Just a reminder

for those of you with the NHL Network, the Monarchs game being played tonight will air tomorrow as the AHL Game Of The Week (4p Pacific Time) - Channel 215 for those of you with DirecTV.

You can say you saw Josh Kidd's first pro game!

Manchester's Big Game, and a new brute in town...

At the end of one period, the Monarchs are trailing Springfield 2-0, due in part to two power play goals... due to two penalties to Brady "The Brute" Murray. Murray went off for tripping early in the game, and Viacheslav Trukhno scored just seconds before the man advantage had expired. Later in the period, Murray received five for kneeing and a game misconduct, and the Falcons converted just one more time as Stephen Werner beat Jonathan Quick. The Monarchs were outshot 18-10 and will need to regroup going into period two.

As you know, Springfield leads Manchester by just one point in the race for the final playoff spot in their division.

You can log in at: http://www.monarchshockey.com for the live radio feed.

Yeah, he'll remember his first NHL game...

Atlanta Thrashers rookie defenseman, BORIS VALABIK, playing in his first NHL period, is a nifty MINUS 3 as Carolina leads Atlanta 3-0.

Ouch! Valabik, 10th overall pick in the 2004 draft, has shared the wealth with two defensive partners, Joel Kwiatkowski (-2) and Niclas Havelid (-1)

The real playoff chase (or, how I have no idea if I'm flying East in April...)

While the Kings will be on the golf course immediately following the regular season, it's a real coin toss as to whether the Manchester Monarchs can grab one of the last playoff spots in the American League.

If you haven't been following the race, here's a quick update on how the standings look on Monday morning:

The top 4 teams in each division make the playoffs. The Monarchs are in the ATLANTIC Division. The Atlantic standings ---

1. PROVIDENCE (Bruins)(98 points, 67 games played)
2. HARTFORD (Rangers) (88 pts, 67 GP)
3. PORTLAND (Ducks) (88 pts, 69 GP)
4. SPRINGFIELD (Oilers) (70 pts, 67 GP)
5. MANCHESTER (Kings) (69 pts, 67 GP)
6. WORCESTER (Sharks) (62 pts, 66 GP)
7. LOWELL (Devils) (53 pts, 66 GP)

So, with Lowell looking like the AHL version of the Kings, and Worcester's hopes probably fading fast, it's really going to come down to the battle between Springfield and Manchester for that fourth and final spot.

The AHL plays an 80 game schedule, so the Monarchs have 13 games remaining.
3/19 @ Springfield
3/22 @ Portland
3/23 H Springfield
3/26 H Portland NOTE: THE NHL NETWORK is playing this game on 3/27 as an AHL Game of the Week!!!! (a day late?!?)
3/28 @ Norfolk (7th place - East Division - 55 pts, 68 GP)
3/29 @ Norfolk
3/30 @ Hershey (4th place - East Division - 74 pts, 67 GP)
4/2 H Bridgeport (6th place - East Division - 71 pts, 66 GP)
4/4 @ Lowell
4/5 H Worcester
4/6 @ Providence
4/11 @ Providence
4/12 H Providence

So, Hershey and Bridgeport, along with Binghampton (5th pl - 73 pts, 66 GP) are in a real dogfight in the East.

Manchester vs. Springfield this season (Home Team BOLD:
10/7 Springfield 3, Manchester 2 (OT)
10/13 Manchester 4, Springfield 3
11/3 Manchester 5, Springfield 3
11/17 Manchester 4, Springfield 3 (OT)
11/21 Springfield 4, Manchester 1
2/18 Manchester 2, Springfield 1 (OT)
3/2 Manchester 5, Springfield 2
3/12 Manchester 3, Springfield 1

'Til The Cows Come Home...

Incoming GM Dean Lombardi polled all the players, coaches, and scouts in the organization when he arrived. His question was pretty simple. "Can the two guys we have (Garon and LaBarbera) do the job?" I have it on EXTREMELY reliable source that without exception EACH player, coach and scout still involved with the team answered affirmatively. Not a perfect goaltending tandem, but the players actually had confidence in both guys and with Cammalleri, Brown, Frolov, Norstrom, Visnovsky, Armstrong and the like all having said their peace, Lombardi went out just FOUR days later and acquired Dan Cloutier for a second round draft choice. This befuddled numerous people within the organization that, while not wanting to second guess their new General Manager, had to wonder why he bothered asking in the first place.

So here we are almost two full seasons later and now the war cry is loud over Cloutier's piece in the Vancouver Sun today. He's crying mistreatment, abuse, and neglect. I'm thinking he's offbase on a number of fronts, but as I pointed out in my comments in Rich Hammond's blog, as a member of the NHLPA, and with a valid signed contract, he has rights, and there are clauses and while there may be two sides to every story, Cloutier is entitled to what the players and management negotiated throughout the league when the CBA was amended and the work stoppage ended.

Goaltending is an issue. Defense is an issue. Faceoffs and puck possession are issues. Watching this team gut out a 2-1 OT loss last night, I was acutely aware for the umpteenth time this seas... er, decade, just how poorly the Kings are in the faceoff circle. How brutally overmatched they are behind their own net. How much weight Lindsay Ridgeway has gained and lost over the past few years (and thank GOD in the heavens that she decided on a single note for the word "Free" for the first time in forever.)

Peter Harrold is earning the nickname "Charmin" because he's so squeezably soft. His giveaway gave the Canucks the open door to a comeback last night. Now personally, I was grateful because honestly, I'm no fan of Tampa Bay at this point in the season, and they're a terrible team. The thought of those lottery balls having more Lightning logos on them than Kings logos... well, it makes me sick. Five teams make it into this lottery. At the moment the Kings and Tampa each have 60 points. Atlanta and St. Louis each have 68 points. Toronto has 70 points. Think on this... there are SEVEN more teams within 3 points of that fifth spot. That's 10 teams competing to finish 26th, 27th and 28th. And you thought the playoff race was tight!

Breakfast with the GM

Up front. I didn't go. I didn't really want to go, and then I thought, "OK, I'll go." Then I woke up, went to my 7am meeting, and when it was over, I completely forgot that I was supposed to go, and when I was pulling into my driveway from breakfast, I thought, "oops, I guess I didn't go."

No big deal. I heard first hand details from three friends who told the same story about 90% of the time, and I had the benefit of reading transcript, which was about 75% in line with what a couple of the people had told me.

Fact is, and it's not my ego, I knew the answers before the questions, and I knew the questions that would not get answered.

Dean Lombardi is a smart guy. He sizes up the crowd and plays to it accordingly. He has a job to do that requires a small portion of audience participation a couple of times a year, and he trots out his game face, flow charts, and some piping hot breakfast and expects you to go home nourished. Soon you will find out that you've barely scratched the surface of the minimum daily requirement, but by then Dean is safely back in his comfort zone, knowing that he's safe until draft day.

Steven Stamkos. It's ALL about Steven Stamkos and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Sure the Kings need defensemen. Sure the Kings need a goaltender. Sure the Kings need a better system on the PK. Sure the Kings need a coach that can roll four consistent lines, not fourteen a period. But, in reality, if the Kings draft first overall this year, put it all on the back burner and make way for a marquee player that will help overcome a myriad of deficiencies. No, he's not going to make a blocker save, or deliver a bonecrushing check in front of the Kings crease, but he is going to be a dynamic part of an offense that should wreak havoc on Western Conference defenders. Steven Stamkos is a player you dream about on your fantasy team, and you hope is on the team you've shelled out thousands for in season tickets, food, parking and merchandise.

And, finally, over on the Kings website there's some horrible bracket game where you get to choose your all time favorite Kings. Well we have a little March Madness too.

16 infuriating things about Dean Lombardi's Kings:

1. Dan Cloutier's contract extension before he stopped his first puck (which actually didn't come until he missed a couple.)

2. Alyn McCauley's 3 year contract, which was 3 more than the number of healthy limbs he had when he signed it. Oh wait. I think his writing hand was ok.

