Are We Really THIS Bad?

Before Tuesday’s practice Randy Carlyle called a meeting that lasted nearly as long as the team’s opening games combined.

I imagine quite a few “time outs” were administered, a dunce cap or two was distributed and the phrase “you will sit there and think about what you did, mister!” was applied to more than one player.

The season start has been described variously as ‘hideous’, ‘appalling’, ‘ghastly’, ‘unbelievable’ and ‘horrible’ … as well as euphemisms best not utilized where the little ones may read.

In addition to leading the league in penalty minutes, they’ve been outscored 13-2 and their defense has given up 48+ shots per game (another ‘most in the league’).

The guys know full well they need to ramp it up at home today vs. Vancouver because this being Southern California, fans can be fickle SOBs, even if they did spend $300 on a Niedermayer jersey a couple years ago.

What I’m really trying to figure out is what is up with Teemu Selanne?  The man a reporter recently said would light up the locker room as soon as he entered has not been producing on the ice.  I guess we’ll just have to see what transpires tonight.

Other Notes:

Andy Sutton’s broken thumb will keep him out of the line-up for 6-8 weeks.

Andreas Lilja’s Visa snafu hasn’t been cleared up yet and most likely won’t be available to play until at least this weekend.

Toni Lydman has been practicing, but has not been cleared by medical after suffering a severe bout of double vision last month which his doctor said was probably the result of a freak migraine.