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Gann Matsuda covers the Kings for Hockeytalk
Jack Johnson to Make LA Debut Plus! O'Sullivan Makes an Impression; Knock on Wood: Miller Stays Healthy Kings Notes by Gann Matsuda
Financial terms were not disclosed, but he was signed to a multi- year, entry-level contract rumored to pay him a base salary of $850,000 per season and bonuses worth somewhere between $2 million and $3 million. Johnson, 20, was acquired by the Kings on September 29, 2006, along with defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, in a deal that sent center Eric Belanger and defenseman Tim Gleason to the Carolina Hurricanes. While the Kings took Tverdovsky off of Carolina's hands to help with their salary cap, it was Johnson who was the jewel of the deal. "We felt the opportunity to acquire Jack Johnson was something we couldn't pass up as we continue to search for ways to upgrade this franchise," said Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi back in September, 2006. "This move required that we give up two good players, but has the potential to help us in the near future as well as for many years to come." "[Johnson] potentially fills a position that's hard to find," added Lombardi. "These type players aren't often available at a young age. We felt we had to be fairly aggressive. The kid is a competitor. He's going to be every bit as good as he can be." Johnson was one of the top prospects in the 2005 draft class, and was selected by the Hurricanes in the first round (third overall behind Sidney Crosby and Bobby Ryan) in the 2005 National Hockey League Entry Draft. The 6-1, 215-pound native of Indianapolis, Indiana just completed his sophomore season with the University of Michigan Wolverines, who were eliminated from the NCAA West Hockey Regional Semifinals by the University of North Dakota on Sunday. In 36 games with the Wolverines this season, Johnson scored 16 goals and added 23 assists for 39 points (all career highs) with 87 penalty minutes (led all Michigan players). Johnson was named as the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's (CCHA) Best Offensive Defenseman, and was selected to the All-CCHA First Team. He also ranked first in goals (16) and in points-per-game (1.08) among all college defensemen, and was tied for second in scoring among all college defensemen. In CCHA play, Johnson led all defensemen in goals (12) and in points (25), and was tied for sixth in plus/minus with a +14 rating. He has also been named as the CCHA Defenseman of the Week three times. Johnson also represented the United States at the 2007 IIHF World Junior Championship tournament in Sweden, earning bronze medal. In seven games, Johnson, who joined Kings prospects Trevor Lewis (center) and Jeff Zatkoff (goaltender) scored three goals, tying him for the team lead. Johnson also played for Team USA at the 2006 World Junior Championship where he was an All-Star selection with a goal and five assists for six points in seven games. Johnson has also earned gold medals with Team USA at the 2005 World Under-18 Championship, the 2005 Five Nations Tournament (US Under-18 Team) and the 2004 Compuware Four Nations Cup (US Under-18 Team). Johnson, who will wear jersey number 33, will make his Kings and NHL debut on March 29 when the Kings host the Vancouver Canucks (7:30 PM PDT, Staples Center). Leaving Michigan was a difficult decision, but Johnson said it was the right one. "It was tough to leave but I also knew at the same time it was the right thing," Johnson told the Associated Press. "This whole experience is something I've been looking forward to and I'm real, real excited. I'm a little nervous for it but I'm excited to get going and try and tackle a new challenge here." After the Kings season ends, Johnson will return to Ann Arbor. "I still plan on graduating from the University of Michigan, and I'll be back late in the spring to finish up classes so I won't be leaving entirely," he explained. "Coach [Red] Berenson said, 'I think you're doing the right thing,' and that was real important for me to hear." O'SULLIVAN MAKING AN IMPRESSION After starting the season with the Kings, rookie Patrick O'Sullivan (below) was assigned to the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, the Kings' primary minor league affiliate, to work on his game.
