Kings Sign Defenseman Jon Klemm

[Thrillhouse]

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Kings have signed free agent defenseman Jon Klemm to a one-year contract, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced Monday.

Klemm, 37, a two-time winner of the Stanley Cup (2001 and 1996) and a veteran of 14 NHL seasons, played with Dallas this past season. He’s also skated with Chicago and Colorado/Quebec during his NHL career and in 751 career regular season games, he has 142 points (42-100=142), 426 penalty minutes and a plus-78 rating. In 105 career playoff games, he has 14 points (7-7=14), 47 penalty minutes and a plus-17 rating.

This past season, Klemm, who recorded three points (1-2=3) and 24 penalty minutes in 38 regular season games with the Stars, earned an assist on the 500th career NHL goal scored by Mike Modano vs. Philadelphia on March 13, 2007. The assist marked his 100th career NHL assist. He also recorded zero points and two penalty minutes in one playoff game with the Stars while making his ninth career postseason appearance.

Klemm won his first Stanley Cup with the Marc Crawford-coached Avalanche in 1996, and he posted a plus-7 rating while appearing in 22 postseason games for the Avalanche in 2001, helping the Cup Champions win their second title in six years. A 6-2, 205-pound native of Cranbrook, British Columbia, Klemm has averaged 67 games played, four goals, 13 points and a plus-7 rating during each of his 11 full seasons in the NHL. He was originally signed by Quebec as a free agent on May 14, 1991.

Prior to turning pro, Klemm played with both Seattle and Spokane in the Western Hockey League (WHL) from 1987-91, and he was a member of the Spokane club that won the Memorial Cup championship in 1991.

[Juha82]

not a great move.

[LAKINGSNUT]

the word "washed-up" comes to mind

another one of Crawford's former players gets signed! hmmm. not that there's many signing with LA, but after Cloutier would you take his word again?

[bupz91]

thanks for the news thrillhouse, i liked him, but now i don't, hes too old lol

[NJDevils17]

It never hurts to have an extra experienced defenseman on your team and it's only a 1 year deal.

[Podollan]

Why not Jamie alison?

[Snipes19]

Not a real bad move, in my opinion.

Yeah, Klemm is old, but he probably won't even start. He will just add good depth on defense for the Kings.

I see this as their starting 6 on the blue line this season:

Blake
Stuart
Preissing
Johnson
Visnovsky
Modry

With Klemm as the #7 guy, and MAYBE Dallman as the other backup IF they decide to keep 8 d-men.... if not, Dallman goes to Manchester.

So he won't make much of an impact, which means this isn't huge news for the Kings - but it's not horrible either. You really don't have to worry about Klemm doing bad. You're loaded on defense as it is!

[LAKINGSNUT]

Originally Posted by Wes McSnipes

Not a real bad move, in my opinion.

Yeah, Klemm is old, but he probably won't even start. He will just add good depth on defense for the Kings.

I see this as their starting 6 on the blue line this season:

Blake
Stuart
Preissing
Johnson
Visnovsky
Modry

With Klemm as the #7 guy, and MAYBE Dallman as the other backup IF they decide to keep 8 d-men.... if not, Dallman goes to Manchester.

So he won't make much of an impact, which means this isn't huge news for the Kings - but it's not horrible either. You really don't have to worry about Klemm doing bad. You're loaded on defense as it is!

you're right about LA being loaded with d-men, but what catches your eye immediatley? soft! while they may not get pushed off the puck, chances are they are gonna get pushed around. Johnson showed some toughness in his 5 games last season, but he's the golden child and the staff will not want him getting his nose dirty too often. Gleason has been the closest thing to a tough d-man for the Kings since Norton back in '02-'03. i agree, why not Alison!

[Snipes19]

Originally Posted by LAKINGSNUT

you're right about LA being loaded with d-men, but what catches your eye immediatley? soft! while they may not get pushed off the puck, chances are they are gonna get pushed around. Johnson showed some toughness in his 5 games last season, but he's the golden child and the staff will not want him getting his nose dirty too often. Gleason has been the closest thing to a tough d-man for the Kings since Norton back in '02-'03. i agree, why not Alison!

Soft? Eh, I disagree a little here....

While they may not be a huge fighting group, you have some solid hitters on the blue line. Jack Johnson, Brad Stuart, and Rob Blake are all pretty tough, and they throw some mean hits. While they may not fight a ton, they will get involved in the physical play.

And also, you don't really need your defense to be real tough. You have a pretty tough team as it is. You have Raitis Ivanans, who should get a lot of playing time next season, on your 4th line. This guy is one of the top heavyweights in the West - he's huge! And along with that, you have some decent middleweights up front like Scott Thornton and Derek Armstrong. So, there's one great fighter up front (Ivanans), and two decent ones (Thornton and Armstrong). Combine that with your big hitters on the blue line, and the Kings have a fairly tough team, IMO. Sure, you aren't THE toughest team in the league, but you have a good enough amount of toughness. Be happy you have a heavyweight too. So I wouldn't really complain about the Kings being real "soft" at all.

