NHL: Drew Doughty's goal should not have counted

 

The NHL is investigating whether human error or a glitch in the clock system at Staples Center was responsible for prolonging the Kings’ game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday long enough for Kings defenseman Drew Doughty to score the decisive goal in a 3-2 victory.

Colin Campbell, the league’s senior vice president of hockey operations, said Thursday he believes the Blue Jackets were wronged because the clock was paused with 1.8 seconds left in the third period and Doughty’s goal with .4 of a second left should not have been allowed. “In our opinion it was one full second,” Campbell said of the stoppage.

The decision won’t make much difference to 30th-ranked Columbus but could prove crucial for the Kings, who are battling for a playoff spot.

In determining playoff seedings when teams are tied, wins gained in a shootout are subtracted from each team’s win total and the greater win total gets the better seeding. Had Doughty’s goal been disallowed the game might have gone to the tiebreaker, potentially reducing the Kings’ wins in regulation and overtime.

The pause was not immediately seen by officials in the NHL’s Toronto situation room, where every goal is reviewed. Campbell said the initial concern in Toronto was to determine if the puck had crossed the goal line before time expired according to the clock burned into the corner of the footage they saw. Not until later did they back up the frame-by-frame footage to the moment the clock stopped. Seeing that hesitation with 1.8 seconds left persuaded him Columbus had gotten a bad deal.

“When you look at it, regulation was over when L.A. scored so yes they did,” Campbell said in a phone conversation. “They didn’t have the opportunity to get a point for a tie game. They didn’t get a point from the tie game, which they would have got and they weren’t afforded the opportunity to go for an extra point in overtime or a shootout.”

 Campbell said the league had  contacted the clock’s manufacturer, Daktronics, to determine if the clock was at fault and will send technicians to Staples Center to examine the clock and the system. Campbell also said the NHL will send a representative to Los Angeles to meet with the off-ice officials, who are employed by the league. That crew includes the person designated the game timekeeper Wednesday—whom Campbell would not identify—as well as the official scorer, penalty timekeeper and others.

Although Campbell said he believed there had been other problems with the Staples Center clock involving basketball games, Staples Center spokesman Michael Roth said he was unaware of such difficulties.

Columbus General Manager Scott Howson posted a blog on the team’s web site criticizing the process that allowed the goal to stand and emphasizing how important the extra point for the win could be for the Kings, but that blog was later removed.

Campbell said investigating the incident is crucial to maintaining trust and credibility in Los Angeles and every other arena in which NHL games are played.

"We have to peruse two areas,” Campbell said. “There’s a human element, where a fellow’s operating the clock. And was there a human mistake here? So was there human error in this case? Is he watching the play? Did he think there was a high stick?  Did he think there was a hand pass and he accidentally stopped it and started it? Or was there an error in the Daktronics clock?

“We’ve talked to the Daks people. We’ve also asked them if it’s humanly possible to stop the clock and start it just one second.”

Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi said via email that the clock was correct and no extra time had been added.

“Those clocks are sophisticated instruments that calculate time by measuring electrical charges called coulombs,” he said. “Given the rapidity and volume of electrons that move through the measuring device the calibrator must adjust at certain points which was the delay you see. The delay is just recalibrating for the clock moving too quickly during the 10 – 10ths of a second before the delay.

“This insures that the actual playing time during a period is exactly 20 minutes. That is not an opinion. That is science. Amazing device quite frankly."

Campbell discounted Lombardi’s comment. “I read it and it sounded interesting,” Campbell said.

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NHL investigating clock operation on last-second Kings goal

--Helene Elliott

 

NHL investigating clock operation on last-second Kings goal

NHL spokesman Gary Meagher said Thursday morning the league is reviewing events surrounding the apparent clock stoppage at Staples Center on Wednesday night that led to a goal by Kings defenseman Drew Doughty being allowed with four-tenths of a second left in the third period.

Meagher said the review actually began at 2 a.m. Eastern time, shortly after the game was declared over with the Kings earning a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Colin Campbell, the NHL's senior executive vice president of hockey operations, told the Canadian Press news agency that league officials watched the replay later and noticed the discrepancy.

