LA Hockey Underground

Poor work and bad passing makes the Kings play poorly.  Poor work and bad passing makes the Kings play poorly.  Poor work and bad passing makes the Kings play poorly.  Poor work and bad passing makes the Kings play poorly.  Poor work and bad passing makes the Kings play poorly.  Poor work and bad passing makes the Kings play poorly.  Poor work and bad passing makes the Kings play poorly.  Poor work and bad passing makes the Kings play poorly.  I could go on, and maybe should go on.  Once again, the Kings passed extremely poorly for most of the night.  Passes handcuffed players, causing turnovers, loss of scoring chances, and magnificent scoring opportunities for the Wild, who magnanimously took advantage in the first period.  Maybe it's a lack of familiarity, but I really think it has a great deal to do with focus. To be fair, both play an issue.  The timing and spacing at this level is so critical, that with this many young pl...

Los Angeles is full of storied franchises.  There is an awful lot to talk about when it comes to sports in Los Angeles.  It seems though, that the media is blackballing the Kings. The Lakers are the greatest basketball organization on the planet.  A trip to Dodger stadium on a summer evening is one filled with a tradition of greatness, unmatched loyalty, and if you sit in the Reserve section, a view that simply can't be matched in all of sport.  The Rams, well they belong in L.A., even if Raider Nation still outnumbers them.  I don't begrudge the sports media for wanting to talk about these teams, though they would be smart to include the Raiders a bit more. This town loves sports so much, it even keeps spare teams lying around.  On off nights, if one has the fortitude, they could stomach the Clippers, or maybe even the sixteenth most popular football team in town, the Chargers, as they pretend they actually belong here.  Speaking of pretending they be...

I feel a bit like a kid waiting for Christmas to come.  It's right around the corner, school is out,  and all of the presents are sitting under the tree just staring at me.  I know it won't be long, but I just can't stand the anticipation anymore.  "When do we get to open presents?" As Kings fans, we are in a relatively nice situation.  There are a bunch of presents sitting under the tree.  The team has played some pretty decent hockey up to this point, which kind of leaves us wondering, what if...?  Can't these kids hurry up and develop?  Can't they just grow and learn faster?  Patience sucks. In my last blog, I hinted that it might be time for Byfield to move up and center for Carter and Athenasiou.  That got me thinking.  Should they maybe bring Rasmus Kupari up to play on the right of Villardi and Andersson?  If they did that, then why not at least give Turcotte a chance to center Fagemo  and Brown (It's not time for h...

Good grief, it was nice to see the Kings put some pucks in the net.  Aside from their temporary third period skid, the team looked pretty darn good last night.  That being said, St. Louis looked slow and lethargic.   It was nice to see some pucks find the twine.  Kings fans have seen enough of crummy low percentage shots from bad positions that do nothing but make opposing goalies laugh.  Not this team.  Even in our losses, there seems to be a higher percentage of high quality chances created.  That, combined with the increased skill of our younger players, has given this team some desperately needed scoring punch.   Now it's time to malign one of my favorite players on the team.  That isn't really fair, as I really can't say much bad about him, just that he seems a bit out of place.  Blake Lizotte brings it every game, and every shift.  I love what he adds to the team, but I can't help but wonder, if the team wouldn't be ...

 "Oh no.  We suck again."  Well, I may have gone a bit far with that.  This team is far from terrible, but growing pains are likely to be a common theme this season.  Despite loosing, there are some takeaways from Saturday's rather entertaining game.   It would appear that we are quite a ways from getting blown out of too many games.  While, as a fan, I would prefer the teams that I root for to be dominant night in and night out, I can live with being competitive.  I guess that is my bottom line.  Watching a team that simply isn't competitive is agitating at best, and I don't need that stress in my life.   The best thing that I saw Saturday night was some competitive pride from Kopi.  Early in the game, line three was by far the best line on the ice.  Granted this is in part because they aren't playing against the top lines, but it was clear that line one and Kopi himself took that to heart, and began to respond ...

It has been a long while.  It was nice to finish the season on a high note last year, but with the shortened COVID season, much was left up in the air.  This is a Kings team that is on the precipice.  Of what, is yet to be determined. The Good:      It appears that Blakey and Lucky weren't just hall of fame hockey players.  Based on early returns and the sometimes dubious reports of scouts, these two have been able to seeming arrest the free fall of the organization.  Amassing draft pics, making a couple of stellar low cost deals, and from what we can see so far, choosing quality players, the future actually looks fairly bright for this organization.  We are already starting to see dividends.      While I was hesitant to say goodbye to clutch veterans that were always in the right place at the right time, like Trevor Lewis, and Kyle Clifford, room had to be made for the youth movement.  Thanks to finally finding his health...