KINGS NOTES...
By Gann Matsuda
4.28.99 On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Kings announced that right wing Russ Courtnall underwent successful arthroscopic surgery this morning on his left shoulder to repair a partially torn tendon and remove scar tissue in his rotator cuff. Kings' team physician Dr. Ronald Kvitne, of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic, performed the surgery. Courtnall will begin rehabilitation immediately and a full recovery is expected.4.27.99 The medical staff of the Los Angeles Kings have been busy lately... On Tuesday, the Kings announced that defenseman Philippe Boucher underwent successful surgery on Monday to remove a prominent bone spur in his right foot. Dr. Phillip Kwong, foot surgeon of the Kerlan-Jobe Surgery Center, performed the surgery. Boucher will be immobilized for four weeks at which time he will begin a rehabilitation program immediately. He is expected to make a full recovery. The Kings also announced that right wing Russ Courtnall will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder on Wednesday. Kings' team physician Dr. Ronald Kvitne, from the Kerlan-Jobe Surgery Center, will perform the surgery. 
4.26.99 On Monday, the Los Angeles Kings announced that a groundbreaking ceremony for their new training center in El Segundo will be held on Wednesday, April 28. The training center, which will also be used by the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Sparks, is located at 555 North Nash Street in El Segundo. The $20 million facility, which is scheduled to open in fall, 1999, will be part of the soon-to-be-developed Grand Avenue Corporate Center. It will include two ice rinks (one NHL regulation-size and one Olympic international regulation-size), and outdoor inline skating rink, a pro shop/merchandise store, a sports-themed restaurant, interactive game studio, as well as locker room, training facilities and office space for the Kings, Lakers and Sparks. Scheduled to appear at the ceremony, which begins with lunch at 1:00 PM (the groundbreaking begins at 2:00 PM) are, Kings' president Tim Leiweke, Lakers' general manager Mitch Kupchak, Kings' Senior Vice President/General Manager Dave Taylor, Kings' left wing Luc Robitaille, Sparks' President John Buss, City of El Segundo Mayor Mike Gordon, and members of City of El Segundo City Council. For more information on this event, contact Mike Altieri at (310) 419-3838 or Michael Roth at (213) 996-0175. 4.25.99 On Friday, the Los Angeles Kings announced that left wing Josh Green underwent successful reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder Thursday to repair a recurring shoulder dislocation. Dr. Ronald Kvitne of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic performed the surgery at the Centinela Hospital Medical Center. Green will begin rehabilitation immediately and a normal and full recovery is expected. 4.21.99 On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Kings told four players that they cannot commit to them right now because they want to go with their younger players. "Am I going to be back?" said Kings' center Ray Ferraro following his meeting with Kings' Vice President and General Manager Dave Taylor. "I was told they can't commit to me right now and are interested in going with young guys." "We talked in general terms," Taylor said about his meetings with Dave Babych, Doug Bodger, Russ Courtnall and Ferraro. [But the youth movement] will affect them. Decisions on them have to be made by July 1, and we're not sure how some of the young kids will be until training camp." All become unrestricted free agents on July 1. "After last year, they said they wanted to sign me right away," Courtnall said. "Now, they want to wait." "I've got to wait until July 1, but my brother and I have talked about ending our careers together," Courtnall added, referring to his desire to retire with his brother, Geoff Courtnall of the St. Louis Blues. "It was, 'You did a good job for us, and we know your situation and we've got some young guys...," Bodger said. "I was told that they can't commit right now," Ferraro said. "They're interested in going with young guys...I'll know by July 1 if they're interested in me, and I just asked them to give me a call, one way or the other." Of the four, you can pretty much assume that Babych will not be signed to a new contract by the Kings. Bodger is also most likely to gone next season, either by retiring or because of the Kings' plans to sign Aki Berg and Jere Karalahti, a 1993 draft pick out of Finland who the Kings think is ready to play at the NHL level. The Kings are also likely to not resign Courtnall. There is an outside chance they might sign Ferraro, however. He had a good season...the Kings got more than they expected out of Ferraro and he would be a strong, positive influence on the young kids as well as a vocal leader. Defenseman Mark Visheau is also unlikely to be resigned. He will be an unrestricted free agent as well. There was no word from Taylor's meeting with other players. Six Kings will take part in the World Championships. Defensemen Rob Blake, Bodger and Sean O'Donnell will skate for Canada. Left wing Vladimir Tsyplakov will play for Belarus. Center Olli Jokinen and unsigned defenseman Aki Berg will play for Finland. Left wing Craig Johnson will skate for the United States. Taylor told reporters on Tuesday that two more resumes have come in from prospective head coaching candidates. He declined to say who submitted them, however. 