Sleeksays

LA Kings (9-9-3) vs. Chicago Blackhawks (10-5-6!) 1:00 PST, Fox Sports Prime Ticket Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown have been attached at the hip since Kopitar came into the league. Brown gave Kopitar a steady hand to feed the puck to, while Kopitar seemed to elevate Brown's game from that of a third-line grinder to a top line power forward. Both guys owe much of their success to one another and it's hard to imagine the two of them on different lines. But is it time to break them up, just to see what happens? Dustin Brown's game has evolved these past two seasons. Kopitar used to be the dynamic playmaker of the two, but Brown has taken it upon himself to carry the puck a lot more this season; that's good, but Kopitar has looked a little lost when he's not the one carrying the puck into the zone. It's like two best friends in middle school, but one came to high school with breasts grown over the summer. It might be better off to throw Brown with Stoll and Fr...

LA Kings vs. Washington Bolsheviks 7:30 PST, Fox Sports West Tonight is Russian Heritage Night at Staples Center, which is a great idea because it gets all of them in one spot so we can capture them. I stopped paying attention to politics in 1989, so I don't know too much, but I do know that commies are bad and I hate them. They tried to trick me with that whole Glasnost thing, but I know what's up: Russians, having failed to take over the world economically, are now trying to take over through hockey. They've infiltrated our nation's capital, led by their furry leader, Alex Ovechkin. His comrades Alex Semin (hehe) and Sergei Fedorov are probably "out" tonight, but I'm pretty sure it's all a ruse for some sort of un-American activity.* Standing in their way? The good, solid, American squad of Los Angeles Kings, led by Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar and Erik Ersberg. The Kings are the only thing standing in the way of a Russian invasion, and I...

Terry Murray has reunited the Patrick O'Sullivan-Anze Kopitar-Dustin Brown line that was such a surprising success in the 2nd half of last season. If that sentence sounds familiar it's because I wrote it about 3 weeks ago the first time Murray did this; then they played one game together and Murray put O'Sullivan on the 4th line. Now O'Sullivan is seemingly back and I think it's time the line deserved a name. because I had this all set up before Murray dicked them (and me around) . Here's a few options I came up with, and then I'll take a few good suggestions in the comments and have a vote tomorrow. Hooray for democracy! Option A: LAPD, Central Division- This option evokes memories of the old LAPD line (Allison-Palffy-Deadmarsh) , but it has the added bonus of being a little bit more rough 'n tumble than the old line. The name works because their names work (Anze-Patrick-Dustin) and it's similar to the older incarnation because all three had a...

Los Angeles Kings (3-6-1) vs. Anaheim Ducks (7-5-1) 7:30 PST, Fox Sports West Two games ago, the Kings were sitting at 3-4-1 and had just put in a workmanlike effort against the Detroit Red Wings. The Kings had been competitive in every game but the first one and were especially effective in rotating three scoring lines. Then coach Terry Murray decided to reunite the O'Sullivan-Kopitar-Brown line from last season. Okay, fine, our third line sucks now but that line was good last year so maybe it'll work. The result? 4-0 loss. " Oscar, please stop hugging me." Terry Murray then decided that maybe the problem was the Frolov-Handzus connection and moved Alex Frolov to Jarret Stoll's line. Oh, and he also gave up on the O'Sullivan-Kopitar-Brown line after one game and moved O'Sullivan to Frolov's spot with Michal Handzus. The result? A 3-2 loss, during which Terry Murray decided Patrick O'Sullivan wasn't doing anything and moved him down to th...

Los Angeles Kings (3-4-1) vs. Vancouver Canucks (4-5) 7:30 PST, Fox Sports West Patrick O'Sullivan will skate with Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar tonight, reuniting the Sandman Line* that was so effective in the 2nd half of last season. It's all well and good for those three because they love playing with one another, but the question I have is: why? Kopitar, Brown, and O'Sullivan are all playing over 18 minutes a game and they're all averaging about a point a game on separate lines. Kopitar and Brown have been effective though somewhat smothered by opposing defenses, while O'Sullivan has been the driving force on the third line** alongside Jarret Stoll and Oscar Moller. It seems like this is a move designed to end Kopitar's perceived struggles, but at the expense of the Kings' newfound offensive depth. *I call them the Sandman Line because they put opponents to sleep. Actually, it's because they all look really tired. **Can we end the whole chara...

Los Angeles Kings (3-4) vs. Detroit Red Wings (2009 Stanley Cup Champs) 7:30 PST, FSN West -Jason Labarbera is playing fucking again today. I actually like it because I wanted him to get a chance to prove himself but give Eric Ersberg a chance, huh? Did Ersberg spit on Terry Murray's grave or something? (Because he looks like a corpse, you see.) -Anze isn't looking that great to start the season. That's not bad. I've always found hockey to be cyclical: you feel great for a month, then you notice a little hitch that bothers you and it throws you off, then it seems like nothing is going right, and then all of a sudden you're fine again. The important part is that Kopitar is still being productive even though he's struggling. Both him and Frolov look like they're pressing a little bit, probably because they expected to be the leaders of this team, but they'll be fine. -Detroit is a shithole. Prediction: Kings win, 4-1, with dominant puck possess...

Holy shit hell yeah. According to Rich Hammond, Anze Kopitar has signed an extension . Since Hammond's a teasing little bitch he doesn't say the terms, but I imagine it's over 5 years and over $6 million dollars a year. Anyone have a guess as to the terms before the real numbers come in? This is awesome. It's like waking up to a blowjob on Christmas morning. And this time it's not from my dog. Super-Expensive Update: TSN has the terms at 7 years/ 46.8 47.6 million dollars, which averages out to $6.8 million dollars a year. That's a lotta dimp. But hey, Kopitar's worth it. It's less than what Thomas Vanek is getting. This means the Kings now have Kopitar and Brown locked up for the next 6 years. When was the last time two guys were tied at the hip like those two?

(Scroll down past this post if you want to see one of Earl's crazy charts. Yeah, I wouldn't either.) I was lying in bed trying to think of how I'd integrate Patrick O'Sullivan back into the lineup and I came up with this: The first game, I'd bench him. I'd take him to my office and explain that there are 22 other guys in the locker room that worked hard the past 2 weeks to get a chance to play in the NHL and I was going to reward him for that. Plus, he's still a little out of game shape and I don't want him getting hurt. The second game, I'd suit him up. I'd let his name get announced in front of the Staples Center crowd and let him experience a big ovation to let him know that the fans welcome him back and everything's okay. I'd only play him maybe 4 or 5 minutes, though, and scratch Ivanans. Let Calder skate on the 4th line and use Patty sparingly. I'd sit him the 3rd game against Anaheim so he can work on his conditioning and...