EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA (September 10, 2007) -- The Los Angeles Kings are starting their 2007 training camp a bit earlier than other National Hockey League teams, with the exception of their neighbors about 35 miles to the south.

Why? They start the season with two games against their Stanley Cup Champion neighbors, the Anaheim Ducks, in London, England on September 29 and 30, and before that, they will play two exhibition games in Salzburg, Austria on September 25 and 26.

As such, the Kings (and Ducks) were given a head start on the rest of  the league, and on Monday, they opened their training camp at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California. But the Kings will spend just nine days in Southern California before they leave town for their first road pre-season game at Colorado on September 19.

And even before that, they begin their pre-season schedule just three days into training camp at Anaheim on September 13.

"I thought it was a very good first day," said Crawford. "We covered a lot of material and how we play. Our goal is for our guys to be comfortable with our systems within the first six days."

"We've done a good job of planning for everything," added Crawford. "We've got this amount of time to prepare for the exhibition schedule. I think the fact that we have a limited time to prepare for the exhibition schedule will probably help us with the quick start to our regular season."

Crawford also emphasized that the players are already being closely watched to determine who makes the big club and who does not.

"We've got that evaluation process going on in the scrimmages and the very competitive drills we're running in practice," he said. Our scouts and our management people are doing a good job of evaluating people, and we're seeing people in situations they're going to be in in games. That's giving us a very good read."

"I particularly like that a lot of the younger players showed very well today when we sprinkled in the veterans. That was a very good sign. I was very pleased of the overall performance of the group."

Indeed, the competition was more intense than usual on the first day of training camp.

"Obviously, we have to prepare pretty quick with games on Thursday and Saturday, so the competition level is a little higher than in most camps," said veteran defenseman Rob Blake.

"It's always good to get that excitement going," said veteran center Derek Armstrong. "The battles were a bit tougher on this first day, but it's good to get back into the flow of things."

PROMISING YOUTH

The Kings are in the second year of their rebuilding plan, and by the looks of things, the stockpiling of young prospects just might be exceeding their expectations in terms of having young players with skill that could eventually translate to the National Hockey League level.

"We've got a good class of young players coming in," Crawford explained. "At last count, we were at 15 or 16 guys on their first contract in this camp, and that's an extraordinary number. And there are some good ones when you look at Jack Johnson, Teddy Purcell, Trevor Lewis--you go right down the list--tomorrow, [Jonathan] Bernier and [Thomas] Hickey will be here."

"There are so many good players here who are on their first contract, and let's face it, when you're on your first contact in your first NHL training camp, you want to impress," Crawford elaborated. "I sensed that was the attitude here today, and I was very pleased with the play of a lot of our young players."

Add to that the other prospects that are still in the mix, and the Kings' rebuilding plan looks like it could be slightly ahead of where they expected to be by this time.

"There are also a lot of our minor league guys who are trying to show that they deserve a chance too," said Crawford. "We've got good battles at all the positions, and that's the way it should be. When you finish where we finished last year, you've got to improve, and this is where we look first."

Last week, the Kings had their youngest prospects in town early, and  Crawford liked what he saw.

"There were a number of defensemen that really caught my eye in a number of ways," said Crawford. [Patrik] Hersley, the young kid [Josh] Kidd was pretty good. I liked [Drew] Bagnall, I thought [Richard] Petiot was pretty good, but we expect Petiot, at his age, to be that type of guy. I thought [Brian] Boyle was really comfortable. He was trying to activate, and I appreciate what he was trying to do, and I liked [Joe] Piskula."

"There were a lot of defensemen that I thought really stood out tonight," added Crawford. They looked like they're prospects. You look for people to distinguish themselves in the end. I'm looking for a player who can do it at the next level. Is what he's doing going to translate? I definitely think that for a number of players like [center Teddy] Purcell, [center Trevor] Lewis, those types of guys.  It looks like it's going to translate nicely."

Indeed, Lewis really caught Crawford's eye in the rookie game on September 7.

"I thought Trevor Lewis was head and shoulders the best center, and that's really nice to see that he really separated himself from a lot of people," said Crawford.

And as you might expect, some of the young "kids" have some work to do to reach the next level.

"[Bagnall is] a big, strong kid who hangs onto the puck a little too long," Crawford explained. "If we can cure him of that, which is easily cured--he's going to cure himself because he keeps getting pasted--he'll think, 'hey...I've got to get rid of that puck quicker,'" 

"I think he'll get that and all the other parts of his game," added Crawford. "He's an aggressive, abrasive player, and we need aggressiveness and abrasiveness in our organization. He's a kid who seems to have that zest and juice--he just has presence and it carries over into his game. I like what I've seen, and I think he's a guy you could see in our uniform before too long."

