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About This Page: This is a discussion on LA Kings Talk within the LetsGoKings.com forums, at Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum. With Anze Kopitar , Dustin Brown , Mike Cammalleri , and Jack Johnson , the Kings have some of the brightest young talent in the NHL. At 19-28-2, they also have a
Someday, perhaps, those young players will look back on this trying season and realize how much better they are for having gone through it.
Maybe, but if they do, Johnson won’t be among them.
“I think a lot of people try to justify losing,” Johnson said. “I don’t think you need to lose in order to win. I think losing stinks. Flat out, period. There’s no need for it. There’s nothing wrong with winning all the time. I don’t believe that you have to learn from losing before you can win. I think you need to have the mentality that winning is everything.”
Quote:
At 20, Anze Kopitar of the Kings will be the youngest player in the upcoming All-Star game. But after a year-and-a-half in the NHL, Kopitar is feeling like he’s not that young anymore. “I’m still 20-years-old,” he said, “but I’m not a rookie anymore. I don’t really feel like a young player.”
I've been saying this for a while and I think JMFJ's comments back it up: If the Kings don't start going a "winning" direction by the end of next year, they'll either see him go or pay BIG to match the RFA offers he will not only get, but will so richly deserve.
There will probably be at least 25 teams interested and a solid half dozen "floating" potential offers and I would venture to guess at least 3 "made" offers.
I'll eat crow (that's crow not Crow so knock it off) if I have to, but the Kings will not reach an extension before he becomes a RFA unless they get some seriously new direction going, and pronto! Kopi too. Brown, unfortunately, signed a long deal and will likely be wallowing in misery for years. Too bad, so sad.
It'll be nice to get Jack playing mostly in the Eastern time zone.
You like seeing that fire in young players. I'm glad Jack has the drive to win. Any great player would be frustrated being in a situation like we have here. Granted, we are building towards the future, but we shouldn't expect the young players on this team to be happy with losing. That's why it's hard for me to root for Stamkos - on one hand, it's great to have a high draft pick, but on the other hand, I don't want to see this team with so many budding stars develop a culture of losing. It's reassuring to know that at least Jack won't settle for that.
Jack Johnson needs to become Jack Mother F'n Johnson then. I was on Kings talk and spoke about the hype of Jack Johnson and that is what it appears to be at this point, just hype. The guy can skate, no doubt. But I haven't seen anything he has done to earn the Mother F'n part of his name. Nick and Darrel, as usual, made the excuse that he is young. Forget that. He knows what he needs to do.
Jack needs to get dirty. Make some runs at some players. Make players look over their shoulders. He needs to watch Brown. Jack needs to get in some scaps. He'll see that will get and keep him "in the mood" the entire game. He will see his scoring will go up to.
Jack Johnson is a great player. He just needs to earn the Mother F'n part of his name.
Do you honestly think this team, or any team in recent years since the advent of the draft lottery - has tanked on purpose?
This team? No. But the Stamkos backers on LGK sure have argued over the past few months that the Kings should tank on purpose. I've argued against it only to be told that I don't know what I'm talking about.
Any team in lottery history? Yes. The 83/84 Pittsburgh Penguins. The Devils also tanked on purpose that year but fell a game short and Pittsburgh got Lemieux. Also, the 92/93 Ottawa Senators tanked to get Alexandre Daigle. That was the final straw and the NHL instituted the draft lottery that we have today.
Last edited by OrangePuck; January 23rd, 2008 at 06:53 PM.
Pacific Notebook - Johnson won’t accept losing (nhl.com) 
PuckMonkey
