Seasons In The Abyss?

Tonight kicks off the pre-season and my first real look at the '08-'09 L.A. Kings! Last year, my boys were at the bottom of the barrel, but since that ugly, downward trending season, there's been some big changes.

First off, coach Marc Crawford got his walking papers before completing the third season on his contract. In comes Terry Murray, who not only has big shoes to fill, but also may hold GM Dean Lombardi's job in tow. He's got an overall winning record as a coach, but he's seven years out from holding a head position. We'll see how that shakes out. There's been four different coaches now over as many seasons (counting the start of this and the final one of Andy Murray, plus his interim replacement). Let's hope there's no further coaching moves.

Gone too are many (familiar) players (and a handful of lesser ones): G Dan Clouiter, D Brad Stuart, RW Mike Cammalleri, D Rob Blake, LW Ladislav Nagy, D Lubomir Visnovsky, RW Scott Thornton, and LW Brian Willsie. New faces in Kings sweaters are C Jarret Stoll (Edmonton Oilers), D Matt Greene (Edmonton Oilers), D Denis Gauthier (Philadelphia Flyers), RW Brad Richardson (Colorado Avalanche), and LW Richard Clune (Dallas Stars). Jockeying for positions are upstarts D Drew Doughty (the second overall draft pick in June and a likely blueliner) and fellow young D's Thomas Hickey (fourth pick, 2007) Colton Teubert (13th overall, ‘08). In the front are RW Teddy Purcell and C Brian Boyle, who stand a good shot of seeing ice time this year. Developing in the net are Jeff Zatloff and Jonathan Quick, likely successors to the LaBarbera / Ersberg tandem.

Will these players help or hurt the team? There's a great core of forwards to build with - Dustin Brown (possibly the Captain?), Patrick O’Sullivan, Alexander Frolov, and Anze Kopitar (3rd best player in his draft class, which ain't bad considering that's behind the second coming of Gretzky, Sid Crosby, and Alexander Ovechkin - both were the league MVPs over the last two years BTW. Is this Kopitar's year?). There's chemistry for sure, and I hope these new elements are combustible (good, not bad).

And tonight promises to be an odd match, seeing as it will be a surprise who suits up at game time. Why? Because the Kings are fielding two teams - one playing the home game tonight and one against St. Louis. Apparently there's enough players and talent to run two full rosters, but I wonder how many are really playing for spots and who are just getting their training in? the lowly Phoenix Coyotes are coming to town, and while they finished better than we last year, they're exactly the team I want to see us beat the crap out of in the pre-season. Here's to an exciting game and the dawn of a good season for us!