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Heading into Dean Lombardi’s 3rd season as GM for the Los Angeles Kings it’s still a struggle for the Los Angeles Kings to get above sea level and seriously challenge for a playoff position in the NHL’s difficult Western Conference. The tide appears to be turning though for a franchise that hasn’t reached the playoffs in five seasons. After 18 games into the 2008-09 NHL season, the Los Angeles Kings are at .500. The last time the Kings were .500 was in the 2005-06. It may seem that Lombardi has secured the future of the team by signing young stars Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown to long term contracts, making the team tougher by trading away softer finesse players like Mike Cammalleri and Lubomir Visnovsky and has created a fat amount of cap space in the process. Kings fans have a lot to look forward to this season.

Playing in over eight seasons in the NHL as a player.  First year Head Coach, Terry Murray, appeared in 302 career NHL regular season games as a defenseman for Washington, Philadelphia, and the Detroit Red Wings.  He was also the Head Coach for the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and the Philadelphia Flyers, where he led that club to the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. Paired with Assistant Coach and long time Kings defenseman, Mark Hardy who returned to the Kings bench in August of 2008. They will bring a much more aggressive style to the Kings play.

Recently this has been displayed in Murray’s decision to reunite D Patrick O’Sullivan with line mates Dustin Brown and Andre Kopitar. The three played together much of last season but spent only part of one game together this season. Kopitar has only 3 goals so far this season, but leads the team in assists with 11. Brown has 7 goals and 6 assists in 18 games played. Murray also added fan favorite John Zeiler, who played the last two games at Manchester on a conditioning assignment, back into the Kings lineup this week. The Z train will slow down games with big hits and intimidate the opposition’s players.

Another one of this years surprising factors is the outstanding play of Kings goaltender, Erik Ersberg. The Iceberg, as he is often called, has a GAA of 1.96 in 10 appearances this season, earning him the Kings number one spot at goaltending. The Iceberg has been shutting down opponents with a .909 save % and ranked third in the NHL among all goalies with the same number of starts.

Eighteen-year-old defensemen, Drew Doughty has stepped it up since last years rookie sensation, defenseman Jack Johnson’s placement on injured reserve. Allowing Doughty more playing time. Doughty has been the league’s top rookie in the first month of season, averaging almost 23 minutes a game while playing in every situation. Every defenseman on the Kings is a minus-player, except Doughty. He is a plus 6.

With returning players, C Michal Handzus who recently appeared in his 100th game as a King Nov. 20 vs. Washington, returning 94-95 King D Sean O’Donnell who was obtained by a deal with the Anaheim Ducks in October, and RW Alexander Frolov who finished second on the club in 2007-08 with 67 points and a career-high 44 assists. The Los Angeles Kings may have the first team that could allow them to see postseason action since the 2001-02 season.

After three quarters of a decade of nightmares the Los Angeles Kings are finally daring to dream again.

In other news the Kings will debut the unveiling their 3rd jersey this week as part of the NHL’s 2008-09 third jersey campaign. The design merges the Kings current branding with the Kings original logo, and is a tribute to the Gretzky era. (See inset picture). The jersey is being given away to Kings season ticket holders. Fans have mixed reviews on the design with most looking at the selling of 3rd jerseys as a quick fix for solving the NHL and teams revenue issues.