The Season of . . . Change?

Over at the GameTime, TBD© household, things have been a little tense. We have been at threat level red for the past two weeks.

Having been a collegiate golfer, I walk a fine line of playing the game for fun and playing the game for sport. As many of you are aware, I do have a bit of a competitive side that, well, can take over at any moment. When it does, I am not responsible for my behavior. My friends have witnessed a club throw or two in their time (including the epic 4-iron wrap around my golf bag) and I have been known to yell at myself after a few bad shots ("What the [expletive deleted] are you doing?" . . . this is a family friendly site people). My competitive streak is not helped by the fact that, of my friends, I would be considered the weakest golf (my current handicap of 12.3 doesn't match up to their low single-digit handicaps). I cannot bomb it out there three hundred-plus yards like they do, but when I try, the wheels come off. It is all about course management and setting up the shots that work for me.

Things, however, have gotten better over the past few years. A separated shoulder and three years of law school took a toll on my golf game, and it was only about twenty-four months ago that I started really getting back into it (thanks, in no small part, to living with my good buddy, and former teammate, Thirty Deuce). Much like riding a bike, you never forget how to swing a club, but things can get pretty rusty pretty quick and your short game (where a half to two-thirds of your score is determined) disappears. Over the past two years, I have learned to appreciate the game more, playing it more for enjoyment than competition. But do not think for one second that does not mean my competitive drive has gone away. Like a volcano (please, someone, take my keyboard away before I make this lame analogy . . .), my competitive drive is always there, right underneath the surface, waiting to erupt ( . . . oh no, it's too late). So, when I got back from my honeymoon in late-August and was invited to play in a three-day tournament with some of my co-workers in October, how could I say "no"?

With the tournament set to tee off this Saturday at 9:00 a.m., I have obviously spent the last six and a half weeks trying to fine tune my game. Things were going swimmingly for a while until two weeks ago. That is when it happened: I came down with a case of the . . . of the . . . of, you know, that thing you are not suppose to mention (six letters, starts with "s", also used to describe a prison event in which one inmate stabs another with "a make-shift knife, or a 'shiv'"). And when I say I caught a case of it, I mean I caught it BAD. And with each passing day, as the start of the tournament got closer and closer, I was feeling worse and worse.

Well, I am happy to report that, as of last night, we have returned to threat level yellow. My game appears to have returned and I am feeling much better today. I remain cautiously optimistic and am not willing to lower the threat level to blue or green until I have one more range session tomorrow night to confirm that everything is in order. But with the tragic events of the past fourteen days behind me, I can now officially move on to the main point of this post (I know what you're thinking, 624 words and I'm not even to my main point?):

The Los Angeles Kings 2008-2009 season begins in THREE days!!!

Playing in the NHL's most competitive division, the Pacific, expectations are again low for my beloved Kings. This season is their first under new head coach Terry Murray (their third coach in 4 seasons), they have one of the youngest, if not the youngest, line-up in the NHL (of the 23-man roster, 4 are over the age of 30 and 12 are under the age of 25), and they continue to have a huge question mark in net (neither LaBarbara or Ersberg have played a full NHL season as a number 1 goaltender). Put it all together and it is pretty easy to see why the experts are not expecting much out of the Kings this season. But I have got a surprise for all of the so-called experts out there: the 2008-2009 Los Angeles Kings will compete for the eight playoff spot in the Western Conference. No, I am not drunk, and no, I do not think that they will make the playoffs without a little luck and a lot of help, but come March, when the Kings are only six-to-eight points out of the eighth and final playoff spot, remember that you read it here first on GameTime, TBD© way back on October 8th. Now, allow me to explain.

For starters, Terry Murray [who's reign shall henceforth be remembered as that of Murray II, as he will never replace the reign of the great and indispensable Murray I (Andy)] is a great coach to have for a young team. Murray II brings with him the Hockey Canada system (not to be mistaken with the Hockey Canada system run by Murray I . . . seriously, one of these days someone will have to explain to me why we let him go in the first place), which stresses hard work and accountability in all three zones of the ice. This should help relieve the pressure on the young and inexperienced defensive group. Murray II is also, from all accounts, a coach that will not get down on a player when mistakes are made but, rather, will stick with them and give them plenty of opportunities to learn and develop. This was, perhaps, Marc Crawford's greatest short coming as a coach, and is a trait that is crucial for developing a team as young as the Kings.