The goal was reviewed by NHL executives at the league’s situation room in Toronto and was allowed to stand. But  Columbus General Manager Scott Howson said his coaching staff saw on video replays soon afterward that the clock appeared to stop with 1.8 seconds left and then resumed. Doughty’s goal, he said, should not have counted because it occurred after the clock would have expired had it not stopped.

The clock is controlled by an off-ice official who is employed by the NHL, Meagher said. That’s the game timekeeper.

Meagher said the league is looking into many aspects surrounding the call, including why the apparent problem with the clock wasn’t noticed in the building or by NHL executives who were monitoring the game at the league’s situation room in Toronto.

-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, center, celebrates with right wing Justin Williams, left, and defenseman Jack Johnson after scoring the game-winning goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday. Credit: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press.

Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick takes All-Star honor in stride

Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, named to the NHL All-Star team Thursday, had a typically low-key reaction to his first All-Star honor, the first for a Kings goalie since Mario Lessard in 1981.

"It's a great accomplishment. It's something I'm looking forward to do at the end of the month," he said, talking about the Jan. 29 game after the Kings skated in El Segundo in advance of Thursday's game against the Dallas Stars at Staples Center.

"But right now we've got a lot of things going on here. We've got a big game tonight against Dallas. That's ultimately what we're all focused on."

The only other Kings goalies to make an All-Star team were Terry Sawchuk in 1968, Rogie Vachon in 1973, 1975 and 1978, and Lessard. Quick enters Thursday's game with the fourth-best goals-against average (1.93), fifth-best save percentage (.934), a league-leading six shutouts and eighth-best number of wins (18).

Quick said he didn't know any of the other all-stars and that he found out he would be taking part in the game in Ottawa when Coach Darryl Sutter gave him the news on the ice at the end of the morning skate. He joked that his teammates didn’t treat him like an all-star.

King update: Drew Doughty on playing for the Sutters

Defenseman Drew Doughty has been down the Sutter road  in his career ... and lived to tell about it.

In 2007, Doughty played for Brent Sutter, the brother of new Kings Coach Darryl Sutter, in the under-20 Super Series, representing Team Canada, against Russia. Doughty had not yet been drafted by the Kings.

"I kind of witnessed what Brent was like for eight games and I’ve heard they have some similarities," Doughty said at Thursday's morning skate in El Segundo. "I know they are going to expect a lot out of us and expect us to work hard every night and that’s exactly what we need out of a coach."

Brent Sutter, currently the Calgary Flames head coach, made that young team skate "the gauntlet," during one practice in Russia, according to one news account, because he was displeased with the team's effort.

“In a way, you are kind of scared of him just because he (Brent) is so intense and he was somewhat intimidating," Doughty said. "But at the same time, off the ice, he was a great guy. Very honest. And I think that’s exactly what Darryl is like."

Darryl Sutter's debut as King coach will be tonight against the Ducks at Staples Center.

"We knew exactly what to expect when he came in and (Kings GM) Dean (Lombardi) made us fully prepared for that," Doughty said. "So right away, it’s a nervous feeling coming in yesterday meeting him for the first time. Everyone was a little nervous. Didn’t know what to expect and now that we’ve got to know him, guys have calmed down a bit and are just ready to get going."

A major assist should come in the form of center Mike Richards, who has been out since Dec. 1 because of a concussion. Richards, who was activated off injured reserve, said he expected to play against the Ducks. The Kings have won twice in the eight games Richards missed, leading to the firing of coach Terry Murray on Dec. 12.

"He's cleared to play," Sutter said. "We'll dress a couple of extra guys in warmups, just to be sure."

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 -- Lisa Dillman

Photo: Drew Doughty. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

John Stevens Era near end, Mike Richards nearing return for Kings

Greetings from The Center of the Hockey Universe, also known as Toronto.

As always in Canadian cities, there was a huge media crowd at the Kings’ game-day skate at the Air Canada Centre on Monday, and the assembled throng got to witness John Stevens’ final morning skate as the Kings’ interim coach.

The timetable for Darryl Sutter’s succession now figures to be an announcement of his hiring on Tuesday, his first practice on Wednesday morning followed by a news conference, and his first game behind the bench on Thursday against the Ducks at Staples Center.