3. Flubomir Craptastic's 5 year, 28M dollar bonanza, which was then followed by one of the worst seasons a "good" Kings player has ever had.

4. Rob Blake... 'nuff said on that one!

5. Michal Handzus' 4 year deal

6. John Zeiler's 4 year deal (FOUR YEAR DEAL?????... LOL... photos of cats on the internet make more sense.)

7. Brian Willsie

8. Scott Thornton

9. Ladislav Nagy

10. Kyle Calder

11. Taking Thomas Hickey with the 4th pick in the '07 draft, when you bitch and moan about defensive size on the blueline.

12. Believing that Jack Johnson "filled a hole," when Tim Gleason was occupying it.

13. Yutaka Fukufuji, Barry Brust, Sean Burke, Erik Ersberg, Johnathan Quick, Jean-Sebastian Aubin, Dan Cloutier, Jason LaBarbera, Mathieu Garon, and any other option that has proven time and time again that the Kings haven't had a reliable goaltender for any length of time in the past 30 years.

14. Alledging that Ilya Bryzgalov is not a "character" guy

15. Not finding a guy that can help the center-ice men learn how to win a faceoff.

16. Allowing the team's mascot to be named after a dead scout.

Was Stevie Wonder at the game today?

Because only a blind man could have possibly named ROB BLAKE the turd (that's "Third" with a Canadian accent) star in this afternoon's game between the Kings and the Canadiens. Blake was a nifty -3, and on the ice for four of Montreal's five goals today, and was credited with three giveaways as well. Spared only Montreal's third goal of the game, by Guillaume Latendresse, Blake managed to flaunt his healthy ankle and no-trade clause to the sellout crowd of 18,118... over half of them in Habs jerseys.

Colorado continues to win with Adam Foote in the lineup, and I'm sure they're all breathing a collective sigh of relief that they didn't have to ask John-Michael Liles to relinquish his uniform number for the final six weeks of the season.

Random Notes for a Friday Afternoon (3-7-08)

The Detroit Red Wings have recalled Darren McCarty from Grand Rapids (AHL) where he had 5 goals and 5 assists in 13 games. McCary was pointless (literally and figuratively) in 32 games with the Calgary Flames in 06-07.

P.J. Atherton, defenseman, has been recalled to Manchester (AHL) from the Reading Royals (ECHL) where he led all ECHL defensemen with 13 goals. Funny... Atherton was a defensive defenseman on his U. Of Minnesota teams, where he played with Phil Kessel, Ryan Potulny, Alex Goligoski, Thomas Vanek and Keith Ballard among others.

Mark-Andre Cliche has two goals in period #1 as the Monarchs lead Hershey 2-1. Cliche is on a line with Matt Ryan and Brady Murray, and Murray has assisted on both tallies.

Silliness abounds as close to 250 people have clicked on "Erik Ersberg" in a poll asking who deserves to be the starting goaltender for the 2008-09 Los Angeles Kings. While Ersberg has played well in his first 3.5 NHL games, he's hardly done more than prove that his pads are not made of the same rubber (read: Flubber) that Jason LaBarbera's are. Ersberg claims that the NHL has been easier than the AHL to this point, as what happens on the ice appears more "logical." Having seen Ersberg play live for the Monarchs earlier this season, I can find some semblance of truth to that statement, as AHL players never seem to be where the puck is. Recently I watched four NHL games in six nights, and then went to an AHL game and was shocked at the level of play (and Hartford is a damn good AHL team...) I don't base my opinions on a single game, but this is an observation that has continually been reinforced year after year. I have been watching AHL games since 1983, and have seen at least one or two every year for the past 24 seasons.

Teams I cheer for have had some injuries recently that has me a bit sad. David Steckel, former King draft choice, and current Washington Capitals center has a broken finger and will miss a couple of weeks of action. While Steckel only has 12 points (5G, 7A) he has an excellent face off percentage (56.3%) that ranks him among the league's elite (Steckel currently ranks 6th among players who have taken the pre-requisite amount of draws to be included in the league leaders.) Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks forward, has suffered a severe laceration above the knee and underwent surgery today to repair tendons in his leg. He is expected to miss six weeks, which should put him out through the first round of the playoffs.

Making his NHL debut tonight: Theo Peckham, defenseman, Edmonton Oilers (3rd round, 2006) played with Wayne Simmonds, Bobby Ryan (recalled to Anaheim to replace Perry) and Trevor Lewis in Owen Sound. Peckham, who racked up over 600 PIM in his 3 years in the OHL has his first NHL penalty tonight (2 minutes for interference.)

Bruce Boudreau - January, 2004

Bruce Boudreau stands at about 5’10, which by today’s NHL standards has to be considered “small.” His playing days ended a dozen years ago, but when he laced them up, he was not “too small” to be a scorer in any league he played in. While his NHL career (Toronto, Chicago) spanned just 150 games, his minor league statistics were impressive at any height. In a professional career that began in 1975 (Johnstown – ECHL), the Toronto native tallied over 100 points in six different seasons. His most productive year came shortly after the majority of his NHL playing was done, in 1982-83, when he tallied 50 goals and added 72 assists for the Maple Leafs AHL affiliate in St. Catherines, ON. Boudreau was rewarded with a four game playoff stint for the Leafs that season, and added another seven NHL games to his credit when he suited up for the Chicago Blackhawks a few years later, but after a lengthy minor league playing career, he began his minor league coaching career in the early 90’s. In 1992, Boudreau was named Head Coach of the Muskegon Fury in the Colonial Hockey League, and after a year there, he moved on to the legendary Fort Wayne Komets of the International League, where he had finished his playing career a couple of years earlier. Two seasons in Fort Wayne led to three seasons in Mississippi, where Boudreau coached the ECHL Sea Wolves, a team that had a minor affiliation with the Los Angeles Kings. In three years, a record of 109-75-26 prepared Bruce for his move up to the American League, and the Kings primary affiliate (then shared with the New York Islanders,) the Lowell Lock Monsters. Bringing Mississippi goaltender Travis Scott with him to Lowell (where he shared time with first year pro, Roberto Luongo), Boudreau’s first season coaching the Monsters was dotted with sporadic success. The team finished a shade under .500, but made the playoffs, and actually staged an upset in the first round before bowing out. Among the players on that team were Kings center Eric Belanger, and long time Monarchs defenseman Richard Seeley. The following season, familiar names like Chartrand, Corvo, Brennan (Kip) and Lilja were in the mix, and set the stage for the Kings purchase of their own AHL franchise in Manchester, NH. The Monarchs are currently in their third season, and Boudreau remains the only coach in team history. With the Kings stockpiling draft picks and prospects, times have changed since the days of the shared franchise, and the dearth of up and coming prospects within the Kings organization. While injuries to the parent club have kept the Monarchs revolving door spinning at an almost dizzying pace, Boudreau goes about his business as the Kings conduit to the future. He states that his number one job is to “make guys ready for the NHL.”

I caught up with Bruce on Tuesday, January 6th, by phone, in his office at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester. A few weeks ago, with the Monarchs playing back-to-back games in Salt Lake City, against Dallas’ Utah Grizzlies AHL team, I took a road trip to get a first hand look at the team, and see a bunch of guys that frankly, I had already been seeing on and off for the better part of the last two injury riddled Kings’ seasons.

In the two games I watched, the Monarchs had some emotional highs and some deadening lows. Game One of the series saw Milan Hnilicka give up two goals on two shots, and within the first 90 seconds of the game, Manchester fell behind 2-0, and did not recover from that point on. Adam Hauser took over, and gave up two more quick goals. Halfway through period one, the team was down 4-0 and I was not sure I had made a wise decision to spend a weekend in cold and snowy Salt Lake City. Dallas took the Friday game 6-0, but the stage was set for the Saturday rematch. Boudreau went back to Hnilicka, and was rewarded with a far more consistent performance. Battling through two virtually concurrent five-minute major penalties called against Monarch players, the team stayed tough on defense, and took the game into overtime tied at 2. While skating four a side, the Grizzlies were called for a rare overtime penalty, and Pavel Rosa netted the power play game winner, sending the handful (literally) of Monarchs fans out of the arena with smiles on their faces, and the team had two hard fought/well earned points in the standings.

