How do you think he's going to fare this season in his new role as captain? And how much do you think Phil Housley may affect his performance this season, how he plays with Housley behind the bench? And then two, is this a one and done? Or are we going to see Dewey here a little longer?

Yeah, there's a lot to unpack there.

So let's start with the contract first.

I do expect them to sign Drew Doughty to a two-year extension.

Well, as of a week ago, the AAV was probably coming in around $7 million on this two-year deal.

But with the news that the salary cap is going up to $380 million here in two years, who knows how quickly that number is going to escalate.

But the reality is, look, Drew Dowdy loves Los Angeles, and he's never wanted to leave.

But how do you make it? Certainly talk about the pipeline as well with the two prospects that are in the mix as well.

that— weaker pacific division crack into that top three and okay mayor my reason would be a first full season of artemi panarin and we saw in a small sample size what he could do there i'm projecting a big breakout from quentin byfield as well and just a healthy team now it's unfortunate the news we got about kevin fiala i was really hoping for a full go on him to start the season but those are just a few reasons why i'm bullish on the la kings going into this year hoven where do you stand on the la kings

Yeah, I think this is still a playoff team when I look at the Pacific Division and really the larger look at the Western Conference.

The Kings are lucky they're not in the Central.

They are in the Pacific Division.

They're right there in the mix to be involved in the discussion for a playoff opportunity, a playoff position.

Mick, to your point, can they win a playoff round? Look, there's so many things that we need to know before that, and we're going to find out over the course of 84 games tomorrow.

including what are the strengths and weaknesses of this team on the ice, not really just what they are on paper and also who their opponent is.

But specifically looking at the group of forwards, is there any young players we've got to keep our eye on within the system that could potentially make an impact as we get later and later into the season?

it's it's infuriating there's all these videos well stuff yeah

i mean did you see the the story about the guy who had bought all the lord of the rings movies from some so there's i don't know what it was but it was not like he bought it from apple or amazon or whatever but like he bought the entire lord of the rings what i don't even know how many movies that is um i believe oh okay and the company that he bought them digitally for went out of business and so he was like well i get my money back right or i get to keep them they're like no and they like took the the movies away and so now it's like everyone is just like you know it's another push for to be back to having physical media right like for for everything because it's gone because it really is as much as

I don't care about your... micro stats or your nhl ed stats like you're a bum no disrespect to jeff giuliano and brad marchand who are better at hockey than i will ever be at anything in my life um but like yeah i don't know i just feel like it's crazy that we just assume that i think speed are necessarily the

trevor zegras and like i don't know the the macklin celebration like there are players that grew up watching well it's two things i think and i've heard some pros like talk about this like it was all about physical training right like um gary roberts was all about like you know eating and physical training but then there was there was a movement to be like there never used to be they put you thought you had to be bigger and stronger to be better the game but then i i don't know who first started doing it but then there became like a shooting coach right and then there became like like coaches that specifically helped you aim your shot and like which like to be all stuff and i think that's when the jump in skill in like the last 10 years took place and so that's why you're seeing the michigan and like all these other in the the you know it's like it was americ malik when he did behind the legs like that was like the biggest anomaly of anomalies right but like this is one of the reasons not regularly in game yeah linking

Does Samuel Helenius or Alex Turcotte center the fourth line? But without Kopitar, down the middle of the ice, do you think they're gonna be good enough?

Yeah, you go back to the early '90s, you know, when I first really started paying attention to hockey and talking to Marcel Dionne and any of the greats, and whether you talk to coaches and Daryl Sutter, et cetera, all through the decades, pretty much everybody universally agrees that to be a Stanley Cup Championship contending team, you, you have to start with five key pieces, two defensemen, uh, two centers, and a goaltender, and if you have four of the five, you're on your way.

Uh, but if you have only three of the five, you, you, you're really up against it and can't be considered or shouldn't be considered a legit contender.

Um, so from the Kings' standpoint, they have some challenges here, because they don't have those five pieces, and they wanna take that step forward that they haven't been doing or haven't taken here over the last five years, uh, you know, in losing in the playoffs, regardless of how many points they generate in the regular season.

So this is now a team of wingers.

Uh, you talk about An- uh, Adrian Kempe, you look at Fiala, you look at Panarin, uh, but down the middle, it's a little bit scary.

And Kopitar, you know, it would've been nice.

Do you just think that they leave that to another day or, or, or could you see them actually naming a captain before next season?

Is this the year we finally see the reins off of Brant Clark and see him officially unleashed for the LA Kings?

Totally comfortable with the contract.

Uh, we had him pegged in the 7 to 7.5 million range when we did our, our cap and roster projections for the Kings, so no problem there.

Uh, l- like the deal for both sides, really.

Uh, there's upside there for both, both sides of the party, or both parties I should say.

Um, in terms of- Brent Clark and letting the reins go.

Again, I come back to the coaching staff, which is really the most positive story for the LA Kings this off-season.

That was noticeable when I was going through the last 12 months, but how would you assess the draft for the Kings this year?

Yeah.

And they did full due diligence on him at the, uh, Russian sort of, uh, uh, scouting combine that took place in Florida a couple weeks before.

So we'll get into all that in the article.

But the point is this, Jesse, if you spent any time watching him at development camp, holy hell, th- you cannot get the puck by this guy.

