With the Leafs in town to take on the Kings Monday (and the Ducks Wednesday), it seems like a good time to ask that pressing question: What’s up with the Toronto franchise, which again seems like it’s mired in the muck as another coach has departed and the...
The Ducks retired Selanne’s number, as I earlier reported at IH, but here are some more details about the evening. The event was attended by a number of dignitaries, including the Ducks’ owners, the Samuelis, and Gary Bettman, who was roundly booed whenever his...
It’s hard to overestimate the impact a player like Teemu Selanne has on the hockey culture of a city. But I’m pretty sure that if you measured the temperature (not literally) of Winnipeg and Anaheim today, you’d get an idea of how much he’s meant to both places....
So the Kings finally made a lineup switch. Two, in fact, with Winnipeg coming in for a Saturday night contest which started, due to TV obligations, at 7pm rather than the familiar 7:30. The switches? First, Jamie McBain was out on defense, and Brayden McNabb...
The Kings are a remarkably consistent team. Their lineup rarely changes, except when someone gets hurt. They don’t even shift up their forward lines all that often. That’s only partly why I don’t feel so bad having left you in the dark for a couple of weeks while I...
I got out of Toronto this week just before the Maple Leafs fired their coach, an event which has caused a hubbub of opinion ranging from, “About time,” to “What now?” Truth be told, most pundits and fans knew that the move was coming. But much of the hockey discussion...
Perhaps it’s just that we’re partway into the year and all the main stories have been told, but the media surrounding the LA Kings this week has focused on players other than the stars. Here are some updates related to the depth of the roster. Mike Richards is...
All it takes is one save to make a career. Exaggeration? Maybe, but it’s one save repeatedly made, a great one, that has made Jonathan Quick the hero of the LA Kings nation. Monday night, he did it once more. Here’s the setup. The Bruins were in town after...
“This was clearly a mistake on our part and we accept full responsibility. It is incumbent upon us to be more vigilant in managing this situation to ensure that Slava’s allowable training activities always remain separate from the team.” That’s what the LA...
The twins were split up! That was the big news on Saturday as the Ducks went down 5-1 against San Jose after dropping a weak and uncoordinated effort to Chicago on Friday last. The reason Getzlaf and Perry were playing on different lines? To get them going, of course....
The Ducks have at least one thing to be thankful for this Black Friday. They’ve played 16 times in their team history on this day, and won nine of them. They’ve also lost four and tied three. Oh, there’s also the sunshine and the fact that it was 80 degrees outside...
The Anaheim Ducks felt they had enough D-men this week and shipped one, Bryan Allen, to Montreal for reclamation project Rene Bourque. The winger, who has over 140 goals in his decade-plus career, was lately in Hamilton with the Bulldogs after having cleared waivers...
Carolina came into LA Thursday night eighth in the East’s wildcard race. That means they were way out of the playoffs. And they didn’t have the excuse of having games in hand. They just haven’t won much this year yet, and most people who comment on their progress are...
Hockey in Florida. Dumb idea, right? Well, people often say so. Except that each team from the state has been in the Stanley Cup Final, one a winner (Tampa Bay) and the other a loser (Florida). Now here the two teams are making some noise in the East, with the...
Every year about this time, the Kings experience what psychiatrists would call a “fugue,” which is a time when someone suffers from loss of memory, begins a new life, and when she or he recovers, doesn’t remember the period of amnesia. Yes, friends, once again,...
I’m going to steal a joke from my friend Dennis Bernstein, writer for www.thefourthperiod.com, who said on twitter that the way the Kings are going, signing defensemen, their next one will be McFlurry. That’s because they’ve recently added McNabb and McBain, the...
Sunday night, the Anaheim Ducks looked to put a whumping on the Canucks something like the Kings had done 23 hours prior, when they’d beaten them 5-1 and chased Ryan Miller from the crease after two periods. They figured to be helped by two things: that Miller...
You know that saying, “Fifty is the new forty”? How about “red is the new black?” What about “Vancouver is the new Toronto”? In hockey terms, that’s just what’s happening. Here’s what I mean. Year after year, the Leafs’ games are played with promising...
SoCal NHL teams have made their doctors rich(er) this week, as both the Kings and the Ducks have been rolling sick wards in the past few days. The Kings’ woes were detailed in my story last night after their shootout loss to the Islanders. Now it’s the Ducks....
Can the LA Kings score goals? Not exactly. In their last six games, they’ve notched totals of 2-0-2-2-3-1. Can they score goals with Marian Gaborik in their lineup? Better question. But still, the answer’s no. The great catalyst of the 2014 playoffs is just back after...
You would really think, looking at the Buffalo Sabres roster, that the average age was about 34. Why’s that? Because the names have been so familiar for so long. Try Gionta, Gorges, Moulson, Meszaros, Stewart, and more. It’s like they’ve been around forever. In fact,...
Generally speaking, you don’t go to an Anaheim Ducks game to admire the defensive corps. Not that they’re not good. But the team has, for as long as they’ve been successful (say since about 2003) been focused on offense. OK, that’s kinda wrong. Think about the Cup...
The Minnesota Wild are frustrated. They have to be. They went to Anaheim Friday night having had a five-day layoff and lost a close 2-1 game, a game in which only a turnover in the late going gave the Ducks, in the body of Corey Perry, the chance to beat them. So they...
You look at the Ducks lineup, and the first thing you notice is who’s not there. That’s obvious. Selanne. Koivu. No, Finland isn’t on the naughty list. These guys just got old, and they faded into a happy sunset. Selanne’s sweater number will be retired later this...
So the Ryan Miller thing didn’t work out for them. The St. Louis Blues aren’t looking back. They’ve played three games this year, letting in just four goals in regulation and OT. On Thursday night against the Kings, the total of opponent scoring was simply nothing....
At what point is it not enough simply to have a hockey team in your town? That’s a question that many in Winnipeg might be asking right about now. This is the fourth season since the team’s move, and man, was the excitement high back in 2011 when they Jets were...
