I have returned from Frozen Fury!! The game was… so-so, but they won 5-3 so it was a good ending for Kings fans. I will have a full recap in a day or two, so stay tuned!

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On the news front, according to TSN, all roster questions have been answered regarding who will make the lineup for the season opener.

• Brayden Schenn has been returned to the Brandon Wheat Kings
• Jonathan Bernier has been sent to the Manchester Monarchs along with Thomas Hickey and Kevin Westgarth

This means a few things. The first being the 4th line center position might possibly just go Peter Harrold. Secondly, Erik Ersberg will take the backup role on the bench while Jonathan Quick starts the season in net hopefully being just as awesome as he was at the end of last season. Thirdly, Raitis Ivanans is a better player than Westgarth, which is something I’ve thought from Day Uno.

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Another update from last week (23rd): Rich Hammond of the Daily News will be newly employed by the Los Angeles Kings to basically do the same exact thing he was doing before. The most important part of this news is he will be able to provide for Kings fans real coverage on the road. The lack of road coverage for almost all teams is pretty despicable so I see this as a GREAT THING. He reiterated that he will not be censored by the Kings and will have full editorial control over his content. Naive me will believe this until his content proves otherwise. I’m really excited for this venture the Kings have decided to take and am happy for Rich Hammond for being the first beat writer to gain this type of recognition, visibility, and clearance by the team.

When the story broke, Frozen Royalty gave immediate props, Jon Moncrief was quick to the draw, and James Mirtle of course took note. Today Puck Daddy wrote an interesting writeup of what this could mean for Kings fans and how they get their team news.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – After the first game of their 2009-10 Rookie Tournament, a 6-1 blowout loss to the young prospects of the Phoenix Coyotes, one might think that the Los Angeles Kings’ prospects should have stuck with the drills they were working on during the first three days of their rookie camp.

Indeed, the Kings prospects were a step slow from the opening face-off on Wednesday night at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California. They were outworked and outhustled throughout by the Coyotes prospects who seemed to be intent on skating on, over and through their counterparts.

In that first game, the Kings took some early penalties and immediately put themselves at a big disadvantage and things spiraled out of control from there.

“You get four power plays in the first period, that really set the tone [for Phoenix],” said Kings head coach Terry Murray. “We were outshot 17-4 in the first period. It gets to be an easier game once you get a 2-3 goal lead.”

“They’re good, young players,” added Murray. “They’re talented guys. They’ve got to start playing more together. There was a lot of individual stuff. Whenever you get behind by a couple of goals you want to try to do too much by yourself and, as a result, it goes the other way.”

“Especially in that first period, once you get behind the eight-ball like that it’s really tough to chip away when you’re down,” said Kings defenseman prospect Thomas Hickey. “That’s was the biggest problem. Tomorrow, our focus will have to be on starting [our] game early and getting more shots because they really outplayed us in the first and that set the tone.”

“That’s where the young guys need to manage the game better,” said Murray. “When you’re playing against a team that’s going to line up at the blue line, like they did when they had a 2-3 goal lead, the open ice is what’s behind them. Again, that’s where you get into too much individual stuff, stick-handling, over-thinking and trying to create something that’s not there.”

The Coyotes prospects were intent on taking the game to the Kings physically, and it was evident that Hickey was their primary target. But Hickey did not help himself in that regard, either.

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty.

During Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty’s time at development camp this weekend, he got a chance to visit some of the tougher new additions to the LA Kings prospect pool. This is some good insight into what is, right now, an area of opportunity for Los Angeles.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — The Los Angeles Kings 2009 Development Camp for their young prospects. which ended on July 12, was rather different from camps held in previous years for several reasons.

One was the fact that only three days of the week-long camp were open to the public and the media to allow the young players to better focus on the task at hand.

But another more striking reason was that compared to previous camps, there seemed to be a greater intensity during both the scrimmages and the practice sessions and much of that may have been due to the fact that the Kings have brought in a number of prospects who not only are capable of playing a physical brand of hockey, but their toughness and fierce, competitive nature extends into their psyche as well, something that has been somewhat lacking throughout the Kings’ system.

One such player is their first round pick (fifth overall) in the 2009 National Hockey League Entry Draft, Brayden Schenn, a wet-behind-the-ears seventeen-year-old center from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

“The one thing about this guy is that his number one attribute is his competitiveness,” Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi at the draft in Montreal on June 26. “He’s a playoff-type player. I know that’s what [Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian] Burke saw in him and that’s certainly what we liked about him.”

Read the rest on Frozen Royalty

Lost in the news of the earth shattering Scudari signing, Kevin Westgarth has been re-signed to a new 3-Year deal. It’s pretty sad that this is the 2nd biggest signing of the off-season for the Kings… but I’m somewhat satisfied with it. Sure, the 0 points in 9 games with 9 penalty minutes is nothing special and the core of his existence as “Ivanans Replacement” is a tad distracting, I feel the need to root for him. Good sign, now please improve dramatically.

LOS ANGELES — The National Hockey League completed its 2009 Entry Draft on Saturday in Montreal and just like on Friday, there were no major surprises from the Los Angeles Kings, who selected nine players in rounds 2-7 and were involved in four minor trades.

One of those trades sent center Brian Boyle (photo at left; courtesy Los Angeles Kings) to the New York Rangers in exchange for the Rangers’ third round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

In 28 games with the Kings this past season, the 24-year-old native of Hingham, Massachusetts scored four goals and added an assist with 42 penalty minutes. But he shuttled back and forth between Los Angeles and the Kings’ primary minor league affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, where he scored ten goals and added eleven assists for 21 points with 73 penalty minutes in 42 games.

Read the Rest on Frozen Royalty

DRAFT COVERAGE: Frozen Royalty was at the headquarters of the Los Angeles Kings at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California to cover the first round of the 2009 National Hockey League Entry Draft; includes interviews with Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi, Kings scouts and their first round draft selection. Also includes audio interviews.

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EL SEGUNDO, CA — If you passed out during the major snoozefest otherwise known as the first round of the 2009 National Hockey League Entry Draft, held on Friday evening in Montreal, chances are you were not alone.

Indeed, watching this year’s first round of the NHL draft was about as entertaining as watching paint dry. Maybe less.

Even for a hockey junkie like myself, I’m leaning towards the paint.

Last year, there were several trades during the first round, which obviously made it more interesting, including one involving the Los Angeles Kings to open the evening’s festivities.

Read the Rest on Frozen Royalty

With the fifth overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the Los Angeles Kings selected Brayden Schenn from the Brandon Wheat Kings (subsequently pissing off Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke). This tough brother of Luke Schenn is a solid two-way forward who isn’t afraid to use the body and can certainly chip in offensively.

The 1st round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft is here and Keith Korneluk heads, by subway, to the Los Angeles Kings Draft Party (and first #NHLTweetUp) in Downtown LA. In this episode, we give you some footage from the event as well as some analysis on the LA Kings 1st round selection of Brayden Schenn.