Drew Doughty

He got benched because Schneider is probably already an elite goalie and likely their goalie of the future. Luongo doesn't have to be better than that to still be good. Luongo has all kinds of flaws in terms of personality and mental game, but he's a very talented goalie. That said, there's 0% chance he ends up in Chicago whether they want him or not. Just not going to happen. My feeling is that Tampa or Florida are infinitely more likely. I'd still bet on Florida. My money is on TB...maybe Toronto if he's actually willing to go there. Florida has Markstrom coming up, and while they could use a serviceable NHL guy to lessen the strain on the kid, it's probably too much commitment to bring in Luongo. If he does get significantly worse, they are absolutely stuck with him on the roster while they have Markstrom, in an ideal world, improving and demanding a higher salary. I don't see it happening, too much risk. Tampa has no reason not to do it as far as I can tell.

He got benched because Schneider is probably already an elite goalie and likely their goalie of the future. Luongo doesn't have to be better than that to still be good. Luongo has all kinds of flaws in terms of personality and mental game, but he's a very talented goalie. That said, there's 0% chance he ends up in Chicago whether they want him or not. Just not going to happen. My feeling is that Tampa or Florida are infinitely more likely.

oh man that's the first happy sports playoff memory i have had in 9 years JOYOUS DAY (well first REALLY HAPPY memory since the kings won a playoff game here and there) http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2wxoaTx9p1rsvzlro6_500.png

I thought it was called correctly. Dubinsky was clearly a 3rd man in, which is a game misconduct. Carkner kept throwing punches after Boyle turtled, also a game misconduct. Carkner got the only fighting major and Dubinsky and Carkner got matching minors. Nothing really laughable about how it was called. I'm not sure how you can be a third man in when there wasn't a second man in. Dubinsky got penalized for preventing Boyle from getting a concussion and it's stupid. MacLean dressed Carkner just to have him assault Boyle, which is stupid. There is zero reason that should've been called the way it was. Carkner should be done for the playoffs. For one, he sucks and has no use to a roster except to do what he did; secondly what he did was just completely detestable. Hagelin should also get a game, but nothing more IMO. Anyway, going to game 4 in LA and I literally (correctly using literally) could not be more excited.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN200606270.shtml got the tix/airfare/hotel booking as a HS graduation gift from my grandparents and great grandma...got to go to a game the next day. may have been an awful season and outcome, but i got to see ramirez, lee, zambrano, and juan freakin' pierre hit home runs in the two day span. also got to carlos marmol be all electric and stuff as a starter. still the only games i've been to. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN200606280.shtml

I can't pick against the Kings so... Kings over Canucks in 7 Blues over Sharks in 6 Hawks over Coyotes in 5 Wings over Preds in 7 Rangers over Sens in 4 Bruins over Caps in 5 Devils over Panthers in 6 Pens over Flyers in 7 The Blues are the matchup my head wanted in round 1 when it was between them and Vancouver, so I think we COULD take them if we get to round 2. I honestly think the Kings/Canucks matchup is going to be the most exciting series out west (the series 2 years ago was great and there's a BIT of a rivalry brewing, at least from the Kings side), although I doubt anything tops the Pens/Flyers series overall. The Kings have been pretty excellent since getting Carter, and he should be good to go for game 1.

first goal wasn't his fault...maybe second one he could've made a better play at, but it was a world class play by two forward who are as comfortable with each other as anyone this side of the sedins. i didn't see the 3rd goal. then again, not sure why i'm defending oduya. never liked him very much at all. he played in a great system in NJ and never really stood out and has been pretty bad for his tenure in WPG/ATL. soooo yeah. he probably sucks, but that first period wasn't really why. then again, i'm a jack johnson fan; i've been excusing - plays for years.

every team plays a trap at some point

Also notable: San Diego is where lefty power hitters (like Adrian Gonzalez...or Anthony Rizzo) go to die. Lefty pull hitters can do quite well in San Diego, actually, and Adrian Gonzalez did exactly that. There is a short porch in both corners of Petco. Adrian Gonzalez had an 809 ops in his career at Petco compared to a career ops of 889

kinda cool to me: las vegas born minnesota wild prospect jason zucker was named captain of team usa's WJC team. cool for a vegas kid to actually get drafted, for one (i think he's still the only one), and even cooler that he's actually a good prospect. good to see players starting to come from those non-hockey markets. the kings have won 3 out of 4. woo. 2 of those in a shootout and the other against the blue jackets...but still! yay winning. so glad murray got fired.

faster, better diagnosis, bigger pads.

