Kings of the Hill
The Kings simply look magnificent, awesome, awe-inspiring, and breathtaking during their cup victory in Season 6. Can they duplicate that feat again this year?
In a surprising twist of fortunes, the Los Angeles Kings find themselves sitting atop the Western Conference as the league enters the second half of the season.
While some of the credit for that likely falls to the usual heavyweights in the conference, such as the Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche, all having somewhat poor seasons this year -especially in the case of Colorado- the Kings themselves also deserve a large degree of credit as well.
Their .647 winning percentage actually ranks Los Angeles third in the conference, just behind Calgary (.670) and San Jose (.652) but the Kings have earned 66 points so far this year and are on pace to finish the season with 106 points. One heck of a positive result for a team that was viewed as being over the hill by many before the season began.
"We may be older than most teams, but we aren't decreped," said elder statesman Brian Rolston who, along with Martin Straka, is one of two 40-year-olds on the team. "We can still play in this league and our record shows that.
Brian Rolston's had a tought season for the Kings so far.
In fact, Los Angeles is only getting better as the season wears along, going 7-1-2 in the last 10 games to give them a three point cushion on Calgary in the Western Conference.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this success is that the Kings are doing this despite not having Pierre-Marc Bouchard all season. The winger has been embroiled in a bitter contract dispute all season.
Without the offense from Bouchard, the Kings haven't missed a beat, relying on a strong defense to carry them instead. Just like Colorado, the Kings are averaging 2.88 goals per game, which is exactly the same as the league average. Defensively though, Los Angeles sits ninth, allowing just 2.53 goals per game. At times that defense can be downright suffocating though, with netminder Tim Thomas posting six shutouts already this season, good for fifth best in the league and one off the league lead shared by four other netminders.
"I just go out and play my best and try to give the team a chance to win," said Thomas, "and with this crew usually that's been good enough."
Once again, Tim Thomas has been award-caliber in net for the Kings.
Whether or not it will hold up could be a key question, but for it to maintain, the Kings need to shore things up on special teams. Overall, Los Angeles sits 24th on the powerplay and 26th in terms of penalty killing.
It needs to be better for sure, but we're working on that. We also have a lot of leaders on this team, so I expect this to be taken care of sooner rather than later," explained Head Coach Alain Vigneault.
Things would be worse if not for the surprising efforts of defenseman Radek Martinek. Usually known for his defnsive prowess, Martinek has erupted this year with 10 goals and 31 points. Seven of his 10 tallies have come on the powerplay.
Radek Martinek would play through a broken neck for Los Angeles.
"I'm doing job coach ask of me. It hard but fun, and I will not fail him," said Martinek in broken English.
Castoffs such as Carl Soderberg and Viktor Kozlov have also stepped forward and contributed to the Kings offense, but the team will need more firepower behind their two top centres in Evgeni Malkin and Paul Stastny if they hope to continue to compete.
One such option would be Rolston. While the veteran is no longer counted on as a 30-goal option, scoring just once and adding two assists in 49 games is also well below what the club thought they were getting. Another option may be to sign 2010 first round draft pick Alexander Burmistrov to a contract.
Is Alexander Burmistrov the answer to Los Angeles' offensive needs?
In the meantime, Los Angles will continue to plug along. When once the playoffs were the goal for this season, now those goals have become much higher indeed, and all signs point to this year being a huge success for the Kings. But will they be crowned?
The Kings simply look magnificent, awesome, awe-inspiring, and breathtaking during their cup victory in Season 6. Can they duplicate that feat again this year?
In a surprising twist of fortunes, the Los Angeles Kings find themselves sitting atop the Western Conference as the league enters the second half of the season.
While some of the credit for that likely falls to the usual heavyweights in the conference, such as the Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche, all having somewhat poor seasons this year -especially in the case of Colorado- the Kings themselves also deserve a large degree of credit as well.
Their .647 winning percentage actually ranks Los Angeles third in the conference, just behind Calgary (.670) and San Jose (.652) but the Kings have earned 66 points so far this year and are on pace to finish the season with 106 points. One heck of a positive result for a team that was viewed as being over the hill by many before the season began.
"We may be older than most teams, but we aren't decreped," said elder statesman Brian Rolston who, along with Martin Straka, is one of two 40-year-olds on the team. "We can still play in this league and our record shows that.
Brian Rolston's had a tought season for the Kings so far.
In fact, Los Angeles is only getting better as the season wears along, going 7-1-2 in the last 10 games to give them a three point cushion on Calgary in the Western Conference.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this success is that the Kings are doing this despite not having Pierre-Marc Bouchard all season. The winger has been embroiled in a bitter contract dispute all season.
Without the offense from Bouchard, the Kings haven't missed a beat, relying on a strong defense to carry them instead. Just like Colorado, the Kings are averaging 2.88 goals per game, which is exactly the same as the league average. Defensively though, Los Angeles sits ninth, allowing just 2.53 goals per game. At times that defense can be downright suffocating though, with netminder Tim Thomas posting six shutouts already this season, good for fifth best in the league and one off the league lead shared by four other netminders.
"I just go out and play my best and try to give the team a chance to win," said Thomas, "and with this crew usually that's been good enough."
Once again, Tim Thomas has been award-caliber in net for the Kings.
Whether or not it will hold up could be a key question, but for it to maintain, the Kings need to shore things up on special teams. Overall, Los Angeles sits 24th on the powerplay and 26th in terms of penalty killing.
It needs to be better for sure, but we're working on that. We also have a lot of leaders on this team, so I expect this to be taken care of sooner rather than later," explained Head Coach Alain Vigneault.
Things would be worse if not for the surprising efforts of defenseman Radek Martinek. Usually known for his defnsive prowess, Martinek has erupted this year with 10 goals and 31 points. Seven of his 10 tallies have come on the powerplay.
Radek Martinek would play through a broken neck for Los Angeles.
"I'm doing job coach ask of me. It hard but fun, and I will not fail him," said Martinek in broken English.
Castoffs such as Carl Soderberg and Viktor Kozlov have also stepped forward and contributed to the Kings offense, but the team will need more firepower behind their two top centres in Evgeni Malkin and Paul Stastny if they hope to continue to compete.
One such option would be Rolston. While the veteran is no longer counted on as a 30-goal option, scoring just once and adding two assists in 49 games is also well below what the club thought they were getting. Another option may be to sign 2010 first round draft pick Alexander Burmistrov to a contract.
Is Alexander Burmistrov the answer to Los Angeles' offensive needs?
In the meantime, Los Angles will continue to plug along. When once the playoffs were the goal for this season, now those goals have become much higher indeed, and all signs point to this year being a huge success for the Kings. But will they be crowned?
