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HEAD COACH
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Larry Robinson
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ROSTER
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C - Jozef Stumpel, Olli Jokinen, Ian Laperriere, Ray
Ferraro, Yanic Perreault, Sean Pronger. LW - Eric Lacroix,
Vladimir Tsyplakov, Luc Robitaille, Craig Johnson, Josh Green.
RW - Russ Courtnall, Glen Murray, Sandy Moger, Daniel Audette,
Pavel Rosa. D - Garry Galley, Rob Blake, Sean O'Donnell, Doug
Bodger, Mattias Norstrom, Steve Duchesne, Philippe Boucher. G -
Stephane Fiset, Jamie Storr.
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INJURIES
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Steve McKenna, lw (abdominal strain, does it matter?).
Vladimir Tsyplakov, lw (knee, week to week). Mark Visheau, d
(urinary tract obstruction ewwww, season).
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TRANSACTIONS
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Traded Eric Lacroix, lw, to the Rangers in exchange
for Sean Pronger, c.
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GAME RESULTS
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2/10 at Phoenix L 3-0
2/11 Philadelphia W 4-3
2/13 Dallas L 3-2
2/15 Anaheim L 3-1
2/18 Edmonton W 3-2
2/20 at Calgary T 2-2
2/22 at St. Louis L 5-1
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STANDINGS
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Pacific Division GP W L T PTS GF GA
Dallas 54 35 10 9 79 159 107
Phoenix 57 29 18 10 68 146 128
Anaheim 58 24 25 9 57 155 147
San Jose 58 20 25 13 53 132 136
Los Angeles 58 21 32 5 47 135 158
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TEAM NEWS
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by Matt Moore, Los Angeles Correspondent
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The season might not be done with yet, but the Kings almost are. I
was hoping to be able to write something positive about the Kings
this time around, and actually had a brief chance to do so when the
Kings came from behind and ambushed the Flyers. But true to form
the Kings promptly lost all of their momentum and disappeared in
three of the next five games.
I'm not sure which was more disgusting to watch: the total
domination of the Kings by cross-town rivals Anaheim or the
embarrassing attempt at defense that they threw at the Blues.
Hmmmm...I'll go out on a limb and say the Blues game.
In that game there were three goals scored by Blues at point blank
range, with nary a defenseman in sight. And as usual the normal
"We've got to work harder" mantra was said by all the Kings. Maybe
if they say it enough it will happen, kind of like Dorothy clicking
her heels together in the Wizard Of Oz. But I tend to doubt it.
It sounds like a foregone conclusion that Larry Robinson will be
fired (or maybe reassigned like Dirk Graham was in Chicago). I
don't think that will be enough to right the Kings from this
disaster of a season. Individual players need to be held
responsible for not doing their jobs, especially players who have
disappeared from making any attempt at playing hard. Those players
include forwards who are not willing to pay the price by crashing
the front of the net, or the defensemen who don't feel like
clearing the front of their net.
I could honestly say that if the Kings used that criteria to weed
out players they would lose half of the team if not more.
Good news: After missing 19 games due to a strained knee ligament,
Glen Murray returned against the Flames. He played pretty well
considering he was having to get used to a brace and was also
having to get his conditioning back.
Now the bad news: Winger Vladimir Tsyplakov sprained his left knee
in the game against the Oilers. He'll be out for at least a week.
Theo Fleury brought to an end any chance the Kings had of trading
for him by rejecting a Kings offer of $25 million over 4 years. He
intends to explore the free agent market this summer when he will
be an unrestricted free agent. Hopefully the Kings will make a run
at him then. But the nixed trade would have supposedly sent Yanic
Perreault to the Flames, which would have been interesting since
then we could see Perreault not score for 20 games while in a
Flames uniform.
And finally, Kings former owner Jeffrey Sudikoff pleaded guilty to
federal insider trading charges this past Friday. He was the owner
of the Kings who was supposed to save the franchise from financial
ruin after the federal conviction of the previous Kings owner Bruce
McNall. Maybe they'll get to talk hockey up in the Lompoc Federal
Prison.
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