LOS ANGELES (April 26, 2007) -- Last week, hockeytalk.biz began its season-end evaluation of the Los Angeles Kings by looking at their forwards.

This week, in part two (our evaluation will stretch into three parts instead of two...our apologies), we take a close look at the defensemen.

ROB BLAKE (72 games played, 14 goals, 20 assists, 34 points, -26 plus/ minus rating, 82 penalty minutes) -- He may have been slowed by a hip injury for much of the season, so one has to take that into consideration, but the 2006-07 season for Rob Blake, even with atrocious goaltending behind him for much of the season, has to be considered a big disappointment. His defensive play was sub-par, and he was not as effective as he should have been on the power play, even though the threat of his booming point shot did open things up on the power play for the Kings, who ranked tenth in the National Hockey League with the man advantage this season compared to 28th in 2005-06. The Kings six million dollar man underwent hip surgery at the end of the season, which may explain some of Blake's problems. The Kings have stated that Blake is expected to be ready for the start of the 2007-08 season, but given the nature of his injury, his availability for the beginning of the season has to be considered a question mark. In any case, Blake needs to have a much better 2007-08 season, and much will be riding on his shoulders, both on the ice and off.

KEVIN DALLMAN (53 GP, 1 goal, 9 assists, 10 points, -13 rating, 12 PIM) -- Dallman played off and on as the Kings' seventh defenseman, but found himself mostly on the outside looking in after defenseman Mike Weaver stepped up his game in the second half of the season. Dallman will never be more than a number seven defenseman on virtually any NHL team because he lacks the size, speed strength and skill to do so. Do not expect him to crack the Kings' top six defensemen next season, either.

JAMIE HEWARD (71 GP, 6 goals, 18 assists, 24 points, +2 rating, 47 PIM; with the Kings: 19 GP, 2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points, -4 rating, 20 PIM) -- The veteran Heward was acquired by the Kings at the February 27 trade deadline, and put in an admirable effort on the Kings' blue line, even though the team was headed nowhere this season. Heward was solid in the defensive end and contributed offensively as well. He will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, but may have made enough of an impression to have earned, at the very least, a one-year contract offer, even though he is 35 years old. Of course, with the Kings' roster in major flux as they rebuild, Heward could just as easily wind up elsewhere in 2007-08.

AARON MILLER (82 GP, no goals, 8 assists, 8 points, -14 rating, 60 PIM) -- All one has to do to evaluate Miller's season is to look at that 82 games played statistic. Yes, believe it or not, Miller played in each and every game for the Kings this season. His off-season hip surgery clearly resolved all of the problems he had with his back over the last few seasons, and he was solid defensively all season long. At 35 years of age, Miller is on the downside of his career, but on a team with lots of young defensemen, he can still be an asset. The Kings have expressed some interest in re-signing him, but Miller will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and could also find himself with a new team next season.

JAROSLAV MODRY (76 GP, 1 goal, 17 assists, 18 points, +11 rating, 54 PIM; with the Kings: 19 GP, no goals, 8 assists, 8 points, even rating, 22 PIM) -- As the old saying goes, some things never change, and that cliche fits Modry to a tee. When he left the Kings after the 2003-04 season, he was poor in the defensive zone, but was a decent offensive defenseman. And when he returned to the Kings at the trade deadline as a salary cap throw-in, nothing had changed. Modry is still plagued by soft play and poor decisions in his own zone, but is a little better than average as an offensive defenseman. Modry's weaknesses greatly overshadow his strengths, and with since he will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, there is virtually no chance he will be back with the Kings next season.

OLEG TVERDOVSKY (26 GP, no goals, 4 assists, 4 points, -10 rating, 10 PIM) -- Although Tverdovsky was nothing more than a salary cap throw- in from Carolina, he should have been able to find a permanent spot in the Kings lineup ahead of Dallman and Weaver. But defensive lapses and less-than-mediocre contributions on the power play landed Tverdovsky in the press box for more games than he dressed for. The 30-year-old native of Donetsk, Ukraine, seemed to be just going through the motions, and the Kings finally threw in the towel, placing him on waivers on February 24 before sending him to the minors. At this point in his career, one has to seriously question if Tverdovsky will ever make it back to the NHL. He will certainly not get that opportunity with the Kings, even though he still one year left on his contract.

LUBOMIR VISNOVSKY (69 GP, 18 goals, 40 assists, 58 points, +1 rating, 26 PIM) -- Visnovsky was, by far, the Kings' best defenseman in 2006-07, and not only in the offensive zone, where his ability to move the puck and his shot from the point was deadly. Indeed, his strong play against the opposition's best forwards, regardless of size, was evident all season. If you were a forward with the puck, if Visnovsky checked you, chances are you lost the puck. Visnovsky has one year left on his contract.

