Player Agent Scott Norton, in Conversation

For all his finesse, Entourage super-agent Ari Gold wouldn’t last a week in pro hockey.

It’s not that he couldn’t do the job. Rather, no one would work with him. Hockey’s culture of humility derives in part from its absolutism as a team sport. The game takes priority over the personality, a maxim forged by a century of players who understand that true hockey glory can’t be found in the names etched into singular buttons on the Art Ross Trophy, or on the Vezina, but among the full breadth of names, etched in bunches, on the Stanley Cup.

The game can only support a small contingent of larger-than-life personalities before it starts to suffocate them.  “The one thing you don’t want to do is disrespect the game,” said Wayne Gretzky.

Not that hockey is immune. Former NHLPA head Alan Eagleson’s fall from power was a long fall because he had too much power, too much ego and too much greed–none of them qualities we readily associate with hockey. We as fans should be thankful we don’t have a Leigh Steinberg in hockey, a flashy and self-absorbed super-agent whose sees himself as bigger than the game.

Furthermore, unlike agents like Steinberg, who seemed to find clients off a list of Heisman hopefuls, hockey player agent Scott Norton, founder and president of Norton Sports Management, has had a hand in the development of many of his clients going back to well before they turned pro. And while every agency stresses a ‘family’ atmosphere, Norton actually appears to deliver it. An NHL Player’s Association-certified agent since certification began in the mid-1990s, Norton runs a modest, boutique agency with the understanding of someone who has played the game (Tier I AAA hockey in Illinois) and someone who was raised in the rarefied air of professional sports (his family has stakes in the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago White Sox).

This isn’t to say Norton hides in shadow either. Last year he began “Make My Day Mondays”, a grassroots Twitter/social media initiative that encouraged himself and others to carry out random acts of kindness and tweet (#MMDM) about it. He also spoke out against Todd Reynolds of Uptown Sports Management when that agent tweeted his opposition to same-sex marriage; and last September he offered reward money to identify the individual who threw a banana on the ice while Wayne Simmonds was taking a shootout attempt at an exhibition game in London, Ontario between the Flyers and the Red Wings.

Right now is an especially gratifying time for Norton, as one of his long-time clients is becoming an NHL superstar before the eyes of the hockey world.

Leading his team with authority through two thoroughly decisive rounds, Los Angeles Kings Captain Dustin Brown is playing the best hockey of his career at the absolute right time. He is emerging as a complete player who lays out clean, open-ice hits and finishes every check while displaying immaculate hockey sense and the touch of a pure scorer. In the nine games needed to to dispense with the Jennings Trophy winners from 2011 (Luongo/Schneider) and 2012 (Elliott/Halak), Brown has 11 points (6g, 5a), including a pair of shorties and a pair of game-winning goals, and his +9 rating currently leads all players in the post-season.

Prior to game 4 between the Kings and the Blues, I spoke with Norton about the player agent, the fall-out from Jerry McGuire, and about the Revelation that is Dustin Brown.

Ross Bonander: Thanks for taking the time to chat. I have to admit, I don’t really know the first thing about player agents. Is the business of player representation as competitive as the athletes and the sports they play? Is there a comparison, and how do you set yourself apart?

Scott Norton: It’s ultra-competitive. It’s cutthroat. But in a different way; it doesn’t make for a very good comparison. I don’t like to talk in generalities, but I pride myself on being a student of the game, and I think I can talk hockey whether it’s with a client or a GM during negotiations. I don’t think that’s true of all hockey player agents.

RB: You are one of the few hockey player agents who maintains such a visible social media presence, and you’re known to encourage your players to do the same. Is that simply about publicity, about acquainting them with their fan base?

SN: Hockey’s sort of the red-headed stepchild of the major sports.  The game has been marketed poorly. And this pertains to the players as well, how little visibility there is, whether in endorsements, social media. It’s gotten a little better but for a few years, if you were a neophyte hockey fan, you’d think Crosby and Ovechkin were the only two players in the NHL.

RB: As an ad hoc player representative, Bobby Orr has been—or used to be–rather vocal about the importance of being ‘family advisers’ to players as young as 13, claiming he knew from personal experience how important it was to have such guidance. He caught a lot of flack for it. Do kids that young benefit from an ‘adviser’ who may or may not go on to become their agent?

SN: When I first got into the business, you could find guys at the NHL draft who didn’t have agents. I give a lot of credit to–or put a lot of blame on–Hollywood, because of things like Jerry Maguire and Entourage, they put a much bigger spotlight on the agent business than there ever was.