4.20.99 As reported on Sunday night, sources said that the Los Angeles Kings would sign center Jason Blake to a three-year contract and on Tuesday, the Kings made it official. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the sources said that it was worth $1.85 million. Blake, 25, is 5-10 and weighs 180 pounds. He is a speedster with good offensive skills and a nose for the puck. He was a finalist for the 1999 Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA's top collegiate hockey player with the University of North Dakota and he led the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in scoring with 28 goals and 41 assists good for 69 points in 38 games. This was his best season in NCAA hockey and he led his team to a conference-best 29-3-2 record and a trip to the NCAA Regional Finals. 4.19.99 YES, NICE GUYS DO INDEED FINISH LAST KINGS CUT LARRY ROBINSON LOOSE It's official... At a 1:00 PM PDT press conference held on Monday at the Great Western Forum, the Los Angeles Kings announced that they will not renew the contract of head coach Larry Robinson, along with assistant coaches Rick Green, Jay Leach and Don Edwards. Robinson leaves the Kings with a 122-161-45 record during his four years as head coach. He was the 18th head coach in franchise history. He was the runner-up to Boston's Pat Burns last season for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. "This has been a difficult process and a tough decision, but a change is necessary to move forward," Kings' Vice President and General Manager Dave Taylor said. "Coming off the success of last season, it was disappointing to see a lack of intensity and consistency in our performance. Notwithstanding injuries, this season has been a disappointment." "This was a necessary move," Taylor elaborated. "To look at our team this year, we lacked consistency, lacked work ethic. That's unacceptable." The Kings also questioned Robinson's self-confidence. "At times, he was not sure of himself and that was the wrong image," Taylor said. "We've had some difficult times while Larry was here and I'm sure it took a toll on him." So Robinson's honest, always forthcoming demeanor, along with some mistakes, spelled doom for his coaching career with the Kings. But Robinson told reporters on Sunday that no matter what happened today, he would be holding his head high and would have no regrets. "The sun will come up tomorrow," he said. "All I know is that for myself and the coaching staff, we wouldn't do anything different. We did a good job under the circumstances." Robinson then discussed his team's shortcomings. "Where we failed was that we lost 28 games by one goal," he added. "And our power play didn't function the way it should have." "We didn't have players who were good enough to overcome the injuries that hurt us." Indeed, it is indisputable that injuries played a key role in the Kings' misfortunes this season. The Kings lost 333 man-games to injuries/illnesses in 1998-99 compared to just 166 last season...slightly more than double. What's worse is that the injuries were to their #1 and #2 goalies (Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr, respectively), their best player (Rob Blake), their #1 center (Jozef Stumpel), who was never 100% this season, their #1 right wing and possibly their best forward over all (Glen Murray), their #2 defenseman (Mattias Norstrom), and many more. And all of the above players, except Norstrom, were out of the lineup for an extended period at the same time. But the attitude of the players was also a factor...injuries weren't the only problem. The Kings had a good number of players who appeared to be just going through the motions this season. The Kings' players--every one of them--expressed sadness and disappointment in themselves for Robinson's apparent firing during post-game comments on Sunday. "I respect Larry," left wing Luc Robitaille said. "He's a good person. Sometimes he was too nice. When a guy wasn't producing, he always gave them an extra chance. Unfortunately, the guys didn't realize how lucky they were." "You can have the best system in the league, but if you're not giving 100 percent, you're not going to win," Robitaille added. "That's what happened this year." Kings' center Ray Ferraro echoed those sentiments. "Larry is as nice a man as you could ever possibly play for," Ferraro said. "He gave every guy the benefit of the doubt and in some cases that was taken for granted." "It's not his personality to be a brute," Ferraro added about Robinson. "I played for Al Arbour. He was a nice guy but if you screwed up you'd better have your ear flaps down." "The guys who got a second or third chance, they'd better keep their heads up if a new guy comes in," Ferraro added. Robinson didn't have much choice but to give some players second and third chances...after