My first question to the coach was about the decisions that are made to recall a particular player from the Monarchs. Often fans will look at the stats, or the box scores, and come to conclusions that the Kings organization doesn’t always seem to come up with. How do players like Steve Kelly consistently get the nod, over players like Scott Barney, who seems to have found a goal-scoring groove in Manchester this season? “It’s a fine line,” says Boudreau. “When the Kings make the call, they want our best player because they have to win. So, Andy (Murray), Kevin (Gilmore) or Dave (Taylor) will call and ask who the best player is, and honestly, we give them the best player. LA has to be as competitive as they possibly can. When a guy is playing his heart out here, and has earned his shot to go up, he goes up. We have to be very careful not to send a bad message to our team if someone else gets recalled that may not be as deserving. We want a guy to earn his spot in the NHL.”

Specifically on Scott Barney, Boudreau was very positive about the young forward’s development. “His progress has been so much better than anticipated,” he said. “He’s gotten stronger, down low, in the corners… he’s become a force. Last year he got pushed off the puck a lot. You have to remember that he had missed three years of hockey. I just had him in my office a few minutes ago, and we had a great talk. Our goal is for Scott to become a really good AHL player this year, so next year he is pushing for an NHL job. To bring up a guy for two or three games… is that a positive or a negative when he goes back down? We want Scott to maintain a consistent level of play, and at this point we think he should be down here working on that game in and game out. He’s maintained a very positive attitude, and he understands the situation. Everyone here wants to play in the NHL, and they see the guys’ movement between here and LA, but in Scott’s case he has to be realistic. He has come a long way in a short period of time.”

Goaltending has been an issue for the Monarchs from the start of the season to the present. Hnilicka arrived having been dealt from Atlanta to Los Angeles at the beginning of training camp, and was sent down to Manchester to be the number one guy, and to help ease Kings prospect Mathieu Chouinard into a regular role. First Hnilicka got hurt, then Chouinard got hurt. Adam Hauser (playing for Reading of the ECHL) came into the picture and delivered a shutout, and then another one. A couple of one-goal games followed and suddenly Boudreau had a hot goalie. Hnilicka returned, and Chouinard returned, but both went down to injury a second time. Meanwhile, Hauser’s play hit a slight dry patch. “Can adrenaline take you so far?” was what Coach Boudreau was thinking. After a sit-down talk with Hauser, he responded with two excellent one-goal efforts, and appears to be back on track. “The Kings people have seen him. Andy Nowicki (Kings goaltending consultant) has spent time with him. Andy Murray may have seen him back in the collegiate days (Hauser spent four years at the University of Minnesota, and was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1999 draft by Edmonton.) He has a great work ethic.” When asked if this was a goaltender the Kings might be interested in for their organization, Boudreau says, “I think that’s a legitimate question. This is the first time he’s had success at the AHL level, and Adam has to realize he can’t let the ball drop (ed. note: or the puck go in the net…) He’s only played 15 games in the AHL, so to fairly assess his talents, let’s see how he is after 35 games.” As for Chouinard, who is currently in Los Angeles as the backup to Cristobal Huet, Boudreau hasn’t really seen enough of his play to make a proper assessment. “He’s shown really great courage, I will tell you that. We had a game where he was clearly not able to play because of a pulled groin muscle, but because we had no choice we had to dress him as the back up. After the first period, Hnilicka was injured, and Mathieu went in, despite being barely able to move. He allowed just one goal vs. Hartford the rest of the way. Recently he shut out Hartford (who are currently one of the top teams in the AHL), but then the next night he lost to Lowell 5-1. What I am looking for is consistency. Management wants to see consistency.” Knowing that without watching a game, you can often misread a goaltenders statistics, I asked the coach if he had occasion to see the Kings game vs. Phoenix, where Hnilicka got the call, and was perhaps the best player on the ice for either team, despite giving up 4 goals in a loss. Boudreau said he had seen the game, and thought Milan’s play was “super” and had only great things to say about the goaltender, citing his “great attitude” and his being a “super guy around the arena,” and that he makes some “terrific saves.”

It was at that point I thought it right to segue into a question I was dying to ask him, and it related to his playing days, specifically his great 50-goal season in St. Catherines. You see, that was the season the Saints, and professional hockey participated in a rarity. With regular goaltenders Bob Parent and Vincent Tremblay on the squad, and long time Leaf farmhand Bruce Dowie in the wings, the team had pretty solid goaltending. But, on a night in Glens Falls, NY, hockey fans were treated to a most unusual occurrence. Boudreau recalls, “We were playing the Adirondack Red Wings, and for some reason we only brought one goalie on the trip. Late in the first period he goes down, and we are forced into a situation. Normie Aubin ( a forward, who had played for the Leafs the season prior, and part of that season as well) had played some goal for us in practices and he volunteered to take over. He went into the dressing room, grabbed some pads, and came out to finish the game for us. We actually kept it close for a while. I think it was 3-3 at one point, and you know, when he came in; we were all thinking… oh jeez, let’s not lose 20-2 here. I remember Tom Rowe of the Wings rifled a shot about 120 miles an hour from behind his blue line that hit the back of the net and came out before Aubin even moved. They got a couple of quick goals and went on to win 6 or 7 to 3, but it certainly was a game I will never forget.” The records show that Aubin played in 49 games for the Saints that season, and netted 31 goals and 26 assists, but he also played 47 minutes IN goal and having let five get by him. He closed out his professional goaltending career with a GAG of 6.38. He is probably the only player in modern times that can claim he played both center and goaltender in a single professional game.

We closed our conversation touching on some of the Monarchs defensemen. I asked about the progress of Denis Grebeshkov, up to the time of his injury. “He was coming along fine,” said Boudreau. “Of course there is a period of adjustment, both for any rookie, or any player coming to North America for the first time, but you could see the things he does so well, he did SO WELL. His passing, his moving the puck, his intelligence were all excellent. We are hoping to have him back in 4-6 weeks.” When I asked how he took the demotion at the start of the season, Boudreau said, “He was probably a little bit down, because when you are so highly touted, you want to believe you can excel at the highest level, but he had been injured for most of camp, and knew he needed to get plenty of ice time, which he could do here. He’s a very pleasant kid, who is working hard on his English, and is always nice at the arena.” While Grebeshkov is clearly in the Kings plans, there are a couple of AHL veterans who have put in a lot of time within the Kings organization. Richard Seeley (6th round, 1997) and Joe Rullier (5th round, 1998) have been together for the past four seasons, starting in Lowell and moving on to Manchester. Both have appeared in Kings training camps, and both have been shuttled east without a sniff of the action in LA. I asked about their games, and the prospects for the future. “Richard Seeley is our captain this season, and is having a breakout year. Both he and Joe still want a chance at the NHL, and their competitiveness is so great. Seeley’s leadership, and Rullier’s toughness clearly make it so the Monarchs come to play every night.”

Manchester currently sits in 3rd place in the Atlantic Conference of the AHL with a record of 18-14-2-3. They are one point behind Providence, and four points behind conference leading Hartford. The Monarchs will face off against Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday night, and as with all of their games, you can hear them on the internet, by clicking the link provided on the Monarchs website (www.monarchshockey.com) In the lineup for Manchester will be center Esa Pirnes, who was recently activated off Injured Reserve by the Kings, and sent down to get some playing time. Boudreau is happy to have the 26-year-old Finn, and said that he’s just practiced, and is happy to be back on the ice. He will get the time to show what he can do. With the infusion of Pirnes, Cammalleri, Muir and hopefully another healthy body or two over the next couple of weeks, Manchester should be right in the thick of things as the AHL season moves into its second half.