Many years ago the agent was the guy in the black coat hiding behind the door who you wanted to stay away from. I can’t tell you how often it happens nowadays where I’m at the rink watching a kid skate and his teammate will come up to me and instead of saying, ‘Will you represent me?’ he’s asking, ‘How do I become an agent?’

At any rate, for better or worse one thing has led to another, and representing 19 year olds became representing 17 year olds. Then someone says, ‘Hey, let’s beat ‘em to the punch’ and they’re going after 15 year olds. And now, if you’re not talking to them when they’re 13 or 14 odds are you’re not going to represent the top talent.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story. The way I do business is, I try to advise them as much as I can, as much as is necessary. If you have a 14 year-old getting drafted as a bantam into, say, the WHL, who has to decide, in a relatively short time, if he wants to go to major Junior, Junior A, NCAA, etc., an adviser is undeniably useful, someone who knows them and who knows the system.

RB: Regarding Dustin Brown–the Kings have had much bigger stars playing for them—Dionne, Gretzky, Robitaille, Blake. Yet after seven years in Los Angeles, Brown is only now having something of a national coming-out party in these playoffs.

SN: LA is a fickle town. To be a celebrity in Los Angeles doesn’t have the same meaning as it might in a city that isn’t home to the entertainment industry. Some players, like Dustin, prefer that; they like not being recognized when they go out to dinner. He’s very much a family man—he has three boys under the age of four—and he’s married to his high school … actually she is his before-high-school sweetheart.

RB: How did you become acquainted with him?

SN: I first saw him play as a Bantam with the Syracuse Stars. He was on the top line with Rob Schremp and Timmy Sestito. They were about 15 or so at the time, and all of them would eventually reach the NHL.

Dustin Brown’s Statistics

RB: Including his year in the AHL with Manchester under Bruce Boudreau, in eight full seasons of pro hockey, Dustin Brown has missed just 11 games. What’s he doing that most of the rest of the league isn’t—and how is he doing it by playing such a physical game?

SN: Knock on wood, he hasn’t had any serious injuries. He does work very hard, he takes the game and his job very seriously. Again, knock on wood. And … genetically he’s sort of built like a bowling ball. He has a very low center of gravity. That helps.

RB: Can you talk about what you and Brown discussed at the trade deadline, when his name was being mentioned as possible trade bait following the acquisition of Jeff Carter?

SN: I won’t divulge specifics, but most players don’t want to hear their name discussed in trade talk, especially guys with roots in their community. Dustin’s been in LA a long time, he’s got a family to consider. So I don’t think he was thrilled about it at all. That said, the Carter trade occurred on February 23 and a couple days later Dustin had a hat trick against, I don’t remember who they played, but in a manner befitting him, Dustin let his game do the talking.

[Note: In a 4-0 win at home against Chicago on 25 February 2012, Brown had 4 points (3g, 1a) including 2 PPG and 1 SHG]

RB: Brown struggled at the start of the season, but has thrived under coach Darryl Sutter. What factor or factors are driving that?

SN: I think it’s a couple of things. One, I think he plays better on the left wing than the right wing. Terry [Murray] kind of had him moving all around but Dustin has more confidence on the off-wing and he’s much more dangerous.  And the other thing is the Carter trade has given LA a serious second line, forcing the opposition to have to decide whether to try and shut down Kopitar, Brown and Williams on one line or Richards, Carter and Penner on another. It’s something the Kings have really never had.

RB: Do contract negotiations become easier when you have a client on a hot streak versus one who’s maybe had an off-year?

SN: As I tell my players, teams use whatever they can to bring the salary down. If you don’t have a lot of penalty minutes they’re gonna say you’re soft. If you do have a lot of penalty minutes they’re gonna say you were careless and you let the team down. They look at numbers one way, we look at them another way. It’s difficult, but it’s business. That’s all it is.

RB: The CBA expires this summer. Which way do you see the wind blowing for the NHL next year?

SN: I haven’t heard anything as of yet. Of course both sides understand what’s at risk. That said, the players gave away a lot the last time. I doubt they will be ready to concede as much this time.

Norton’s client list hovers around three dozen, with players in professional leagues across the world, and includes  Cam Janssen, , Ryan Garbutt, Zach Redmond, Corey Elkins, Tom Sestito, Bill Sweatt, Matt Climie, and Andy Miele, to name just a few.  

