Hrmph

by Anne

I am entirely NOT pleased with last night's Kings' game. They played a decent first period (as per usual) a craptacular 2nd (also typical) and a great 3rd (mostly) then Scott Parse, eager to prove himself in his call-up, scored in a comeback to tie the game at 3! Woo! Happy dance! Go Scooter! Hooray!

Then, they friggin' let Eric friggin' Belanger score TWELVE seconds later to give the Wild back the lead and THAT'S how the game ended. Repulsive.

Jack Johnson, Dustin Brown, Michal Handzus, Alexander Frolov, and Drew Doughty are all fired for allowing that to happen. 

Ok, well Dewey's not fired, because he scored, so he'll just be on probation. Although his goal was the definition of messy:

He scored a goal like that.

I love Jack Johnson immensely but he's still fired. Same goes for Brownie. Frolov was actually fired on the Wild's 2nd goal when he made the ill-advised decision to leave the PK to get a new stick as he floated through the neutral zone. Fool.

Also, please go away:

For non-Kings fans who read this blog, the Kings' most productive line of the season has been Anze Kopitar centering Justin Williams and Ryan Smyth. Smyttie was out for a while and came back last game and then Willy broke his leg/ankle and now they need to slot in yet another new winger. They chose Teddy Purcell. NO. If Wayne Simmonds isn't the other winger on the top line the next game, I'm going to hold my breath until he is. You're on notice, Terry Murray.

Quick reference guide, Wayne Simmonds is the Kings' winger equivalent of Paul Gaustad. Young, plays hard every shift, never quits, stands up for his teammates, solid in both zones, not afraid to mix it up and go into the corners. Aka, I love him and I'm biased.

Next game is Wednesday in Calgary. I'm watching you, Murray...

The S.S...S. Kings

by Anne

My sister often rags on me for talking about the Kings or any other NHL team too much in my Sabres blog, however, I cannot help but discuss my loyalties here.

The Los Angeles Kings, quiet on July 1, have made a few splashes in the last few days. First was signing The Piece. And then, on Friday night, the Kings traded prolific blogger Tom Preissing and "mobile" defenseman Kyle Quincey to Colorado for A SCORING WINGER... Ryan Smyth formerly of the Oilers, Islanders and Avs. Preissing went to college in Colorado, so hopefully he'll enjoy it there, and maybe stay up with the big club. He was put on waivers this year and spent a good deal of time in Manchester.

Smyth actually had a no-trade clause, but waived it when presented with the trade to LA. Most likely because he played with Greener and Stolly in Edmonton and they were BFFs... ok well, they did play together in Edmonton, that much is true. The blog post I just read spelled Greene wrong. Disaster. Anyway, LA has been rebuilding the smart way. If you compare the bottom teams of two years ago, Tampa and Los Angeles, the Kings took the more conservative route by not going crazy and signing tons of big-name free agents. They know re-building takes time and they're doing it through drafts, trades and smart free-agent signings. Would Mike Komisarek have helped the Kings? Absolutely. Jay Bouwmeester? No question. However, they were too pricey for the Kings plan, and so they didn't go crazy on that front. Well done, Dean.

Its pretty exciting that the Kings went out and got a player like Smyth. They need the veteran experience, playoff experience and scoring capability. They need a player like him and a player like Scuderi will help, definitely. They have two great puck movers in Doughty and Johnson, so Quincey was excellent trade fodder.

With Schenn, Scuderi and Smyth coming up soon, (Schenn maybe not quite yet, but...) things are looking bright for the rebuilding Los Angeles Kings.

Smyth will also help this one out, I'm sure

Let's Go Kings!