At Least The Kings Are Kinda In the Playoffs...
The Kings have a number of ex-players that participated in the playoffs in some way. Here are forwards:
Brian Smolinski
Martin Straka
Eric Belanger
Tom Kostopolous
Mark Parrish
Craig Conroy
George Parros
Sean Avery
Ian Laperriere
Pavol Demitra
Hey, that's not too bad. Some of them are pretty good, but most of them are depth guys that were pretty replaceable. Overall, I wouldn't get too worked up about 'em. Now, the defense:
Darryl Sydor
Jaroslav Modry
Andreas Lilja
Brad Stuart
Sean O’Donnell
Mathieu Schneider
Philippe Boucher
Mattias Norstrom
Whoops. You could make a better defense simply out of the guys the Kings have discarded over the years than the defense we have now. Some of them were let go for fairly obvious reasons (Norstrom, Stuart), but many of them were simply discarded. Looking at this list makes me want to do something terrible.
The only goaltender in the playoffs was Cristobal Huet; however, you also have to point out that Mathieu Garon and Manny Legace are also former Kings goaltenders. It's kind of crazy to look back now and realize we let Legace go because we had Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr.
I don't know if most NHL teams have a similar record, but looking at this list makes the whole Dave Taylor era look pretty bad. Now, the real question: which team would win?
Brown-Kopitar-O'Sullivan
Frolov-Armstrong-Cammalleri
Calder-Handzus-Giuliano
Ivanans-Ellis-Thornton
Blake-Johnson
Visnovksy-Harrold
Preissing-Dallman
Labarbera
vs.
Parrish-Conroy-Demitra
Avery-Belanger-Straka
Smolinski-Kostopolous-Laperriere
Parros
Schneider-Norstrom
Boucher-Stuart
Sydor-O'Donnell
Huet
12 comments:
Parros on his own line? Hot damn.
This would make for an interesting NHL 08 simulation...
JR doesn't count, eh?
No.
I always thought Fiset was a good goalie. Course the Kings really sucked at that time. Jamie Storr somehow for years was the Kings Goalie of the Future. I always find that funny.
I see that you didn't use Modry in your defensive pairings for the discarded team. He's a healthy scratch here too, just like in Philly. HAHAHA!!
The discarded team would win because of our still shitty defense. We could put a hit on Demitra and knock him out of the line up (again) and force them to use Parros, so that might work.
Well, I just ran through the mental exercise for the Ducks, and if the qualification is "former Ducks who qualified for the playoffs", then it looks like that team will be light on forwards but heavy on defensemen.
F:
Prospal - Fedorov - Sykora
Bochenski - Hartigan - Lupul
Fedoruk - Thornton
D:
Carney - Salei
Ozolinsh - Vishnevski
Hill - Sauer
Skoula - Hnidy
G:
Gerber
Did I miss anyone?
I'm not sure where else to talk about this so I'm going to do it here. Interesting article over at Fanhouse about the Kings losing money. Any opinion Rudy?
I was going to write about it but I didn't for 2 reasons:
1) I am not an expert in major corporations, and
2) I don't really care.
Overall, I'm skeptical. I think Schultz makes a good point: the Kings pay Staples Center to play there, but they're both owned by the same group so it doesn't really count. Also, I would imagine the Kings are being billed for part of the LA Live development.
But mostly, I think it's because the Kings are going to be good in a few years and they want to set it up now so they can raise prices into the top 10 in the NHL when the Kings are making the playoffs. The most they can raise prices at one time is what, 10%? If they raise them 5% right now, they see more profits later. That makes sense, too; why shouldn't the Kings have some of the highest prices in the NHL?
On the other hand, Luc Robitaille was put in charge of business operations at the beginning of the year. It's always possible he spent all the money on English lessons and teeth whitener.
We should start brainstorming now about how we're going to fill this blog during the next lockout.
I never thought TKO was all that great so I'm surprised at the success he's seeing with the Habs. I never cared for Parros and I still don't think he's doing all that well for Anaheim. Parrish wasn't with the team long enough to make any impact....The others I would like back. The Kings had Sydor during his early years when he was good but I wouldn't want him back now. Lilja's is a turnover machine and I also never cared for O'Donnell, although it seems like he upped his skill level after he left the Kings.
Does anyone know which franchises are making money? Aren't the Ducks losing money too? I was expecting ticket prices to increase so that wasn't much of a shock.
I never cared for Parros and I still don't think he's doing all that well for Anaheim.
He played much better this year than last, but generally his best asset is inexplicably raging popularity among Duck fans.
Does anyone know which franchises are making money? Aren't the Ducks losing money too?
Probably, but I think it's generally a bullshit claim. I mean, you can tell me about operating losses year after year, but if you're not going to talk about franchise value and how much more the team could be sold for now, it's a bogus conversation.
Example: My house loses money every year, too (mortgage and bills), but by the time I sell it (I bought at a lucky time) I'll have made money.
So I dunno--I don't think Robitaille and others are lying, but there's more to the story than the annual ledger. I should probably write a post about this at some point, but not today--it's Shark day.
I think the popularity of Parros is tied directly to the spectacularity of his mustache.
Post a Comment