You can follow Scott Norton on Twitter.  Some additional Reading:

• 2004 Hockey’s Future Q & A with Norton
• 2010 Partnership between The Hockey Writers and Norton regarding #MMDM
• 2011 LA Kings blog MayorsManor interview with Norton

Keeping Brown at Trade Deadline Smart Move by Kings

We’ll never know how serious the Los Angeles Kings were about a seismic trade of their captain Dustin Brown — his name was certainly out there on all the talk shows and in the Twitterverse — but it’s the age-old story. The best trades are often the ones you don’t make.

As good as goalie Jonathan Quick has been as the Kings dispatched the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks and second-seeded St. Louis Blues in just nine playoff games, from the instant Brown levelled Canucks captain Henrik Sedin he’s been their lightning rod. He’s got 11 points in nine games, six goals (two of them short-handed), he’s plus-9 and he’s got 20 penalty minutes, tops among any player in the top 30 in playoff scoring.

Now that Claude Giroux and the Philadelphia Flyers are done, Brown, Quick, Phoenix Coyotes goalie Mike Smith, New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, Washington Capitals rookie goalie Braden Holtby and the New Jersey Devils’ tag team of Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise are the leading Conn Smythe MVP candidates.

Brown left Sedin black and blue, he continued his hitting in the Blues series, and he’s figured in four Kings short-handed goals in the playoffs as they get ready for the Western Conference final against the Coyotes on Sunday in the desert.

The hit on Sedin was the hit of the playoffs — Brown absolutely crushed the Canucks centre a few feet from the boards, with Sedin crumpling to his knees and struggling to get to the bench. It was like a cement mixer running over a Smart Car. To his credit, Sedin didn’t bellyache that it was a dirty play.

“You make a big hit like that and everyone’s up in the arms with the environment today, with people looking at head shots and how they want to get them out of the game,” said Brown. “At first glance you get thrown in with a bunch of other (on-the-line or over-the-line) hits. My gut feeling when I made it was it was a good, clean hockey check. When he came out and said it was clean, too, it solidified what I first thought.”

Brown has been atop the NHL’s hit parade for years, which is always a balancing act. Hitting is labour intensive — it’s like a violent car wreck with damage on both sides — and often the more you hit, the less you’ve got left when the puck’s on your stick. But Brown has tried to modify his behaviour somewhat and not take runs at players for run’s sake. If the hit’s there, the hit’s there.

“When I first came into the league, I’d be willing to do whatever it took to make an impression and lot of that was being physical,” he said. “But I think my game has changed. I don’t think you’ll see me running too far out of position to make a hit now. I still get my hits, probably not as many as before, but I’m in better position offensively.”

And offensively, he’s shone. Only Giroux and Briere have more goals (eight).

His coach, Darryl Sutter, sees some of Jarome Iginla in his Kings captain.

“Guys have talked about Brownie and Jarome a lot, but the big difference for me is when I first got to Calgary, Jarome was already in the hunt for the Hart Trophy, and a scoring race and a Rocket Richard (Trophy, most goals). He was being mentioned for all these major awards. He was a 50-goal scorer,” said the former Flames coach and GM. “But in terms of personality and character and what they bring, there’s real similarities.”

Brown has used Iginla as a role model.

“He’s been a top player in this league for quite a few years . . . you look at the goal scoring, but he also brings the mean streak and the physical edge,” said Brown. “I don’t score to the extent he can, but I’ve always watched how he played the game. He led by example on the ice and that’s the best way to do it.”

Brown’s style of game doesn’t change from game to game. He’s aggressive.

“When he gets away from that he’s not very effective,” said Sutter. “Game 3 against St. Louis in the last series he didn’t have a shot, but he was still finishing checks. He remembers the basics of his game and what’s brought him success. He’s excited, too. He hasn’t played very many playoff games until now (only 12 in the first seven years in L.A.). He’s thriving on it, now.”

When his name came up just before the trade deadline and with the Kings in a major offensive funk, the rumours went into overdrive.

“There was a lot of talk about me being moved,” Brown said. “People were asking me, but I didn’t have much to tell them. From that standpoint, it got a little stressful, and hectic, but once the trade deadline passed the team settled in. Bringing in Jeff Carter (from Columbus) was a big message sent by the management that they believed in this team (by adding a big part).”

Not subtracting Brown was the same message. They believed in him, too.

