Here's the brawl that you speak of, which took place on February 28, 1990:
I was at this game. I remember the 3rd period lasted so long that we left when the game was over and drove an hour home and got to watch the the last 5 minutes of the 3rd period replay after we got home.
I am VERY glad this was here when I logged in. I'm not really one to comment on this since my first Kings game was in 2002. But I was just thinking today about game 3 of the 2011 playoffs against the sharks. yes, that infamous one.
Believe it or not, that was the most memorable game of my life, (maybe second behind game 3 of the SCF, just because of the significance). Game 3 against the Sharks was my first playoff game ever, and the atmosphere was completely amazing. I was in the nosebleeds, and that only contributed to it. The crowd was almost COMPLETELY dressed in black, the towel waving was quite the spectacle, and it was LOUD!! THE LOUDEST SPORTS EVENT I HAVE YET TO WITNESS!! I remember when Kyle Clifford scored his goal, the building erupted. People in my section were throwing beer, falling over. I was screaming at the top of my lungs.
Yes, we lost in a horrible fashion, but for a time there, it was just magical. I was a little disappointed to be honest, during the past year's playoffs. The noise level, nor the atmosphere, lived up to that game. IT was still loud, but not as loud as game 3 of 2011.
Oh well, I'm just walking down memory lane.
I was at this one too. The best game and the worst game I had been to at the time, all wrapped up in one.
Steve Finn
Barry Potomski
Shane Churla
Kevin Todd
Randy Jones
Stephane Fiset
Tim Watters
Vladimir Tysplakov
Ryan Smyth
Nathan Lafayette
Mark Visheau
Ethan Moreau
Chris Snell
Sandy Moger
Steve Heinze
Sean Pronger
That looks like an All Star roster for the Phoenix Roadrunners. Can't forget how great Manny Legace looked in his handful of games with the Kings, or Ryan Bach with his Red Wing colored equipment, same with Rick Knickle and his all white mask with San Diego Gulls colored pads.
When I was young I used to think Rob Stauber was the goalie of the future, then had the same hope for Jamie Storr. Then there was nobody in net to look forward to until Bernier and Quick came along. No disrespect to Fukufuji, Brust, Taylor, Scott, Hauser, Hnilicka, Chouinard, etc.
The Kings also seemed to always get former good players, who were either well past their prime before they got here (Kevin Stevens, Dan Quinn, Petr Klima) or guys who absolutely fell apart before our eyes (Grant Fuhr, Ryan Smyth, Cliff Ronning, Anson Carter). Then there was a guy like Steve Duchesne who looked like an ECHL'er with the Kings during his second stint, only to re-find his game and become a solid contributor for Detroit, I guess you could also include Fuhr in that list.
Don't know what games you were watching, but Ryan Smyth was a solid contributor for this team.
I agree to a point. He didn't live up to his cap hit, but he still did contribute. He certainly shouldn't be in the same mold as Ethan Moreau. Off the ice, I am not a fan of Smyth at all, but he did do somethings decent here on the ice.
And he brought us Colin Fraser, so it's hardly a big loss.
While we're on the roll call of Legends of the Fall (of the Kings) from the 1990's and onward, these names also jump out to me:
Doug Zmolek
John Druce
John Slaney
Rob Cowie
Nathan Lafayette
Denis Tysgurov
Patrice Tardif
Troy Crowder
Arto Blomsten
Michel Petit
Ruslan Batyrshin
Kai Nurminen
Jeff Shevalier
Brent Grieve
Neal Broten
Paul Dipietro (why couldn't he do what he did against us a few years earlier!)
Jason Morgan
Steve McKenna
Russ Courtnall
Donald MacLean
Hard to believe that a few of these guys were the next wave of up and coming Kings stars. Many barely managed a full NHL season, anywhere.
By the way Axl, could you do us all a favor and make a thread saying the lockout is a guarantee? j/k
Don't know what games you were watching, but Ryan Smyth was a solid contributor for this team.
Ryan Smyth played two seasons for the Kings.
In those two seasons he played from the beginning of the season through January
90GP, 35G, 31A, 66Pts, +17
Following January
59GP, 10G, 24A, 34Pts, -10
And consider, this was a player who was almost always on the #1 PP unit, spent tons of time with Kopitar and contributed nothing else in any facet of the game other than offense.
I used the words "falling apart before our eyes", and I stand by it. In particular his last season with the Kings, Smyth, who had a pretty nice career was on most nights towards the end of that season one of the worst players on the ice for the Kings. Went a stretch with one goal in 23 games, was abysmal defensively and sulked after finally being taken off the PP during the said stretch of 23 games with one goal. Sorry, I consider him in the group with Fuhr and Stevens as forgettable Kings.