But with a young and inexperienced defense, and a question mark in net, if the Kings are going to compete they will have to score a lot of goals. With the crop of talented youngsters up front, scoring likely will not be a problem this season. Anze Kopitar remains the Kings most prized and talented young gun. While he does not garner the same attention as the likes of Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin, Kopitar deserves to ranked among the elite youngsters in the game. Entering his third full season in the NHL, a 30-goal and 80-plus-point season is what is expected out of the Kings alternate captain, and I would not be surprised to see him go higher. The Kings also have 30-goal talent in their newly-named captain Dustin Brown, who led the Kings with 33 goals last season, Patrick O'Sullivan, who netted 22 for the Kings in his first full NHL season, and Alexander Frolov, who got 23 past opposing goalies during the 2007-2008 season. The concern with O'Sullivan would have to be how long it will take for him to get into game shape having held out through all of the preseason, only signing a new contract this past Tuesday. If he is able to get back up to speed by the end of October, he could be primed for a breakout season. With Frolov, it all comes down to whether he will play his grind-it-out style all season, or in 15 to 20 game spurts like we are accustomed to right now.

But those four guys are names we are all familiar. Here is who you should look out for during the 2008-2009 season: Brian Boyle. At 6' 7" and 252 pounds, Boyle is a center with the body to bang and the skills to score. In 8 games with the Kings last season he netted 4 goals and 1 assist. Entering his first full NHL season, I would not be surprised to see 15-plus goals and 30-plus assists out of Boyle. I think he will be a strong contender for Rookie of the Year (which will ultimately be won by the #1 overall pick in the 2008 Entry Draft, Steven Stamkos).

Obviously, there remain some big question marks for the team. First, and foremost, can Jason LaBarbara finally rise to the ranks of a legitimate number 1 goaltender? He has shown that the talent is there, but now can he put it together for a full season? Also, will the Kings finally have a season where their players are able to avoid major injuries? This has been a big probably for the Kings over the past few seasons (see, e.g., the end of Murray I's reign), and if the Kings can keep they key players on the ice for 90 to 95% of the season, we might start to see what this team is actually capable of. Finally, will everyone buy into Murray II's defense-first mentality? Support from the forwards in the defensive zone will go along way to relieving some of the pressure on the young defense and the goaltenders.

But when you put it all together, and you look at the direction this team is heading (please people, give Dean Lombardi the credit he deserves; he told it would be three to five years and this is only year three), you have to feel optimistic about the 2008-2009 season. Stanley Cup Champions optimistic? Obviously not. But as I said before, do not be surprised when, come March of 2009, the Kings are right there in the hunt for a playoff spot.

Now, excuse me while I get back to the range to work out the kinks of my swing. If I am going to miss the Kings' home opener for this golf tournament, you better believe I am going to do everything in my power to win it all.

Dear Dean . . .

Dear Dean,

How is it going? I know you are busy figuring out which third-round talent you are going to take with the number two overall pick at tomorrow's 2008 NHL Entry Draft, so I apologize for this interruption.

About a year and a half ago, my good friend (and best man) Money Bags asked if I would be interested in joining his fantasy baseball league. He and his old high school friends had a league together for about ten years but it had started to decline recently. So Money Bags took over as league commissioner, let go of the managers who did not want to stick around, and offered teams to some of his other friends and co-workers. His goal was to start fresh, every team starting from square one.

Since I know you are such an avid GameTime, TBD© reader, I know you have noticed the lack of baseball-related posts. I am not the biggest baseball fan, and my lack of baseball knowledge has proved costly. I thought my success in fantasy football (I'd like to thank my coworkers for the new plasma and Xbox 360 over the past two seasons) would translate into success "on the diamond"; I was wrong. For starters, I finished second-to-last and am not fairing that much better this year. Why is that you ask? Because I was not around to draft my team the first year; I was auto-drafted by the (stupid) computer. And believe you me, when you are playing in a keeper league, using your third and fourth round picks on closers is not a strategy to go with. Oh, and in the draft lottery for this season, with the second best chance of getting the number one overall pick, I got the eighth pick. The lesson to be learned you ask?

When drafting, it is a good idea to have a coach. So imagine my surprise when you announced last Tuesday that the Los Angeles Kings had fired head coach Marc Crawford, a mere ten days before the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. I know what you are thinking to yourself right now, "What is this guy talking about? GM's do the drafting." Yes, you are correct, general managers do the actual drafting (more on this unfortunate point later), but it is the coach who decides what system the team is going to play, and the system should play a roll in the type of player the general manager (that would be you if you've forgotten) drafts.