Edmonton Journal

jmatheson@edmontonjournal.com

No Kings’ Speeches for Dustin Brown

The moment that Dustin Brown came crashing onto the larger NHL playoff stage is easily determined. It occurred during the Los Angeles Kings’ opening-round series against the Vancouver Canucks, when Brown delivered a clean, crunching open-ice hit on Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin. At a time when all manner of body checks were examined under microscopic scrutiny, even Sedin was quick to concede that Brown’s hit was clean.

You can take all the points he’s scored (10 so far); all the plays he’s made shorthanded (which resulted in four goals); and all the quiet leadership Brown provides, but nothing galvanized his team more than that hit at that moment in that series.

L.A. had won the first two games in Vancouver, but they’d also led the Canucks the last time the teams met in the playoffs and eventually faltered. Brown’s hit woke up a sleepy club that, once called to attention, proceeded to march past Vancouver in five games and then subsequently swept the St. Louis Blues out of the second round.

So here are the Kings, halfway to their goal of being the first L.A. team to win the Stanley Cup and they are doing it, in equal parts, because of Jonathan Quick’s goaltending, their committed defence and Brown’s multiple contributions up front.

“They say actions speak louder than words; and he’s yelling his leadership on the ice with the way he plays,” said teammate Dustin Penner, who described Brown as a “relentless and tireless worker and a quiet leader. He’s the same Dustin Brown every night. It doesn’t matter who plays for the other team, whether it’s a Sedin or a [David] Backes, he is making them work for every inch of ice when he’s on it.”

Brown was named the Kings captain back in October of 2008, when he was a shy, almost withdrawn 23-year-old, replacing Rob Blake. In the beginning, Brown talked about what it means to be a leader with Blake, who always had a quiet sort of dignity when he played and wasn’t the most vocal leader of all time either. Blake had a soft-spoken quality, but his presence in the dressing room was felt by all, especially the young players coming up.

Over time, Brown has come to mirror many of Blake’s best qualities, right down to the punishing hits that both can dole out.

“When I was first named captain, I didn’t understand all the responsibilities of it,” said Brown, in an interview Monday. “There’s on-ice responsibilities; I think everyone’s aware of those. But there’s a lot of stuff that goes on, off the ice, that you just don’t think about until you’re in that situation and you have to deal with it. And Blakey was one of those good guys, who’d been around for a while and had it figured out pretty well when he captained our team right before me. We didn’t have the greatest team, but he always had the team’s best interests at heart.”

Leadership, with the current edition of the Kings, is easier than in the past, suggested Brown, because the make-up of the team has changed.

“It’s not just me, Kopi [Anze Kopitar] and Greener [Matt Greene],” said Brown. “We have 10, 13 guys that are leaders in this room. So when it comes to the whole leadership responsibility, it’s not burdened by just one or two guys. It makes it a very comfortable place, where you can lean on each other in time of need. That goes a long way in having strong leadership.”

Mentally, the second month of the NHL playoffs are often more challenging than the first because for so many players, it represents uncharted ground. Sometimes, if the focus falters for just a moment, the end can come hard and fast. However, a handful of Kings players, including Penner, Jarret Stoll, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, have all made trips to the Stanley Cup final before, Penner winning it all with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007, and so they understand that forewarned is forearmed.

“I see a lot of similarities between the Ducks’ run and the run we’re currently on,” Penner said. “There are still eight more wins to go, but the mentality of the team and the focus and the intensity we have each shift and each game … it’s breeding confidence.

“We’ve all bought in. You can tell by the way we carry ourselves as a team.”

In the meantime, Brown has three little boys at home, Jake, Mason and Cooper, who all get to watch hockey in May for the first time in their short lives. 1993 – the last time the Kings made it this far, doesn’t mean much to them, only that daddy is still taking them to the rink at a time when he’s usually on vacation by now.

“My middle son’s worn his L.A. Kings jersey for two weeks now,” Brown said. “He hasn’t taken it off. He wore it to school today for like the 15th day in a row. They’re definitely excited. I don’t think they completely understand everything, but they still like coming to the hockey games.”

So, for that matter, does their father.

Los Angeles Kings, Especially Dustin Brown, Appreciate the Rest

After sweeping St. Louis, the Kings get a welcome break before facing Phoenix in the Western Conference finals. Team captain Brown, who’s delivered 39 hits in two rounds, can really use it.

