An Opportunity for Our Readers

Here's a chance for you guys to let your creative juices flow (hopefully into a towel or something and not on your monitor):

What would you if your team signed Jaroslav Modry?


I would spit piss.

Chris in Torrance is Celebrating...

...because the Kings traded Jaroslav Modry to the Philadelphia Flyers for a draft pick. (They didn't say which one.) The idea that Jaroslav Modry would make a playoff team's defense better is hilarious to me. I assume this means a defenseman besides Peter Harrold is getting called up for the Kings' next game.

I wonder if this means that there might not be too much action this trade deadline; according to that article, Philadelphia couldn't (or wouldn't) trade for Tomas Kaberle, Dan Boyle or Brad Stuart. The idea that Lombardi seemed unwilling to trade Brad Stuart is very interesting to me. Did he not like Philly's offer, or is he genuinely interested in signing Brad Stuart long-term? Let me smoke my pipe and think it over.

Update: TSN says it was a third-round draft pick.

Sticking to My Comfort Zone

Chris Pronger isn't the only Californian defenseman with a blog. Go, Jaroslav:

"Our coach in Los Angeles, Marc Crawford, has paired [Jack Johnson and Modry] up together this season and I try to give Jack a pointer or two here and there of what I’ve learned over the years."

If Jack falls down on a 2-on-1 tonight, now we know why.

Kings Gameday: Tape-Delayed Blog

Los Angeles Kings (10-14-1, Last in West) vs. Edmonton Oilers (12-14-1, 12th in West)



7:30 PST, FSN West

Cammy is listed at 5'9" and Hlinka is listed as 5'10". One of those is wrong.

I promised a live-blog tonight so you guys can look forward to that, but first I wanted to tide you over with a few quick-hits:

-The Kings called up forward Gabe Gauthier and goaltender Johnathan Quick and sent down Matt Moulson; they also retroactively put Frolov on the IR just to try to confuse everyone a little more. Basically, Frolov and Labarbera will be back after tonight's game but they wanted Quick to back up Aubin tonight. Gauthier is probably up instead of Moulson because they wanted someone with more defensive presence since Moulson had been playing with Handzus and Calder.

-There's a quick little review of the Kings' junior prospects up over at Hockey's Future if you're interested. You get a lot of good little nuggets of information, including, "Josh Kidd was diagnosed with 'osteitis pubis' in November, which is an inflammation of the tissue connecting the two bones that make up the pelvis, and will miss at least a month of action." Okay, so I guess there's 3 injuries you can miss hockey with. Christ.

This picture is irrelevant, it just makes me laugh.

-The last game against Colorado was a good example of why it's sometimes a better idea to just sit a game out. Both Mike Cammalleri and Jaroslav Modry played despite extenuating circumstances (Cammy's groin, Modry's dad). Both played poorly, with Cammy ineffective and Modry responsible for 2 goals against. (Not the breakaway, though; I'm pretty sure that was Moulson's fault.) I know they just wanted to help the team and a big part of hockey is playing when you're not 100%, but ultimately they hurt the team. I just want them to understand that.

-I was at work today and we had cake for some unexplained reason. I work with pretty much all girls (it's not nearly as awesome as it sounds) and we were talking about some Secret Santa bullshit they want to do again this year. One girl mentioned that last year I got this chick Melissa that I work with Midol. Melissa has since moved back home because she got knocked up, so I replied, "Apparently I should have gotten her birth control." For some reason, that makes me an asshole. I don't get women. Anyway, here's Jim Gaffigan talking about cake and other delicious foods if you're bored. My favorite:

Every now and then I'll read a book, I'll be so proud of myself, I'll try and squeeze it into conversation. People will be like, "Hey Jim, how ya do-" "I read a book! Two hundred and fifty pages!" "That's great, what was it about?" "No idea! Took me two years!"

Season (P)Review: Jaroslav Modry

Last Season: 1 G, 14 A, +11, 54 PIM in 76 games

Word That Best Describes His Season: Enough.

There are three things about me that I don’t like people to know: I cried during Homeward Bound, I own the DiCaprio version of Romeo & Juliet, and I don’t mind Jaroslav Modry. That’s the Kings fan equivalent of saying I like to play with my own crap. It’s like a requirement for being a Kings fan: you drink too much, you make fun of the Ducks and the Sharks even though your team wears purple, and you hate Modry. I’ve never been able to. Really, I don’t understand the visceral reaction people have against him.

Kings fans did not take the Modry acquistion well.*

Modry was on the team from 1997 to 2004. He was one of our best defensemen for a couple of years (he played over 20 minutes a game in both 2003 and 2004) and was a nice balance to our two-headed monster of Aaron Miller and Matty Norstrom. He’s always been a pretty good offensive defenseman and he was our best offensive defenseman in the gap between Blake’s departure and Visnovsky’s emergence. He gets a bad rap for his defense, and he’s not really that good at it, but it’s not like he’s Souray out there or anything. Is he a good defenseman? No, probably not. Is he capable? Yeah, sure. Plus, he’s only costing us $1.2 million this year, which isn’t that bad for a defenseman who’s going to play every night.

Umm, Jaro... wrong jersey.

I think the reason people hate Jaroslav Modry is because he doesn’t fit into their pre-conceived notions of what a defenseman is. Most hockey fans love grinders, especially on defense. Guys like Jon Klemm, who are basically worthless but throw a meaningless bodycheck around every once in a while? Can’t get enough of ‘em. Guys like Modry, who are capable but are also labeled as “soft?” Worthless. I don’t really understand it. I think the reason the Sharks have been so successful in the past few years is that they have gone after defenseman who don’t really bring that physical aspect of the game but still know how to position themselves and play defense. I think Lombardi feels the same way in signing guys like Preissing and Stuart and getting Modry from Dallas. It may not be what people expect, but I think it’s what will work.

Modry will probably play with Jack Johnson this season and maybe get a little action on the power play. He’s a good person for Jack to play with; he can show him some tricks on offense while also forcing Jack to be defensively responsible (because Modry will be up most of the time; also, Modry will get beat a lot). I don’t know, maybe I’ll watch Modry this season and discover that I hate him, but right now I think he’s a solid (though not necessarily great) contributor to the team.

*Why is that when I type "Angry Fans" into Google Image Search, the 2nd picture is of a naked guy holding a horse? Come to think of it, that's the 2nd picture when you put anything into Google Image Search.