There will be 60-plus Kings players on the ice tomorrow for the first day of training-camp practices, starting at 8:30 a.m. at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. All sessions are free to the public. The players will be split into three groups for the first four days of camp, with each group getting 90 minutes of ice time. The full schedule and roster can be found by clicking here. Drew Doughty is listed as being a part of one of the groups, but won’t be on the ice until/unless he is signed. Below, I have posted the participants of each group, by position. If you remember back a couple weeks, Terry Murray talked about how he often uses these groups to test line-combination chemistry. Based on that, might Murray be looking at lines that look something like this?
GROUP A
Goalies
Jonathan Bernier, Michael Morrison
Defensemen
Andrew Campbell, Nicolas Deslauriers, Thomas Hickey, Jack Johnson, Ray Macias, Rob Scuderi, Teigan Zahn
Centers
Justin Azevedo, Taylor Carnevale, Trevor Lewis, Mike Richards
Left wingers
Simon Gagne, Dwight King, Brad Richardson, C.J. Stretch
Right wingers
Dustin Brown, Justin Johnson, Tyler Toffoli, Kevin Westgarth
GROUP B
Goalies
Christopher Gibson, Jonathan Quick
Defensemen
Shaun Heshka, David Kolomatis, Willie Mitchell, Patrick Mullen, Jake Muzzin, Alex Roach, (Drew Doughty)
Centers
Anze Kopitar, Andrei Loktionov, Cam Paddock, Linden Vey
Left wingers
Ethan Moreau, Jordan Nolan, Dustin Pennner, Michael Schumacher
Right wingers
Trent Hunter, Brandon Kozun, J.D. Watt, Justin Williams
GROUP C
Goalies
Martin Jones, Jeff Zatkoff
Defensemen
Michal Cajkovsky, Davis Drewiske, Pierre Durepos, Matt Greene, Alec Martinez, Colin Miller, Viatcheslav Voynov
Centers
Andy Andreoff, Marc-Andre Cliche, Jarret Stoll, Jordan Weal
Left wingers
Kyle Clifford, Rich Clune, Ray Kaunisto, Rob Mignardi
Right wingers
Robert Czarnik, Michael Cantor, David Meckler, Scott Parse
So it appears the Kings have another camp invite who wasn't listed anywhere else, Cam Paddock. He's a career journeyman, I'm guessing maybe someone being looked at to fill a spot in Ontario or a veteran for Manchester. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/p....php?pid=50684
It has three guys who aren't very good defensively, but all three guys should be able to bring their own element to that line. You have some speed, skill, toughness, faceoff ability. The only thing you worry about is them being caught against a #1 line on the road.
Happy to see this is the line Murray is going to start with for now, puts to rest those hideous rumors of Ethan Moreau getting a look in that 3rd line spot.
Sunday, Sept. 18
Group B – Practice – NHL Ice — 8:30–10 a.m.
Group B – Practice – NHL Ice — 10:20–11 a.m.
Group B – Skate – Olympic Ice — 11:05–11:30 a.m.
Group C – Practice – NHL Ice — 11:20 a.m.-12:50 p.m.
Group C – Practice – NHL Ice — 1:10–1:50 p.m.
Group C – Skate – Olympic Ice — 1:55–2:20 p.m.
Group A – Practice – NHL Ice — 2:10–3:40 p.m.
Group A – Practice – NHL Ice — 4–4:40 p.m.
Group A – Skate – NHL Ice — 4:45–5:10 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 18
Group B – Practice – NHL Ice — 8:30–10 a.m.
Group B – Practice – NHL Ice — 10:20–11 a.m.
Group B – Skate – Olympic Ice — 11:05–11:30 a.m.
Group C – Practice – NHL Ice — 11:20 a.m.-12:50 p.m.
Group C – Practice – NHL Ice — 1:10–1:50 p.m.
Group C – Skate – Olympic Ice — 1:55–2:20 p.m.
Group A – Practice – NHL Ice — 2:10–3:40 p.m.
Group A – Practice – NHL Ice — 4–4:40 p.m.
Group A – Skate – NHL Ice — 4:45–5:10 p.m.
You guys are lucky that all the sessions are open to the public. Here in Winnipeg, only two Saturday sessions will be open to the public, one of which is on a game day in Nashville so alot of players will be gone. It's probably since I went to a rookie camp practice and had a hard time finding a place to sit in the Moose practice rink(capacity prob 500 or so), nevermind main camp.
Kind of shocked to see Richardson listed as a left wing and Lewis listed as a center... I fifgured the fourth line center spot to be one of the more interesting in camp with those two being the favorites. I really like those lines and I think I predicted those exact lines a little over a week ago somewhere on these boards... The only other really interesting battle I see is for the 23 roster spot... You have to assume Moreau and Drewiske end up as the healthy scratches but I'm really interested to see who of Muzzin, Voinov, Loki, or Clune ends up as the 23rd man. Not to mention there's always the chance of someone unexpected like Cliche, Toffoli, Vey, Kozun, King, Hickey, Kaunisto, or heck even Andreoff, or Nolan to force the Kings' hand and keep them on the roster... Might be the first year in a long time where Manchester's camp may be more interesting than the Kings as far as exciting battles for roster spots goes...
Kind of shocked to see Richardson listed as a left wing and Lewis listed as a center... I fifgured the fourth line center spot to be one of the more interesting in camp with those two being the favorites. I really like those lines and I think I predicted those exact lines a little over a week ago somewhere on these boards... The only other really interesting battle I see is for the 23 roster spot... You have to assume Moreau and Drewiske end up as the healthy scratches but I'm really interested to see who of Muzzin, Voinov, Loki, or Clune ends up as the 23rd man. Not to mention there's always the chance of someone unexpected like Cliche, Toffoli, Vey, Kozun, King, Hickey, Kaunisto, or heck even Andreoff, or Nolan to force the Kings' hand and keep them on the roster... Might be the first year in a long time where Manchester's camp may be more interesting than the Kings as far as exciting battles for roster spots goes...
