.

The lockout benefited none more than the Kings. There’s gold in this mess.

112 agonizing days later, it’s finally over. All is back in gear for the NHL.

The league’s operations have quickly gone from a stand-still state to full-on mayhem. The Kings are expected to start training camp, which would last approximately one week, as early as Wednesday. As far as an opening regular season date is concerned, Staples Center has an evening (7:30PM) slot available on January 16th, or a matinee ordeal (12:00PM) on January 19th.

Whichever date is decided upon, it will be sure to include the long-awaited ceremony that sees the Kings raise their first ever Stanley Cup banner into the rafters of Staples Center.

All we really know now is the basics, but it’s the most important information – that being a guaranteed start to the season. The Kings, along with all other 29 NHL clubs, will play a shortened schedule of either 48 or 50 games. Regular season length, along with official schedules, are expected to be decided upon in the next couple of days.

The Kings will not host the New York Rangers on opening night, as originally planned in the NHL‘s original 2012-2013 schedule. Expect to see a Pacific Division opponent, or another Western Conference rival, such as the Vancouver Canucks.

The opponent is still unknown, but everyone will be home.

Catching an Aeroplane

Now boarding: Nine players will be on immediate paths back to Los Angeles from other hockey clubs in the next couple of days. Three of those players will return from European confines, four from the Kings’ AHL affiliate in New Hampshire, one from the ECHL, and one from the CHL.

Trevor Lewis – #22

Utah Grizzlies (ECHL)
GP: 6 G: 3 A: 6 PTS: 9

Alec Martinez – #27

Allen Americans (CHL), TPS Turku (SM-liiga)
GP: 11 G: 1 A: 1 PTS: 2 – *SM-liiga
GP: 3 G: 1 A: 1 PTS: 2 – *CHL

Jordan Nolan – #71

Manchester Monarchs (AHL)
GP: 21 G: 2 A: 4 PTS: 6

Andrei Loktionov – #48

Manchester Monarchs (AHL)
GP: 26 G: 6 A: 12 PTS: 18

Vyacheslav Voynov – #26

Manchester Monarchs (AHL)
GP: 35 G: 7 A: 9 PTS: 16

Dwight King – #74

Manchester Monarchs (AHL)
GP: 28 G: 5 A: 12 PTS: 17

Jonathan Bernier – #45

Heilbronn Falken (2.GBun)
GP: 13 W: 6 L: 7 GAA: 2.57

Dustin Brown – #23

Zurich (Swiss-A)
GP: 16 G: 8 A: 5 PTS: 13

Anze Kopitar – #11

Mora IK (Allsvenskan)
GP: 27 G: 9 A: 20 PTS: 29

Where are they now?: As for the rest of the Kings’ roster, they’ll either return from their homes where they’ve been conditioning and playing through the duration of the lockout, or continue to settle in Southern California where a handful of players on the club have been stationed.

Comeback effect

Lockout’s opened it up: Let’s start with the withdrawal effects the lockout had, and there weren’t many. Kings fans are more than used to a lengthy offseason, which had a commond trend of starting in early April, and stretching all the way to October.

That’s an estimated four months without hockey each year in Los Angeles.

This year, and fresh off of a Stanley Cup victory which saw this club play until June 11th, fans suffered through a six-month hiatus. If the joy of a Stanley Cup didn’t cushion that extra two months of life without the NHL, then you’re pretty hard to please. Especially, considering it was the franchise’s first championship in it’s 45-year existence.

I find it hard to imagine how things have been for fans of the other 29 NHL teams. Talk about a nightmare. We’ve had it good, folks.

Jonathan Quick, who underwent back surgery in June, has been granted much-needed time to recover from his operation because of the lockout. Quick practiced with the Manchester Monarchs numerous times during the work stoppage, but never saw any live action.

If you think a well-rested and recovered Jonathan Quick is a good thing, consider the fact that the Kings have their entire Stanley Cup winning roster intact from last season. This doesn’t happen often to championship teams, but the Kings hold what is quite possibly the sexiest contract line-up in the NHL.

Anze Kopitar will be absent for a bit. Don’t lose sleep over it.

And what may be most vital here, is the Kings reeling free from any symptoms connected with the NHL‘s notorious string of “Stanley Cup hangover” effects. They played until the early summer, they partied aplenty, but there were more than three months of extra rest to compliment the beauty of last season’s victory.

Really now, it’s been good.

We’ll be with you on all counts leading up to puck-drop.

Been there

How about doing it again. Wouldn’t that be a beauty.

Episode 176: KingsCast Holiday Compilation – HERE
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