MIKE WEAVER (39 GP, 3 goals, 6 assists, 9 points, -4 rating, 16 PIM) -- Weaver played in two different seasons in 2006-07. In the first season, he was almost a permanent fixture in the press box as a healthy scratch. But to his credit, Weaver kept on working hard in practice and made the most of a two-week, mid-season conditioning assignment with the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League (Kings primary minor league affiliate). And from February 6 on, Weaver entered a second season, earning a permanent spot in the Kings lineup, and played consistently solid defense, and even chipped with three goals in that 27-game stretch. Weaver will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, but his strong play late in the season, along with his positive attitude may have earned him a contract offer from the Kings.

NOT EVALUATED: Peter Harrold, Jack Johnson, Joe Piskula (they did not play enough games with the Kings in 2006-07 to make an accurate evaluation).

Next week, we will look at the Kings' goaltenders, selected minor league prospects, front office management and ownership.

As stated earlier, defenseman Jamie Heward put in a very solid 19 games with the Kings after coming over from Washington at the trade deadline, and may have made a strong enough impression on the Kings front office to earn himself a contract offer.

And if the Kings want him, Heward has made it clear that he wants to stay.

"I would love to come back," said Heward. "If the LA Kings want to have me back, then I want to go where I'm wanted. There's been no feelings other than gratitude from me since I was traded here. They've made me feel welcome every single day since I've been here."

"They've treated me with respect, the coaching staff has been fantastic, they've given me lots of ice time," added Heward. "It's a good group of guys. We've had a lot of fun. I fit in right away. It only took a couple of days to fit in."

Southern California certainly seems to agree with Heward and his family.

"My family's been out, we've toured around, done all the things here and we enjoy it," said Heward. "If they're interested in having me back here, then they're the team that I'm interested in being with."

KOPITAR LOOKS BACK

Center Anze Kopitar made a very big splash in the NHL this season, scoring 20 goals and adding 41 assists for 61 points in 72 games as a rookie, and is already the Kings' best player, and the one with the greatest potential to become a star in the league.

But the 19-year-old had no thoughts of stardom going into his rookie season.

"I didn't think I'd have these kinds of numbers this year," said Kopitar. "I think my season was pretty good. My goal was to come into camp and obviously make the team and start off strong. I think I did that pretty good."

"I had some ups and downs, but I guess every rookie does," added Kopitar. "It's hard to stay consistent over 82 games. But that's the next challenge, to be more consistent and help the team win more."

The rookie was named as the team's best newcomer and their most popular player.

"It's a big honor for me, especially with the fans voting for [the most popular player award]," said Kopitar. "I really have to thank them for supporting us, even thought we weren't doing that well, but they were still there, cheering for us."

In the Kings' final game of the season on April 8, Kopitar revealed that although his back injury has healed, his physical conditioning suffered as he was on the shelf for ten games.

"The back is not an issue anymore, but I'm not in the same shape I was in before my back injury," he explained. "I was out ten games-- three weeks, almost a month. I had just two full skates with the team before I got back."

"I knew I was not going to be in shape like I should be in," he elaborated." But I was trying my best and trying to take care of my body. You lose a bit of the feel for the game and the team played well while I was gone. It's kinda hard to get back with the team. The guys filled my spot pretty good. I was pretty happy to see that."

Shortly after the Kings' season ended, Kopitar played for his native Slovenia in the 2007 IIHF Division 1 World Championship tournament in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He led the tournament in scoring with one goal and 13 assists, good for 14 points in five games.

Slovenia, which breezed through the tournament undefeated with Kopitar leading the way, will move up to the IIHF World Championships next year.

In the meantime, Kopitar now has a chance to rest.

"The plan is just to stay home and relax," said Kopitar. "I'm pretty tired. It's a tough schedule here [in the NHL]. You play almost every second night, and sometimes back-to-back. Even if you're in good physical shape before the season, 82 games is a lot of games."

But looking back, Kopitar said that time really flew for him in his first NHL season.

"Seven or eight months went by so quick," he said. "I still remember everything I did before [his first NHL game at Anaheim] like it was yesterday. Time flies. You've got to enjoy it while it's here."

Time does indeed fly. But at 19 years of age, Kopitar still has a lot of time left in his NHL career.

Back to Kings Main

Evaluating the 06-07 LA Kings Part 1 (3 Part Series)

Kings Notes, Mar 28, 2007

Kings Notes, Feb. 14, 2007