October 14, 2010
by Gann Matsuda
LOS ANGELES — Three games into the 2010-11 National Hockey League regular season and going back to the start of their 2010 training camp, perhaps the biggest concern for the Los Angeles Kings has been who is going to score goals besides the usual suspects, including Anze Kopitar, Ryan Smyth and Dustin Brown.
Perhaps the biggest question mark in that regard has been right wing Justin Williams, who was a solid contributor offensively last season, until he suffered a broken right leg at Phoenix on December 26, 2009.
Williams, who turned thirty years old on October 4, missed 28 games because of the injury, and was nowhere near the same player he was prior to suffering the injury upon his return.
At no time was that more clear than when he was scratched from the lineup after the Kings lost Game 1 of their Western Conference Quarter Final series at Vancouver on April 15, 2010.
Williams sat out three games of that series, returning in Game 5, a 6-4 Canucks win, giving Vancouver a 3-2 series lead.
Add to that his injury-filled 2008-09 season when he played in just 44 games for the Carolina Hurricanes and the Kings, Williams’ last two NHL seasons were memorable for the wrong reasons.
“I’ve had a couple of tough years that I just want to forget about and put behind me,” he said. Read more of this post
