No NHL But Ex-Kings, Ducks Still Represent Canada at Olympics
- Updated: February 13, 2018
Who could forget ‘The Professor?!’ Traded to the LA Kings with Matt Frattin and a second-round draft pick from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Jonathan Bernier, Scrivens and his wife Jenny became instant popular celebrities within the Kingdom. When superstar Jonathan Quick went down to a groin injury in Buffalo, NY back in 2013, the Cornell graduate Scrivens, along with rookie Martin Jones, took control between the pipes and helped the Kings chug along while their number one goalie healed and re-cooperated, which was key as they kept the Kings in a playoff spot. In this time, Scrivens recorded a record of 7-5 4, a 1.97 GAA, 3 shutouts and a .931 save % in 19 games. Once Quick returned, Scrivens became expendable, (as Jones was sporting even better numbers then Scrivens had), and was traded to the Edmonton Oilers, therefore missing out on winning the Stanley Cup with Los Angeles that June. Since then he has played for the Montreal Canadiens, St. John’s IceCaps (now Laval Rocket) of the AHL and HC Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League in Belarus. Though his time in LA was short, “The Professor” is still fondly remembered for his contributions there. Scrivens also played for the Canadian National Team at the 2014 IIHF World Championships, where he was 3-1, with a 1.74 GAA and a .938 save %.
(Ed Mulholland / USA Today Sports)
Vey was drafted by the LA Kings in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL entry draft. He then spent most of his time at first with the Medicine Hat Tigers where he became the WHL scoring champion with 46 goals and 116 points, and then in the Kingdom, grooming with the Manchester Monarchs alongside Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson, before finally getting his call-up to the NHL during the 2013-14 season. Reunited with Toffoli and Pearson on the Kings, they became known as the ‘Manchester United’ line and helped bring speed and youth to the Kings’ roster. Vey’s stay in LA was short lived as he was sent back down to the minors after getting only 5 points in 18 games. He finished the season in Manchester, (but like Scrivens, he missed out on the Kings winning the Cup that June), before being traded to Vancouver for a second-round draft pick (Roland McKeown) at the 2014 NHL draft. While with Vancouver, Vey went through a personal crisis when his father Curtis Vey and his girlfriend Angela Nicholson where found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder against his mother Brigitte, and Nicholson’s husband. Shortly after that, Vey returned to California to play for the Calgary Flame’s affiliated Stockton Heat, achieving 15 goals and 55 points in 61 games. He was also able to play in the NHL again when he played 4 games with the Flames but failed to earn a point. After playing with Barys Astana of the KHL, Vey is now contracted with the ZSC Lions in Switzerland of the National League.
(Photo: Steve Babineau/Manchester Monarchs)
Born in Los Angeles, but moved to Calgary, Alberta when he was 10 years old, Kozun was drafted by the Kings in the sixth round of the 2009 NHL entry draft, after he had a monster year with 108 points with the Calgary Hitmen. He followed that up with another monster year in 2009-10, finishing with 107 points, which made him both the Western Hockey League AND the Canadian Hockey League top scorer. Never having been called up by the Kings during the regular season, (tough he did play for them during the pre-season and scored an unassisted goal for the Kings on Sept. 15, 2013, in Phoenix), he spent four straight seasons with the Monarchs, (scoring two goals in his first AHL game debut). With Manchester, he achieved three straight seasons of getting 20 or more goals (23, 20, 26), as well as getting 56 points in 2012-13. In 2014 he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Andrew Crescenzi, (who now plays for the Ontario Reign and received his NHL debut and first ever career NHL goal earlier this season with the Kings), where he played mostly with the Toronto Marlies, but did finally get his chance to debut in the NHL regular season by making the Leafs’ roster following an impressive training camp and pre-season (think Alex Iafallo), playing 20 games and getting 2 goals and 2 assists. Kozun is now playing with the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the KHL. Kozun’s previous international experience was back in 2010 when he and Team Canada lost to the United States in the IIHF World Junior Championship Gold Medal game, earning them a Silver Medal. Kozun had 3 goals and 7 points in 6 games in that tournament.
Best known for his years playing in net for the New Jersey Devils, Hartford Whalers and Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes, Burke ended his 18 year NHL career as a member of the rebuilding 2006-07 Kings, sharing the net with Mathieu Garon, Dan Cloutier, Barry Brust and (the Japanese born sensation) Yutaka Fukufuji. Burke was also well known for playing at many different levels and tournaments for the Canadian National Team, which included playing in the 1988 & 1992 Olympic games, (where he won the Silver Medal in ’92), the 1991 Canada Cup, (which they won but he didn’t get to play as the 3rd string goaltender behind current Kings’ goaltending coach Bill Ranford and Hall of Famer Ed Belfour), and the 1997 IIHF World Championships, (where he led his team, along with then Kings’ Captain Rob Blake to a Gold Medal victory). This time Burke isn’t going to don the Red & White Maple Leaf but is instead the man in charge as the current Executive Director for Team Canada, replacing Steve Yzerman, who replaced Wayne Gretzky. Burke, who was responsible with the grand task of assembling of the Canadian Olympic Team roster without a single, current NHL player has already tasted some international success in his new gig, by putting together the team that won the 2017 Spengler Cup in Switzerland.