Is the ESPN game play airing the game more people want to see? Because it's a no-brainer. Really, more people would rather see Crosby's first game against a bad team than a solid game between the defending SC Champion and a possible contender. I dislike more people It's the biggest star in the league coming back for the first time from a high publicized injury. It makes perfect sense to air that game and it's pointless to cry about it. yeah i don't understand this either. i love boston/montreal but it's going to happen 5 other times this year. crosby coming back from injury will ideally only happen once. he's the face of the league, the best player on earth by far (131 points in his last 82 games, i believe), and an absolute marquee draw. showing him play even a crappy team like the isles is an easy choice. hell, i even listened to the game on my ipod at work for a while.

Treatable or not, that's very serious to get lung cancer at his age you don't say

steve mason's run as worst goalie in the nhl continues!!!! his game against toronto the other night was pitiful too. he really is an awful, awful goalie. i know they invested money in him, but at some point they have to get him out of the pipes as a starter. going away from a legit backup is one of the worst moves that team could have made. then again, he's not really a passable nhl backup with a 900 save% either. awful goalie, awful contract, awful handling of that situation in general.

Same here. When I bartended, I didn't even like to make them for people. tomato juice is disgusting. i have to pour bloody marys out occasionally and the smell is just rotten

so i watched pittsburgh (sans malkin and crosby) and florida (sans...anyone of actual worth) yesterday and man florida is bad. i love when a team does what they do and everyone is like HEY MAYBE IT WILL PAN OUT I MEAN THEY SPENT A LOT OF MONEY IT HAS TO WORK. having gone through this with a kings a few seasons ago, i knew that the panthers were almost literally just signing players to fill roster spots. unless tallon wanted to rush all of his young talent (especially on D), he had to get bodies capable of playing nhl games or risk ruining his team 3 years down the line. so they'll be awful this year. they didn't really sign anyone with a plan in mind (similar to signing handzus, nagy, scott thornton, etc), so of course they'll be bad. getting dominated by a lackluster effort from an undermanned penguins team is a sign of things to come there. the bad news is that they're really still at least a year away. the extra bad news is that they had to overpay (in terms of years as much as anything) to really retain nhl bodies. so that sucks for them. i also watched carolina/boston today: cam ward is really good. jeff skinner is really good. i didn't watch skinner much last season, but he was pretty explosive tonight. a threat every single time he was on the ice, making nice subtle plays with and even without the puck. people always wonder if players overachieve in their rookie years (especially early -- i happen to believe logan couture is one of these overachievers) but i'm pretty sure skinner won't slip backwards at all. he'll keep improving. carolina, toronto, montreal, and new jersey should make a pretty entertaining race for the bottom of the playoff picture in the east. it might only be for one spot. pittsburgh, philly, buffalo, boston, tampa bay, washington, and perhaps new york i all like as near locks for the playoffs (i suppose tampa and new york are the bigger risks there). that leaves just one spot if i'm right. even if i'm wrong, that just makes the race more interesting with more teams vying for just 2 or 3 spots. i think it's a lot more interesting than last year, when it seemed almost like a battle of attrition for those last spots. new york wasn't really a very good team and everyone chasing them was even worse. anyway, this is pretty much just a self-interested post. the kings haven't played an interesting game yet (as in, the europe games are a bit weird -- i didn't like it much when we played in london and i didn't care much for it this time around either) so i'm pretty excited to watch them play in north america tomorrow.

doughty was shockingly good what with his limited camp and tumultuous off-season. didn't make any mistakes. looked a bit rusty but never beat himself. far cry from his early season form last year, even if it's one game. on another note, dion phaneuf looked really good for toronto yesterday. if he bounces back, toronto is going to make that 8th spot an interesting race. not sure that they're better than any of the teams that made the playoffs a season ago, but they're finally on the right track anyway.

the cubs did it for clinching the division in 08 which seems like a significantly less important milestone.

but you weren't, so he doesn't!

usually roast takes up all of one's vision

Maybe he'll save the Cubs some time and cut himself. that's a pretty awful thing to say

what kind of car does coletti drive? in a week? NO KIND OF CAR

what else is there in your post to discuss? do you want people to RAH RAH support your weird post or what? YEAH LET'S DRIVE HIM TO THE AIRPORT WITH OUR PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES! RABBLE RABBLE! LET'S DO IT! HE'S A MONSTER!

why would he have to go to an airport to retire?

i predicted that he would go buy a jar of olives after he left us for good