Kings pre-season wrap up, Bernier or Ersberg? and A Hockey(pod)Cast

Well,  the Kings wrapped up the pre-season last night with an awful goaltending performance by both Jonathan Bernier and Erik Ersberg in a 5-4 loss to the Ducks.

The biggest issue in pre-season was the 5 on 5 play of the Kings.  Technically all four goals last night were scored with a man advantage because the fourth goal was with the Kings goalie pulled in the dying minutes of the 3rd period against Anaheim. With a full pro-roster, after all the cuts are made, I’m thinking that this years Kings can do a better job 5 on 5.  Terry Murray will make sure of it.  You have a lot of scrambled lines during pre-season, as you look to adjust and see where the chemistry is prior to doing battle at the start of the regular season.

Aside from the 5 on 5 issues (the Kings were near the bottom of the league in 5 on 5 play last season), and the unstable goaltending, there were some bright spots.  The Kings held the opposing team to under 30 shots again in the pre-season so the defensive units seem to be playing very well together with the system the coaching staff has put in place.  It could be a very fun and exciting season for the Kings and their fans if the outcomes from games in the regular season are anything like the pre-season.  Sure some tweaks and some fine tuning is needed, however, this season the work shouldn’t be as much as it has been in the past.

Jonathan Quick has all but made sure his #1 job is safe and it’s almost certain that Erik Ersberg will be starting the season as the teams backup, however, if his play is the way it was in the pre-season you better believe (as long as he is not claimed off waivers) the Monarchs will see him playing as their starter and Bernier will be called up to sit behind Quick on the Kings. And, as I’ve stated in the past, Quick is a big key factor to the success of the Kings this season.  I, for one, think they are a playoff team in the West.  What do you, the Kings fans, feel?

Play close attention to Kings news this week, as we await to see the final cuts, especially on the blue line.  There is a very tough fight going on between Hickey,  Martinez, Drewiske, Scuderi for the final spots on the club.

When Sean O’Donnell returns, my educated guess is that the blue line will look as follows:

Johnson – O’Donnell
Doughty – Scuderi
Hickey/Drewiske – Greene

I can not, for the life of me, figure out who get’s cut.  Do you, the Kings fans, have a favorite as to what you would like to see as your six members of the blue line to start the season?

Other notes: Brayden Schenn  is all but heading back to Juniors to his team in Brandon, however, Terry Murray did have this to say about the first camp for the 5th overall selection in 2009.

MURRAY: “Not so much, not so much. I made a comment to everyone in the office, just before I came out, about how well he played (Sunday night). He steps into a situation where he hasn’t been in the lineup for a couple days, and had a really hard workout yesterday because he was not scheduled to be in this game, and he played so well, the way he did in the first exhibition game. All the ingredients to show me that he’s going to be a real important and good player in the National Hockey League.”

Rumblings (from Matthew Barry at HockeyBuzz) are that the Kings are quietly in search of a puck moving d-man.  Barry wonders what the price would be to re-obtain Kyle Quincey (who was moved in the off-season for Ryan Smyth).  He suggests Martinez or Drewiskie and a 2nd round pick.  If this was the case, I would of done it already.

And last but not least, for those of you who are seriously insane about hockey as I am, www.crashthecrease.com will be holding it’s “Puck Drop/Predictions” show Wednesday Night from 8PM EST to (approximately) 10:30 PM EST.  Be sure to tune in as HockeyIndependent’s own BD Gallof will be joining us live, along with Lyle Richardson of Spectors Hockey and Al Cimaglia direct from Chi-town. Hope to see some of you in the chat.  The direct link for the podcast is:  www.blogtalkradio.com/crashthecrease. It’s free to sign up and join us in the chat room to talk with other hockey nuts like the rest of us.  Plus, it’s a great way to discuss what we are broadcasting live.  Also, if you want you can call in live to comment or ask a question.  It’s a great time for all of us.

Any questions, or comments, you can e-mail me at: e-mail Anthony

And be sure to follow me on twitter: ACHockeyGuys