The summer winds down as LA Kings fans get anxious. Keith and Chris break down the Willie Mitchell signing, talk about the “D” in a new segment called ‘Get Defensive,’ take your questions from FaceBook and say goodbye to some old friends in “See Ya!” fashion.
If you had resigned yourself to the fact that the Los Angeles Kings would play three rookies on defense this year, you can breathe a bit easier as Willie Mitchell has signed a 2-year contract with the team today. Mitchell spent most of last season with a concussion but he’s a solid defensive defenseman that will look great with Jack Johnson. Enjoy the vid!
A blast from the KingsCast past. In this previously released episode (#8), Keith and Chris visit Kings and Hockey superfan Joe “the Collector’s” pad and check out his extensive and somewhat insane memorabilia collection. To be featured on your own episode of “Fanz” please send pics and a brief description of your collection and we’ll try and get you on-air.
Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty continues his series of summer interviews with soon-to-be fan favorite Kyle Clifford. Many expect Clifford to make the team and be tough. But is there more there than just a tough guy?
EL SEGUNDO, CA — When the Los Angeles Kings selected left wing Kyle Clifford in the second round (35th overall) of the 2009 National Hockey League Entry Draft, it was because he was able to contribute offensively as well as play a tough, physical game and drop the gloves when needed.
The 6-2, 208-pound native of Ayr, Ontario scored just one goal with 14 assists for 15 points in 66 games in the 2007-08 season with the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League (his first season in the OHL) while racking up 83 penalty minutes.
Clifford improved in a big way after that, scoring 16 goals and adding twelve assists for 28 points with 133 penalty minutes in sixty games in 2008-09, and topping that in 2009-10 with 28 goals and 29 assists for 57 points with 111 penalty minutes.
Clifford’s play with the Colts last season earned him a call-up to the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League (Kings’ primary minor league affiliate) on an amateur tryout agreement for the AHL playoffs once the Colts’ season was over. But, as Clifford discovered, having a bit of a scoring touch in Canadian junior hockey does not necessarily translate to higher levels.
Indeed, Clifford failed to score in seven playoff games, although he did record two assists with twelve penalty minutes and even spent some time on the Monarchs’ top line with Kings’ forward prospects Andrei Loktionov and Justin Azevedo.
“I was able to play with a couple of skilled guys like that,” said Clifford. “I just stuck to my game, mixed it up a little bit, threw some checks and tried to make a little bit of room for them.”
Despite his efforts, the Monarchs were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals by the eventual Calder Cup Champion Hershey Bears.
“You have to fight for every inch, especially at that high level, Clifford stressed. “It was a great group of guys. We really showed well the whole playoff run there—we were the underdogs for most of it. I felt like we put in a great effort against the Hershey Bears. It was a little disappointing, the way it ended, but I thought we really pulled through.”
Read the rest on Frozen Royalty.
The summer for the Los Angeles Kings has been one of the slowest in history. In this episode we talk about the signing of Alexei Ponikarovsky and the many players that have worn the 27 in the past. We also discuss the team moving into next season, look at some crazy Kings schwag on the market and say “See Ya” to a few former players.
Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty had an opportunity to sit down with new Kings assistant coach John Stevens at Development Camp this summer. Here’s his interview.
EL SEGUNDO, CA — While fans of the Los Angeles Kings are up in arms over their team’s inability to improve themselves to this point in the 2010 off-season, venting their frustrations in no uncertain terms on virtually every Kings-related forum on the World Wide Web, life does indeed go on.
With the departure of assistant coach Mark Hardy, who resigned on June 11 (see LA Kings Assistant Coach Mark Hardy Resigns), the Kings strengthened their reputation as “Flyers West” when they hired John Stevens as an assistant coach on June 24, 2010 (see Los Angeles Kings Name John Stevens As Assistant Coach).
Stevens, 44, earned a 120-109-34 record as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, a position he accepted on October 22, 2006, after the Flyers got off to a 1-6-1 start that season.
The native of Campbellton, New Brunswick began that season as an assistant coach and wound up leading the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2007-08, before being fired on December 5, 2009, after the team was shutout in two consecutive games.
Coming from the Flyers, Stevens was familiar to Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi and Vice President/Assistant General Manager Ron Hextall, who both worked for the Flyers before joining the Kings.
Stevens should be able to mesh well with Kings head coach Terry Murray, who was a Flyers assistant coach under Stevens.
“Terry and I worked together for a couple of years,” said Stevens. “When you work with another coach for that length of time, you’re pretty comfortable with the way things are run.”
“It’s a great organization,” added Stevens. “Development Camp has been pretty neat for me to be involved with, to see how things are run. It’s only been a few days, but it’s been great.”
Although Stevens has only had a couple of months to get his feet wet with the Kings, so far, so good.
Read the rest on Frozen Royalty.
The auditions continue for the 2010-2011 Los Angeles Kings Ice Crew and the good folks over at Kings Vision have another video up. This important series of try-outs determine which hot bodies women get to pose for the bestselling LA Kings Ice Crew calendar. Enjoy the vid!
Picking up where the original, ‘Waiting for Kovalchuk,’ left off, this sequel captures the continued back and forth uncertainty of the Ilya Kovalchuk saga, including Kings fans reactions to him ‘signing’ in New Jersey.
It’s that time of year again. It’s the dead of summer and the Los Angeles Kings are looking for hot nice girls to be a part of their Ice Crew. Enjoy the vid!
Shot over 15 days, this documentary/short film captures the up and down roller coaster ride of the Ilya Kovalchuk saga with the Los Angeles Kings.
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