JILL PAINTER on THE KINGS: What can Brown do? Plenty

This was the perfect way for the Kings to celebrate their nearly two decades-long drought of playing in the Western Conference finals.

The Dustin Brown way.

The captain, who shockingly was rumored to be traded this season, scored a tiebreaking goal late in the first period to give the Kings the lead in the Western Conference semifinals over the St. Louis Blues.

After St. Louis pulled goalie Brian Elliott in the final minute, Brown was the one who banged home an empty-netter to send a sellout crowd of 18,373 desperate, loud, towel-waving fans into euphoria Sunday afternoon.

Brown raised his arms, screamed for joy and was tackled by Anze Kopitar. Teammates joined the dogpile on the ice and the party started. Brown’s goal put the finishing touches on the Kings’ 3-1 victory over St. Louis to complete a four-game sweep over the No. 2 seed Blues.

Brown, a 27-year-old right winger, played bigger than ever with six points in this series. He has six goals in these playoffs, but the final one could not have been sweeter.

“It was just exciting,” Brown said. “I think Kopi was a little more excited than me. I don’t think he realized how high he jumped. He was about two feet up.”

He flung himself into Brown and let loose the collective frustration of a passionate city that loves its hockey, and completed the rare task of knocking Brown to the ice.

It was worth it.

The Kings are in the conference finals or the first time since 1993. Brown and goaltender Jonathan Quick, who made 23 saves, are responsible for glory not known to this franchise since Wayne Gretzky led the Kings to the finals that same season.

The Kings have designs on much more. And Brown has infused the locker room with the same not-satisfied attitude.

“I’m proud of this group,” Brown said. “We have a night to enjoy it. But I don’t want to be known as the only other team to make it past the second round.”

He’s thinking Stanley Cup Finals.

Fans didn’t want to leave their feet, or their seats, and by the time Brown was in the locker room, they were chanting: “Sweep! Sweep!”

The sweet sound of that was echoing through Staples Center’s walkways.

This was another victory marked by poise, timely goals and Quick being Quick, a term coined by Brown.

Brown had every right to skip around the locker room with a grin or spray champagne and high-fived teammates and such, but he was more calm than Angels star Albert Pujols, who hit his first home run of the season Sunday.

He sat in front of his locker, surrounded by cameras, lights and questions and appeared relieved. Brown wants more and has drilled that into the minds of his teammates: Never be satisfied.

Not unless they’re on a summer tour with the Cup riding shotgun.

“This is huge. I’ve been here a long time, and it’s one of those things where you wait to be in this situation and continue on,” Brown said. “It’s pretty exciting, but you wake up and you’re just halfway done with where we want to go.”

Still, this has been a remarkable run, with the Kings thumping No. 1 Vancouver in five games and sweeping St. Louis in four, the first time a No. 8 seed has accomplished such a feat. The Kings are 8-1 in the playoffs.

Impressive, unless you’re looking at it through Brown’s eyes.

“We have eight more (wins) to go,” Brown said.

Phoenix or Nashville is up next, and the Kings will start that series on the road, where they feel at home; they haven’t lost away from Staples Center during the postseason.

The Kings are the feel-good story of the NHL, having fired coach Terry Murray midway through the season and not expected to do much after a hot start followed by unfulfilled expectations. General manager Dean Lombardi hired Darryl Sutter, traded away defenseman Jack Johnson and acquired Jeff Carter. The biggest move was not trading Brown, whose career has been all Kings.

Brown was drafted by the Kings and made his NHL debut in 2003. He’s been a pleasure to watch. He’s been the go-to-guy, thrust into the role as a teenager.

It seems like he’s been here forever, and in some ways he has.

His progression into a physical, goal-scoring machine has been a pleasure to witness for so many.

“He’s learned a lot of heartache in how to play the right way,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He was a wildcat coming in.”

At the age of 23, Brown became the youngest captain in Kings history. He’s endured the highs and lows – and more lows – but he has that X-factor that has teammates following his lead.

It’s no coincidence Drew Doughty, when he was a rookie, was assigned to be Brown’s hockey roommate. They’re still roommates.

The Kings are built to win in the playoffs. Forget they barely made the playoffs.

Anyone and everyone can score – Jordan Nolan got the game’s first goal in the first period for his first career playoff goal – and no one seemingly can score on Quick. Brown was good for two goals Sunday.

“L.A. plays the way you have to play to win the Cup,” Hitchcock said. “They play the game the right way. Over the course of disappointment that’s gone on the last three to four years, they’ve figured it out.”

