An open letter to Mr. Lombardi

Once this season is over, can we please stop pretending that Brian Willsie has skills?


The true meaning of this hockey-related post is sure to be lost on Some Readers.


In that case....Story time!


I'll make popcorn.


You may remember a while back, I vowed not to go to bed during a hockey game again, no matter how late it was. While I've actually done a completely miserable job of keeping to that promise, last night's game was too good to pass up. The Kings were playing the Ducks in Anaheim, and rookie goaltenders Jonas Hiller and Erik Ersberg were putting on an absolute clinic, stopping some ludicrous number of shots between them, keeping the score 1-1 until very late in the third period. In the last 15 seconds of the game, Hiller makes an amazing stop on Kings winger Alex Frolov's clear cut breakaway to force overtime. Five minutes of OT solves nothing, and the teams went to a shootout.


Shootouts are usually pretty interesting and all....but how does Willsie fit into all this?


So, we go to the 6th round of the shootout, and the Kings still have players the likes of Lubomir Visnovsky, Mical Handzus, John Zeiler available to shoot. Anaheim scores on their 6th round shot, so the game is on the line as Coach Marc Crawford decides to send Brian "Skills" Willsie out to take LA's chance. You can Watch Video Here of Willsie's pathetic attempt at a deke before he tosses the puck directly into the goaltender, ending the game in a 2-1 Kings loss.


I suppose you could do better?


Not a chance. But I'm not getting paid a million dollars to be a Career -53 NHL player.

This season is lost for the Kings, and they're playing for the Stamkos Sweepstakes at this point, so I really don't mind them pulling a tank job like this. My concern now is for the future. A future with Mr. Stamkos and without Willsie. Let's work together to make this happen!