all, who else could the Kings recall except Pavel Rosa and Josh Green? Then late in the season, Jason Podollan? No one else was ready. "The frustration [Robinson] feels daily eats at him," Ferraro said. "It would eat at me, too." Ferraro also said that players' attitudes towards coaches have changed with the advent of big money, long-term contracts. I played two hundred games before I had a multi-year contract," Ferraro said, noting that players seem to respect coaches a lot less than they used to and that Robinson may have been a victim of that. And the Kings' players all said that Robinson is a good coach and that they should be the ones to get the blame, especially the floaters who played like they didn't care. "No doubt about Larry's coaching ability," Robitaille said. "We had a lot of guys who didn't put out 100%." "I think Larry is a great coach," Kings' captain Rob Blake said. "I don't think they guys played anywhere near as well as they're capable. To put all the blame on him is totally wrong. When guys have the down years that they did we're not going to win." Regardless, Robinson will take pride in the job he did with the Kings. "We will walk out of here with our heads held high no matter what happens," Robinson concluded. "I'm going to relish this day, the players and the coaching staff. I'll worry about [my employment status] when the time comes." Robinson also indicated that he'd like to stay on as head coach. "I'd like to remain here," he said. "We started something good here with the reward of seeing fresh legs [referring to newly-acquired center Jason Blake]...we've started something good here." "I look at this year as not being a total failure," Robinson added. "We got a real look at some players. You see players differently when you're not doing well." Robinson also praised Kings' fans. "The people here in LA are great fans," he said. "The have been more than patient. When they booed, we deserved it." The Kings will begin their search for a new head coach immediately, although they said that they believe that it's not essential to have one by draft day. I would expect the Kings to look for a coach who's more of a disciplinarian than they've ever had, although that brings up sickening memories of Barry Melrose and his "dog house." Hopefully, they'll bring in someone with some legitimate coaching skills, too. It's very sad to see someone who was the runner-up for the Jack Adams Award go from being a great coach to the scapegoat in just one season. Robinson clearly was the victim of a ton of injuries to key players and the fact that a good number of players on this team simply weren't interested in putting in the effort needed to be successful. Whether it was because they just cared about collecting their paycheck or if last season's success went to their heads or maybe they knew that they were running on borrowed time as the Kings wait for their prospects to develop...who knows. One thing is crystal-clear: this team had a lot of players who floated for virtually the entire season and that, along with the slew of injuries, doomed the Kings and in the end, Larry Robinson and his coaching staff. Although I have maintained that Robinson should not be fired because what has happened this season really isn't his fault entirely (most of the blame goes to the players, injuries and other circumstances), I now believe that it was time for Robinson to move on. Especially over the last month, the environment had become uncomfortable for him (not because of the players or media) and it was clear that management wanted to move in a different direction. The stress and disappointment of Robinson clearly has been killing him...this is a man who clearly wants to win and wants his players to want it as badly as he does. What is killing him is that many of his players don't share his commitment, drive and desire. Although the choice was made for him in the end, I believe that Robinson needs a fresh start, maybe with an expansion team with a roster filled mostly with young players he can mold...instill in them the drive and desire that he has for winning. Maybe then we'll truly see how good a coach he can be. Unfortunately, with the current make-up of this team, there was probably no way we'd ever see that and this team, moving into a new arena in about six months, can't wait that long. Not in this town. Larry, if you ever do read this, thank you for all the hard work you put into coaching the Kings and best wishes for your future. Ignore the mean-spirited comments that have been thrown your way lately by the ignorant "fans" (some fans at the Great Western Forum have shown no class at all in some of the verbal comments I've heard). You deserve it and remember...nice guys don't ALWAYS finish last. 5:00 pm PST Los Angeles Kings' defenseman Doug Bodger is seriously considering retirement after this season. He told reporters after Sunday's game that it was "50-50 right now." Bodger has played fifteen seasons in the NHL. Of course, he may be told tomorrow that he doesn't fit into the Kings' plans next season, which would probably push him towards retirement. But Bodger will be an unrestricted free agent and could