He's 6'6" and he is so limber and so flexible.

He does amazing things.

He squats down and he's, like, smaller than the shortest goalie you could imagine, and at the same time, he springs up and he's huge and he's blocking things.

Um, other than being six foot eight, I d- I still don't have a ton on Jack Sparks.

How do you see his usage increasing and how do you see Drew's changing?

You know, I have said this when it comes to Dowdy.

I've said this as many times as I possibly can on as many shows, podcasts, et cetera.

I think the situation with Drew Dowdy is a very volatile one.

I know everybody's trying to play nice publicly and saying everything's fine and we want him to retire a king and he wants to retire a king and This is a situation that just screams Jonathan Quick 2.0. You have a player who's probably not coming back to Los Angeles beyond this year, but he wants to continue to play and plans on playing for at least three or four more years, and there's money in the marketplace that will pay him.

Drew Doughty's a very serviceable defenseman.

You can argue he's not a top pair guy anymore, but put him on a second pair or a third pair, limit his minutes.

Will there be a captain opening night? I think the situation with Dowdy maybe takes him out of the mix for that, but just your thoughts on do they need a C and will they pull the trigger before opening night?

Can you hire Laviolette, John, and then have a quiet off-season, or do those two things not line up?

No, they don't line up, but, but you're not gonna have a busy off-season because you hired Laviolette, if that makes sense.

The Kings were heading into this off-season needing to make a lot of roster moves.

They, they need another top six center, uh, at a minimum.

They still have questions at the 3C.

You know, Scott Lawton s- sort of is the, the leading man, the leading candidate at this particular point.

But, uh, they need to fill that hole as well.

Mm.

So your initial thoughts on the hiring of Peter Laviolette here, Mayor.

Very intriguing, very interesting, um, for a number of different reasons.

So to rattle off a few of them, I would say, uh, I start with the fact that Ken Holland and Peter Laviolette do not have any relationship.

They've never worked together, they've never been in the same organization at the same time, and that's so curious because that's not the normal MO of a general manager.

Uh, they normally wanna go with somebody that they trust, somebody that they have sort of some roots with.

Um, you know, they've spent a lot of time together, uh, from a communication standpoint, and stylistically, and that sort of stuff.

So for Ken Holland to go sort of off the board and get somebody that he doesn't have a relationship with is very intriguing.

Yes.

Yeah

... because you're talking about a guy who was an assistant coach, who's stepping in to become a head coach again, and he has a relationship with Holland.

So if the GM is requesting, at least this is the way that I read the tea leaves, "Hey, we'd like to bring DJ Smith back," Woodcroft might have been more amenable to that idea.

But when you're talking about a guy with the resume of Laviolette, he's not taking any, I would assume, he's not taking anybody, uh, on as an assistant coach at the request of anybody.

He, he feels that he's probably earned his stripes to be able to bring in his own team.

Now, maybe he interviews DJ Smith, and he ends up liking him, and he wants to keep him on.

Uh, but you also have another thing involved besides Phil Housley and besides DJ Smith.

What do you feel from a player standpoint is priority number one in the off-season?

Yeah

... because you're talking about a guy who was an assistant coach, who's stepping in to become a head coach again, and he has a relationship with Holland.

So if the GM is requesting, at least this is the way that I read the tea leaves, "Hey, we'd like to bring DJ Smith back," Woodcraft might have been more amenable to that idea.

But when you're talking about a guy with the resume of Laviolette, he's not taking any, I would assume, he's not taking anybody, uh, on as an assistant coach at the request of anybody.

He, he feels that he's probably earned his stripes to be able to bring in his own team.

Now, maybe he interviews DJ Smith, and he ends up liking him, and he wants to keep him on.

Uh, but you also have another thing involved besides Phil Housley and besides DJ Smith.

What do you feel from a player standpoint is priority number one in the off-season?

Yeah

... because you're talking about a guy who's an assistant coach, who's stepping in to become a head coach again, and he has a relationship with Holland.

So if the GM is requesting, at least this is the way that I read the tea leaves, "Hey, we'd like to bring DJ Smith back," Woodcroft might have been more amenable to that idea.

But when you're talking about a guy with the resume of Laviolette, he's not taking any, I would assume, he's not taking anybody, uh, on as an assistant coach at the request of anybody.

He, he feels that he's probably earned his stripes to be able to bring in his own team.

Now, maybe he interviews DJ Smith, and he ends up liking him, and he wants to keep him on.

Uh, but you also have another thing involved besides Phil Housley and besides DJ Smith.

What do you feel from a player standpoint is priority number one in the off-season?

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, well, so let's just re- let's just back up for just a quick second for those that didn't follow along closely.

So the Ontario Reign won the Pacific Division, set franchise records for points and wins during the regular season.

Had a phenomenal year, that cannot be understated, uh, under new coach, rookie coach, first year in the American League coach.

Uh, his name is Andrew Lord.

You can check him out on Kings with the Podcast.

I thought he looked really good

Mm-hmm.

But Angus Booth is NHL ready.

I think he could step in and play in the NHL right now.

Um, and hopefully he gets an opportunity to do that at training camp.

Obviously Holland has some sort of housekeeping to do over the summer to even create such a situation.

Save that for a different podcast.

Um, and Khursanov, you know, maybe he's ready or maybe he needs, you know, another half season of, of seasoning.

Sure