What an interesting year it has been for the Los Angeles Kings. After one of the hottest starts in the league, and team history, many people were saying that the Kings were poised to take a huge run at the ultimate prize in the Spring of 2011.
If you fast-forward into late November and December, the Kings look like a completely different team. The Kings haven’t scored more than three goals in a game since November 20th. I don’t care how good your goaltending is, you aren’t going to win many games playing that sort of hockey.
Essentially, the Kings are relying on Jonathan Quick to pick up the play that he started with this season. Like many expected, Quick has started to come back down to earth and the Kings as a team haven’t adjusted.
When you look at the stretch of games since November 20th, the Kings have compiled a record of 3-4-1. What does that streak add up to? Well, it adds up to seven of a possible 16 points. If you extrapolate that sort of production over the entire season, you have a team that is going to finish the season with approximately 70 points. In the ultra-competitive Western Conference, that sort of play just isn’t going to get the job done.
The problems are starting to pile up on the Los Angeles Kings. It’s been a tough stretch and finally, after weeks of speculation, Dean Lombardi has executed a trade for a scoring winger. The Los Angeles Kings have acquired Marco Sturm from the Boston Bruins in exchange for “future considerations.”
If you understand hockey lingo, you know that what Bruins general manger, Peter Chiarelli, means by “future considerations” is essentially nothing. The Kings were given Marco Sturm. Chiarelli came out with a quote saying that he really isn’t getting much for the German skater. It’s not his fault, or the fault of Sturm; it’s just the reality in a hard cap system.
When you look at the Kings, is Sturm really going to solve their problems? Only time will tell. He really can’t hurt the team right now. However, the Kings are taking a big risk on a player who is coming off a huge injury. Many people were calling for Lombardi to make a play for Edmonton’s Dustin Penner. Would he be a better fit? In my opinion, I think he would be.
Although there are players out on the market that arguably have more talent and more scoring prowess than Sturm, Los Angeles Kings fans have to be happy that Dean Lombardi finally made a change to the struggling roster.
Hopefully this trade works out for the Kings as they really need the help. If not, it could go down, as a terrible trade that only compounded the problems for the team. As a Kings fan, I’m hoping that things change in a hurry.
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