--The Kings locked up two potential parts of their future on May 23 when they signed forward Linden Vey and goalie Jean-Francois Berube to three-year, entry-level contracts. Vey was a fourth-round pick of the Kings in 2009 but took a major step forward this season when he led the junior-level Western Hockey League in scoring with 116 points (46 goals, 70 assists) in 69 regular-season games. Given the Kings' need for organizational depth at forward, Vey could have an impact on the wing. The future is less certain for Berube, who had a solid season in the junior-level Quebec Major Junior Hockey League but now joins a Kings goalie stable, which already includes Jonathan Quick, Jonathan Bernier, Jeff Zatkoff and Martin Jones, all of whom have extensive experience at the NHL and/or AHL level.

--Kings prospect Maxim Kitsyn continues to raise his profile. Kitsyn was little known last June when the Kings selected him in the sixth round of the draft. KItsyn, then a teenager in the KHL, got out of his contract and joined the junior-level Mississauga St. Michael's Majors of the Ontario Hockey League. Kitsyn had only nine goals in 32 regular-season games but took a big step forward in the playoffs as he scored 10 goals in his first 20 playoff games. Kitsyn, who won't turn 20 until December, most likely is not ready for the NHL level but might turn into a solid prospect for the Kings on the wing.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I think the big step would be to have home-ice advantage. I think that would be a very big step. That's a very simple way of throwing it out there, but the expectations have increased by saying that. You can't get into that slide in January. You have to keep going. You've got to play like you did post-All Star, 32 games. I think we had 19 wins in 32 games, 43 points after the All-Star break. That's being a hockey team. That's a great hockey team right there. That's responding to the pressure, because we were 11th coming into the pre-All Star, and then coming out of it and making it (the playoffs) with that kind of record, that is incredible. That's the kind of game that we need to show from the start of the year. That would get you into a home-ice advantage, and now the expectations grow from there, as you get into the playoffs, clearly." -- Kings coach Terry Murray, on his expectations for next season.

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