Every hockey fan in Los Angeles (by this point in time, there might be only about five of us) is wondering why the Kings waited until now. You had just finished tied for last in the entire league, the franchise's second-straight disappointing season, and fifth-straight season out of the playoffs. So when you were asked, "Why now?", here is what you gave us:

• it was "a gut call."
• there was "an organizational change in philosophy."
• "we're committed to the way we're going after my meeting with ownership this week."

It was "a gut call"? SIX weeks after the season ended? Ten DAYS before the NHL draft? After several teams had hired some of the prime coaching candidates?

The organizational philosophy of getting younger is not a change in philosophy, it is what you said two years ago when the Kings first hired you to be the general manager, Dean. You said it would take three years until things started to change around here because you were going to get younger, develop the talent in our farm system, be more aggressive in the free agent market. So this is not actually a change in philosophy. Let us call it what it really is: a mistake. When you hired Marc Crawford two seasons ago you made a mistake and it has set us back on your timetable and now you are trying to back track.

Just admit it, Crawford was never the right fit. You probably knew this going in. But you did not think you could sell the fans another Andy Murray-type hiring, someone without experience at the NHL level, because, after all, the team had just fired AM. So you went out and found yourself a coach who had won a Stanley Cup and made this the focal point of his credentials. And you had to, because behind the smoke and mirrors was the fact that Marc Crawford was not known for his ability to develop young talent. He was a coach that took already-talented teams to a higher level. So when the Kings began their youth movement two years ago, an uphill battle in-and-of-itself, it was like you had shot them in the foot before they even started climbing.

So now you are out there looking for the twenty-second coach for the start of the teams forty-second season, TWENTY-SECOND. I am not positive, but I think the old saying goes "third times a charm." And while I appreciate that you are looking for a coach schooled in the old Hockey Canada system (wait a sec, isn't that the same system AM ran when he was here? Weird.), I am going to tell you how to make the twenty-second time a charm: hire John Tortorella. That is right Mr. Lombardi, the ex-Tampa Bay Lightening coach is the guy for you. He was won a Stanley Cup the way the Kings want to do it, by developing their young talent. He took a perennial last-place team (alright, I will admit they finished tied with the Kings this year) to four playoff appearances and the Stanley Cup in six-and-a-half seasons by taking young superstars-in-training Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Brad Richards, and turning them into actual superstars. The Kings youth is bursting with superstars-to-be: Kopitar, Brown, Cammalleri, O'Sullivan, Johnson, and Bernier. It is also not to late for Frolov to develop the consistency everyone has been waiting for.

But maybe that is not what you are looking. Maybe Anschutz is actually planning to move the Kings to the booming hockey market of . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . Kansas City once his new arena opens out there. So when you say that ownership is committed to the way the team is going, you are actually saying ownership is committed to losing so the franchise loses enough to justify the move. I think I have seen this movie before, so let me give you a piece of advice: do not hire Lou Brown. He will find out you are losing on purpose and next thing you know, he will be pulling pieces of clothing off a life-size cut-out of Anschutz (ew, that's gross).

But I guess we will find out exactly what you are thinking tomorrow during the NHL draft. I know you are desperately trying to move the number two. You have always hated high draft picks. I give you credit for the success you had in San Jose where you used late first round picks to find that diamond-in-the-rough. That is great; there is nothing wrong with using the twenty-fifth overall pick to take a chance. But this is the second overall pick we are talking and you have the chance to either trade for some much needed goaltending help or draft a player who might make a difference. I know the easy choice would be to take Drew Doughty or Zach Bogosian, two puck-moving defensemen. And I would not blame you. Puck-moving defensemen are all the rage in the post-lockout NHL. But last time I checked, we have two puck moving defensemen on our roster (Johnson and Visnovsky) and you drafted one last year.

So take a chance and draft (La Femme) Nikita Filatov. I know it is not a guarantee that his Russian club will let him come, but he wants to come and he has all the makings of the next Ovechkin. Yeah, you might have heard about that Ovechkin fella, I hear he has been doing some pretty impressive things over in Washington. Besides, after the number two pick you have eight more picks in the first four rounds to play with. I am sure you can find a puck-moving defensemen then, or maybe even a stay-at-home defenseman with speed, something I think everyone would agree that the Kings need.

I will be at the Kings draft party tomorrow with my Brother-in-Law while you are in Ottawa working your "magic". Since my Brother-in-Law is connected to the NHL, I have promised him I will not make a scene if you do something stupid. So how about you do me a favor. Do not do something stupid. Do something smart. Then I will not even have to be concerned about making a scene. Can you do that for me, Dean? I would really appreciate it.

Hope you have a great time in Ottawa. Say hi to the family for me.

Best regards,

GameTime, TBD©