It’s the Dustin Brown way.

Good Times Roll for Los Angeles Kings’ Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar

Team captain Dustin Brown, center Anze Kopitar paid their dues, suffering through years of Kings frustration. For them, sweeping St. Louis to reach NHL Western Conference finals couldn’t be sweeter.

As the longest-serving current Kings, forwards Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar have been through the worst of hockey times.

Brown, who made his NHL debut during the 2003-04 season, and Kopitar, who made an immediate impact as a rookie in 2006-07, have been there for all the broken promises and unrealized dreams, through coaching changes and baffling lineup shuffles. They allowed their optimism to flower when things changed for the better and persevered when the young team sometimes took two steps back for every three steps forward.

It was only right, then, that Brown and Kopitar were at the center Sunday of the Kings’ most joyous playoff moment in too many years.

Both had waited so long for this, for Kopitar to leap into Brown’s arms and body-slam him to the Staples Center ice after Brown scored an empty-net goal to clinch the Kings’ 3-1 victory and provide the final flourish of their surprising sweep of the No. 2-seeded St. Louis Blues.

“It was just excitement,” Brown said. “Kopi was probably more excited than me. I don’t think he realized how big he is. He jumped about two feet in the air. He was about 27 inches above me.”

Kopitar, normally poised, was entitled to lose his cool.

“It’s definitely a new thing for me. I don’t think I’ve been excited like this in a long time,” he said. “The last thing I can compare to this is probably my draft day, but this tops it off because it’s a lot more fun and we’re still going.”

The crowd roared at them. Their teammates roared louder FOR them, seeing poetic justice in the moment.

“Definitely, especially Brownie,” defenseman Drew Doughty said after the Kings earned their first conference finals berth since 1993.

“Brownie’s been here forever. He didn’t even make the playoffs until two seasons ago. So he went through it all. He went through the tough times. To see the way he’s playing now that we’re finally here is great to see.”

Kopitar’s journey involved traveling thousands of miles from his native Slovenia to refine his talents in Sweden and then on to the NHL, where he has become a premier two-way center.

Brown’s journey involved self-discovery as he matured from a quiet kid who stuttered and still has a mild lisp to an acknowledged leader who communicates his ferocious will loudly and clearly.

When the native of Ithaca, N.Y., became the Kings’ youngest-ever captain in 2008 at age 23, his ability to lead was questioned. When the team failed to meet high expectations this season, his credentials were again doubted, as were his prospects of staying past the trade deadline.

There are no more questions or misgivings after Brown and Kopitar led the Kings to the first sweep of a best-of-seven playoff series in team history and to a West finals matchup against the winner of the Phoenix-Nashville series.

“It’s one of the best parts about this job, seeing young people develop like that. Not only as hockey players, but what you see is the development of a man,” General Manager Dean Lombardi said.

“The thing about Dustin you always knew, and why we said OK, we chose him, he cares. There was no doubt he cared. And if you got that you got something to work with. You care about the right things, you’ve got a chance. And that was always in place. There was never any doubt about where his heart was.”

And there was never any doubt during this series where Brown’s mind was. St. Louis was black-and-Blue by the end.

“He was good,” Blues Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He’s learned through a lot of heartache how to play the right way. He was a wildcat coming in and probably has learned how to become a positive influence when their temperature’s up. He was effective.”

Which is like saying Wayne Gretzky could score goals.

Brown and Kopitar each had two goals and six points in this series. Both were mainstays of a penalty-killing unit that neutralized all 17 disadvantages and both contributed defensively. Kopitar displayed a fine enough touch Sunday to slip a loose puck into the glove of goaltender Jonathan Quick midway through the third period and save a sure goal when the Kings’ lead was merely that, one goal.

The Kings grew up on Sunday because Brown grew up to be the person Lombardi hoped he would be.

“Leadership is rising to the occasion at critical moments and that’s what you’re getting,” Lombardi said. “You can talk about everything else, but it’s still what you do in critical moments.

“And his growth, from the first day he sat in my office and was looking down at the ground and couldn’t put two words together to where he is today. . . . Some leaders are born. There are natural leaders just like there are natural athletes. But in the right environment with the right guidance you can nurture leadership, and he’s come a long way.”

But not yet long enough.

“We’re proud of this group,” Brown said, “but we don’t want to be known as the only other Kings team to make it past the second round.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com

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Captain Dustin Brown Sets the Tone for Kings

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Drew Doughty almost shakes his head at the thought of having to defend Dustin Brown in a Stanley Cup Playoffs series.

