2009-2010 Regular Season Grades: Defensemen (Kings)

by Anne

Since I love both teams (almost equally), I have to grade the Kings' season as well. Here are the defensemen up first:

 #2 Matt Greene

75gm, 2G, 7A, +4, 17:28

Greener is a stay at home defenseman and he played as one. He and O'D were a consistent shut-down 3rd pairing. Greener dished out 238 hits and blocked 126 shots. And he's my favorite.

Grade: A+++  ok, FINE: B+

#3 Jack Johnson

80gm, 8G, 28A, -15, 22:36

Hey, if Jack Johnson was better at even strength hockey, he'd be real good. He contributes a great deal offensively and 13 of his points came on the power play. I know +/- is a nebulous stat but -15 is pretty rank. He can be amazing in the offensive zone but his neutral zone play leaves much to be desired still.

Grade: B

#5 Peter Harrold

39gm, 1G, 1A, -2, 9:14

He played 39 games?! Whatevs, Harry is somewhat useful because he's a magical wizard who can play fourth line winger AND defense. Magic, I tells ya. He was fine. He's good to have in a pinch. He's really good at picking up Ivanans gloves (as seen above).

Grade: C

 #6 Sean O'Donnell

78gm, 3G, 12A, +14, 18:44

O'D had a solid but typically O'D season. Although his three goals are three more than he had last season. One he had the courtesy of scoring while I was in the building. He may be 56 (age estimated) and look like the human embodiment of Launchpad McQuack but he was solid.

Grade: A-

 #7 Rob Scuderi

73gm, 0G, 11A, +16, 19:16

Scuds, like O'D, had a typically Scuds season. He wasn't brought in to ramp up the Kings' defensive goalscoring, he was brought in to be the responsible defensive defenseman he was in Pittsburgh. He was usually paired with Drew Doughty and look how his season turned out (below). 

Grade: A-

#8 Drew Doughty

82gm, 16G, 43A, +20, 24:58

Is there anything he can't do? Nope? Nothing? Yeah that's right. Drew Doughty is awesome and totally knocked it out of the park this season, to mix my sports analogies. His points were almost 50/50 special teams and even strength (31 PP, 28 5-on-5). He even dished out 157 hits, including several beautiful textbook hipchecks. I get a little scared thinking of him and Myers together on Team Canada a few years down the line. Amazing.

Grade: A+

#12 Randy Jones

48gm, 5G, 16, -3, 18:10

Umm, well, he's a 7th defensemen that had like four good games. Mostly he and Jack Johnson made me want to claw my eyes out and drink heavily. He was handy in a pinch when Scuds was hurt earlier in the season but mostly I wish they had left him in Philadelphia because he's creepy.

Grade: C+

#44 Davis Drewiske

42gm, 1G, 7A, -4, 15:14

Drew started the season strong while being paired with Greener but it didn't take long for him to slide into the doghouse. Then he got hurt and rarely made it back into the lineup. It was his first full season with the big club and it showed. I'm not optimistic for him to crack into the top 6 next season.

Grade: C

For the most part, the Kings defense group was solid. To compare, as a group, they were better overall than the Sabres. They're all better in their own zone than they were last season, except for Jack Johnson. They're reliable and confident and that's why we get players with confidence like Drew Doughty.

Overall Defense grade: B+

My preferred Kings defense corps.
Look how happy they all are to be together!