Los Angeles Kings Hockey Team

Wayne Gretzky's retired jersey will hang in Staples Center, but part of him wishes the familiar No. 99 could hang in the Forum, where the all-time scoring leader played his eight seasons with the Kings. "Oh, absolutely," Gretzky said Monday before a dinner in his honor at Staples Center. "That was a special place, very unique. But you know what? Time moves on and this building is spectacular.... "But the atmosphere in the Forum, I'm not sure anybody can ever replace that."

In his minor-league days, Jonathan Quick slept so deeply that his teammates would stumble off their bus after a trip and the equipment managers would unload the gear and think all was done only to find the goalie under a seat, slumbering. That made for good jokes but bad mornings -- especially when the Kings sent goaltending development guru Kim Dillabaugh to Manchester, N.H., to work with Quick. Only Quick was late, having overslept. A good scare -- a demotion to the ECHL during the 2007-08 season -- and a good, loud alarm clock changed his habits.

The timetable for Ducks forward Teemu Selanne's return after surgery to repair two broken bones in his jaw is two to six weeks, the Ducks announced Thursday. That leaves his fifth Olympics appearance for Finland in question, but still a possibility. Finland's first game in Vancouver is Feb. 17 against Belarus -- five weeks from the date of Selanne's injury. The Ducks have 14 games remaining before the Olympic break, and won't play after that until March 3, seven weeks after Selanne's injury.

Champagne doesn't flow freely around the Kings' offices, what with the playoffs a distant memory and one Stanley Cup finals appearance since 1967, but two bottles sat in a bucket in their conference room Tuesday beside a cake decorated with ripe strawberries and the words "Congratulations Luc."

He was the son of a well-known hockey coach and had a full-size rink built into his backyard, and his skills were unmatched by his peers. Yet Anze Kopitar knew it wasn't enough. He wasn't quite 17 when he traveled from his home country of Slovenia to Sweden, settling by himself in a cramped apartment and joining the only club that extended him a tryout. He walked, bicycled or hopped a bus to get to the 6,200-seat arena, where he competed with and against grown men.

Dustin Brown can leave an impression. That was clear early in his Kings career. As a 20-year-old forward with fewer than 40 NHL games on his resume, he went to work. In one week, he clobbered three future Hall of Famers -- Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, the Ducks' Chris Pronger and Colorado's Joe Sakic -- to start the 2005-06 season. Some remember. "I recall that. I had the puck, then I was on the ice," Lidstrom said. Some don't. "Nope, don't remember it," Pronger said. "Who can Brown hit for you?"

The Kings and Ducks always seem to be at opposite ends of competitive cycles, perhaps explaining why they have never made the playoffs in the same season since the Ducks entered the NHL in 1993. As they prepared for their second meeting of the season, Thursday at Staples Center, they were again on opposite paths. The Kings, after an impressive start, have lost three straight games and seven of their last 10 and are in danger of dropping out of the top eight in the West. The Ducks, thin on defense and plagued by injuries, have been following their post-lockout pattern of gathering strength in the second half of the season, cutting in half what was once a 12-point gap between them and the last playoff spot.

The Kings made their first venture into the free-agent market Thursday, but not for the winger they need so much. Instead, they agreed to a four-year, $13.6-million deal with defenseman Rob Scuderi, who won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins last month and hasn't yet had his day with the trophy. Scuderi parlayed a team-leading 164 blocked shots -- and a strong postseason performance, especially in the Cup final -- into a huge raise over the $725,000 he earned last season.

The Kings unloaded another high-priced player this off-season as they dealt defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky to the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday for center Jarret Stoll and defenseman Matt Greene. Visnovsky, 31, slumped to eight goals and 33 assists last season but has been the team's highest-scoring defenseman for the last three years. He is scheduled to make $7 million this season in the first year of his five-year, $28-million extension.

It was no surprise Anze Kopitar was the Kings' top preseason goal scorer, with five, and top scorer with eight points. But for winger Wayne Simmonds to share the goal-scoring lead was a revelation to a team that was starved for goals last season. Or was it? "No, I'm not surprised," Coach Terry Murray said Thursday after practice in El Segundo. "I love the way he finished off the year last year. The last 10 games of the season he was arguably one of our top three players on the team and he had a great summer.

