Scoring by committee in the LA-LA land

(photo: inside the Staples Center. Courtesy of wallmate.net)

There has been a lot of talk of how much this year's edition of the Kings lacks a bona fide scorer. You know, the likes of the Ovechkins, the Kovalchuks and the Jagrs of this world. The consensus so far has been that the 'nominal second line forwards', such as Michael Cammalleri, Dustin Brown, Alex Frolov or even greenhorns Patrick O'Sullivan and Anze Kopitar will have to provide scoring by committee.

Since the above as well as ocassional human sparks such as Eric Belanger or Brian Willsie claim they've mastered new ways of finding the back of the net, let me offer a whole new spin on the "no-scorer" thingy.

But first, let's file some evidence, shall we?

Says Cammalleri:

"[Last season] made not just others, but me realize, that I could be a leader and an offensive leader."

His probable top-line partner Frolov is sure that:

"[...] we have a couple guys who can score 30 or more goals. I think I'm capable of doing that if I do the things that are necessary."

Even the 19-year old youngster, Slovenian phenom Kopitar claims he might jump right in to the Kings scoring chase:

"It's for the guys making the decision to say if I'm ready. My personal thought is I am ready. I feel comfortable and I'm confident that I can handle the physical play."

Now, onto my spin. It's OK for the Kings NOT to have one big-time scorer. NOT to have someone the opponents can take out with one cheap shot in the open ice. NOT to have the go-to guy others will be trying to feed the puck to in the offensive zone.

It's OK as it means a number of players need to step up, shoulder the scoring burden, imitate the Alpha-dog and lead this team to victories night in and night out. Much like this year's version of the Los Angeles Dodgers, folks. I'm confident this was the original idea behind the team concept of Dean Lombardi and Marc Crawford. It also explains why the Kings did not chase a star *forward* in the FA market this offseason.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, meet your cardboard silhouette Kings with no star scorer onboard. But if they prove the cardboard is thick enough to keep out the dagger of big-time scorer opponents, this team will take all of us for a ride. Even though we might be surprised to see they've been driving by commitee...