Right wing Jordan Nolan was one of four LA players who spent the lockout playing in Manchester for the Kings’ AHL affiliate. While there, he recorded six points (two goals and four assists) in 21 games.
Then, when the Kings began 2013 with too many players for their roster it looked like Nolan may offer them an easy fix, as he could’ve been sent back down without having to clear waivers. Instead, he’s been part of arguably the Kings best line over the six games played thus far. Nolan scored in the opening contest vs. Chicago and added an assist a few days later vs. Colorado. Overall, he’s also tied for the team lead with a plus-4 rating.
“I think, personally, I feel a little more comfortable out there right now,” he told MayorsManor. “I’m finding my role. I think the fourth line has done a good job too, as we’ve had a good start to the season. Me, Fraz, Cliffy and (a few different guys) the past few games, we’ve just been playing simple hockey. We’ve been hitting a lot of bodies, protecting the puck, getting down low and creating some energy for the team.”
Until further notice, he’ll likely continue to be linked with Dwight King in one way or another. They were roommates in Manchester, came up together last year and have played on the same line together in LA at times – including much of the past two games.
“I think Dwight’s pretty good down low.” he said. “I’m pretty good down low and Fraz is a utility man – a guy who can do everything. So, I think we kind of worked well off each other in the last game. We had lots of possession and just need to work on bringing it to the net a little more.”
Well, they won’t be working on it as a three-man unit tonight in Anaheim. King is expected to be a healthy scratch, making room for Dustin Penner to return to the line-up. Thus, Kyle Clifford will rejoin Colin Fraser and Nolan on the fourth line.
Regardless of who is playing on his left side though, don’t expect a Kings-Ducks game to stir up any special emotions for the 23-year old rookie. After all, Nolan’s only faced them twice in his young career.
“It’s the same as playing any other team,” he remarked. “You want to get those two points and you just want to come out strong. We want to start off these road games the right way. We have a few big ones coming up, so we want to get going.”
For more Kings-Ducks preview information, click here for a Word Association article we posted earlier this morning (featuring four LA players talking about Corey Perry, Teemu Selanne and Ryan Getzlaf). Plus, on today’s MayorsManor Live Radio show Josh Brewster of Duck Calls was our special guest – we covered the keys to tonight’s game and looked at a few players who might be traded out of SoCal soon. Click here to give it a listen.
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I hate that every game you expect a lot of emotion the kings all say the same thing “its just another game blah blah” for once id like to hear ” yeah we don’t like them they don’t like us, should be nasty.” They lack that I don’t like you mentality which they should be playing with every night. Their Achilles heel in my opinion.
Did you read any of the articles we posted this week about the Canucks? Plenty of hatred.
Start here:
http://mayorsmanor.com/2013/01/colin-fraser-bringing-the-canucks-hate-even-on-his-birthday/
Yes and the reason they ran them over in the playoffs. Where’s that hatred against nashville last game? Kings can dominate statistically. But you play with no emotion, might as well start with the shootout. Games like the last one happen too much to the kings. They don’t hate teams till their backs are against the wall.