Roenick should fit right in in the bright lights of L.A.

Lights! Camera! Roenick!
By Phil Coffey | NHL.com
Sept. 14, 2005

Around Los Angeles, "Showtime" is normally associated with basketball's Lakers.

But with Jeremy Roenick in town, the Lakers just got a lot of competition for the title.

Roenick arrived in LA this season from the Philadelphia Flyers with the goal of making the Kings the team to watch in Southern California. And the best part of this equation is not only does Roenick have the talent and personality to pull it off, but with the improvements made down the road in Anaheim, the Mighty Ducks are going to have plenty to say about who rules the ice in Southern California.

Staying in the Hollywood theme, it's like Bette Davis said in All About Eve; "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride."

Roenick is a little concerned that the first weeks of the season might be a bit bumpy for him. He suffered through an injury-riddled 2003-04 season with the Philadelphia Flyers where he scored 19 goals and 28 assists in 62 games, missing time after suffering a broken jaw after being hit with a shot.

"I don't think I'm going to get my touch back for at least a couple months," Roenick said. "I mean, I've tried to work hard for the last two months on the ice and off the ice. It seems to be coming back a lot slower. Obviously the older you get, the harder it gets. To be off for a whole year and a half and to come back where your body has changed, at least my body has changed tremendously in the last year and a half, not so much overweight, I feel I'm at a good weight, but your whole body changes. When you're used to playing, playing at a high intensity for so many years, taking a year off, your body is going to change a lot. I know it's going to take me at least a good couple months to really start feeling back to where I was a year ago."

But Roenick is figuring on perhaps a slow start, but a torrid finish.

"Well, I have high expectations every place I go," he said. "I take pride in being on a team that works really hard and is very difficult to play against. I don't think this year's going to be any different.

"With some of the young guys we have in our club that are very energetic and play a very physical game, I think we're going to be a difficult team to play against in the work category. Getting (Pavol) Demitra is a big plus for our club, getting (Alexander) Frolov signed, these guys are two very dynamic goal-scorers that can play very well with the puck.

"I think we're going to be really, really good in all facets of the game with (Craig) Conroy coming in as a defensive centerman who had a huge impact with Calgary in our last season.

"I think we're going to be very difficult to play against," Roenick continued. "That's something that a lot of teams coming into our building I don't think will like. When I came in to play in LA, I knew it was always going to be a tough, physical game, one that you had to grind out. I don't feel it's going to be any different this year."

Nor does Roenick envision taking a different role with the Kings. After eight seasons in Chicago, five more in Phoenix and then the last three in Philadelphia, Roenick is going with an approach that works.

"I don't think it's going to be different for me," he said. "I'm a guy that truly enjoys being in the locker room atmosphere. I try to keep things very loose and very energetic, try not to get really caught up in the hard-nosed preparation. Try to keep guys laughing.

"I'm not going to change by moving to LA. I'm not going to change the way I've tried to entertain with the fans. But still when the actual game's being played, I'm going to try to play it as hard as I possibly can and as physical as I can. I'm as excited as everybody else."

Truth be told, Roenick didn't envision being in Los Angeles this season. Roenick thought a return to Philadelphia was in the offing. But the Flyers' decision to sign free-agent Peter Forsberg created a salary cap problem, so GM Bob Clarke spoke to Roenick about a trade.

"I was in a situation where my family was going to stay back home in Arizona this year," Roenick said. "So it was kind of a tough, kind of a tough situation to go into being back in Philly. But I was looking forward to going back and have an unbelievable opportunity to win the Stanley Cup>

"However, when Bobby Clarke asked me if I'd be willing to accept the trade because of the Forsberg signing, there are only a couple places that I wanted to play in. I think a lot of them had to surround the part where I'd be closer to my family, being in Phoenix, living at home. The other two would be San Jose and Los Angeles. Bobby Clarke obviously worked very, very hard to grant the wishes that I had and worked very hard to make sure that the deal was done that I asked for. I couldn't ask for more than that."

It's a new era for the NHL after the 2004-05 season was canceled by the lockout, an era that will see a more wide-open game that is especially suited to a player like Roenick, who loves to skate and score goals. And don't think for a second that Roenick doesn't enjoy a chuckle or two over coaches who will be forced to adapt to that system.

"I think it's going to be a circus for them, to tell you the truth. I know (Flyers coach) Ken Hitchcock was sitting in his office for the last year and a half trying to come up with a system to defend against the no red line system. So look for him to come out and try to do something. In Minnesota, Jacques (Lemaire), has probably tried to do the same thing. I think it's going to be very interesting to see what will work.

"I think as players we have to be prepared to try to work a lot of different systems, a lot of different defensive systems that are going to counteract no red line," he predicts. "It's probably going to drive me out of my mind, and a lot of other guys out of their mind. But they're going to have to find something that's going to counter long ice passes and guys cheating up through the center ice. For the first part of the year, I think there's going to be a lot of goals scored because there's going to be a lot of confusion."

But that wide-open style should help rekindle the love affair between the NHL and its fans after the loss of the 2004-05 season.

"I really believe there's going to be a lot of excitement coming back into the game, being back in the locker room with the boys, being in a hockey atmosphere, locker room atmosphere, getting on the ice in front of the fans again to play," Roenick said. "I think the guys are going to be really excited about that. There has been a lot of player movement, which I think is going to add a lot of excitement to the League -- obviously, a lot in our division, which is going to be really good.

"I don't think it's going to take too long. With the season starting at the time when it's supposed to start, when it usually starts, in early September for camp, early October for the regular season, hopefully the public kind of forgets as much about the last year as they possibly can and just get excited for the winter and the hockey months."