Stevens is 1-2 since temporarily taking over for Terry Murray, unable to halt a skid that has reached six losses in seven games. In addition, the Kings have been held to two goals or fewer in 11 straight games and are the league’s lowest-scoring team on a per-game average. Their power play is scoreless in 18 chances over the last six games.

Stevens will be part of Sutter’s staff, though it’s unclear whether Sutter will want to bring in an assistant of his own. He said he enjoyed the experience as interim coach, though it was taxing in many ways.

“I love coaching whether it’s an assistant or head position. Obviously this week has been very difficult with what’s transpired with Terry,” said Stevens, who tried to lighten the mood Sunday by taking the team to Dairy Queen after practice.

Red Wings' Mike Babcock explains Doughty's scoring woes

Greetings from Detroit, where snowflakes are swirling but not much snow is sticking on the ground.

The Red Wings held an optional morning skate at Joe Louis Arena before Saturday’s game against the Kings and only a few players took advantage of the ice time. Afterward, Detroit Coach Mike Babcock, who coached Kings defenseman Drew Doughty on the triumphant Canadian Olympic team at Vancouver, had an interesting take on Doughty’s low production this season.

Babcock admires Doughty and once said the young defenseman was “touched by God.” But Babcock said he’s not surprised that Doughty has only two goals and nine points in 26 games this season.

“Well, if I didn’t know he wasn’t at training camp — wasn’t he not at training camp — that would surprise me. But this league’s too good not to be ready to go when everybody else is ready to go,” Babcock said, referring to Doughty having missed most of the preseason while negotiating a new contract.

“Whether you’re a player here that got hurt and didn’t play in training camp, and you wonder why 15 games in you got no stats, all you’ve got to do is look around the league. It’s not by accident. Players are too good. They’re too ready. They come in early. It’s a short training camp but they’re there two weeks in advance skating 10 times just to be ready to start training camp and you can do that on your own, but you’re not as good by yourself. That’s the facts.”

Kings-Canucks: Notes and quotes from Kings' 3-2 loss to Vancouver

Kings Coach Terry Murray, on falling behind, 3-0, to the Canucks in the first period:

"It's very hard to dig out of a hole like that against that kind of a team. They were just too deep, too good. They were President's Trophy winners for a reason. We tried, we worked. I liked everything we were trying to do. On the penalty kill we did a real good job on intensity and compete. I thought we were trying hard in the third period to get back in it. It's too hard to turn the tables sometimes."

On finding the right lines:  "I'm using my top guys, and that's hard work. When you get caught out there, especially the way [Vancouver] passes the puck, you just can't make a change. The goalie can't stop it and there's a lot of anaerobic work and that is fatigue. When they do come back to the bench I have to give them some extra time to recover and that does throw a little wrench into everything, but that's hockey. It takes a little while to get it sorted out so they can get back to normal play again."

On the fourth line, which featured Colin Fraser at center: "I liked our fourth line here tonight with Fraser. That was his first game with the L.A. Kings and not only did he play a pretty determined game, he made a couple plays there in the third period that gave us a look at least."

Drew Doughty injured, expected to miss at least seven to 10 days

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty is expected to be out at least seven to 10 days after suffering an undisclosed upper-body injury Saturday, though General Manager Dean Lombardi said via email that the injury was not to the defenseman’s head.

Doughty, who had a concussion early last season, was slammed hard on a rising, open-ice hit by Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo 20 seconds into the Kings’ game at Philadelphia. Doughty appeared dazed when he returned to the bench. According to the time-on-ice charts at the NHL’s website, the 21-year-old defenseman played one more shift before being held out of the game.

While sitting on the bench Doughty appeared to be favoring his shoulder. Lombardi would not say if that was where Doughty was injured but specified that the prized defenseman did not suffer a head injury.

Doughty missed most of training camp as a restricted free agent until signing an eight-year, $56-million contract before the Kings left for their season-opening trip to Europe.

It was not clear whether the league would impose any supplementary discipline against Rinaldo, who had three goals and 331 penalty minutes in 60 games last season with the Flyers’ American Hockey League farm team. Every play is reviewed in the NHL’s "War Room" in Toronto, and fines or suspensions can be imposed by executives of the hockey operations department if they feel sanctions are merited.

The Kings were scheduled to return to Southern California after Saturday's game and practice in El Segundo at noon Sunday. They will play their Staples Center opener on Tuesday against St. Louis.