Don't see the Kings keeping up any of the younger guys unless they are going to play. Toffoli is destined to return to juniors with the only realistic shot he has it beating out Parse for 3rd line RW or if someone gets hurt.
Vey and Kozun would be in-season call-ups when/if Williams, Gagne or anyone else gets hurt.
I assume Voynov, Hickey and Muzzin will battle for Doughty's spot and as you said 44DD is penciled in as the #7 d-man. The dropoff from Doughty to these three guys is just so gigantic it's scary to even think.
If I had to guess the healthy scratches will be Moreau and Clune, just because neither guy is losing any kind of development and both should be happy to just be cashing an NHL check. You can insert Clune in place of Westgarth in certain games since he adds a bit more speed while keeping the toughness factor. Moreau and Clune should never be playing in the same game as Westgarth because it literally destroys your 4th line.
I think Richardson- Lewis- Westgarth is a pretty solid 4th line, assuming Westy plays like he did in the second half and playoffs and cuts down on the dumb penalties.
I assume Voynov, Hickey and Muzzin will battle for Doughty's spot and as you said 44DD is penciled in as the #7 d-man. The dropoff from Doughty to these three guys is just so gigantic it's scary to even think.
i may be missing something, but i haven't been able to understand this line of thinking in the doughty contract threads. why would one of voynov, hickey, or muzzin take doughty's spot, as opposed to johnson? i may only think this because of the way players are rated on video games, where you want the higher rated players in the higher profile positions, and therefore move up the next best player when one gets hurt. but i also remember (perhaps incorrectly) that johnson moved up when doughty was injured. i could just be thinking of the fact that it's generally accepted that he de facto took up the slack left by doughty's absence, whether literally in his position on the top pairing or not. but, hypothetically, why wouldn't the non-doughty pairings look something like this:
that way, hypothetically, you have an OFD and a DFD on each pairing (at least, i think; i'm calling martinez an OFD for the sake of this argument, and i don't know too much about the play styles of voynov/muzzin/hickey). clarification as to why the pairings aren't done this way is more than welcome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Herby
I think Richardson- Lewis- Westgarth is a pretty solid 4th line, assuming Westy plays like he did in the second half and playoffs and cuts down on the dumb penalties.
i would really have to agree here. i for one think westgarth has a decent amount of potential in him, at least to the point that people won't wince when he gets put into the lineup. i think he gets a little psyched out in games and doesn't really know what to do with the puck when he gets it. but like you said, his performance in the playoffs wasn't too bad at all.
You're right this is the way it will look if Doughty misses any of the regular season, I think people are just guessing/debating as to who is the closest to Doughty as far as "replacing" him goes...
i say Voynov has the inside track .....seeing as he is the only right handed dman battling for a spot..... with doughty out of the line up, it opens a huge glaring hole...being 5 of our dman are left handed ....Johnson, Mitchell, Martinez, Scuds, Drewiske. Leaving only Greener as the Lone Right handed Dman.
Who actually takes DD's spot will be whomever is the best fit. I think the reason that people myself included are penciling in VV TH JM as possible replacements are for the fact that there will be an open slot in the line up more than either of them might replace DD even though they may.
JJ would like take DD's spot and AM JJ's leaving VV and co to fill AM's. Then whomever is the "stay at home" person in each of the pairings would be whomever they would have been prior to DD not being available.
Think of it as an injury the loss of DD for the time being, we would want to give a couple of different kids a look at how and where they fit on the teams blue line for as long as they were needed to do so.
i say Voynov has the inside track .....seeing as he is the only right handed dman battling for a spot..... with doughty out of the line up, it opens a huge glaring hole...being 5 of our dman are left handed ....Johnson, Mitchell, Martinez, Scuds, Drewiske. Leaving only Greener as the Lone Right handed Dman.
Just my 2 cents.
i wondered about that, too, though i wasn't sure of everybody's handedness. definitely a possibility, though. but even still, putting a less-skilled player on the first pairing just because he's right-handed seems a little crazy. or at least, i would think...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tonellisghost
Who actually takes DD's spot will be whomever is the best fit. I think the reason that people myself included are penciling in VV TH JM as possible replacements are for the fact that there will be an open slot in the line up more than either of them might replace DD even though they may.
JJ would like take DD's spot and AM JJ's leaving VV and co to fill AM's. Then whomever is the "stay at home" person in each of the pairings would be whomever they would have been prior to DD not being available.
Think of it as an injury the loss of DD for the time being, we would want to give a couple of different kids a look at how and where they fit on the teams blue line for as long as they were needed to do so.
yes, exactly. that's what i'm thinking will happen. johnson will bump up to the first pairing, and so on and so forth. but i've been seeing a lot of posts that seem to suggest otherwise, with "best fit" meaning not johnson (arguably the next in line in terms of skill and experience and offensive ability), but rather someone like voynov (someone who supposedly matches DD's style of play more). so i was just wondering what the thinking there was, because it seems to me that it should be johnson paired up with mitchell, not VV TH or JM.
Who the hell is Michael Morrison? Never seen his name or heard of him and since when is he a King?
From Mayors Manor:
Michael Morrison - the only invitee among the bunch, he was also in LA for Dev Camp back in July - 6-foot, 175 lbs, played the last three seasons for the OHL's Kitchener Rangers*(Mike Richards junior team) and posted a 2.65 GAA with a .912 save percentage - however, just a few weeks ago he was traded to the Peterborough Petes for the upcoming season
