I saw Hickey at Frozen Fury last year and thought he could make the team. He was solid with Manchester down the stretch and, I believe is ready to make the NHL. I could see Lombardi giving him more time in Manchester and using him as an injury call-up. Either way, this draft pick that made us all go “WTF!?” is looking like a solid pick-up.

Voynov I don't think is nearly ready but will be interesting to see.

does it mean they'll make the playoffs? well the odds just went up precipitously. it will be interesting to see how this team gels with all the new shiny parts, and watching the line combos stabilize and work themselves out. but in Terry Murray's system, a lot of good is bound to come out of our lineup this year. under several other coaches, I might not be as optimistic, or just a bit more skeptical. and the goaltending, for once, instead of being a weakness or the usual big question mark, may actually be a borderline strength. they've got 3 levels of good between the pipes. Quick = quite quite good. Ersberg = consistently good & solid. Bernier = young punk good

the one thing about hockey vs. baseball is, if you're at a hockey game you're pretty much already spending $30 to be there, unless some buddy had an extra ticket and spotted you. but in baseball a bleacher seat is really only worth about $10. so if you're paying $40 for all you can eat, you're spending $30 just to eat bad hot dogs and nachos. and it doesn't even include a voucher for like 1 free beer. just sodas.

I saw Hickey at Frozen Fury last year and thought he could make the team. He was solid with Manchester down the stretch and, I believe is ready to make the NHL. I could see Lombardi giving him more time in Manchester and using him as an injury call-up. Either way, this draft pick that made us all go “WTF!?” is looking like a solid pick-up.

Voynov I don't think is nearly ready but will be interesting to see.

does it mean they'll make the playoffs? well the odds just went up precipitously. it will be interesting to see how this team gels with all the new shiny parts, and watching the line combos stabilize and work themselves out. but in Terry Murray's system, a lot of good is bound to come out of our lineup this year. under several other coaches, I might not be as optimistic, or just a bit more skeptical. and the goaltending, for once, instead of being a weakness or the usual big question mark, may actually be a borderline strength. they've got 3 levels of good between the pipes. Quick = quite quite good. Ersberg = consistently good & solid. Bernier = young punk good

the one thing about hockey vs. baseball is, if you're at a hockey game you're pretty much already spending $30 to be there, unless some buddy had an extra ticket and spotted you. but in baseball a bleacher seat is really only worth about $10. so if you're paying $40 for all you can eat, you're spending $30 just to eat bad hot dogs and nachos. and it doesn't even include a voucher for like 1 free beer. just sodas.

Joe, I still disagree that we need to get another scoring forward. Stick Moller on the third line and he can score. Hell, we've got Purcell too.

The fourth line is the most intriguing. They need to shut it down. So far I don't see anyone who can do that there. This is a good year for Trevor Lewis to make an impression.

Glad to see that Calder's name is no where to be found on the kings roster

Remember last year's defensive corps in the days leading up to the season? At this time last year, the Kings didnt have Quincey, didnt have O'Donnell, had just traded away Lubo and just lost Blake (good or bad, he was penciled in to play significant minute by most fans). We were accepting Denis Gauthier as a 2nd pairing guy, didnt know what we were getting in Matt Greene and were warming up to the idea that our 2nd overall pick was going to have to play significant minutes as an 18 year old.

Fast-forward to this season. Doughty established himself as a legitimate top pairing guy, Quincey was good enough to help us land Smyth, Quincey was expendible because of the Scuderi acquisition, we know that we have a warrior in Matt Greene and have 3 great prospects that will fight for the 6th and final defenseman spot in the lineup. I have high hopes for Voinov, Hickey AND Teubert– and as of this season, there's only room for one of them.

The difference between last season and this season is that we dont NEED all of those rookies to succeed. There's enough organizational depth that there's real competition for the first time in a long time.

Yeah, cautiously optomistic.