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-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Drew Doughty, right, fights for the puck with Buffalo's Nathan Gerbe on Oct. 8. Credit: Thomas Peter / Reuters

As usual, Anze Kopitar excels in the middle

Through all the negotiations between the Kings and Drew Doughty’s representatives, through the tense moments and final happy moments when Doughty agreed to an eight-year, $56-million deal  Thursday, one person remained above the fray.

That was center Anze Kopitar, who was thrust into the middle of an uncomfortable situation after Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi declared he would not pay Doughty more than the $6.8-million average annual value of Kopitar’s contract, then the highest on the team.

Kopitar became a benchmark in the talks, a role he didn’t want and didn’t enjoy. He also became part of the back story because he used to employ Doughty’s agent, Don Meehan, before switching to another high-powered agent, Pat Brisson.

Meehan seemed determined in these negotiations to get more money for Doughty, his current client, than the amount earned by his former client, Kopitar. To complicate matters even more, Meehan and Lombardi had a history of battles while Lombardi was general manager of the San Jose Sharks.

Kings, Drew Doughty agree on new contract [Updated]

The Kings and defenseman Drew Doughty verbally agreed on a new contract Thursday night, meaning the restricted free agent could join the team in time for its upcoming trip to Germany and Sweden for its final exhibition game and first two regular-season games.

Financial terms were not immediately available. However, after weeks of frustration and stalled negotiations, General Manager Dean Lombardi planned to sweeten the average annual value of the club's offer to exceed $6.8 million, the current team-leading average annual value of Anze Kopitar's contract.

[Updated, 8:30 p.m.: The deal Doughty agreed to is worth $56 million over eight years.]

Although Lombardi had said several times that he would not go above $6.8 million per year for Doughty, the stalemate and Doughty's apparent willingness to accept a long-term deal led Lombardi to bend.

It's not clear how long the deal will be for, but the Kings' last offers to Doughty gave him choices between a seven-year term and an eight-year term.

Doughty, 21, was a finalist for the Norris trophy as the NHL's top defenseman in his second season, 2009-10, but he struggled at times last season after suffering a concussion.

More coverage soon at latimes.com/sports

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-- Helene Elliott

Photo: Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. Credit: Kirby Lee / U.S. Presswire

More from Tim Leiweke on stalemate with Drew Doughty

Emptying out the digital notebook . . .

I have a few more tidbits from my interview today with Tim Leiweke, the Kings’ biggest fan and the chief executive officer of parent company AEG. I had requested the interview a few days ago and these were Leiweke’s first public comments on the stalled contract negotiations with defenseman Drew Doughty.

I referred to one of Leiweke’s comments in a tweet earlier today but didn’t get the full explanation into my earlier blog report or into the story that will appear in print. Here’s a complete recap, in more than 140 characters.

I asked Leiweke why the Kings don’t just raise their offer and end this dispute if the difference between their proposed $6.8 million average annual salary and Doughty’s demands is $200,000 or $300,000. He repeated that this is an allocation issue, meaning the Kings are willing to spend up to the salary-cap limit but want to leave room to add players at the trade deadline and budget for the future to retain key players. He also said General Manager Dean Lombardi has “the right to budge here,” and that he would support Lombardi’s decision on that.

“But here’s the funny thing that I don’t get in all of this,” Leiweke said. “I look at it and say, boy, there’s a complete miscommunication here. Drew Doughty can step in here tomorrow and from an endorsement standpoint, being a cornerstone and a nucleus of this franchise long term, he can make more money on endorsements than we’re fighting over for whatever he’s asking for and whatever we’ve offered. And the way you protect that is goodwill, being a guy that’s a team player.

“If he burns the bridges with everybody, then he loses that revenue. So what I’m mystified by is, his value to this marketplace is not just his salary, it’s what he’s going to earn being part of a team that has the potential of competing for the Stanley Cup every year now for long term. Instead of fighting over a little bit here and a little bit there, let us save that money to go after the final pieces. He’ll make more on endorsements than he ever would on what we’re fighting over. It makes no sense at all.”

Leiweke repeatedly said the Kings see Doughty as a long-term franchise player and they will not trade him.  Doughty has not signed an offer sheet with another team, probably because those teams are aware the Kings have deep pockets financially.