[LAKINGSNUT]

Originally Posted by Wes McSnipes

Soft? Eh, I disagree a little here....

While they may not be a huge fighting group, you have some solid hitters on the blue line. Jack Johnson, Brad Stuart, and Rob Blake are all pretty tough, and they throw some mean hits. While they may not fight a ton, they will get involved in the physical play.

And also, you don't really need your defense to be real tough. You have a pretty tough team as it is. You have Raitis Ivanans, who should get a lot of playing time next season, on your 4th line. This guy is one of the top heavyweights in the West - he's huge! And along with that, you have some decent middleweights up front like Scott Thornton and Derek Armstrong. So, there's one great fighter up front (Ivanans), and two decent ones (Thornton and Armstrong). Combine that with your big hitters on the blue line, and the Kings have a fairly tough team, IMO. Sure, you aren't THE toughest team in the league, but you have a good enough amount of toughness. Be happy you have a heavyweight too. So I wouldn't really complain about the Kings being real "soft" at all.

these guys will throw their weight around i guess, but they won't win many of the real physical battles. it may also be too early to say how Johnson will play. he showed he is willing to get involved in scuffles for himself and his teammates in the 5 games last season, but how will he do in a full season? with him being a rookie you would expect to see him mix it up trying to prove himself, but LA is going to try to make him the anchor man on the power play. this would mean he'll more than likely be on a short leash. i just don't see the Kings defense winning battles against the more physical teams. the group as a whole is bigger than last year, but the physicallity leaves something to be desired.

as far as our enforcing goes, Ivanans is pretty much it with Thornton riding in the back seat. over the last 5 NHL seasons, Thornton only has 26 fighting majors. when he fights he's good, but it doesn't happen all too often. in 10 NHL seasons, partial and full, Armstrong has a total of 7 fighting majors. to call him a middle weight is a compliment not deserved or earned by him.

i am happy we at least have Ivanans, but he did good against the light heavy's while strugling with the real heavyweights of the league. i'm not sold on Ivanans being a real good fighter yet. i've seen clips of him doing good at the start of a fight, then tailing off to the point where its just embarassing at the end of the fight. he ducks his head way too often and he's paid the price for doing that. overall, LA is one of the weakest teams in the league. thats just the reality of it all. we're not at Detroit's level, but its bad nonetheless.

[Juha82]

Originally Posted by Wes McSnipes

Not a real bad move, in my opinion.

Yeah, Klemm is old, but he probably won't even start. He will just add good depth on defense for the Kings.

I see this as their starting 6 on the blue line this season:

Blake
Stuart
Preissing
Johnson
Visnovsky
Modry

With Klemm as the #7 guy, and MAYBE Dallman as the other backup IF they decide to keep 8 d-men.... if not, Dallman goes to Manchester.

So he won't make much of an impact, which means this isn't huge news for the Kings - but it's not horrible either. You really don't have to worry about Klemm doing bad. You're loaded on defense as it is!

Blake
Stuart
Vishnovsky
Modry
Tverdovsky
Preissing

[Snipes19]

Originally Posted by Juha82

Blake
Stuart
Vishnovsky
Modry
Tverdovsky
Piskula

If you're trying to say that that's what their starting defense will look like, then you're wrong. Tverdovsky and Piskula won't start. These are their starters:

Blake
Stuart
Preissing
Johnson
Visnovsky
Modry

Starting Tverdovsky or Piskula over any of them would be ridiculous.

Originally Posted by LAKINGSNUT

these guys will throw their weight around i guess, but they won't win many of the real physical battles. it may also be too early to say how Johnson will play. he showed he is willing to get involved in scuffles for himself and his teammates in the 5 games last season, but how will he do in a full season? with him being a rookie you would expect to see him mix it up trying to prove himself, but LA is going to try to make him the anchor man on the power play. this would mean he'll more than likely be on a short leash. i just don't see the Kings defense winning battles against the more physical teams. the group as a whole is bigger than last year, but the physicallity leaves something to be desired.

as far as our enforcing goes, Ivanans is pretty much it with Thornton riding in the back seat. over the last 5 NHL seasons, Thornton only has 26 fighting majors. when he fights he's good, but it doesn't happen all too often. in 10 NHL seasons, partial and full, Armstrong has a total of 7 fighting majors. to call him a middle weight is a compliment not deserved or earned by him.

i am happy we at least have Ivanans, but he did good against the light heavy's while strugling with the real heavyweights of the league. i'm not sold on Ivanans being a real good fighter yet. i've seen clips of him doing good at the start of a fight, then tailing off to the point where its just embarassing at the end of the fight. he ducks his head way too often and he's paid the price for doing that. overall, LA is one of the weakest teams in the league. thats just the reality of it all. we're not at Detroit's level, but its bad nonetheless.

