned veteran goaltender, Dean Lombardi makes it and Erik Ersberg is released from his inexpensive contract.
With the Western Conference being as tight as the California budget (5 points separates 2nd to 10th), the Kings are going to have to continue to score… especially if the goaltending doesn’t get any better.
TICKETS, VIDEOS & HOCKEYWOOD
lakings.com
hockeybuzzbarry
KINGS FAN BOARDS
letsgokings.com
kingsunderground.com
READ JON MONCRIEF
http://www.examiner.com/x-2690-Los-Angeles-Kings-Examiner
BLOG WORLD
lakingsnews.com
frozenroyalty.net
lakingsinsider.com
Join the Discussion:  |
 |