All the new Kings men

The trade deadline has come and gone. The Kings have made a few adjustments, nothing to major to mess with their chemistry, but the moves they did make gives them a little depth for a longer push into the play-offs. The Kings picked up 2 veteran forwards, Jeff Halpern, and Fredrik Modin. For Jeff Helpern the Kings had to give up Ted Prucell and and a 3rd round pick in the upcoming NHL draft. For Modin it cost a conditional 7th round pick.

Lets start with Jeff Helpern. Helpern is 33 years old and is a solid 2-way forward who is an excellent face-off man. He brings veteran leadership to a relatively young team, he has playoff experience to help make a push deeper into the playoffs. Freddy Modin is another veteran who is a natural goal scorer. Modin has battled injuries his whole career. Also 33 years old, but if Modin can manage to stay healthy for the rest of the season he can help provide some offence, In just over 800 career games Modin has scored 222 goals and has 225 assists in his career. Modin has also played in over 50 playoff games while notching 11 goals and 11 assists in that time. So with Helpern and Modin in the Kings line up along with other vetrans such as Smyth and Scuderi. The Kings seem poised to not only make the playoffs but to push through more than just the first round.

The Kings had to give up 24 year old Teddy Prucell a Newfoundland native. Prucell was a propsect who was successful in the minors, and has shown he has the skills to stay in the NHL. Prucell just seemed to have a hard time to find consistancy within the Kings roster, one night he was the best player on the ice the next night you wern’t sure if he was playing. Prucell has spent time as a healthy scratch. The Kings can afford to give up Purcell and his potntial with the prospects that they still have. With players like Oscar Moller, Scott Parse, Richard Clune, Trevor Lewis, and newer prospects like Brandon Kozun, Kyle Clifford, Linden Vey, and their top prospect arguably Brayden Schenn. So the loss of Purcell isn’t so bad with these 8 prospects coming in the next few years the Kings could afford to lose one of them, meanwhile they added depth to what appears to be a playoff bound team for the first time since 2002.

Overall I believe as long as Modin can stay healthy, Modin and Helpern should make this team stronger than they already are. after a strong first game back from the Olympics the Kings beat Dallas 5-1 and watch for the Kings continue their strong play with their new forwards against Nashville on Thursday night.

The one player that the Kings were thought to be moving was Alexander Frolov due to the fact that he is a UFA at season end, but Frolov is a key factor in the Kings push towards the play-offs and it wasn’t worth risking the chemistry he has had with the Kings.

Congratulations to Team Canada for winning Gold at the Olympics against the U.S. Congratulations to Drew Doughty for winning a Gold Medal, and to Dustin Brown, Jack Johnson, and Jonathan Quick on winning silver medals.

Luton