I thank Coach Boudreau for his time, and Monarchs Public Relations Director Mike Kalinowski, for graciously setting up the interview. Many people within the Monarchs organization look at LetsGoKings.com on a regular basis, and we have some great fans from that area that have become regular posters as well. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be able to continue to bring the working relationship between the team(s) and the website together.

One final note: Bruce Boudreau turns 49 on Friday (January 9th) --- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COACH.

Marc Nathan – 1/6/04


Repost from a file found on my hard drive, dated January, 2004

Dustin Brown - Al Murray - Kevin Gilmore: Summer, 2003

I’m here with Dustin Brown, the Kings first selection, 13th overall in this year’s NHL Entry draft, and first off, congratulations on your selection.

DB: Thank you.

You were obviously interviewed by many NHL clubs heading towards this draft day. Did anything stand out in your mind about the Kings organization from your interview with them?

DB: You know, I thought that they were one of the teams that were more interested. They showed more interest in me than others. So, there were maybe three or four teams that showed more interest in me and the Kings were one of them so I knew I had a pretty good shot at getting selected by LA if I fell back and was available.

Have you ever been to Los Angeles?

DB: No.

Looking forward to it this summer?

DB: Yeah, a little bit (big smile)

John Stanton and Al Murray both told me that you will be given every opportunity to make the Kings this coming season. What are your expectations coming into your first NHL training camp?

DB: I’m just gonna try to go in there and prove that I can play. I haven’t really looked at the team and who they have. I’m really excited about the opportunity and think I have a good shot.

It should be a pretty interesting and competitive situation for you.

Have you ever scored a goal against (Kings 3rd round selection) Ryan Munce?

DB: Uh, yeah, actually I had a three goal game against him in the playoffs this past year.

Did you get a chance to joke with him about that yet?

DB: Uh, no, we haven’t really had much of a chance to talk much yet, but I’m sure we will though (more big smiles.)

I heard you and the families of all of yesterday’s Kings draft picks had a really nice dinner last night.

DB: Yeah, it was really good. All of the draft picks, the families and the Kings organization were there. It was a really good night. Good food. Got to mingle with everyone a little bit, and start to know each other a little bit, so it was really good.

Give us your first impressions on the other two first round selections by the Kings, Brian Boyle and Jeff Tambellini.

DB: Well, I knew both of them before hand, not personally but I’d played against a few of them so I had a little bit of idea who they were. They seem like nice kids off the ice and they’re obviously pretty good players on the ice!

And now the three of you have each other’s backs (my turn to smile.)

DB: Yeah!

Thanks for taking a minute to chat with me. We’re at www.letsgokings.com and we are one of the most rabid fan sites you’re going to find in all of hockey, so check it out some time… but don’t take anything too personally!

DB: All right, thank you!


We began our final chat with Al Murray by asking… “Is it over? Or, has it just begun?”

AM: It’s really just one step and now let’s see what happens.

Can you tell me something about Esa Pirnes, the Finnish player you drafted in the 6th round, trading both 7th round picks to get that slot? I know he was born in 1977.

AM: Yeah, he was a guy that has continued to improve. He’s at the point now where he was on the Finnish national team this year. Dave (Taylor) and Robbie (Laird - Director of Pro Scouting and European Evaluation) scouted him at the World Championships, as well as Andy (Murray) and he really has a chance to come in and play for our team next year.

Has he expressed intentions of coming to North America this season?

AM: We called him right before we made the pick, and he’s interested now. It’s one thing to be interested, but I think for his agent to let him sign… well, we have a start on it and we will see how it all works out.

Is that why you specifically made the deal with Nashville to get the pick in the 6th round?

AM: Yes.

Do you feel someone else may have actually been planning on picking Pirnes?

AM: The way our list went… some years your list lasts for a long time and we thought we had a really good list of players coming into today (*day two… rounds 4-9) and we thought we would get a couple of real good guys, and then we just got wiped right out in the fourth round. Like everybody we liked, everybody else liked too! It was unbelievable, it was going Bang, Bang, Bang…

You had mentioned last night there were two guys that you had your eye on to start today, and obviously they weren’t there for you…

AM: (Laughs) So, you know, we… at that point decided that this was the guy (Pirnes) we wanted to get. We didn’t want to let him get away, so we went at him and Dave and Robbie made that decision. Hopefully he can come in and contribute right away, or after a short time in the minors, come up and play.

As I was sitting here right before the Brady Murray pick, it became apparent that the team was going to make the pick because of all the jocular expressions, smiles, handshakes and pats on Coach Murray’s back immediately preceding the announcement. Did you get him at the right time?

AM: We never moved Brady one spot up the list. We had him exactly at the right place. We never considered moving up to get him because we had other people ahead of him, and we took him where we felt he merited being selected, so it was great for everybody. It doesn’t always work that way. Andy’s coached other kids that he’s had a very strong affinity to… Ben Eaves (Pittsburgh’s 4th selection, 2001 draft) … Andy was very high on Ben, but we had two players ahead of Ben on our lists and we never jumped him over those two to select him. We stayed true to our list, as we did today. It’s nice when it works out this way, because that’s the way he earns it. He’s got to be in the right spot or it cheapens the whole process. Right from the minute we talked about this last summer, does he want to be involved in this with us, and they (Brady/Andy) said “yes, wherever you think he belongs,” and both Brady and Andy were very clear on that. So, Andy was nervous last night, he was interested as to where we had him, and how many guys were still ahead of him. You know, he’s a dad so he was working us a little bit, but in a fun way. Never put any immediate pressure on us, and we took him where he deserved to go!

How about these late round King selections that we don’t know much about?

AM: They’re players that on our list, we mesh who we feel are the best players, and this year that list stopped at 69 players. So after we mesh those 69 there was a cutoff, then there we have all of our scouts, on one page, a list of the players our Quebec scout likes, our Ontario scout, our Western scout, our College scouts and our European scouts. Then last night we had a meeting where we had each of these scouts identify two to four key players that they would like to acquire out of their particular area. And then, as the players are getting selected, we took the highest ranked player that all of our guys liked, and every player we took was somebody that one of our guys had highlighted. Somebody from our staff really likes every player that we took. Most of them are long term projects and most of them are going to colleges and we’ll see how they turn out, but we’re happy to get them all.

I was going to ask you, do scouts get frustrated sometimes when you don’t select a particular player they may be high on?

AM: Absolutely!

You’re in charge of a number of people and have to manage their individual personalities as well as their work ethic…

AM: …and they work VERY HARD for us, and they spend a lot of nights… There are several guys at this table that wound up with no one selected from all their hard work, but they are a part of the LA Kings, and they just hope that we got the best players, and they trust that we did. We have a great staff, there’s probably one player left on our list that we would have liked to have picked, but he wasn’t a highlighted guy last night so now somebody else might pick him up as the draft closes out. We got the highlighted guys from last night, and that’s the way we wanted to do it, so it worked out terrific for us!

So, giving up the two picks for the one, you didn’t feel like you were losing out on a player, because you got the guy you wanted.

AM: Exactly.

Well, I had a great time and I have thank you again for all of the valuable insight you’ve shared with the letsgokings.com readers.

AM: It’s nice to have met and spoken with you.

Now I know I have to start thinking about Raleigh (2004 Draft site.)

AM: Absolutely. Raleigh is another place I’ve never been to, so I don’t know what it’s like but hopefully we will see you there, or at Staples this coming season.

I think you can be sure you will see me at Staples this coming season. Thanks, Al.


Kevin Gilmore is the Assistant General Manager for the Los Angeles Kings. Watching the Kings draft table, you immediately recognize Kevin as hard working, and fast thinking. As the draft wound down, I called to him from the “cheap seats” (actually I was in the first row, but it sounds better to say “cheap seats”) and introduced myself as a season seat holder and a representative of LGK. Kevin was pleased to hear I was the former, and was most familiar with the latter, saying that he does check the site out from time to time. One of his most recent experiences with LGK was signing on from Toronto on the day the Kings acquired goaltender Roman Cechmanek, to see how the fan reaction was. For the most part, he was pleased.

