Harry How
Not many people in southern California pay much attention to the Western Hockey League playoff picture, but the Los Angeles Kings are doing that right now, monitoring how the first-place Saskatoon Blades fare. Saskatoon? Yes Saskatoon.
The Blades are the No. 1 seed in the WHL's eastern conference; they have taken a quick 2-0 lead in their opening-round series against Prince Albert - which matters only because Kings hotshot prospect Brayden Schenn plays for Saskatoon; and Brayden Schenn might look pretty good in a Kings uniform after No. 1 centre Anze Kopitar was lost for a minimum of six weeks with a broken ankle.
The Kings kept Schenn around for a long time this season - he played some, watched some, was in the minors some, and then starred for Canada's world junior team soon after they returned him to junior back in early December when he was still property of the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Now, the only way they can get him up - except for a complicated emergency recall process that doesn't seem likely to happen - is to wait for his junior season to end. Saskatoon shipped a whole lot of its future to the Wheat Kings for Schenn's rights because they thought had they had a decent chance of qualifying for the 2011 Memorial Cup this year (to be hosted by the St. Michael's Majors later this spring in Mississauga).
Yes, upsets sometimes occur in the wild world of major junior hockey, but the Blades look as if they could go on a deep run, and if they do, it'll likely mean the Kings will have to muddle along without Schenn as a possible option during the stretch run and into the playoffs.
Schenn had 53 points in 27 regular season games for the Blades and looks as if he'll crack the Kings' lineup for good next season. The Kings like him so much that they refused to listen to offers for his services at the NHL trading deadline - one very big reason they were shut out in attempts to land Brad Richards (Dallas) and Ales Hemsky (Edmonton) among others.
The Kings are en route to Edmonton today, where they'll play the Oilers Tuesday, in Dustin Penner's return for his first appearance in the Alberta capital since the deadline deal that sent him back to southern California for a first-round round pick. Penner was playing mostly with Kopitar and Justin Williams, who was also lost to injury last week. Williams will out until at least the end of the regular season with a dislocated shoulder, meaning Penner now skates on a line with Michal Handzus and Oscar Moller.
The other Kings lines are Trevor Lewis between Ryan Smyth and Dustin Brown; Jarrret Stoll between Alexei Ponikarovsky and Wayne Simmonds; and Brad Richardson between Kevin Westgarth and Kyle Clifford. Not exactly an awe-inspiring collection of scoring talent, although they do possess good size and will likely try to use that size to wear teams down and win a lot of low-scoring games.
The Kings' strength this season has been defence and goaltending and they will need to rely on that more than ever as they try to put the finishing touches on a playoff berth and attempt to win actually win a round for the first time in 10 years.
If they do, it'll because both Lewis and Stoll have stepped up their games as their meaningful ice time increases. Stoll, the ex-Oiler, is a useful, versatile player, who will crack the 20-goal barrier this season. Far less is known about Lewis, a slow-developing first-rounder from 2006 (he was the 17th overall choice, after the Kings took goalie prospect Jonathan Bernier at 11). Lewis has just three goals this season, but thrust into a scoring role after Kopitar's injury, picked up two points Saturday against Colorado.
He'll get a chance now to show what he can do, with two solid puck-retrieving wingers. In the meantime, the Kings will play the underdog card here - all the while quietly watching carefully to see what's happening with Schenn and the fortunes of the suddenly interesting Saskatoon Blades.