(photo by cbc.ca)
*(Normally I would post a video of Burke’s playing career or something right here, but let’s be serious, IT’S FUKAFUJI TIME!)
(photo credit to the hockey news)
Okay, he never played or was a part of the Kings’ organization, but he almost was! Remember back in 2011 when Ryan Smyth wanted out of Los Angeles because he feared for his children’s safety from the ‘mean streets’ of Manhattan Beach? Well, that forced poor, ole’ Dan Lombardi to trade Smyth to the Edmonton Oilers for good, ole’ Gilbert! But wait, there was a twist! Brulé was injured with a concussion, so that was no good and Dean requested someone else. So the Oilers sent him Colin Fraser instead, (who happened to also be injured! Like WTH Edmonton???), and history was made! Fraser, (once healed), would only help solidify the Kings’ fourth line by centering it, which helped them go all the way and win the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history. Fraser was also a part of the 2014 winning Cup team but he didn’t play as much as he had in 2012. And Smyth, well, he got to play in …. well… Edmonton? That hardly seems like a fair trade to him as he had to watch the team he just asked to leave, go on and win the Cup without him, as his Oilers failed to make the playoffs for the rest of his career. But you know what they say, karma is a … oh and what about Brulé you ask? Well, he went on to play for the Coyotes and the KHL.
Here are the players on the 2018 Olympic Canadian National Team that had connections to the Anaheim Ducks.
(Christine Cotter / Associated Press)
Bourque has had a roller coaster ride of an NHL career. He was very well liked in Calgary, (except by Flames’ commentator and former King Kelly Hrudey), where he scored over 20 goals for three seasons in a row, but he was loathed in Montreal where he never hit double digits in goals even once in the slumping and injury-ridden three and a half years he spent there. (To be fair, Bourque did score a Hat-Trick for the ‘Habs’ in game 5 of the 2014 Eastern Conference finals against the New York Rangers, so it wasn’t all bad). From what I gather, Bourque wasn’t liked that much in Anaheim either after he was traded there in 2014 for Bryan Allen. Can’t blame them really as Bourque’s cup of coffee with the Ducks only lasted 30 games where he scored just 2 goals and 8 points. He then played briefly with Columbus and Colorado before joining the Swedish Hockey League.
(Jeff Gross/Getty Images North America)
Lapierre is another player better known for his time in Montreal than in SoCal, where the center spent (on and off), five or so seasons there due to the ‘Habs’ liking his aggressive and agitating, (more like dirty) playing style. Eventually, they traded him to the Ducks in December of 2010, but that marriage only lasted 21 games and 3 assists. He then bounced around Vancouver, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh before making a home in the National League with HC Lugano. It will be interesting (or stressing depending on your geographical perspective) how Lapierre’s aggression can translate to the wider ice surface of these games? He has been practicing when playing for Laguna, but when the pressure is on, and the whole world is watching, I wonder if he will overcompensate by taking bad penalties, (or worse then normal), therefore becoming a liability to his team and country? This is an honest concern of mine. Just ask Dan Boyle or Brad Richardson for their opinions on the current Olympian’s skill level and timing.
*(This video is what Lapierre is really best known for doing and it’s not good. Why oh why would Burke pick this guy to play in the Olympics for Canada???)
(Source: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America)
If Mason Raymond is to be judged on his time spent with the Ducks, then in comparison Rene Bourque and Maxim Lapierre should be considered lifers, as Raymond only played four regular season games there before being placed on waivers. Still, it’s a connection that this Olympian has with SoCal, as well as with the state of California with his 15 games played with the Stockton Heat. Once a star with the Vancouver Canucks and a big signing for the Calgary Flames, Raymond’s value is not with his NHL experience, but with his international experience as he was a part of and a major contributor to Team Canada in both the 2016 and 2017 Spengler Cup victories. He now plays with SC Bern of the National League in Switzerland, (hey, I’m sensing a trend here!)
(Photo Keystone/Melanie Duchene)
Well, there you have it. No, these players aren’t the Wayne Gretzky’s, Paul Kariya’s, Drew Doughty’s or Ryan Getzlaf’s that we are used to as the Kings’ and Ducks’ representatives when playing in the Olympic games for Canada, but they still have made a carbon imprint nonetheless. And we will cheer them on, (well if you’re Canadian you will, well … for except that Lapierre guy), and hope that they win it all for their country and since their NHL careers didn’t pan out, for themselves, and we will be happy for them.
(But seriously yo, have you seen who the ‘Russians’ have on their no flag’ed team? They got Red Wings’ legend Pavel Datsyuk, former New Jersey Devil (of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final losing fame) and the Rocket Richard Trophy winning Ilya Kovalchuk, and the two time Stanley Cup Champion, now known forever as the ‘Man that shall NOT be named’, (and by that I mean former King Slava Voynov) on that squad! What the hell?! That makes this Canadian National Team look screwed! Especially with those three crappy ex-Ducks’ players on the roster! WHY HOCKEY GODS WHY?!?!?!?!… ahem… I mean, Go Canada Go!!!)
The tournament starts this Wednesday with Team USA facing off with Slovenia, and then Team Canada vs Switzerland and Team USA vs Slovakia on Thursday. Enjoy the games, everyone!
*Special thanks to Rabbi Rabbs (or ‘Double R’) for his help with this article.
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