When the Kings stepped onto the ice at Staples Center on Saturday afternoon, they were greeted by a sellout crowd waving signs that read "We Believe." When they skated off 2 1/2 hours later, they left to a raucous standing ovation. But the big news is what happened in between, when the Kings rallied from a three-goal deficit to defeat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3, setting a franchise record with their ninth consecutive win. Which, according to Coach Terry Murray, is nothing more than a good start.

The first Kings team to win eight consecutive games was a rugged fan favorite anchored by goalie Rogie Vachon and legendary defenseman Terry Harper. The second time it happened, the roster included future Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille. On Saturday afternoon at Staples Center, the current Kings have a chance to erase their predecessors from the record book by winning a franchise-best ninth in a row. But whether that will also win these Kings a special place in team lore may take longer to sort out. "We're trying to find out what kind of team we're going to be," said Kings Coach Terry Murray, whose squad faces the Detroit Red Wings in a 1 p.m. matinee.

Ducks defenseman Ryan Whitney was added to the U.S. Olympic team Thursday, giving the Ducks nine players on various Olympic teams -- more than any other NHL organization. One of the Ducks' representatives, Swiss defenseman Luca Sbisa , 20, is playing with a junior team this season, leaving the Ducks with eight NHL Olympians, a number matched by San Jose. Whitney and Tim Gleason of the Carolina Hurricanes were added to replace injured defensemen Paul Martin of the New Jersey Devils and Mike Komisarek of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Kings were in the hunt for high-scoring winger Ilya Kovalchuk until almost the last minute, intrigued by what he could do for their power play but adamant that they wouldn't give up Dustin Brown, Wayne Simmonds and Jack Johnson -- or any two of that trio -- for a player who could walk away July 1. General Manager Dean Lombardi decided he would do better to look for a support player later and not tear his team apart to get Kovalchuk, and it...

Kings vs. Ducks tonight When : 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 1150, 830. Records: Kings 34-19-3, Ducks 27-23-7. Season series: Kings 2-0-0. Update: The Kings have won seven consecutive games, one short of the club record set in 1972-73 and equaled in 1991-92. They have reached 34 wins faster than any previous Kings team. Goaltender Jonathan Quick has won these seven in a row, tying a club record for a goalie set in 1991-92 by Kelly Hrudey and matched a season later by Robb Stauber.

After sweeping a five-game trip, the Kings came home and played a perfect road game to earn their seventh straight victory. Playing their first game at Staples Center since Jan. 21, the Kings on Tuesday were energetic, patient and opportunistic against the New York Rangers, capitalizing on two key breaks to earn a 2-1 victory before an announced sellout crowd. "That was a real hard game with a tremendous effort," Coach Terry Murray said. "They understand their responsibility to come out and play hard."

Kings tonight VS. N.Y. RANGERS When : 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 1150. Records: Kings 33-19-3, Rangers 25-24-7. Record vs. Rangers: 0-1-0. Update: The Kings return home after sweeping a five-game trip for the first time in club history. They've won six straight and eight of their last nine, but they were 3-4 on their last homestand. Anze Kopitar has points in six straight games.

Kings tonight AT BOSTON When : 4 PST. Where: TD Banknorth Garden. On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 1150. Records: Kings 31-19-3, Bruins 23-21-8. Record vs. Bruins: 1-0-0. Update: The Kings are 3-0 on this five-game trip and have won four in a row overall and six of seven. Their record after 53 games ties the third-best in club history. The most points they've had after 53 games was 71, on a 29-11-13 record in 1974-75.

Who needs Ilya Kovalchuk when you have Matt Greene firing up the Kings' offense? Outplayed and outshot by the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first 10 minutes Thursday, the Kings got new life when the rugged but low-scoring Greene took a pass from Alexander Frolov and let loose a slap shot that deflected past Steve Mason at 11:05. From there the Kings took off and took over, with Anze Kopitar scoring the 100th and 101st goals of his career to highlight a 4-1 victory before an unhappy crowd of 13,709 at Nationwide Arena.

Kings tonight AT COLUMBUS When : 4 PST. Where: Nationwide Arena. On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 1150. Records: Kings 30-19-3, Blue Jackets 21-25-9. Record vs. Blue Jackets: 1-1-0. Update: The Kings are 2-0 on this five-game trip and have won three in a row overall. The only expected lineup change would move winger Teddy Purcell to the third line with Alexander Frolov and Michal Handzus and put Scott Parse in the pool of four candidates for the fourth line along with Oscar Moller, Brandon Segal and Raitis Ivanans.