As first announced on MayorsManor a few weeks ago, the LA Kings will be bringing back their vintage purple (or Forum Blue) and gold jerseys next season for three games in conjunction with pre-game celebrations dubbed ‘Legends Nights.’ To properly select the three candidates worthy of being honored we’ve recently run a few polls, breaking down the team’s 45 year history into three eras.
First, we looked at the Early Years 1967-1987. Readers selected Dave Taylor (69% of the votes), Jim Fox (25%) and Butch Goring (18%) as top choices. Next, we looked at the Gretzky Years 1988-1999 – and the winners there were Luc Robitaille (23%), Wayne Gretzky (22%) and Kelly Hrudey (14%).
Now, it’s time to get your input on the Staples Center era, which essentially runs from October 1999 to current. However, we’ll just look at the first 10 seasons. As a reminder, about a week after the poll below has concluded, we’ll have one final ‘super poll’ that will pit the nine winners (three from each era) against each other. The top three from that final poll will be declared the overall ‘winners.’
Just like with the past polls, we’ve pulled together a list of 10 candidates to get you started. Thus, a few names didn’t make the final cut (i.e. Jason Allison, Kelly Buchberger, Mathieu Schneider, Bryan Smolinski, etc.). Feel free to submit any name you feel strongly about though using the ‘other’ option. Also, please note that Mattias Norstrom is not included because the Kings already had a special night to honor him recently and Lubomir Visnovsky was excluded because he’s still an active player in the NHL. Conversly, Laperriere and O’Donnell are expected to retire this summer.
So, with all of that…
Please select the three players on this list you feel are most worthy of being recognized by the Kings:
Poll closes Sunday, April 8th at 8pm PST. After voting, leave a comment below and state your reasons too. Other readers may like to hear what you have to say.
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Deadmarsh, Blake, and Potvin were big reasons the Kings were relevant during the early part of the Staples Era, even if they weren’t part of it for a lot of it.
Potvin was the master of Games 5 & 6…
Rob Blake, Palffy, and Deadmarsh
Those were my votes exactly. Although, I could replace Blake with Laperriere. Alot of the others would fit better in the 90’s. Fiset, Blake, Stumpel, Murray, O’Donnell all on the Kings in the 90’s
lappy, deadmarsh, demitra (rip)
No Norstrom?
That’s what I wanted to know. Matty was the Kings anchor.
In the article:
“Also, please note that Mattias Norstrom is not included because the Kings already had a special night to honor him recently”
Deadmarsh is the type of player i HOPE Mike RIchards can become.
Deadmarsh, Blake, and Norstrom would get my votes… I know Deader wasn’t here for a super long time but he was a huge part of upsetting the Red Wings and a class act to boot (that and he was one of my favorite NHL players before he was even a King).
Ziggy, while Lappy and Deadmarsh were fan favorites and warriors for the team Ziggy was the most electric player the Kings had during the Staples era. When he played he carried our offense and was a dynamo to watch. It would be fun to cheer him one last time.
Didn’t the Kings also honor Deadmarsh a year or two ago? I seem to remember Hrudey getting kind of bent out of shape about it on Canadian TV since Deadmarsh only played 100 games or so.
Yeah, the Kings had a ceremony for him before a game against the AV’s. One of the teams gave Deadmarsh a painting.
Blake, Murray and Lappy
Armstrong, lappy, palffy