Legacy of 2007 class not lost on Simmonds - Clarke sits but has “done a really good job of adapting to the NHL”
# Legacy of 2007 class not lost on Simmonds - Clarke sits but has “done a really good job of adapting to the NHL”
# Contributors
# Summary
Wayne Simmonds has always been so much more than his 240 games over three seasons in a Kings jersey.
# Players
# Staff
# Notes and Quotes
# Anze Kopitar
He was definitely a big part of this team growing up. Unfortunately we had to trade him away, but I guess getting traded for Mike Richards back then, it was a complement to him, too. But it was tough to see him go.
# Wayne Simmonds
After the first round [in 2007], Marty was a fourth rounder, like Dwight King. We had a lot of good players come out of the draft, and I think it set the foundation for what the Kings were able to do
Doughts, he’s my daughter’s godfather. I talk to Quickie every once and a while, talk to Kopi. Had a few words for Brownie last year after his retirement. It’s always great to catch up with those guys.
# Todd McLellan
Up in the air, as far as I know. 4 o’clock games are a real strange time for us, and I haven’t gotten an update after the game on [Quinton Byfield].
I thought [Rasmus Kupari] played quite well throughout training camp. He brings an element of speed and tenacity. We’d like him to have some offensive pop as well, but his job is to check and he does a really good job of that. Another penalty killer, a right-handed faceoff guy, a lot of reasons to have him, so he did a good job.
Last year we went into their building and checked pretty well and came up with a win, and we tried to run and gun with them here and came up with a big loss. […] targeted three areas that we thought we needed to take care of, that was it, and for the most part the guys got it done. That’s a good sign.
Hockey decision more than anything. We’re going to get to the 9, 10, 11, 12-game mark, and our job as the coaches here, we’ll share our opinion with the management team. But to this point, [Brandt Clarke]’s done a really good job of adapting to the NHL.
[Sean Walker]’s worked hard in practice. We’ve got to keep in mind his injury. Nobody talks about that and what he went through. It’s tough to come back from that. There are still repercussions to that as far as fatigue goes and how you feel, so sometimes he’s going to need the odd day off. I talked to Blakey a lot about that, because he went through it, and he talked about the first four or five months of the season, sometimes you’re really sore. It’s not the injury itself, it’s everything around the injury that can be fatigued.