Having already accomplished that, O'Sulllivan could have easily thought, "been there, done that," after being sent down to Manchester. But to his credit, the 5-11, 190-pound native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina did not sulk. Instead, he put his nose to the grindstone and worked hard, scoring 17 goals and contributing 17 assists for 34 points in 38 games. More importantly, O'Sullivan had been charged with learning how to play without the puck and to work harder on every shift after showing inconsistent effort before he was sent to Manchester. On January 25, O'Sullivan was recalled by the Kings, and it appears that he got the message. Indeed, O'Sullivan has been effective with and without the puck since his return from Manchester, displaying a hard-nosed work ethic in battles along the boards and in the corners, and he has been far more dangerous in the offensive zone. And his numbers tell some of the story as well. He has four goals and twelve assists for 16 points in 27 games, and just had seven-game assist and point scoring streaks snapped on March 24 (one goal and seven assists for eight points). His goal during that streak was the game-winner at Anaheim on March 18. "It was the first game I felt like I could really do whatever I wanted with the puck," O'Sullivan told the Associated Press after the game at Anaheim. "To have that feeling at the highest level of hockey you can get to, it's pretty neat." O'Sullivan acknowledged that being sent to Manchester helped his game tremendously. "Since I came back from my stint in Manchester, I feel a lot more comfortable on the ice," said O'Sullivan. "I'm certainly playing a lot more and I'm starting to get some points." "I think it has a lot to do with confidence," added O'Sullivan. "Being a young player is tough in this league, but I think I'm starting to figure it out and I think I'm playing better." KNOCK ON WOOD Kings defenseman Aaron Miller has played in all of the Kings' 77 games to date. And before you do a double-take on that, yes it is true. Miller, who has been highly injury-prone for much of his tenure with the Kings, has played in all of the Kings' 77 games to date. And when this reporter asked him about his so-far-injury-free season, Miller got superstitious. "What are you doing? Don't say that out loud!" After what he has gone through in recent years, who can blame him. Indeed, Miller has missed a few boatloads full of games with various injuries, mostly related to his back. Or so he thought. Last summer, Miller had hip surgery, and it has apparently worked wonders for his back. "Yeah, it sure has," said Miller. "My back feels great. I feel five years younger. What does that make me? Thirty? I feel great." "It's been good," added Miller. "I've felt really good after having hip surgery in the off-season. Knock on wood that I continue to feel good and that I can continue to contribute to the team." Being 100 percent healthy all season long has been a welcome change for Miller. But what has not been welcome for him is his team's poor performance, even though he understands that the Kings are rebuilding. "We haven't play that well," he explained. "We were out of the playoffs awhile ago. It wasn't the way we planned for it to go, but we have a lot of young kids up now. We're trying to play hard and get ready for next year." "We're playing better, but we've got to play sixty minutes," he added. "We don't have the killer instinct right now. We get a lead, but we don't bury opponents. We let them back in and we lose games that we shouldn't. We have to fix that. That's what we're working on. We're trying to win now. I know we're rebuilding, but I think each and every game, the focus should be on trying to win." And for the 35-year-old veteran defenseman, time is of the essence. "The goal should be every night, trying to win hockey games," said Miller. "I'm no spring chicken, and I don't have time to be looking down the road. I want to win now. That's what we're trying to do. We've got to get that killer instinct in here, no matter how many young guys we've got in the locker room." The question for Miller now is whether or not he will still be wearing a Kings uniform when the team turns things around. "That'll take care of itself," said Miller, who is in the final year of his contract and will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. "I'd love to be a part of this organization. I've been part of it for a long time, and there's nothing I'd rather do than win here. But it'll work itself out. Right now, I'm just worried about playing hockey." "I felt really good this year," added Miller. "Aside from losing a lot of games, for me, it's been a good, healthy year. But I'd like to finish on a good note here. Get some wins and get a positive feeling going into next season." NOTES FROM A WARRIOR Defenseman Mattias Norstrom, who was sent by the Kings to the Dallas Stars in a trade deadline deal on February 27, returned to Staples Center on March 22 for the first time since the trade, and helped the Stars beat the Kings, 3-1. Aside from the reception the fans gave him, how the Kings honored Norstrom during the game and his feelings about his return afterwards, Norstrom had a few other interesting comments for reporters. About the trade, Norstrom said that he did not learn of the deal until the day it was made. "I talked to [Lombardi] earlier that day," said Norstrom. "My first reaction was 'where?' I don't know why, right or wrong, but that was my first reaction when he told me I was going to get moved." "I thought about why, but that's how I reacted and I'm glad I did it that way, too, because that's part of it," added Norstrom. "Once you sign an NHL contract, if you're not prepared [to be traded], you're in the wrong business. You shouldn't get into it. I've been fortunate after eleven years that I haven't had to experience it a lot. So I look at myself as one of the lucky ones." And now that he is on the outside looking in, Norstrom offered some observations about his old team. "They're going up," said Norstrom. "I told [the Stars] before the game that it doesn't matter if we start hard the first ten minutes. This team won't go away. They will compete for sixty or sixty-five minutes tonight." "That's the right way to start, that's how you build an organization," added Norstrom. "If you have the competitiveness, talent will develop with that. And I think we all see the kind of players that [Michael] Cammalleri has become, [Anze] Kopitar, [Lubomir] Visnovsky--especially now I'm talking about the young players. The kind of talent and quality people, and I know that having played with them, that is key for that organization to be successful and they will be."
PHOTO CREDITS: Gann Matsuda is a Los Angeles native and has followed the Los Angeles Kings since 1973. His days covering the Kings began in the mid-80's when he wrote game stories and news and notes pieces on various online services (GEnie, National Videotex Network and eWorld), before moving to e-mail lists and the World Wide Web. He has been the news editor for the Online Kingdom (http://www.kingshockey.com) since 1995, and has also covered professional hockey players of Japanese descent for the Rafu Shimpo (Los Angeles Japanese Daily News) since 2001.
2008 Western Hockey Network
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LOS ANGELES KINGS Also by Gann Matsuda:There's a First Time for Everything
Kings Notes, Feb 5, 2007 From Kings' press releases:
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LOS
ANGELES (March 28, 2007) -- The big news from the Los Angeles Kings this week
is, of course, the signing of the highly-touted, and perhaps even more
highly-anticipated, defenseman
The
21-year-old forward had already made his mark in the AHL, having scored 47 goals
and adding 46 assists for 93 points in 78 games with the Houston Aeros in the
2005-06 season. 