The first question I asked Kevin was if he had any insight regarding Finnish draftee, Esa Pirnes.

KG: I know about this situation, and I can talk about him. He’s a kid that you can call a late bloomer in the sense that he’s been in Finland for a while, and this year was really his breakthrough year. He had a pretty good regular season and then led his team in scoring in the playoffs. It was also his first time on the Finnish World Championship team, and he also played in the Sweden Games. So he’s a kid that we think can come in and challenge for a spot.

And, his intentions are to come to North America this coming season?

KG: We’ve talked to him already. We called him from the draft table and all he wants is a chance. He said he’d like to come over here, and is willing to spend some time in Manchester if he has to, but he feels he’s ready at this point in his career to come over to the NHL and prove he can play.

He’s 26, he’s about 6 feet tall, and in the moments after you drafted him, I was able to get via the internet a lot of information about him. Does the internet make your job that much easier, and how does it help or hurt to know that the fans can put you and this information under the microscope within minutes of it becoming available? (Give me 10 minutes and I can probably tell you what Esa Pirnes had for breakfast this morning.)

KG: (Laughs.) ABSOLUTELY! It’s great for us in the sense that it gives us so much more information, and, of course it’s great for the fans they can immediately access the information. Years ago you’d sit and go “who is this guy?” and you really wouldn’t know until he showed up at training camp and you got his bio. Now you can go on the internet, see his face probably, read all his stats, get to know a lot about him, and that’s great for the fans.

Well, you know, back in the mid 70s when the Kings drafted some kid out of Clarkson College, the most ardent LA hockey fans didn’t have much information about a late round pick who ended up making quite a splash in the National Hockey League (and still does to this day!)

KG: Yeah (laughs) no one knew who he was… Who is this guy? Dave Taylor? (Lots of laughs)

I know that a lot of the letsgokings.com readers had a chance to come to the prospect camp last summer and get a first hand look at Brady Murray. Aside from being the coach’s son, people are raving about this kid’s real talent.

KG: We’re definitely excited about that too. It’s tough because you come into the draft and you want to be very objective about the way you’re perceived at the draft, and while the temptation’s there once in a while to say “Oh, maybe we can trade up,” but we got him where we thought we could get him, and we’re real pleased with that. He’s a great kid. People have seen him and he’s going to get better. He’s going to a great program in North Dakota.

So, we have Brady going to North Dakota, Big Brian Boyle going to Boston College…

KG: Yes, and our late round pick Marty Guerin is going to Miami-Ohio…

I didn’t know too much about him or the kid, Mike Sullivan…

KG: Sullivan is going to Clarkson, Dave Taylor’s alma mater and will be coached by Greg Dreschel (Dreschel is leaving the Kings organization for the coaching slot this season.) And, actually, we just found out that the Guerin kid was born in Manchester, NH, so that’s an interesting twist we didn’t know.

Kevin, thanks very much. I know you want to get out of here and I appreciate getting to meet you and having a chance to chat with you. Congratulations on a successful 2003 draft.

KG: You’re very welcome!


Repost from a file found on my hard drive dated June, 2003

Andy Murray - January, 2004

As someone who tries to pay attention to the Los Angeles Kings and the press that surrounds them, I think one of the worst things about paying attention too closely is that you get the feeling you are being pandered to. Listening to any Kings representative through the media, you begin to think you are being treated like a 2 year old putting together a jigsaw puzzle… a jigsaw puzzle that has only 4 pieces! Between the newspaper articles, the radio and television interviews, and the soundbytes and quotes that appear on the internet, you can pretty much guess what is going to be said by a player, a coach, a General Manager without even bothering to listen to the actual answer. I know it’s not just the Kings, it’s all of professional sports, but today I choose to focus on the Kings because I have spent the week listening to Andy Murray and Derek Armstrong on the radio, and this morning had the opportunity to sit in on an NHL Media-led conference call with Coach Murray. The fact is, there is a positive spin here. Murray has guided the Kings for close to five seasons, and despite the adversity of injury to star players, he finds himself leading a team that competes on a nightly basis, and is actually still in the playoff hunt, without the marquee names that, if available, any hockey analyst would agree, would make this a serious cup-contending club.

Murray is scheduled to pass Bob Pulford as the Kings leader in games coached on March 10th at Phoenix. His 168 victories are just ten shy of the team record, also set by Pulford. He coached Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2003 World Championships, and has a talented son, Brady, a Kings draftee who was part of the US 2004 World Junior team that garnered gold as well. He speaks eloquently about his team, and will not lead himself down a path of distraction or dissention.

Today there were some basic questions about his team, and his role, and what is in store for the future:

QUESTION: Given your success in the world championships, which do you enjoy more? International play or the NHL.

Both jobs are an outstanding opportunity. Representing your country is very special, very unique.

QUESTION: Because of the Kings injury depleted roster, who, in your opinion, has stepped up in the locker room as a leader?

I don’t look at the locker room, I look at performance on the ice. Mattias Norstrom… we are so happy he’s an All Star. He is the unquestionable leader (practice, weight room, ice) and has been very solid. Prior to his injury, you have to look at Ziggy Palffy (on ice, competitiveness.) One of the smallest defensemen in the NHL, Lubomir Visnovsky… we are disappointed he didn’t make AS team. Has played very well.

QUESTION: Update us on all of the injured players:

That would take the whole conference call (chuckle.) We’re not expecting Palffy, Deadmarsh, or Allison back. If Straka returns in late March-early April, it’s because we are in the playoff hunt, and he will be a big help to us. Aaron Miller is doubtful right now. He is taking longer than we thought. Jared Aulin is not coming back this year. Within the next month we hope to get Miller back. Dustin Brown could play tomorrow vs. the Ducks.

QUESTION: How do you keep the team winning, and in a potential playoff position?

The league doesn’t allow the team to cancel the games, so if we’re gonna play we have to feel good about the effort. Go out, play hard. Look at what management has done to assemble young talent. We have guys able to step up. Teaching begins in our development camp, our rookie camp, our training camp. Players feel comfortable learning our system.

QUESTION: In December through January the team suffered through a 14 game winless streak, yet with 9 ties and 2 OTL you remained competitive – is that bizarre?

It was a real good indication that we are competing on a nightly basis. We had only 2 regulation losses in that period of time. It’s a good indication of depth, so we try to look at the positives.

QUESTION: Who has impressed you the most (of the Manchester call ups?)

Most of the guys have been here both this year and last year, so we have gone through this before. Most recently, Scott Barney has stepped up. Mike Cammalleri had a streak of games where he was effective. Esa Pirnes, we sent down, and has come back with a few strong games. Tim Gleason has been up and down and has been able to contribute as well. There are a lot of players getting opportunities. We would not hesitate bringing up another player. There is constant communication with (Manchester Head Coach, Bruce) Boudreau. 100% of the time we bring up the player Bruce thinks should come up. This gives us credibility with the players throughout the organization.

QUESTION: Dave Taylor helped you out with the Straka trade. Are there any other moves to be made?

Dave has done a great job with the drafting of young players. The Straka trade, at the time, looked like it would help us, and did, prior to his injury. But, Dave is constantly on the phone. If he can make a move to help our team, and it is in the budget structure, he will do it. I coach the players he puts in front of me. If we are going to make the playoffs, we have to do it with what we’ve got.

QUESTION: Have you had any discussions regarding coaching Team Canada?

I have not. There are a lot of quality coaches. If they need me, I will help in any way I can. (Ken) Hitchcock, (Pat) Quinn, (Jacques) Martin… all have to be frontrunners. There are a lot of deserving guys. I’ve seen my name in the media, but that’s been it.

QUESTION: Because of the recent rash of eye injuries, do you think the NHL needs to address the visor issue?

