haroldsnepsts

To be clear, the politically correct phrase for them is Oompa Loompas.

Agreed. People seem to remember his highlight reel saves but forget all the backbreakingly soft goals he lets in. He's a good goalie, but way too inconsistent to be considered elite.

I honestly agree that there is a downside to parity in that having powerhouse teams year after year creates great rivalries, but mostly this sounds like sour grapes. People may not be very familiar with the Kings because they play on the West coast and don't have creepy identical twins or a drama queen for a goalie, but in terms of star players on the Kings there's several candidates. Mostly it's just that the team is so young that it's a lot of guys who are very good now that are becoming superstars. Doughty - great young defenseman, norris trophy nominee and will likely win one very soon. 22 years old. Kopitar - people are finally now noticing him in spite of three 70+ point seasons and great two way play. two time all-star. 24 years old. Richards - former captain, all star and couple 70+ point seasons. hits, scores goals, plays the PP and PK and will fight when called upon. 27 years old. Quick - probably won't but would be a worthy winner of the Vezina this year, and the Hart. Then there's his playoff run. 26 years old Brown - maybe not a star, but a captain who hits more than almost anyone in the league, can score goals, play on the PP and kill penalties. 27 years old. Then think about the Wings winning in 2008. What stars did they have? Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Zetterberg. That's about it. There's a couple former stars in Hasek and Chelios but they weren't playing most of the playoffs. More than anything it just sounds like a team won that you didn't know very much about and didn't feel any connection to, so it seems bad for hockey. It's too bad more people don't get to see the Kings play because they've been a fun team to watch for a few seasons now. They're young, big, fast, will hit, fight. And now they're out of the goal scoring slump.

As this season has shown us, the odds are kinda pointless even a the start of the playoffs. I'd be curious to know what the odds were for the Penguins and Kings to win the Cup when the playoffs began.

So the Penguins give up 30 goals in 6 playoff games and only manage to win two games. The Kings give up the same number of goals in 20 playoff games and go on to win the Cup with a 16-4 record. But they give the Penguins better odds at winning the Cup? Makes sense.

She's definitely what you'd call a role player. sorry. a grinder?? She is to fake boobs what Giguere is to goalie pads.

I know he was less than impressive in the 20 or so games he played with Detroit, but assuming they didn't re-sign him then the Wings blueline right now is Kronwall, White, Ericsson, Smith, and Kindl. That's pretty scary. Obviously he's going to be trying to sign d-men in the offseason, but that's a lot of bodies to replace if you throw in Q. I'd love an upgrade there, but I'm not expecting it.

I dont know if it's the toughest, but it's absolutely the best trophy. 4 grueling best of 7 rounds the players don't get paid for, all for one day with the Cup and having your name engraved on it for eternity. To me that beats a tiny little silver football trophy any day.

Honestly I think that's the biggest thing Sutter brought. Accountability. Because you're right in they don't have a ton of veteran leadership. Doughty and Penner became completely different players under Sutter. It'll be interesting if Sutter can keep them working like that through a full season, with Cup hangover. Or if there will be message fatigue.

The things is, the Kings weren't an awful team that got it together at the right time. They were a talented and defensively sound team that was underperforming all season in terms of goal scoring. But they were 2nd in the league in goals against, 4th in PK, and even a mediocre 17th on the PP. They just weren't scoring. Straight across the board all their players were having slumps, for various reasons. The biggest thing they did was bring in Sutter, who took a fairly young and inexperienced team and held them accountable. He also opened up their offense. Murray implemented a great defensive system there, but clearly had them playing too conservatively. And Game 6 aside, their PP is about the ugliest I've seen, especially for a team with that much talent on the first unit. It baffles me how their PP coach has kept his job after it being terrible for so many seasons. I don't know that they'll get to the Finals again, but I'd be surprised if this team wasn't at least a factor in the playoffs for the next few seasons.

I don't think they'll be one and done, but I'm guessing they won't be a dynasty either. It's just so hard to do these days. But they could be a contender for a good long while. Like you mentioned, Quick is the key signing. Hopefully they get him for a reasonable price but that's going to be hard to do after winning the Conn Smythe and having the season he did. Hopefully he'll get the cap hit down through a decent term. And as awesome as quick was this playoffs, you can't expect that his level of play will be this high every single postseason. This team clearly had something special going on. Aside from Quick the only significant UFA's besides him next season are Scuderi, Penner, and Stoll. Stoll I'm guessing they'll try hard to sign. He's good in the faceoff circle, plays the PK and PP and competes every shift. The other two will be interesting decisions because Scuderi and Penner stepped up in a big way and were different players once Sutter came on board. Most of the season Scuder was fine but unremarkable, and Penner was a huge waste of cap space most of his time in LA. So they could re-sign at a decent price hopefully, but are also replaceable if need be. But they've got Kopitar, Richards, Williams, Brown, and Doughty signed for several seasons. And kids like Voynov and Martinez who won't even be RFA's for another season on their rookie contracts. So they don't have to do much to keep most of this team intact for a couple more seasons. They're also just so freaking young. Kopitar is 24. Doughty is only 22. Martinez 24. Voynov 22. Brown, Richards and Carter are 27. Quick is 26. Basically I think the team is in great shape, they only have to make a few significant moves in the next few seasons and could be good for a long time. But much like their long history of losing, the Kings also have a history of bad trades and signings so you never know. Hopefully those days are behind them as well.

Brodeur talking to Roenick after the game. I have to give him credit for that, talking so soon after a loss like that. And being very gracious in defeat.

NBC did. But they're continuing coverage on NBCsports. (I was pissed too and figured it out after a minute).

think Brown hands the Cup to Mitchell?

Kings win!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!!! Quick should win the Conn Smythe. Kings wouldn't be in the playoffs without him let alone beating Vancouver, St Louis, Phoenix...

what's the call? wasn't that a good hit? Ah, it was for the trip on Zubrus. Not the hit on Sykora.

I'd have to go with Probert or Gallant.

ideally you should've made that post before the incredibly weak penalty call on Penner.

kings are getting a little cute with their offense because of the score. They just need to keep getting pucks on net. that's a penalty??

stupid henrique and his stupid pornstache

did that go off Gionta's visor?? owwww...

refs do the Devils a favor and just give Clarkson a misconduct instead of a minor.

Carter especially. Could that have been more obvious? He knocks down Scuderi then just tackles Quick.

did they just basically dive on Quick?

Kings PP definitely woke up at the right time.