As one half of the Los Angeles Kings‘ shutdown defensemen pair, with Rob Scuderi, Doughty has a good view of a postseason stamped by Brown’s greatest hits package.

There was the shoulder-on-shoulder hit on Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin in the Western Conference Quarterfinals, perhaps the defining play of the playoffs so far. There was his big bump that nearly sent St. Louis captain David Backes into the bench, and his hip check of Alex Pietrangelo, in Game 3 of the semifinals.

Brown gives as good as he gets, too. There was his mid-air flying sprawl courtesy of Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa. He bounced off Backes like BBs off a battleship in Game 2.

“It takes a toll on you,” said Doughty, who played against Brown in the 2010 Winter Olympics. “As a D-man, getting hit so many times throughout a game, it gets annoying, it gets frustrating. Someone that hits as hard as him, it would be hard for me not to slash him back after that one where he just knocked you down.”

While the leadership of Mike Richards has also helped make L.A. the most dangerous team in the playoffs, perhaps no player has set the tone like Brown.

“I’ve played with guys like that, but Brown, definitely, probably [is] the best I’ve ever seen at it,” Doughty said.

Doughty was only 19 when he broke in with Los Angeles. By then, Brown was already four seasons in with the Kings — none of which included a playoff appearance. The past two seasons were marked by first-round exits and continued questions about when this young team would fulfill potential.

In that regard, Brown is literally the face of the Los Angeles Kings, scarred and bruised by his physical style and hungry to end decades of organizational failure. L.A. enters Game 4 of the semifinals Sunday ahead, 3-0, on St. Louis, and one victory away from the second conference finals appearance in team history.

“It’s exciting for me,” Brown said. “I’ve been here my whole career. We’ve had some pretty bad years, and the last few that we’ve made some progress, this is a fun time to be an L.A. King as well.”

Brown then cautions that, while buzz picks up in a normally Los Angeles Lakers-obsessed city, “It’s just trying to stay focused and take it a game at time, because if you start thinking ahead, things can change in a hurry.”

That would aptly describe the scenario that boiled over before the February trade deadline, when Brown’s name surfaced in trade rumors. Whether it was true or not [Kings general manager Dean Lombardi did not respond to an interview request for this story], the thinking was that Brown was part of the losing culture in L.A. and it was time for a shake-up. The fact that the Kings were struggling to make the playoffs under heavy preseason expectations made it all plausible, at least in the Twitter-driven media climate.

It ended up igniting Brown, who is skating differently this season because he is tying his skates looser. He had eight goals and 15 assists over the final 21 games of the regular season, almost half his season-ending point total. Brown then became blue collar star of the first round with an NHL single-game playoff record tying two shorthanded goals in Game 2 of the quarterfinals. He had the only goal of Game 3, and has two shorthanded assists against St. Louis.

Brown at first said he didn’t give much credence to the trade rumors, but during the Vancouver series said that, “It’s always in the back of your mind. When you’re name’s out there, you definitely want to prove people wrong. I’m a pretty self-motivated person as it is. The rumors and whatever happens at deadline, as a player, you always hear about it. It’s not like I didn’t hear about it, but at the same time, I knew I could be better than I was in the first half of the year.”

Opponents have naturally made Brown a marked man, literally. He took a puck in the face and the business-end of a Henrik Sedin elbow in the quarterfinals.

Brown hasn’t bit back. He induced St. Louis into three penalties in Game 3 to facilitate the Blues’ disintegration. Brown isn’t surprised at how teams have reacted to him.

“You got to try to go after, get guys off their game,” Brown said. “Maybe I’ve done that — got the best of them so far this series. They got to find a way. If they try to go after me, I think that’s a good thing for us. I’ve been able to handle it. I’ve handled it in situations, regular-season games. Guys don’t like me too much just in the way that I play. I try to be hard on their top guys, and I don’t think any team really likes that.”

The Kings cannot be much more pleased with how Brown, 27, has grown into the captain’s role. Known earlier in his career and famously teased by former teammate Sean Avery for his lisp, Brown is thoughtful and well-spoken. He’s also got his hands full off the ice with three young children.

Kings coach Darryl Sutter talks big about leadership during this playoff run, and Brown is the embodiment of Sutter’s lead-by-example philosophy. Sutter has actually grown annoyed from reporters asking him to wax poetic about Brown.

