After a loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night at the MGM in Las Vegas, Nevada, head coach Terry Murray was disappointed on how it all ended for the Kings on North American soil. “We have to be better. I know it has been quite the grind for us the last 7 days with 5 games played, but we have to be better.” stated Murray. This opinion was shared by Kings forward, Dustin Brown. “We didn’t connect at all on our passing. We just didn’t work hard enough. In the third we started to work better, but it was too late.”
Could a change of scenery like Hamburg, Germany benefit the Kings? It’s obvious after the loss to Colorado by the score of 4-1, this change was welcomed. The players will have time to re-focus their energy and work on the team chemistry as the start of the new season looms. The Kings were out shot 30-14 by the Avalanche last night. The lone goal came from Simon Gagné who took a pass from Anze Kopitar.
So on to Hamburg, where the Kings will play a game against the Hamburg Freezers on Tuesday, They will have an off-ice workout today and then will be free till tomorrow afternoon for an on ice practice. The game on Tuesday will be at 10:00AM because of the time difference between Germany and L.A.
The Freezers have been playing in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). They were originally known as the Munich Barons from 1999 until 2002. The Hamburg Freezers have a few Canadians and American players on their team and some of them have played in the NHL before. Defenseman, Patrick Traverse now 37 played for Montreal in the late 90′s, Breet Englehardt who was drafted by the Red Wings and later traded to the Montreal Canadiens and John Curry who saw action with the Penguins in the playoffs in 2007, as a backup goalie.
As we are heading into the final stage of the preseason, 27 players remain in camp. The three roster cuts conducted on Saturday were defensemen Andrew Campbell and Thomas Hickey. added to the roster change is the departure of forward Dwight King to Manchester. As for Campbell, he cleared waivers and will be heading to the AHL team affiliate.
So what is to be expected of the remaining players in camp that are on the bubble? The Kings will be having a serious look at Jeff Zatkoff the third goalie, defenseman Slava Voynov and forward Kevin Westgarth. With injuries to Colin Fraser and Jake Muzzin, it is expected the Los Angeles Kings will be making one more roster moves prior to commence the season. The question remains will they keep two spare defenseman or two spare forwards? This decision will be taken while the team is in Europe and after the medical staff can make a final decision on the length of time these two injured players can reintegrate the line up.
The Kings will be heading to Stockholm, Sweden later this week to play the New York Rangers on Friday and back to Germany in Berlin to play the Buffalo Sabres, Saturday.
