'Large human' with soft hands, Cup experience answers Hollywood casting call
Penner fits the bill for Lombardi's Kings
by Christopher Kober | Hockeytalk.biz

MARCH 7, 2011 -- LOS ANGELES -- On Monday, February 28, Dustin Penner (left) was an Edmonton Oiler enjoying a friendly game of ping pong with his captain, Shawn Horcoff, when suddenly the two became rivals on the ice as well as across the ping pong table. Penner had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings.

In return the Oilers received defense prospect Colten Teubert, a first round pick in this summer’s NHL Entry Draft and a conditional third round pick in 2012. It was arguably the biggest splash on a quiet trade deadline day, as the deal embodied the state of the Oilers’ franchise while solidifying the identity of the Kings.

“I think it’s been no secret,” Horcoff said. “The [Oilers’] organization has made their stance clear in what they’re trying to accomplish and I think the trade really puts into perspective here for all of us what’s going on. At the same time, we realize that for the players that are here, it’s still our job to compete every night, to move forward and to become better and really try to make a step in the right direction for the organization.”

Edmonton’s up-tempo playing style, headlined by 19-year-old phenom Taylor Hall, is starkly different from that of the Kings, however there is little doubt that Penner will be able to fit in with his new team quickly. Penner retained his Newport Beach home from his days with the Ducks, has played with Jarret Stoll and lived with Matt Greene during his first year with the Oilers. A 6’4” 245 lb four-time 20-goal scorer (including 22 so far this season), Penner brings a combination of size and that is hard to come by and can work well within the Kings’ system.

Los Angeles GM Dean Lombardi prides himself on putting together a team that is hard to play against and said that Penner “would certainly fit that definition of being hard to play against.”

Penner joins a Los Angeles lineup that is filled to the brim with battlers like team captain Dustin Brown, Ryan Smyth, Michal Hanzus and Wayne Simmonds in front of gritty defensemen such as Greene, Jack Johnson, Willie Mitchell and, to a slightly lesser extent, Drew Doughty. This is not a team that is going to trade chances and run the score up to seven or eight. The Kings are built to grind out close games along the boards.

In Penner’s first game as a King he lined up with Simmonds and Anze Kopitar. Before the game ended, however, Simmonds was moved off the line because he wasn’t playing a “dot-to-board game,” with that “power forward attitude,” as head coach Terry Murray put it. Justin Williams replaced Simmonds on the line and assisted on Penner’s first goal as a King Saturday against Vancouver.

For his goal, Penner drove to the net from the corner boards, shoveled the puck toward Roberto Luongo and it deflected in off of a defender’s stick; a classic Dustin Penner type goal.

“As the games get tighter down the stretch here and the playoffs,” Penner said, “those are the type of goals you have to score. You know it’s not going to be tic-tac-toe nearly as much as you’d like … its getting pucks to the net, traffic in front and two, three whacks at it before it’s usually in the back of the net. Everybody’s focus and concentration is ramped up at this time of year and it continues to get even harder to score goals.”

That comment also speaks to another asset Penner brings to the Kings: late round playoff experience. The Winkler, Manitoba native played in 33 playoff games and won a Stanley Cup while playing down the road in Anaheim from 2005-2007 and is now one of only three Kings to have his name emblazoned on hockey’s Holy Grail. Williams (Carolina, 2006) and Rob Scuderi (Pittsburgh, 2009) are the only others with Cup winning experience in the Los Angeles dressing room. Mitchell played two regular season games for the eventual Champion New Jersey Devils in 2000 but didn’t qualify for inscription.

“I’ve only been here for two games,” Penner said, “but I like the intensity. I like the concentration the team has.”

As for his comfort level early on, “It’s getting there,” he said. “I’ll feel better after tomorrow; I’ll feel better after the next day and it’s just one of those learning curves that you have to adapt to when you get traded.”

As his chemistry improves with his new teammates, the man that Dallas Stars' rinkside reporter and former Ducks radio color man Brent Severyn used to refer to as the “Large Human” could give the Kings that extra push they need in the maddeningly close Western Conference playoff race.

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