But, Sutter certainly appreciates having the Brown-Richards leadership dynamic.

“It’s always better from the team standpoint, player standpoint, coaching standpoint, that they have a strong identity, because that’s how you want the team to play,” Sutter said. “We’re fortunate because we have Mike Richards and Brown both that are close in those areas in terms of leadership.”

Teammates use a typical Sutter adjective to describe Brown.

“He’s not a rah-rah guy,” Matt Greene said. “We don’t have too many of those guys in the room, but he’s awesome.”

As one of the tenured Kings, Brown is aware of L.A.’s underwhelming playoff history and reluctant to talk about it how close they are to changing it. But Doughty said it is significant to Brown.

“He played here forever and they hadn’t even made the playoffs,” Doughty said. “Now that he’s finally been in a couple of series and we’re making it a little further, I know how much fun it is for him to finally have this opportunity as a member of the Kings. And right now, we’re having fun with it. But I know he’s making sure every single one of us isn’t getting too high on each other.”

L.A.’s season has unfolded much like Brown’s with a slow start, a crisis in February and then the spring fruition.

The Kings seemingly can’t be stopped. Those in their way have to go through Brown and his wide shoulders and cut-up face.

“It was an up-and-down year for this team,” he said. “It was a hard year, a lot of adversity. I think there were hints at the trade deadline – bringing in [Jeff Carter] was a big acquisition for us. Our belief system hasn’t changed from Game 1 to Game 82 to right now. We’ve always thought we’ve had a good team. Now we’re capable of playing to our abilities.”

PAINTER COLUMN: Kings Captain Brown’s Hit Benches Blues’ Confidence

Nothing summed up the Kings’ swagger more than the hit captain Dustin Brown put on St. Louis winger David Backes that sent him into his own bench in the second period.

Backes is supposed to be the Blues’ big, physical, imposing threat. He’s supposed to embody the aggressive nature of the Blues. The Kings were supposed to give him that always-know-where-he’s-at-on-the-ice attention.

Brown made a clean hit on Backes, but it was more than just a hit. This was a message. The Kings aren’t just winning. They’re pummeling the Blues, and the visitors have shockingly given up.

That hit was like Brown just knocked him back to St. Louis.

The Kings are confident. You see it in every shift, with every pass and every save.

The Kings struck first in the first period, as they’ve done in every game this series, on a Justin Williams goal and never trailed in a 4-2 win over the Blues in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 18,362 at Staples Center.

They lead the series 3-0 and can close out the best-of-7 Sunday.

Fans were waving white giveaway towels as black streamers fell from the rafters. They were taking a good look at the new-look Kings, who have scored 11 goals in this series. Goals were hard to come by most of the year, but with this newfound moxie, the Kings have found an offensive rhythm.

With one more win, the Kings would win the series and clinch a berth in the Western Conference finals for the first time since

Ithaca’s Dustin Brown Helps the Los Angeles Kings Take Command

Tom Sestito, Flyers – Ready For Round Two Of Playoffs

Even when the Flyers were in the process of eliminating the Pittsburgh Penguins from ther Stanley Cup playoffs, Tom Sestito remains on call for duty.  Practicing daily at the Flyers Voorhees, New Jersey Skate Zone facility, Tom is among the ‘Black Aces’, a term originated in 1940, as in having an ace up your sleeve, spare roster players that a hockey team can draw upon to help win a game in times of adversity.  Fully recovered from groin-tear surgery, Sestito waits, along with eigth others, for the call to come, to suit up against the Devils.

Group practices each morning conducted by coaches Blair Betts, Derian Hatcher, and Ian Laperriere, Sestito ‘s most important goal as the second round of playoffs begins, is to stay ready at all times.  Tom, 24, last saw game action with the Flyers on February 16 in a home game against the Buffalo Sabres.  It was during this game, as he was fighting, Sestito fell awkwardly and suffered an injury.  The practices are high tempo and at times individualized.

All NHL teams carries an expanded roster in the post-season.  For the Flyers, a group of players called up from their American Hockey League afilliate – the Glens Falls Phantoms, as well as injured players working to get back on NHL ice make up the ‘Black Aces’. Sestito, 6’5″ 228lbs., has put in his time since being a third round draft pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets, to make an appearance in Stanley Cup play.  Stops in Syracuse, Springfield,MA, and Glens Falls,NY, for Sestito, the reward remains a phone call away.  So, the waiting game continues.

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