still have a good year or two left. The Kings will host a free hockey clinic for kids ages 6 to 12 at Paramount Iceland in Paramount on Friday, April 12 startting at 5:45 PM. The clinic will feature on and off-ice instruction for first-time hockey players and all participants will be able to use full equipment provided by the Kings. Also, each participant will receive a complimentary hockey stick. For more information on the clinic, contact Steve Bogoyevac, Kings' Director of Fan Development, at (310) 419-3830 or call the Paramount Iceland at (562) 633-1171.4.18.99 From the "You Heard It Here First" file... The Los Angeles Kings will sign University of North Dakota center Jason Blake, who made his debut in the Kings' final game of the season on Sunday against the St. Louis Blues, scoring his first NHL goal and showing that he has good skills and great speed, something the Kings lack up front. According to a reliable source close to the Kings, Blake will be signed to a three-year deal worth $1.85 million. Blake, who was signed to a one-game tryout contract on Saturday, will be assigned back to the Orlando Solar Bears of the IHL, who will be in the IHL playoffs. I'll have more on Blake's performance during Sunday's game in my game report. In other news... Kings' head coach Larry Robinson has a meeting with Kings' Vice President and General Manager Dave Taylor at 8:30 AM on Monday. Robinson was visibly disappointed after Sunday's game and talked like a coach who wasn't going to be back the next season. Robinson did say that he'd like to return as the Kings' head coach, though. But if I were a betting man, I'd place my money on the Kings expressing their desire to move on and look for a different coach and probably a new coaching staff. Stay tuned. We may know Robinson's fate by sometime tomorrow. I'll have more on Robinson in another article. Immediately after Sunday's game, the Kings have announced that they have assigned right wingers Pavel Rosa and Jason Podollan, defensemen Jaroslav Modry and Jan Nemecek and goaltender Ryan Bach back to the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL. The Ice Dogs will also be in the IHL playoffs. A few other notes from Sunday... Although it's not official yet, the Los Angeles Kings will be sending a few players to the World Championships. Defenseman Rob Blake will play for Canada, left wing Craig Johnson will play for the United States and center Olli Jokinen will play for Finland. There may be other Kings who will be named to their respective national teams as well. 4.16.99 After Thursday's game against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Los Angeles Kings' president Tim Leiweke told reporters that the Kings will lose more than $20 million this season. "We're going to lose $20 million this year and if there's a team out there making money, I'd like to know who it is," Leiweke said. "If the league keeps going in this direction, cities are going to be losing franchises. Somebody has to make some sense out of this. We only have ourselves to blame." The Kings will be selling authentic, game-used jerseys prior to Sunday's game against St. Louis. The sale starts at 10:00 AM and will be held in the Great Western Forum parking lot in front of the Forum Club. Jerseys will sell for $120.00. Proceeds will go to the Kings' Care Foundation. 4.15.99 On Thursday, the Los Angeles Kings announced that they have assigned goalie Manny Legace back to Long Beach of the IHL and they have recalled goalie Ryan Bach from Long Beach. In other news... Kings' assistant coach Jay Leach will be an assistant coach for the US team at the World Championshps in Oslo, Norway. The head coach will be Terry Murray. Kings' defenseman Rob Blake is suffering from a staph infection and was pretty weak during his two-game suspension...looks like he wouldn't have been able to play, anyway... He is expected to return for tonight's game against Anaheim, but you've got to wonder if he'll be 100%... In case you hadn't heard... On Monday night at Nashville, Sebastien Bordeleau, who scored the first goal of the game in the first period, was hit by Kings' defenseman Sean O'Donnell and despite looking OK following the play, he was later diagnosed with a malalignment of the vertebrae and a small fracture in the C-5 vertebrae. Bordeleau was placed in traction and will undergo surgery today to fuse two vertebrae. He is expected to be hospitalized for the next several days. Michael Pagnani, Nashville's team's doctor, said he did not know long it would take said that Bordeleau should be able to play again. O'Donnell's hit was Bordeleau was clean and he was no penalized on the play. O'Donnell's recent two-game suspension was not related to this incident. Let's hope Bordeleau recovers fully. Sounds like a pretty bad injury. 4.14.99 On Wednesday, the National Hockey League suspended Los Angeles Kings' defenseman Sean O'Donnell for two games for cross-checking and spearing incidents during Monday night's game at Nashville. O'Donnell was also fined the league maximum, $1,000. However, he will also lose $10,416.66 in salary for the two games. At 15:51 of the third period, O'Donnellcross-checked Predators' forward Cliff Ronning in the head and then speared Nashville forward Sergei Krivokrasov. O'Donnell received a match penalty following the incident. O'Donnell will miss the Kings' games against Anaheim on Thursday and at San Jose on Friday. 