ESPN on the Kings

I guess if the worldwide leader in sports says it, it must be true. Not really. In the latest geeky edition on what can happen in the life of the thirty NHL teams, ESPN has this to say about three possible scenarios:

"The Optimist Says: The best offseason transaction was the hiring of GM Dean Lombardi and coach Marc Crawford, two of the game's more productive player developers. Returning blue-line star Rob Blake and Alyn McCauley won't hurt, either.

The Pessimist Says: Deleting Pavol Demitra and Mark Parrish from the equation means their power play (tied for 28th in the league last year) won't improve in the short term. And other than Alex Frolov and Mike Cammalleri, the Kings' wings are hurting, and not in a requiring-medical-attention way.

The Apocalyptist Says: Any longtime L.A. fan who remembers inconsistent Kings netminder names (such as Jamie Storr, Stephane Fiset, Felix Potvin and Roman Cechmanek) was likely plenty underwhelmed by the acquisition of former Canuck Dan Cloutier. But it's good to get that first sense of "is that all there is?" out of the way early, so it won't seem near as much of a shock when Cloutier frustrates them again during the season."

Let me just tackle the apocalyptic, as the optimistic is obvious and the pessimistic is still up in the air. I know goalies have their occasional difficulties and their styles and psychological make-ups differ, but Dan Cloutier is no fluke. The guy has been on winning Vancouver teams (more than 30 games won in the last four seasons) and while not extravagant, should provide steady support for the Kings this year.

In fact, Los Angeles might have the best trio of goaltenders across the NHL as of today. Dan Cloutier, Mathieu Garon, Jason La Barbera - think about it before you follow ESPN in the belief that "it is all there is".