It may still feel quite summery where you are but NHL camps open up tomorrow (Saturday) and it might be the only arena game in town soon? The NBA’s labor struggles appear to be headed for a long lockout and it’ll be interesting to see if the NHL (despite it’s bumbling Commish) can market itself to some new fans or be stuck with the 18,000 plus fanatics in their buildings and with about 18 others left watching at home.

From a local standpoint it looks like having the Kings and Ducks making the playoffs in the same year could finally be a reality (although I’ll only believe it when I see it). The Kings seem to be the better of the two on paper as a true Stanley Cup contender-but if they played on paper those skates would really tear it up-so let’s just play it out!

Kings new home sweater hopefully worn by a happy newly paid defenseman

Kings head coach Terry Murray was kind enough to call me before the start of camp for a season preview in which we covered everything from the acquisitions of ex-Flyers standouts Mike Richards and Simon Gagne to coach Murray’s philosophy on how to deal with their brutal travel schedule which includes 5 games in 7 nights of pre-season play before flying to Germany and then Sweden for the first few games of the real season.

Enjoy our chat and I hope to speak with a few Kings players shortly along with Ducks coach Randy Carlisle and his newly signed Teemu Selanne (who’s a marvel at the ripe young age of 41). Enjoy…

Kings Coach Terry Murray with Ted Sobel: