00:00And, Ken, I want to talk to you first and foremost about your Kings,
00:03your three points out of the wild card right now.
00:05I know that you guys had some, like, you know, movement in your lineups here,
00:10and you've had some lineup changes.
00:11How do you feel you guys are moving out of the Olympic break here?
00:15How do you think you guys look?
00:17Well, we got a big six-game homestand coming out of the break.
00:19Two big games right off the bat, Vegas and Edmonton Wednesday, Thursday,
00:23division rivals.
00:25Obviously, we got to play our way in.
00:28You know, we haven't scored enough the first 55 games
00:30and made the trade just before the Olympic break for Artemi Panarin.
00:37You know, unfortunately, we lost Kevin Fiala here in the Olympic break,
00:42but hoping Panarin can come in.
00:45Our power play has been near the bottom of the league, so we defend good.
00:49Almost a third of our games go to overtime.
00:52I think we're 9-14 in overtime,
00:54so we haven't been good enough on 3-3.
00:57So hopefully a guy like Panarin can come in, help us on the power play,
01:00help us if we get the extra time.
01:02And he's going to be on a line with Kempe.
01:05So, you know, it's a big – we were banged up a little bit at the end there
01:10leading into the break.
01:12A couple of tough losses to Seattle and Vegas,
01:15but we've got to hit the ground running.
01:16We need to play our way in,
01:17and we need a really good homestand to get off and running.
01:22Ken, you know, I know you all the way back to your Red Wing days,
01:25and you were big on the blue line,
01:27and you were named the GM a year ago.
01:29And you tell me, taking over as general manager,
01:33are you starting to see some of that progress now where you're starting to see
01:37you guys being able to defend, goaltending, and all that,
01:40because that was the centerpiece on how you built those great wings teams in the past.
01:45Are you getting there now on what you have down on the farm?
01:49Well, we – you know, that's been the calling card of the L.A. Kings
01:53the last couple of years was goals against.
01:55They were top five last year.
01:58Darcy Kemper was one of the finalists for the Vesna Trophy,
02:01the best goalie in the National Hockey League.
02:04And, you know, we wanted to come in and continue that.
02:06And, you know, in the offseason, we lost Gavrikov,
02:10signed as a free agent in New York.
02:11We had to sign a couple of veteran defensemen in Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin.
02:17We were near the top three, four in the league in goals against.
02:21For most of the – up until the Olympic break,
02:24slipped a little bit the last few games.
02:26But certainly that's got to be our calling card down the – goals against.
02:31Keep the puck out of the net.
02:33And like I said, we just need a few more goals.
02:36We're near the bottom of the league in goals against.
02:38We've got to try to score a few more goals.
02:40And if we can continue to defend, those few more goals will be a big difference maker for us.
02:45Are you buying Colorado?
02:47Boy, they're on a heater right now, Ken.
02:49Boy, they're really playing really great hockey.
02:52Your takeaways on what you're watching with that Colorado Avalanche team?
02:56Well, obviously in the West, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota with the acquisition of U's.
03:01You know, now Vegas got Rasmus Anderson and, you know, in the East, you know, Tampa Bay is on an
03:07unbelievable run.
03:08I think they've lost one or two games in about the last 23 or 24 and they're doing it all
03:12being banged up.
03:14So the only thing about the Stanley Cup playoffs, Dan, as you've watched it for years,
03:18you can throw the regular season stats out the window and, you know, you've got to get hot at the
03:23right time.
03:24And that's what we've got to do.
03:26We want to, you know, get hot down the stretch, play our way in.
03:29And if you feel good about yourself, once you get into the tournament, anybody can beat anybody.
03:33But certainly the favorites, you know, the favorites are the teams that have the best regular season records and that's
03:39Colorado.
03:40So, you know, they're going to be a tough out.
03:43But I do think that, you know, the Stanley Cup playoffs, you know, the eight seeds beat one seeds way
03:49more often than probably any other in any other sport.
03:52You know, so it just talks to the parity and the competitive balance in our league.
03:56You know, Kucherov and Vasilensky in Tampa, you were mentioning them.
04:00They were on a heater also going into the Olympic break.
04:03I mean, they score, they defend.
04:05Team to beat, I mean, they, I mean, they, I remember I was watching them against the Bruins in that
04:10stadium game.
04:11Man, they're just so good on every line.
04:14And John Cooper does such a great job with them.
04:17Tampa Bay, the team to beat, in your opinion, Ken?
04:20Well, they're one of them.
04:21The other, the hard part, Dan, right now is, you know, we haven't had an Olympic break with NHL players
04:25since, what, 2014.
04:26It's been 12 years.
04:28You know, so I'm not sure what, you know, the first week, you know, 10 days, everybody had off.
04:34You know, everybody was probably in warm weather and, and relaxed.
04:37And so it's going to, you know, you've got a bunch of players coming back from the Olympics here now
04:41and joining their teams.
04:43There's a game tomorrow and then, and then Olympic gold.
04:46And then on Wednesday, the NHL starts up.
04:48So it's going to be interesting to see how these games are starting Wednesday and Thursday, because there's a great,
04:53there's a great unknown.
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