Kings Article: Better Than You Remember: Roman Cechmanek

[The Slap Shop]

If interested, here's what I wrote about Hrudey being the most underrated goalie in Kings history.

Regarding Fuhr, I agree that they shouldn't have traded for him, especially at the cost. But it's forgotten that he actually played much better at the end of the season:

Also, the last game of 1994-95 was a back-to-back.

I have Fuhr's last game as a King on tape, need to convert it to DVD. I don't think I'm looking forward to it.

 

[TonySCV]

Not as good as Felix Potvin who was stellar for the Kings at the end of the 2001 season.

No way was Cechmanek as bad as Mathieu Garon though. The whole Garon situation and how DT built a somewhat decent team in 2005-06 and handed the goaltending reigns to bums Garon and Labarbera was disgusting and the final straw for DT's career as GM.

I remember Garon starting seasons strong and then running out of gas about halfway through.

I also remember like it was yesterday the Kings/Habs game at Staples where Garon was in net for the Habs and was all-world. I was thrilled when the Kings got him, and then he proceeded to be just another in a long line of forgettable goalies for LA.

On a tangential note, I do not have the need or desire to go down bad memory lane at a time like this and in an era the Kings are in currently.

 

[santiclaws]

People forget that the team in front of him figures significantly in a goalie's reputation. Example: in Game 1 of the WCF in 2012, Quick gave up a tying goal to Derek Morris on a shot from the red line. The Kings took the lead again, and Quick proceeded to turn over the puck and the Coyotes scored another tying goal.

A team which was not as mentally strong as the Kings could have folded like a cheap umbrella, lost the game and quite possibly lost the series. Quick would've been remembered as a "choker" forever. Not suggesting that I'd rather have Cechmanek between the pipes, but things often aren't as simple as we think they are.

 

[Moses Doughty]

This is not a name I needed to remember..

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Let's take that year in to perspective. That was the year that Allison and Deadmarsh were supposed to be back for the start of the season, then by November, then by Christmas.

Derek Armstrong was the first line center.
Trent Klatt was our big offseason acquisition
The second line was ******* Stumpel (who had the worst season of his career)and/or Esa Penis
Palffy was hurt off an on throughout the year.
Straka blew both his knees out
Dumpster Diving Dave traded for Anson "Cellphone" Carter

in classic Andy Murray fashion the team lost it's last 11 games and missed the playoffs by ten

 

[Buddy The Elf]

Let's take that year in to perspective. That was the year that Allison and Deadmarsh were supposed to be back for the start of the season, then by November, then by Christmas.

Derek Armstrong was the first line center.
Trent Klatt was our big offseason acquisition
The second line was ******* Stumpel (who had the worst season of his career)and/or Esa Penis
Palffy was hurt off an on throughout the year.
Straka blew both his knees out
Dumpster Diving Dave traded for Anson "Cellphone" Carter

in classic Andy Murray fashion the team lost it's last 11 games and missed the playoffs by ten

Gotta give Andy some credit on that one. Although, I do remember the poor finish quite vividly. He also kept them in a playoff spot with 500+ man games lost to injury (which at the time, and still maybe, was a record) up until that point. I think at one point they had like 6 or 7 guys in the line up that actually started the season on the roster.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Gotta give Andy some credit on that one. Although, I do remember the poor finish quite vividly. He also kept them in a playoff spot with 500+ man games lost to injury (which at the time, and still maybe, was a record) up until that point. I think at one point they had like 6 or 7 guys in the line up that actually started the season on the roster.

It has been argued that the Andy Murray style of treating every practice like Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals caused a lot of those injuries.

Just imagine that team healthy and firing on all cylinders


Deadmarsh Allison Palffy
Robitaille Stumpel Klatt
Frolov Belanger Straka
Brown Armstrong Lappy

Norstrom Miller
Visnovsky Modry
Dempsey Gleason
Corvo


Extras
Sean Avery,Michael Cammalleri, Esa Penis, The Fury , Jerred "The Baby Faced Assasin" Smithson, Jason Holland,Tomas Zizka,Martin Strbak ,Denis Grebeshkov,Bryan Muir, Brad Norton, Jon Sim, Jeff Cowan, Kip Brennan

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Gotta give Andy some credit on that one. Although, I do remember the poor finish quite vividly. He also kept them in a playoff spot with 500+ man games lost to injury (which at the time, and still maybe, was a record) up until that point. I think at one point they had like 6 or 7 guys in the line up that actually started the season on the roster.