Most of the players come up through college/junior – where items like this are mandatory… Personally I see no reason why the league can’t say it should be mandatory. The players that engage in fisticuffs, they know to remove the gear before they “go.” The Kings may discuss it within the organization about making it team mandatory. Doesn’t take away from the toughness, doesn’t bring the sticks up any higher. If it prevents injury, they should be mandatory.

***

Repost from an old file on my hard drive, dated January, 2004

Al Murray - December, 2003

It’s a partly cloudy but reasonably mild day in Regina, Saskatchewan, and Kings Director of Amateur Scouting Al Murray has just returned the night before from another exhaustive sweep through Ontario, checking out some of the up and coming players that will be congregating in Raleigh this summer at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. I didn’t call Al to get into detail about some of the kids he’s looking at, but I thought it would be good to check in with him on the burning debate over the Kings trade of highly touted prospect Sergei Anshakov, and whether he felt the Kings had possibly mortgaged a valuable chip in return for a player that may or may not be a vital cog in this season’s playoff quest. Al and I spent a good 30 minutes on the phone, and without the use of a tape recorder, I was left scratching some barely legible notes, but taking some writer’s license, I offer to you some of the highlights of our conversation. Knowing that Al starts EACH DAY logging onto LGK and browsing the board, I am sure he’ll remind me the next time we speak if I horribly butcher his words.

One of the first things I notice within our conversation is how Al punctuates a lot of his statements with “One thing the people on the board may not understand is…” and then he will go on to defend Dave Taylor, Andy Murray, the subject of trades, injuries, and the front office in general. Al Murray is a company guy, no doubt about it. His tenure with the team takes him into his fifteenth season, and as he pre-dates the current ownership, he clearly defends it as the best yet. “Take a look at this organization from the top down --- the players in Los Angeles, the players in Manchester, the training facilities and the home arenas for both clubs, add in the prospects in College, in Juniors, in Europe… take the ENTIRE package, and I defy you to show me an organization that can match us in terms of quality,” he says in an adamant tone. “You have to remember that two years ago, Dave and the staff put together a team that no one in the organization has been able to see on the ice in total at the same time for a single day in this time period! You had Aaron Miller’s hernia, followed by a Lappy injury, then of course, Deadmarsh and Allison and the barrage of injuries we suffered all season long last year, and what has transpired this year… You have to understand the level of frustration that people like Dave, Andy, Bill O’Flaherty (Director Of Player Personnel) and the rest of us feel. We think we have a very good team, but then again, we have no idea because we have NEVER seen our team in its entirety.”

The subject turned to Anshakov, and Al was already aware of the debate on LGK. He didn’t completely side with me (damn) but, he did offer these words about the Kings 2002 draftee.

• A very good prospect
• Maybe the best skater we have in the whole organization, which says a lot about his skating ability. (Mentions Tambellini, Frolov and others)
• Certainly an NHL size body
• Gives you a little bit of everything, but (maybe) doesn’t give you everything often enough.
• A lot of tools. Up to him and whatever team is working with him to get the max out of him all the time.
• We think he has a good future, but he hasn’t shown the consistent scoring ability he may need to be a top 6.
• I would still rank several other prospects we have ahead of him.
• I don’t think we gave up one of our “A” prospects, but we gave up a very good one.
• The good organizations over the years have been able to trade prospects like this for a key player, and hopefully Dave has done just that.

And with that we discuss the two Martins… Straka and Strbak… one coming, one going… On Strbak, Al was quick to point out that he was an older player that we brought over to North America in the hopes that he was ready to step in and play an NHL role, but the numbers caught up with him, and he was clearly not one of the top 6 or 7 guys that were going to compete for ice time on a game by game basis in Los Angeles. As Manchester also has a full complement of defensemen, it was apparent that the team was going to have to make a move (or two) that would alleviate some of the glut, and Pittsburgh showed a keen interest in Strbak, as someone who could step in and play for them now. The Penguins defense is a little thin on NHL caliber talent, with only veterans Marc Bergevin and Drake Berehowsky having a wealth of experience, and guys like Dick Tarnstrom, Patrick Boileau, Joseph Melichar and youngsters Dan Focht and Brooks Orpik rounding out the defensive corps. Strbak should have a chance to play, and play a lot in the Pens lineup, so he will get the chance to compete at the NHL level. In that regard, the Kings are pleased to offer Strbak that chance, and don’t see it as something that will come back to haunt them in the future. As for Straka, I bring up the wild highs (a 95 point season a few years back) and the lows (a team worst minus 16 in 22 games this season) and say that as a reasonably knowledgeable hockey fan with a penchant for numbers, I would like to think that BOTH of these situations are way out of the norm, and that Straka’s numbers should like clearly in and around the middle. Murray agrees, and feels that at this point in his career, “Straka should be looked at as the kind of player who will put up good numbers, but will also help in other ways. He’s a veteran who should provide some leadership, and help develop some of the younger talent around him. Clearly look at the guy’s numbers and know that he’s going to give you closer to the upside than the downside of what he has done throughout his career.” To that, we can surely all agree that we hope Al is correct. A healthy and productive Straka should give the Kings a much needed boost up front for the nights that the offensive onus is left to the players who have passed their prime (Robitaille) or clearly haven’t come close to hitting it yet (Brown, Cammalleri, Frolov.)

After we finish discussing the trade, Al throws in his trademark “One thing the people on the boards may not understand is…” and he continues on with his thought, “that Dave Taylor, who takes a lot of heat from some of your posters for his perceived inactivity, is one of the top 2 or 3 GMs in the league when it comes to seeing amateur games, and evaluating the talent that we’ve accumulated over the past few years. Dave was overseas, seeing Anshakov, and seeing players that needed to be looked at when determining if they could or should be given up in a deal. He’s making sure he knows what he is giving up. He is also out consistently watching the colleges and the juniors, and you have to also factor in his location (LA), as he travels further than most of the GMs in these situations. So, he is very much out there and visible at these games, and it’s a credit to, and a commitment from the entire organization.

“Another thing people on the website may not grab on to, we may be seeing one of the best exhibitions of coaching in the history of the NHL. Up in Canada people are blown away by the effort and results of this team.” Once again, speaking like a truly dedicated member of the organization, Murray speaks of his namesake as someone who has done a remarkable job with the team he has been forced to put together like a seamstress might work on a patchwork quilt. “Look at where this team is at in the standings, and imagine what it could be if guys like Adam and Jason were available on a nightly basis. It’s scary.” Who can argue? The team is tied for 5th in the Western Conference, with 26 points, and boasts an impressive team defense that has allowed just 53 goals in their 23 contests.

We make some small talk about the goaltending, and how Cechmanek has run hot and cold in the past, but how the numbers will probably look pretty good at the end of the season, and if the Kings can take the next step and move forward in the playoffs, then the shaky start may be forgotten, though the unorthodox style may cause lingering stomach pains in the abdomen of the Kings fan throughout the season. Murray clearly chuckles, and says that because of his travel schedule he has missed seeing the Kings on the dish most of the year, but that he’s spoken with members of the organization who feel that Roman is still in the process of finding his “comfort zone.” I have to believe that with the team’s commitment to defense, the numbers will be there by season’s end. I remark about how impressed I have been with guys like Jon Sim and the recently recalled Jerrod Smithson, and Al is quick to remind me that these were two guys I was clearly less than enamored with by the end of last season. (Note: I admit it, I’m a convert. Jon Sim rocks, and Jerrod is the “baby faced assassin”!!)

It’s time to say goodbye, as Al’s son has just bought his first home, and dad has to do some foreman like work in getting major appliances into the house. We exchange pleasantries about the job each of us has been doing, I about scouting, he about my musings and writing on LGK (additionally, Al made it a point to single out both Rinkrat and lesgardiens for the jobs that they do as well,) and we agree to speak again some time at the front end of the New Year. Happy Holidays to all of the LGK posters from Al Murray, who hopes the skeptics in the house will accept his hard work and dedication as a holiday gift to all fans of the Los Angeles Kings.

