Great game, for the most part. Nothing can be added, that has not been said...BUT one thing that came to mind:
last year, just about everyone was down on Kempe - or at least underwhelmed and thinking he'd never emerge. I get the 'not so elite hockey sense' thing.,
but I always believed in his tools and skill. You'd see the shootout goals and 1 or 2 game winning OT snipes and knew he could do it.
It's just he needed to fully bust through with his continued work and add confidence. He's finally arrived. A point I wanted to make, is that
many would have traded him at the deadline and to me, most any deal would not make sense, do to his upside and age - few Kings in his age range .
And the return would not be worth it. His value and importance to the team has gone way up, in just 6 games. Glad he was never dealt. Yes, it
took a few years and many a MEH game. I always admired how hard he played and now he's a threat every time on the ice...and part of that,
is he's accepted that he's going to play wing.
The other player I would mention is Kale Clague. Saw his world juniors and was good...but only handfuls of minutes in Ontario. Was hearing
how he was a liability on D and bad reads...jumping up in the play too much and getting caught. No one was expecting him to make the Kings
or putting him on 7 Dman depth charts. Saw the Roy, Walker, Bjornfot, Anderson projections and Clague's the odd man out. May as well package
him in a deal. Now, all can see he can play NHL hockey and has a shot at even being a top 4 guy and second PP ability - he's not there, but you
can tell he will be. So happy for him...especially after he broke his ankle, when he was getting that callup. He has a lot of potential and
pretty excited about him. No more mentioning to jettison him in some deal...or leaving him off the 7 D charts anymore!