I used the words "falling apart before our eyes", and I stand by it. In particular his last season with the Kings, Smyth, who had a pretty nice career was on most nights towards the end of that season one of the worst players on the ice for the Kings. Went a stretch with one goal in 23 games, was abysmal defensively and sulked after finally being taken off the PP during the said stretch of 23 games with one goal. Sorry, I consider him in the group with Fuhr and Stevens as forgettable Kings.
You would have to be in the minority there, putting him in the same category as Fuhr and Carter is a disgrace.
Obviously the end result worked out for us, but I can't remember many Kings fans happy that we were going to lose Smyth.
I included Carter for his play on the ice. He was terrible for the Kings on the ice, but I never remember any kind of off ice issues, he came here, he stunk and he left. And he actually had a good year the next season for Vancouver.
Fuhr and Smyth were disgraceful both on and off the ice. A complete lack of professionalism.
I always thought John Druce was a good 3rd line energy player for us.
To diverge from all this negativity, some players that I have fond memories of and did well as Kings more so than on other teams.
Jim Paek (my fellow countryman)
John Druce
Eric Lacroix
Eric Belanger
Ian Lapperierre
Glen Murry
Trent Klatt
Mathieu Schneider
Dan Bylsma
Bryan Smolinski (a somewhat forgotten piece in the Ziggy trade)
Jaroslav Modry (okay maybe not Modry)
I'd go to war with this squad any day of the week...
Kevin Stevens - Jeremy Roenick - Dmitri Khristich
Ryan Smyth - Yanic Perreault - Anson Carter
Craig Johnson - Jared Aulin - Sandy Moger
Raitis Ivanans - Sean Avery - Ryan Flynn
Jan Nemecek - Dominic Lavoie
Tomas Zizka - Rob Cowie
Denis Tsygurov - Rod Buskas
I'd go to war with this squad any day of the week...
Kevin Stevens - Jeremy Roenick - Dmitri Khristich
Ryan Smyth - Yanic Perreault - Anson Carter
Craig Johnson - Jared Aulin - Sandy Moger
Raitis Ivanans - Sean Avery - Ryan Flynn
Jan Nemecek - Dominic Lavoie
Tomas Zizka - Rob Cowie
Denis Tsygurov - Rod Buskas
Grant Fuhr
Dan Cloutier
Coach: Marc Crawford GM: Nick Beverly
Interesting name. I wonder who most people think is the worst GM of Kings history. Sam 'The disaster' McMaster has to be fighting with Beverly at least over this.
Remember when the Kings would bring in players who previously had success elsewhere but were pretty much done when the Kings brought them in?
Petr Klima, who was a former 50-60 point scoring winger, the Kings acquire him from Tampa Bay for a 5th round pick. I'm thinking it's a steal as Klima was still 32 at that time. The Kings had also signed Ed Olczyk who I thought was still a serviceable player, and I was thinking that the Kings may have a promising 96-97 season with Olczyk-Ferraro-Klima to start the season, Stevens-Khristich-Yachmenev on the second line, Tsyplakov-Perreault-Nurminen on the third line and Matt Johnson-Laperriere-Bylsma on the fourth line.
Boy was I wrong. Klima would last only 8 games and record 4 assists before he was dealt to Pittsburgh for a conditional pick, which the Kings never received because Klima never met those conditions (probably a games played requirement). His NHL career was done.
Here's a rare site. Neal Broten in a Kings uniform.
He only lasted 19 games with the team and only managed to record 4 assists. Mind you that Broten was 37 at the time, but oddly enough, he was waived and picked up by Dallas and managed to score 8 goals and 15 points in his final 20 games with the Stars.
Now the Kings had a history of trying to relive the past as they did this with some failed experiments in Barry Beck, Steve Shutt, Rick Martin, and you could say it worked to some degree when they brought in Larry Robinson and when they signed Dan Quinn during the lockout season, but more often than not, these reclamation projects failed. Troy Crowder, Dixon Ward, Randy Burridge, John Druce, etc. The list goes on. You could even include the names of Kevin Stevens and Grant Fuhr to that list.
The Kings of the 90s would always try to bring in older players who had enjoyed success many years ago, only to find themselves in Kings uniforms after their careers appeared to be headed towards the gutter. Another funny and interesting tidbit about old washed up players. There was an article I read a couple years ago about Guy Lafleur entertaining the thought of coming to the Kings' training camp as a tryout when he was considering a comeback. He wanted to play with Wayne Gretzky. Imagine that, Larry Robinson and Guy Lafleur on the Kings.
j/k