4.12.99 On Monday, the Los Angeles Kings announced that right wing Sandy Moger underwent successful right rotator cuff surgery today. Dr. Ronald Kvitne of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic performed the surgery at the Centinela Hospital Medical Center. Moger will begin a rehabilitation program and is expected to make a full recovery. Obviously, he will not return this season. Moger suffered injury on April 5 at Colorado. 4.11.99 On Sunday night, the Los Angeles Kings announced that they have recalled defenseman Jan Nemacek from the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL. Nemecek was recalled on an emergency basis to replace defenseman Mattias Norstrom, who was injured when he collided with Dallas Stars' forward Pat Verbeek during the first period of Sunday's game at Dallas. Nemecek will be available on Monday when the Kings skate at Nashville. Nemecek, 23, has scored five goals and has added sixteen assists for 21 points while racking up 42 penalty minutes in 64 games for the Ice Dogs. 4.09.99 On Friday, the National Hockey League announced that Los Angeles Kings' defenseman Rob Blake has been suspended for two games for his cross-check to the back of the neck/head on San Jose Sharks' forward Alexander Korolyuk during Thursday night's game at the Great Western Forum. Blake received a minor penalty on the play. Because this is Blake's second incident for which he was suspended within 18 months, he will forfeit salary based on the number of games in a season (82) as opposed to the number of days in a season (192). As such, Blake loses $128,475.60, which goes to the Players Emergency Assistance Fund. There has been no word yet from the Kings on the results of the MRI examination of Jozef Stumpel. Also on Friday, the Los Angeles Kings announced that they have sent goalie Manny Legace back to Long Beach of the IHL. No explanation was given so either Jamie Storr is healthy enough to back up Stephane Fiset or the Kings plan to recall Ryan Bach, which seems unlikely. 4.08.99 As expected, the Los Angeles Kings have called up goalie Manny Legace and forward Jason Podallon from Long Beach of the IHL. Podallon played in seven games at Long Beach, scoring five goals and added two assists for seven points. He will wear number 28. 4.07.99 On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Kings announced that they have assigned goalie Ryan Bach to Long Beach of the IHL. And although it's not official yet, the Kings are expected to recall goalie Manny Legace and forward Jason Podollan from Long Beach on Thursday. Injury Update... Defenseman Garry Galley is listed with an abdominal strain and will be out indefinitely. 4.05.99 Various reports state that the Los Angeles Kings are among the teams in hot pursuit of University of New Hampshire forward Jason Krog, the winner of the NCAA's Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey this season. Krog, who was never drafted, is an unrestricted free agent. It is expected that he will be signed within the next few days. Stay tuned...the Kings might get lucky! 4.02.99 Late Friday, the Los Angeles Kings announced that they have recalled goalie Ryan Bach from the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League. Bach was recalled to replace Jamie Storr, who is listed as day-to-day with a sprained ankle. Back has appeared in 29 games this season for Long Beach and has 12-10-3 record with a 3.07 GAA and a .892 save percentage with one shutout. He will be available for Saturday's game against the Nashville Predators. 4.01.99 7:00 pm PST After Wednesday night's game at Detroit, the Los Angeles Kings announced that they have recalled right wing Pavel Rosa from the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL.3:00 pm PST By now, many of you have read (and hopefully got a good laugh out of) the April Fools Edition of my "Kings Notes." This is a personal tradition of mine that has been going on for the last four or five years. It usually gets a lot of laughs. Scares the pants off some people! :-) I hope you all enjoyed it. My apologies to the Los Angeles Kings, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, Rod Thorn, Gary Bettman, Tim Leiweke and anyone else who may have been directly or indirectly impacted by my article. This article was intended to be humorous, nothing more, and there is absolutely no truth any of it, except that the Kings did trade Steve Duchesne. Happy April Fools Day, everyone!8:00 am PST Although they haven't been mathematically eliminated yet, by now, I'm sure everyone realizes that the Los Angeles Kings will not make the playoffs this season. And you've probably all heard awhile back that they would be interested in signing unrestricted free agents, only to do a quick 180 in recent days, saying that they're not interested in signing big-money players. That sudden turnaround got me thinking and after digging a little deeper (talking to media contacts and contacts