Crawford also liked what he saw from netminder Linden Rowat, who was selected in the fifth round (124th overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft back in June.

"[Goaltender Linden] Rowat will get nothing but better," said Crawford. "He's one of those guys where you're hoping he gets better next year and then the following year, you're hoping he challenges for a spot at the minor league level. He's got good size good movement. He's pretty square to the shooter, he has post-save recovery--all the things you're looking for in a goaltender. He's obviously been well-schooled."

TAKING THEIR TIME IN GOAL

The biggest reason for the Kings being a bottom-feeder in the 2006-07 standings was shoddy goaltending, primarily by veteran Dan Cloutier, who was hampered by injuries all season long.

But contributing to the problem was anointing Cloutier as the team's number one goaltender at the start of training camp last season, a major blunder that will not be repeated this season.

"I did make a mistake last year, kind of jumped the gun," Crawford explained. "I made an assessment that we needed to have a number one goalie [early on], we wanted to get that out of the way. That probably came from my time in Vancouver where everything is such a story all the time, especially the goaltending position. We're going to learn from the mistake I made last year. I know why I made it. We won't make that mistake this year."

Indeed, Crawford and his coaching staff will take as much time as needed before making their decision on their goaltenders.

"We don't need to make that decision, and we're going to give ourselves all the time to look at everybody," said Crawford. "We've got good races at all the positions. The goaltending one is going to be especially interesting. So people like [Jason] LaBarbera, [Jean-Sebastien] Aubin, tomorrow [Jonathan] Bernier, the kids we had here last week [Erik Ersberg, Jonathan Quick and Rowat], along with Cloutier, will all get great opportunities to show themselves and we'll reserve judgement for as long as we possibly can and hope we don't make a mistake this year."

"A lot will depend on how this first week goes and who emerges as the one who deserves the best look," added Crawford. "We are going to give LaBarbera a good look, we are going to give Bernier a good look, Aubin will get some time and Cloutier obviously has to work for everything he's going to get as well. Those are the key guys, but we're not going to discount Ersberg and Quick. The guys who probably aren't going to get exhibition time are Danny Taylor and Linden Rowat. But apart from that, you might see any of the six others in the exhibition games."

"All three of them, the main guys--Aubin, Cloutier and LaBarbera--will get a really good opportunity. As for our younger guys, we'll have to see if Bernier jumps into that mix and forces us to take a long, hard look at whether or not he's ready. Ersberg and Quick are quality pros and look like they're ready to contribute. I would think they'll start the year in Manchester [the Kings' primary minor league affiliate], although we won't close the door on that one."

Crawford explained that because the Kings (and Ducks) are being allowed to carry three goaltenders on their roster until they return to North America after their London trip, they can take their time.

"We don't have to make a decision on our goaltending until October," Crawford explained. "That's the one position they're allowing us to carry an extra guy because we're going to Europe. So we're going to use that to our benefit. We'll carry three right through. We don't need to make a decision, so I'm going to learn from my mistake last year. I won't make a decision this year [until he has to]."

"From the players standpoint, their job is to go out and get ready. If they're even the least bit uncomfortable, that's neither here nor there. Our job is to get better in that area. We all know that. We think we're going to be a lot better. Jason is going to get a great opportunity. Danny is healthier and we brought in Aubin. And we've got [Ersberg and Quick], and we've got one of the best 19-year-old goaltenders in all of hockey. We know the only place to go for us is up."

COULD BE A SLOW START FOR BLAKE

Defenseman Rob Blake underwent hip surgery in early April, and although he is cleared to play, he is still recovering and rehabilitating from the surgery.

"[The hip is] fine," he said. "Today wasn't much of a test. I've been skating quite a bit the last three or four weeks. The test will be the back-to-back games throughout training camp. It's a seven-month process, and I'm about four months in. It's going to be there for the next few months before it's one hundred percent."

"You try to do as much as you can on it," he added. "It's going to be stiff, but as far as structurally, you're not going to do any more damage after the three-month mark. So as far as the stiffness, that's going to be there for a couple months but that's nothing we can't overcome."

Blake is unsure if he will be affected by his hip injury.

"I hope not, but that's what I want to get over in the next couple weeks, to a month," he explained. "I'll play quite a few exhibition games just to get to that fact and make sure it's to a point where I know it's not going to hinder me on the ice."

* * *

The Kings 2007 training camp continues through September 18 with daily on-ice sessions at the Toyota Sports Center. All on-ice sessions are free and open to the public.

PHOTO OF MARC CRAWFORD COURTESY LOS ANGELES KINGS

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.

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