You’ve got to appreciate the Kings’ willingness to get back on that Ilya Kovalchuk horse.
The Kings are saying that if Kovalchuk’s Devils’ contract doesn’t work out, they might be interested in taking another shot at him.
Minutes after Kovalchuk signed his Devils deal, the rhetoric coming out of his camp was that he always wanted to [...]

As a public service to both Ilya Kovalchuk and hockey fans, I’m going to list some things Kovalchuk could have done to prevent his extended stay in NHL Free Agent Purgatory.
Free Samples
At the end of the 2007-08 season, Marian Hossa left Pittsburgh to sign a one-year deal with Detroit. Hossa could have gotten a longer [...]

Yikes! I’m not sure Kings GM Dean Lombardi got the memo not to upset your up-and-coming franchise defenseman.
Lombardi made some comments about Jack Johnson’s play in Michigan, where Johnson played college hockey. Lombardi also made comments about the quality of the Michigan program.
Did I mention they were negative comments?
Now, Johnson is pretty upset by the [...]

Question: Can the Ducks and Kings both be good teams at the same time? Can they both be bad teams? Or, my theory here, do they feed off of each other, with the success of one causing the demise of the other, a veritable Western Conference yin and yang?
The Kings recent swoon has coincided with [...]

Ouch. Teams are now opting out of the Dany Heatley “sweepstakes.” The Kings are the latest team to close the door on the Heatley option, which is pretty telling.
It’s like the Senators are getting rejected for dates they didn’t even ask people out on.
The Kings could use a proven goal-scorer but they’re such a young [...]

The big shock of the weekend, for me, anyway, was Ryan Smyth accepting a trade out of Colorado.
For someone who made a very big deal about where he would sign last year, he sure seemed ready to get the heck out of Denver. And while the Banff native was probably happy to get a little [...]

The trade deadline draws nearer. I’ve always thought the NHL should take a few nights off for it. Get everyone in the same room, players and GMs, and just do the trading right there, live. It would be like when you chose teams when you were a kid. Maybe the NHL could make it even [...]

I’m not sure if there’s a connection between these two items:
Tim Panaccio had a pretty standard piece about hockey, and how while it doesn’t have broad appeal, it does have its fans in certain parts of the world. He talks about how the LA papers stopped covering the Ducks and Kings on the road for [...]

Apparently the Islanders won’t be moving to Queens just yet.
The team released a statement saying they’re not moving into the now-industrial area near Citi Field, formerly known as Shea Stadium.
I’m from Queens and I know that area near Shea. It’s a maze of chop shops (or at least car repair places housed in free-standing structures; [...]

I kind of a have a feeling Kansas City is about to become a hot NHL city.
Hot on the heels of the announcement the Islanders are going to play the Kings in an exhibition game in KC comes Wayne Gretzky’s confirmation the Coyotes are looking for new investors to help keep the team in Arizona.
I [...]