Since you're a Kings fan, I'm actually surprised to hear you say that. I have to disagree with you again though....

The defense will win a lot of physical battles. They can hit. Not really fight, but they will bruise up some opposing forwards, I can tell you that. I really think you underrated the grittyness of your team's defense.

About the Thornton comment, he IS a middleweight, and is a pretty darn good one too, IMO. He's fought guys like Kelly Chase, Donald Brashear, Jeff Odgers, Todd Simpson, Shane Churla, Eric Cairns, Stu Grimson, Krzysztof Oliwa, P.J. Stock, Matt Barnaby, Jim McKenzie, Marty McSorely, Cale Hulse, Wade Belak, and Josh Gratton in the past. He's fought a ton of good fighters, and he has a very underrated fight card. Yes, he doesn't fight those heavys anymore, but Thornton is a hard-nosed warrior, and I like watching the guy play. He's tough, and he won't back down from a fight. To say it's just a compliment to call him a middleweight is premature, IMO. There's no question that he's a middleweight....

With a top 15 heavyweight in Ivanans, two solid middleweights in Armstrong and Thornton, and a bunch of other hard hitters, the Kings aren't one of the weakest teams in the league. And it's not even close. They are pretty tough. I would say they are in the top 15 when it comes to toughness. You make them out to be much weaker than they really are. I can't believe it. Really.

[Podollan]

Why do you always talk about Derek Armstrong? He might won't have 1 single Fight.

I see it like LAKINGSNUT... Ivanans is great... not the best arround here.. but he will do his job and isn't bad either...
Thornton is a good guy, great teamguy and a decent fighter too.. but he is old and prolly not interested in fighting that much..

Besides this, they lack some guys ...
Look at the Ducks.. or the Coyotes who have Carcillo, Boynton, besides Gratton. I mean Jovanovski, Ballard can fight too.

A little bit depth toughness like Jamie Alison or Aaron Asham would have been great. At Summer I wish they would have signed Grand-Pierre or Sean Brown.
But well..
at least they have a real heavy in Ivanans..

[LAKINGSNUT]

Originally Posted by Wes McSnipes

If you're trying to say that that's what their starting defense will look like, then you're wrong. Tverdovsky and Piskula won't start. These are their starters:

Blake
Stuart
Preissing
Johnson
Visnovsky
Modry

Starting Tverdovsky or Piskula over any of them would be ridiculous.


Since you're a Kings fan, I'm actually surprised to hear you say that. I have to disagree with you again though....

The defense will win a lot of physical battles. They can hit. Not really fight, but they will bruise up some opposing forwards, I can tell you that. I really think you underrated the grittyness of your team's defense.

About the Thornton comment, he IS a middleweight, and is a pretty darn good one too, IMO. He's fought guys like Kelly Chase, Donald Brashear, Jeff Odgers, Todd Simpson, Shane Churla, Eric Cairns, Stu Grimson, Krzysztof Oliwa, P.J. Stock, Matt Barnaby, Jim McKenzie, Marty McSorely, Cale Hulse, Wade Belak, and Josh Gratton in the past. He's fought a ton of good fighters, and he has a very underrated fight card. Yes, he doesn't fight those heavys anymore, but Thornton is a hard-nosed warrior, and I like watching the guy play. He's tough, and he won't back down from a fight. To say it's just a compliment to call him a middleweight is premature, IMO. There's no question that he's a middleweight....

With a top 15 heavyweight in Ivanans, two solid middleweights in Armstrong and Thornton, and a bunch of other hard hitters, the Kings aren't one of the weakest teams in the league. And it's not even close. They are pretty tough. I would say they are in the top 15 when it comes to toughness. You make them out to be much weaker than they really are. I can't believe it. Really.

we'll have to agree to disagree Wes. i do have to correct you on one thing, i never said it was a compliment to call Thornton a middleweight. i said it was a compliment to call Armstrong a middleweight. in 10 seasons, he has a total of 7 fights. i would never consider him a fighter, let alone a decent middleweight. he's a non-factor in the fighting department.

as for Thornton, i actually considered him a light heavy in his hay-day. nowadays i can see why he would be considered a middleweight. like Podollan and i both said, he's tough as hell, but the volume ain't there. and again, we're not as bad as the Wings, but we're no where close to the Ducks either.

hope to see both Walker and King suit up for St Louie this comming season!

[Arankys]

nice wuss squad they are assembling in LA. Ivaans will a healthy scratch and Thornton doesnt drop the gloves (too old) and lol about Armstrong why are you even listing as a fighter?