Repost from an old file I found on my hard drive, dated 12/03

A conversation with former Kings Director Of Scouting, Al Murray

Al and I first met in 2002, and then, in 2003 I journeyed to Nashville to attend the NHL Amateur Draft (where the Kings picked up Brown, Tambellini, Boyle, Pushkarev, Brady Murray, Esa Pirnes and a gaggle of others...) In Nashville, Al and I had a number of great conversations, and he gave me unlimited access to his thoughts on the players chosen and not chosen. A lot of what he offered, I posted on LGK at the time, and actually had the advance scoop on the Kings re-acquiring Jozef Stumpel (which was met with collective horror by most of the fan faithful.)

Starting this new blog meant that I would reach out to a number of people who have guided me and given me insight over the years. My last contact number for Al was his cell phone that was property of the Los Angeles Kings. As he's since moved on to HockeyCanada, it was obvious I would have to reach out and get new info.

I am delighted to say that moments after making a cursory inquiry, I was able to speak with Al for a good half hour, catching up on his current duties, as well as discussing the state of his alma mater, the 30th place Los Angeles Kings.

Unfortunately, I did not use the conversation as a forum for an "interview," and therefore don't feel comfortable just repeating our conversation verbatim, as he had no idea he was going on record. I will say, however that at the request of my friend Matt (CBGB to some, DramaQueen or DancingBoy to others) I did have to throw in the "Brian Boyle vs. Corey Perry" scenario, and he assured me that the collective decision of the scouts and management of the LA Kings at the time was that the Boyle decision was a unanimous one, and that he was absolutely projected ahead of Perry at the time. "Of course, hindsight..." as his voice trailed off in a sea of innuendo indicates that he thinks Perry has turned into a valuable piece of a Stanley Cup puzzle, and if the Kings crystal ball had been able to foresee the future, things could have been different (the names of Shea Weber and Patrice Bergeron came up in the same sequence.)

The burning question I had, had to do with Patrick O'Sullivan, who I was extremely high on in Nashville, yet was told with no uncertaintly that the red flag was up on this kid and there was no way he'd be drafted by the Kings. Of course, 29 other teams took the same route before Minnesota grabbed him at the tail end of the 2nd round with the 56th pick. I asked Al about O'Sullivan and his answers made complete sense. First off, there was the psychological aspects of how he would and had handled his parental situation. It was well documented that the elder O'Sullivan (John: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=8854 ) had been abusive, and stalker-like and questions arose as to how Patrick was going to deal with authority figures. For that reason alone, red flags flew everywhere. Secondly, Al pointed out that at the time, the book on Patrick was that he was (a) not a great skater and (b) had a shooter mentality, so you had to be careful within the team concept about developing a line specifically for him.

Personally, I see a time when O'Sullivan will be the team leader in goals, and I think that the chemistry with skilled players like Kopitar, Brown and Frolov has been evident since Crawford took the defensive shackles off of him and allowed him to up the ante. Anyway, after two more years of juniors, and one exceptional year in the American Hockey League, where he was a runaway choice for rookie of the year, even the Wild had to give to get, and were parting ways with the young sniper, choosing to hold on to Roman Voloshenko, drafted in the second round the following year, and after two years with Houston (AHL) has since returned to Russia. A Wild gamble that didn't pay off.

There was a lot more said, as it related directly to current Kings GM Dean Lombardi, Luc Robitaille, the Kings goaltending situation coming into the 06-07 season, and the future of the kids from that '03 draft (Tambellini and Boyle specifically.) Al Murray is a good guy, who has been integrally involved in the sport of hockey for more than half his life. He's currently Head Scout for HockeyCanada, and has a very different set of responsibilities than he did with the Kings. His great pleasure is seeing those gold medals around the necks of the Under-18 teams he helps assemble. Now, Luc Robitaille is getting involved in HockeyCanada as well, and whereas in the past Al and Luc didn't have much chance to intersect (as Luc was a player, and was actually drafted prior to Al's tenure with the Kings,) there should be some intersection in the future.

Who knows... if Lombardi doesn't pan out, and AEG sees fit to move Luc into a GM role, maybe he'd once again turn to Al Murray for scouting wisdom. That's just conjecture on my part, but you rarely meet nicer, more forthright people than Mr. Murray, and it would be nice to know that he's helping to shape the future of the hockey team you've invested decades of your life cheering for, as well as pissing and moaning about.

And I thought I was on drugs...

...well, I was. The date was March 14, 1981 and the Kings were to square off in an afternoon game at the Fabulous Forum with the Minnesota North Stars. I was celebrating my 26th birthday on this particular Saturday, which really was not unlike most other days in my life prior to that point. I was high. Quite high. This particular day was a mescaline day. Ah, psychedelic drugs. I couldn't do them during the week, but the weekends were stunningly trippy. My partner in crime on this day was Rebecca, a dear friend who had worked with me at RCA Records and enjoyed ogling Kings rookie Larry Murphy, and getting as high as I was on any given day.

We arrived early, and went down to the row of seats immediately behind the glass, next to the penalty box. This was a ritual, and because this was in the pre-Gretzky era, there were very few of us in Los Angeles who bothered, and therefore were never bothered by the Forum security people. In fact, the names Beatrice and Ronnie stand out as ushers who knew us well, and welcomed our presence during warmups.

I had become good friends with Kings left wing Steve Jensen during his tenure with the team, and this, his third season, was a day that he'd skate over to the glass to say hi to Becky and to wish me a happy birthday (Steve was exactly one month younger than me, but his birthday usually fell in the off season, as Kings teams didn't go too far in the post season even back in those days... grin.)

So Becky and I were just coming on to the mescaline, and we were grinning from ear to ear. Steve said, "Hey buddy, I have a surprise for you." and I figured we would be going out to Pancho's after the game for some margaritas, and merriment.

We went up to our familiar seats in Section 12, and the game was set to begin. Mario Lessard defended the goal to our right, and Don Beaupre defended the goal to our left. The puck was dropped and seemingly just seconds later the Kings scored. Then another goal. And another. And another. The crowd was going wild. I remember thinking it was as if the teams just skated from one end of the ice to the other, taking turns putting the red light on. It was less than halfway through the first period and the score was Kings 6, Minnesota 3. I turned to Rebecca and said, "This is it!!! This is the surprise!!!" and I was certain that Steve had somehow fixed it so that the two teams were just going to score at will until time ran out, and that for my birthday I was given the opportunity to see the highest scoring hockey game in NHL history.

Well, as it turned out, the two teams settled in and only scored a few more goals for the remainder of the game, and eventually the mescaline wore off, and my birthday was celebrated with a Kings victory, margaritas and merriment at Pancho's.

One of the goals that was most memorable in that game was by veteran Don Luce, whom the Kings had acquired four days earlier in a rather celebrated deal that included picking up Rick Martin for their playoff run. In fact, this was the only goal of Don's career scored in a Los Angeles uniform, and my memory of it is pretty vivid. Luce was going off on a change and had the puck on his stick in the neutral zone. He lofted it high in the air (causing me to say, as I always did when a player did that for the Kings... "Syl Apps!!!" --- as that was his "trademark") and skated to the bench. The puck floated into the Stars zone and landed neatly on Don Beaupre's left shoulder, bouncing off of the rookie goalie and falling behind the goal line into the net. When Dennis Packer, the Kings public address announcer said, "LOS ANGELES GOAL, scoring his FIRST goal as a King, and sixteenth goal of the season, Number 23... DON LUCE!" there was no one more shocked than Luce himself. He never saw it once it left his stick.



So the title of this piece was "And I thought I was on drugs..." because in researching this story I found two wire service articles detailing the game. Unfortunately I did not find a box score, but check this out... Two articles... two different final scores. The correct one is 10-4, but I suppose if you lived in certain parts of the country, you thought the Kings had rolled a lucky 11.