within the Kings' organization), I got even more suspicious. More digging... And today, the story is finally coming to light. It appears that the Kings and their owners are having cash flow problems and that the turnaround in philosophy mentioned earlier has been necessitated by the need to cut costs, at least partially. But the big story is not that the Kings have changed their philosophy. Hardly. Wait until you hear this... Various sources have indicated that construction on the Staples Center will be halted beginning tomorrow because the developers have defaulted on recent payments to PCL Construction, the company building the new arena. The reports also state that the developer's financial situation is bad enough that the payments will not be forthcoming for at least four months. Revenues the developers were expecting, including income the Kings would have earned from the playoffs, have fallen well short of expectations and caught the developers by surprise. They've even had to resort to cost-cutting measures. This includes not signing unrestricted free agents during the off-season, as well as trading Steve Duchesne to Philadelphia. "We are supposed to receive monthly payments from the Staples Center," said Andrew Keller, PCL spokesman. "But for the last three months, we haven't been paid. We can't continue construction until they pay us. We simply can't continue to front the costs of labor, material and other construction costs." What this means is that the opening of the Staples Center has now been pushed back indefinitely, thus endangering the opening of the 1999-2000 season for the Kings, Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers, and, perhaps, the entire season. And perhaps more importantly for all of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, this has jeopardized the Democratic National Convention that was to be held at the new arena. DNC spokesperson Amanda Wright told reporters that the DNC is very concerned but was withholding further comment until they could discuss things with Los Angeles City officials and the Staples Center developers. City officials were outraged at the news. "This is a travesty...I've never been so embarrassed in my life," Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan said. "Here we went through all that work to get the convention here and now it looks like we can't come through." "If we lose the convention because of this, this city will have a black eye in the eyes of the nation for many years," Riordan added. "As a Democrat, I'm very angry," said Los Angeles City Council President John Ferraro. "This is embarrassing for the city...it's shameful." As for the three pro sports teams, their respective leagues are angry and are threatening litigation to force the Staples Center owners to get construction moving again. "They guaranteed us that the Staples Center would be ready for the opening of the NBA season," said Rod Thorn, the NBA's Senior Vice President for Basketball Operations. "This delay has seriously jeopardized our schedule, not just for the Lakers and Clippers, but for the entire league. We are extremely disappointed and we will be investigating possible legal remedies to ensure our fans, especially those in the Los Angeles area, aren't affected." Naturally, the NHL is also very upset. "Any delay in construction of the new Staples Center will have a negative ripple effect throughout the league," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "We're deeply disappointed with the ownership and management of the Kings and the Staples Center right now," Bettman added. "Right now, they won't have an arena to play at after their two home exhibition games." Indeed. The Great Western Forum has already been booked for various events in the 1999-2000 season, including concerts, ice shows, Long Beach Ice Dogs games, college basketball games, etc...enough to make it infeasible to move them out to accommodate the Kings and Lakers. Further, the Los Angeles Sports Arena, which could be used as an alternative venue, is scheduled to undergo major renovations of its ice-making system and won't be available for hockey until March, 2000. "As it stands right now, the Kings would have to suspend operations for next season," Bettman emphasized. Bettman added that the NHL is also looking at possible legal remedies as well as taking over ownership of the Kings from Philip Anschutz and Ed Roski, Jr. and is even considering moving the team out of Los Angeles to play elsewhere as quickly as possible. "The situation in Los Angeles is deteriorating now," Bettman said. "The Kings haven't done well at the box office over the past few seasons and now this. We're not only looking at finding new ownership for the Kings, but possibly moving the franchise as well." Bettman refused comment when reporters asked him about possible cities where the Kings could be moved to. As of this writing, the Kings and the developers have not released a statement nor have they made anyone, especially team president Tim Leiweke, available for comment. As soon as more information is available, you'll see it here, so stay tuned! But don't wait too long...remember what day this is! :-)
