Los Angeles Kings Activate Defenseman Jack Johnson; Boyle Returns to Manchester

January 17, 2009 by Leave a comment

EL SEGUNDO, CA — On January 17, hours before they are scheduled to face-off against the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center in Dallas (11:00 AM PST, televised on FSN West), the Los Angeles Kings activated defenseman Jack Johnson from injured reserve and assigned center Brian Boyle to the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, their primary minor league affiliate. Read more of this post

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Lombardi’s Rebuilding Plan Making Unexpected Progress

January 6, 2009 by 37 Comments

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW – PART 3: Frozen Royalty is back with Part 3 from an exclusive interview with Los Angeles Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi. In this, the third and final installment, Lombardi discusses the Kings’ player development and evaluation infrastructure and the progress made in his rebuilding plan. And in case you missed parts one and two, you can read them here. Part 1: Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi Excited About Defense and Part 2: Lombardi Talks About Goaltending, Top Defenseman Prospects.

LOS ANGELES — For long-time fans of the Los Angeles Kings, the wait has been interminable.

Aside from one run to the Stanley Cup Finals led by Wayne Gretzky in 1992-93, the Kings have been a big disappointment, qualifying for the playoffs just twenty-two times in their forty-plus seasons in the National Hockey League but advancing past the second round just once.

To be sure, that is a rather dismal record filled with mediocrity.

A big reason for that long history of mostly lousy hockey has been their propensity for trading away first round draft picks for way-over-the-hill NHL stars who gave the Kings next to nothing. Meanwhile, the traded away draft picks were used to select future NHL stars such as defenseman Raymond Bourque, to name just one out of way too many who went on to lead their teams to great success, including a number of Stanley Cup championships. Read more of this post

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Boyle Heads To Manchester To Develop A Bit Of A Mean Streak

November 30, 2008 by 6 Comments

EL SEGUNDO, CA — Despite the fact that Los Angeles Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi said that center Brian Boyle had a job to lose going into the Kings’ 2008-08 training camp, Boyle has done just that, as he was assigned to the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League (Kings’ primary minor league affiliate) on Sunday. Read more of this post

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LA Kings’ Improvements May Not Be Easy To See

November 3, 2008 by 4 Comments

LOS ANGELES — One month of the 2008-09 National Hockey League season is in the books and the Los Angeles Kings have been pretty much what was expected in terms of wins and losses.

As of this writing, the Kings have a 3-6-1 record, good for seven points. They are ranked last in the Pacific Division, already eleven points out of first place, and in the Western Conference standings, the Kings are also dead last—both are right where they were last season.

Against the rest of the league, the Kings are ranked 28th in the thirty-team NHL, just two points ahead of the last place New York Islanders.

The Kings ended the 2007-08 season in 29th place, tied in points with last-place Tampa Bay.

In short, the Kings are right about where most people expected them to be, showing no significant improvement in the standings over the previous season so far. But if you think the Kings have not improved over last season, guess again. Read more of this post

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Kings Come Up With The Effort, But Not The Win Against Flames

November 2, 2008 by 8 Comments

LOS ANGELES — The faces were long and the air was thick with disappointment in the Los Angeles Kings’ dressing room following their 3-2 defeat at the hands of the streaking Calgary Flames in front of an announced crowd of 16,279 fans at Staples Center on Saturday night.

The reason for the slumped shoulders and dejection came just 1:18 after Kings forward Oscar Moller scored his second goal of the game at 14:04 of the third period to tie the game, 2-2.

At the 16:23 mark, Flames center Daymond Langkow took advantage of a defensive lapse by the Kings to score an easy goal that gave the Flames their final margin of victory. Read more of this post

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