The lineup to closeout the last game of the season was so brutal, just look at this mess:

Robitaille-Straka-Carter
Avery-Belanger-Laperriere
Cowan-Chartrand-Klatt
Brown-Pirnes-Tripp

Norstrom-Miller
Visnovsky-Dempsey
Modry-Corvo

Cechmanek-Huet

Kings scratches:
Jason Holland

Kings injuries:
Ziggy Palffy (shoulder)
Jozef Stumpel (shoulder)
Alexander Frolov (ankle)
Derek Armstrong (tricep)
Jason Allison (whiplash/concussion)
Adam Deadmarsh (concussion)

That season the team dressed 42 different players, including the likes of Noah Clarke, Mathieu Chouinard, Milan Hnilicka, Jerred Smithson, Maxim Kuznetsov, Kip Brennan, Brad Norton, Tomas Zizka, and hell, Pavel Rosa appeared in two games that season!

Dustin Brown was in his rookie season, and he probably had no business of being in the NHL at that time. Thankfully the season long lockout benefited his development and Taylor and his regime didn't ruin him completely.

 

[Jason Lewis]

John Tripp, Brad Chartrand, and Nathan Dempsey.

Man those are some names.

 

[Sheng Peng]

People forget that the team in front of him figures significantly in a goalie's reputation. Example: in Game 1 of the WCF in 2012, Quick gave up a tying goal to Derek Morris on a shot from the red line. The Kings took the lead again, and Quick proceeded to turn over the puck and the Coyotes scored another tying goal.

A team which was not as mentally strong as the Kings could have folded like a cheap umbrella, lost the game and quite possibly lost the series. Quick would've been remembered as a "choker" forever. Not suggesting that I'd rather have Cechmanek between the pipes, but things often aren't as simple as we think they are.

Palffy was hurt off an on throughout the year.

I remember Palffy blossoming into a fine two-way player, especially that season. Until Todd freaking Simpson mangled his shoulder.

 

[cyclones22]

John Tripp, Brad Chartrand, and Nathan Dempsey.

Man those are some names.

Poor Chartrand. He was the one player on the team I always equated with how bad the Kings were. Somehow this guy gets minutes on our team. I'd think good grief we're awful. We're not turning the corner until we replace Brad Chartrand!

 

[kingsfan]

Poor Chartrand. He was the one player on the team I always equated with how bad the Kings were. Somehow this guy gets minutes on our team. I'd think good grief we're awful. We're not turning the corner until we replace Brad Chartrand!

There was only one guy like that for you?

 

[417th]

Roman was solid. He was solid before he came to us and solid when he was here. He certainly wasn't the architect of our troubles. Had the team been better he would have been solid for us and done great.

 

[TheBannermen]

I remember one game in particular when he went two pad stack on Vinny Damphousse and Vinny just calmly skated around Romans body and put it into a yawning cage. Guy was brutal. Not Cloutier brutal, but not far off.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Roman was solid. He was solid before he came to us and solid when he was here. He certainly wasn't the architect of our troubles. Had the team been better he would have been solid for us and done great.

If by solid you mean a solid piece of excrement, you'd be right. There's a reason why his NHL career didn't last long and came to an end after his tenure with the Kings. Nobody wanted him, despite his numbers.

 

[The Butcher]

He was pretty frustrating to watch. I remember him personally costing the Kings about 6-12 points one season.

Horrific.

 

[kingsfan]

He was pretty frustrating to watch. I remember him personally costing the Kings about 6-12 points one season.

Horrific.

He was only with us for one season

If by solid you mean a solid piece of excrement, you'd be right. There's a reason why his NHL career didn't last long and came to an end after his tenure with the Kings. Nobody wanted him, despite his numbers.

What I didn't get is why someone didn't give him a shot as a backup, preferably someone with a starter that was injured often or a new starter.

 

[Riposte!]

John Tripp, Brad Chartrand, and Nathan Dempsey.

Man those are some names.

Nathan Dempsey was the worst defensemen I have ever seen dress in a King uniform, and this was during the era when we had Dmitri Yushkevich, Chris McAlpine, Brad Norton, Tomas Zizka, and Maxim Kuznetsov on the roster at various times.

God was that guy horrible.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I didn't think it could get worse than Maxim Kuznetsov. Can't believe the best player they got in return for Mathieu Schneider turned out to be that jackass Sean Avery.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

I didn't think it could get worse than Maxim Kuznetsov. Can't believe the best player they got in return for Mathieu Schneider turned out to be that jackass Sean Avery.

Kutznutzoff was another example of much I appreciate the pro (and amateur) scouts that this team has.

 

[kilowatt]

Best Kings' unibrow of all time?

 

[Butch 19]

troll OP thread disparate for clicks...