While the Devils and Kings didn’t face each other many times this season, just twice and those don’t mean much now, these two franchises have a lot of links tying them together.
Rich Hammond of L.A. Kings Insider broke down all the different ties that bind Los Angeles and New Jersey and we find out if there was such a thing as “long term money on the board” there’d be a whole lot of cash to get for both teams.
Here are a few of the more interesting potential story lines to look out for.
---- Ilya Kovalchuk turned down the Kings to sign with the Devils during the “Summer of Kovalchuk” in 2010.
---- Devils assistant coach Larry Robinson was the Kings’ head coach for four years and played for the Kings for three seasons. In his four years as coach, he took the Kings to the playoffs once in 1998 getting swept by St. Louis in the first round.
---- Kings defenseman Matt Greene and Devils captain Zach Parise were roommates and teammates in college at the University of North Dakota. It’s like Tim Thomas and Martin St. Louis all over again, just not as cuddly.
---- Kings GM Dean Lombardi and Devils GM Lou Lamoriello are long time friends and confidants.
---- Willie Mitchell was originally a New Jersey Devil. Coincidentally, he first signed with Los Angeles the same summer Kovalchuk signed with New Jersey.
---- Peter Harrold and Alexei Ponikarovsky were both Kings just last season. They were clearly destined to be in the finals this season.
The most interesting one here is Kovalchuk’s place in the series. He’s been the focus of attention no matter what in the playoffs (15-year, $100 million contracts help that) but now he’s going against the team he spurned for the Stanley Cup. Hello intrigue!