"A Blog From Tubby... No Thanks"

I have to laugh. My friend Scott Pearson posted a link to this blog over at Hockey's Future in the Kings forum, where I was recently asked to discontinue being a member. My fan base as TubbyTerrion was polarized to say the least. Granted, to say that I had a "fan base," as a member of a hockey bulletin board may be a bit ego-inflating and self-aggrandizing to begin with, but yes, there were people there who did enjoy what I had to say, and when I had to say it.

I created a couple of alter egos along the way (MisoSoupy and HawkeyeKnight) and eventually those two (too) were removed from the boards, and so I decided to use this space as a chance to express myself. Hence "I took my puck and went home."

I don't mind not having interaction with adolescents and misguided folks who accidentally found the internet as a vehicle for their own stupidity, but I do miss the camaraderie with a select few who I know actually understand the game of hockey, and the nuances of the teams that the Kings have iced for the past forty seasons.

The title of this entry was a quote from one of the people who responded to Scott's posting of the link. One of the subsequent reactions was from my friend Pat, who said "Careful - you might accidentally learn something" and I had to smile at that one too. I don't actually choose to be a "teacher," but I do enjoy letting people see what is perhaps a contrary opinion to a more popular one.

I have massive amounts of respect for a number of people who have endured within and around the Kings organ-eye-zation over the past few decades, and over the course of time I hope to have some interviews with them, as they too share their memories and experiences being involved with this flatulent juggernaut. I promise not to bait them into saying "no thanks" to my request.

February 15, 1977 (Rogie almost scores... Marc almost gets rhinoplasty)

I settled into the Forum, Section 12, Row L, Seat 5... and there were a few people who would occasionally accompany me to games. One was my friend Gary Cohen, who had been in NY, and the editor of a music trade paper called Cashbox, but was now in Los Angeles, and starting up a budding fruit juice company. Gary loved going to the games with me, and sat in Seat 4.

The Kings were playing the Islanders on Tuesday, February 15, 1977 and on this particular night, history was ALMOST made. At the time, no National Hockey League goaltender had ever been credited with a goal. The Kings were leading 1-0 with just a couple minutes left to play in the first period and on a delayed penalty against the Kings, the Isles flubbed a pass and sent the puck all the way down the ice into their own net. The goal stood, and seconds later, the Kings public address announcer said, "LOS ANGELES GOAL... by number 30, ROGIE VACHON!!!!" The crowd was going nuts... all 8,000 of us (of course, in true Kings fashion, they reported paid attendance of over 10,250.) So, typical me, I notice the strangest things... the linesman fished the puck out of the empty net, and brought it up to center ice, where, they dropped it for the ensuing face off as play continued.

Now at this point, with the crowd cheering wildly, I'm screaming to Gary, "They didn't take the puck out of play!!!" and I'm following that puck intensely as it careened around the ice. Seconds later a King and an Islander came together at the blueline and the puck flipped high into the air and into the crowd, where it landed firmly in the hand of my friend Gary, who literally had the back of his hand make contact with my prodigious schnozolla, and we stared at it in amazement. "WE HAVE THE PUCK, WE HAVE THE PUCK" and as the first period came to an end, we ran down to the entrance to the ice where the zamboni would come out. We were so excited, and figured we'd maybe get a chance to go to the locker room, have our picture taken with Rogie and the historic puck, and since there were no computers, no e-bay, no Barry Bonds home run balls, we just thought we'd get some credit, and maybe some press. Before the second period began, we were told that all we had was a puck that would be credited as a Vic Venasky goal, as he was actually the last King to touch the puck... not Rogie. They did give us each a Kings "game" puck, in exchange for Vic's goal, and our chance for participating in hockey history was thwarted. But, thank GOD for Gary's "quick glove hand," or the almost historic puck would have been covered in blood, and my nose would have been a sight for Tim Hunter's eyes :)

I actually found the box score from my first live NHL game!

...and I was correct about Red Berenson.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=337

After playing most of the two previous seasons with the Canadiens, Red found himself back in the American League for much of the 64-65 season, and when he was recalled for the March 14, 1965 game vs. the Rangers, he scored his lone regular season goal of the season (and added his two assists as well.) So, I witnessed all three of Red Berenson's 1964-65 regular season points at my first NHL game.

Red became a Ranger a couple of seasons later, and went on to have a successful "post-expansion" career in the NHL with big seasons for St. Louis and Detroit during a lengthy career. Later, of course, Berenson became a hugely successful coach at the college level, and was the last amateur coach for current King, and former Michigan sniper, Michael Cammalleri.

Good afternoon and welcome

My name is Marc Nathan and I welcome you to "kingspin," a hockey blog that will occasionally strike a chord, or a nerve with long suffering fans of the Los Angeles Kings.

I was born and raised in New York City, and began watching hockey when there were but six teams in the league. I was a precocious child who ended up memorizing the rosters of all of those teams, and knew the difference between Wayne Rivers and Wayne Maxner. I listened to Baltimore Clippers games on my transister radio, and heard names like Jean Ratelle, Gilles Villemure and Gord Labossiere before they became names I would associate with the National Hockey League.

My first NHL games were at the old Madison Square Garden on 50th Street (of course it is currently on 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets.) Turns out that my very first NHL game was on March 14, 1965. My 10th birthday. I have memories of Red Sullivan coaching the Rangers, prior to Emile Francis taking the reigns, and of Gord "Red" Berenson playing in his first game of that season (64-65) after a recall to the Canadiens. Montreal won 6-4. I'm working on locating the box score. The next season, I saw the Bruins, and Pit Martin beat the Rangers. Trying to get more details on that game as well.

I saw a handful of NHL games from 1965 through the next ten years, and a few WHA games in 73-74 when NY had a team called the Golden Blades. Yes, they had gold blades on their skates and they migrated to New Jersey before the end of the season, becoming the Jersey Knights.

In April of 1975 I moved to San Francisco, and was promoted and transferred to Los Angeles in January of 1976. It was then that I truly caught the hockey bug the way it was intended.

I worked for a rather infamous record label called Casablanca (Kiss, Donna Summer,) but had spent the previous four years working for a label called Bearsville (Todd Rundgren, Foghat) which was distributed by Warner Brothers. I was friendly with a lot of the Warners people, and one day one of the bigwigs said, "Hey Marc, you like hockey, right?" and when I nodded affirmatively, he handed me the remaining Kings tickets for the 1975-76 season and I was now to spend the next seven years desperately trying to find three other people interested in attending games with me. I didn't take it personally. Hockey was not a popular sport in Los Angeles.

My geographic history to date is:

1955-1975: New York
1975-1976: San Francisco
1976-1983: Los Angeles
1983-1993: New York
1993-1995: Los Angeles
1995-2000: New York
2000-present: Los Angeles

I have essentially been in hockey seats the entire time. Sometimes as a season seat holder, sometimes as a frequent traveller. I haven't added it all up, but I have seen games in a minimum of 50 arenas, and in close to every province in Canada, as well as most of the United States.

This blog will drift back and forth between the past and the present, and will serve as an outlet for the things that I remember, and would like to perhaps forget ;)

Hockey is a kind of nirvana for me. I can't think of a place where I am more at peace. As soon as I am in my seat, staring at the great white sheet of ice, and anticipating a game that will not be like any other game I have seen previously, I am home. My standing joke is that I am not Canadian, but believe I was a goalpost at Maple Leaf Gardens in my last life. That building was perhaps my favorite, though I am loathe to admit, I never saw a game at the Montreal Forum. How is that possible? I've never seen a baseball game at Fenway Park. These things are incomprehensible to me. But, I have seen hundreds of games at the "fabulous" Forum and Staples Center, and I've been pretty audible and visible over the decades. Just ask Dave Hutchison and Glenn Goldup.

I hope you find a comfortable spot here, and I look forward to some memories, both past and future.

MN
3/3/08