When the 2008-09 season kicks off in a few days, or weeks, whatever, my eyes will be on the Los Angeles Kings.

It’s not that I have high expectations for the Kings next season; I just like the direction the team is going. By building mainly through the draft, GM Dean Lombardi has ensured that when the Kings get good, they’ll be good for a long time.

I have no doubt there are Kings fans upset about the slow pace in which the team is rebuilding and wish Lombardi would sign a couple of veterans to get his club into the playoff hunt. But if he did, he might as well rename the Kings the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It takes patience to build a winner.

When The Hockey News Yearbook comes out in late August, it will come as no surprise we have picked the Kings to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season. Let’s be honest, the Western Conference remains very competitive and even if they improve, it is hard to imagine the Kings passing enough teams to make it into the post-season.

That said, you have to like a defense that will one day include Jack Johnson, Drew Doughty, Thomas Hickey and Colten Teubert. Also, the acquisition of banger Matt Greene from Edmonton gives the Kings an authority figure in their own zone. With the departure of veteran Rob Blake, Doughty should have an opportunity to step right into the NHL from junior and be an impact player.

Up front, center Anze Kopitar remains one of the NHL’s deep, dark secrets despite the fact he finished 23rd in league scoring with 32 goals and 77 points in 82 games in his second season. The crafty 6-foot-4, 220-pound pivot has the potential to be a top 10 scorer in the league and it might just take that kind of output to get him the recognition he deserves.

Alexander Frolov remains a consistent high scorer for the Kings, while Dustin Brown enjoyed a 33-goal breakout season this past year and should score at that level for years to come.

I love the addition of Jarret Stoll, a skilled center who possesses a big shot and can kill penalties, from Edmonton. If the game gets boring, you can always turn your attention to his girlfriend, Rachel Hunter, who is sure to be sitting in the stands.

Goaltending remains a question mark for the Kings and until they find a bona fide starter, wins will be hard to come by. Of course that could change if Jonathan Bernier rises to the occasion next season.

Some wondered about the signing of Terry Murray as the team’s new head coach, but not me. Murray has had success at the NHL level and I am convinced he’ll be behind a number of players drastically improving their plus-minus rankings.

Having tied for last with the fewest points this past season, it isn’t a stretch to suggest the Kings will improve next season. Enough to make their fans happy? Probably not. But if I’m Lombardi, I stay the course.

A few NHL musings with upside no bigger than a paragraph…

• Hayley Wickenheiser is a female hockey player who’s good enough to play the sport professionally with men at a high level in Sweden. She’s also an Olympic gold medalist in hockey who participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics as a softball player. And she’s a pro athlete with enough personality and intelligence to serve as a color commentator for CBC’s Olympic coverage of softball this summer. This woman sprung from an incredible gene pool…

• As of right now, four of the five teams I’d peg as potential Cup winners in 2009 come from the West. Pittsburgh is the only Eastern team I’d lump in with Detroit, San Jose, Dallas and Anaheim as legit Cup contenders 11 months before the silver mug gets handed out…

• Year 2 on Broadway is going to be more productive for Chris Drury as the Rangers slowly, but surely, become his team…

• It’s a small move, but picking up Mikhail Grabovski for very little from Montreal could be a transaction that ends up being celebrated in Toronto. He’s way more silky than Selke, but a team desperate for talented forwards will take that tradeoff in a heartbeat. Grabovski, 24, will start the year on one of the Leafs’ top two lines…

• Jordan Staal is a great, emerging two-way player, but can you imagine if the Pens had drafted Steve Yzerman clone Jonathan Toews – not Staal – with the No. 2 pick in ’06? Scratch my back with a hacksaw…

• The Kings are a surprise goalie performance away from making the playoffs…

• If Nashville makes the post-season again and Barry Trotz doesn’t win the Jack Adams, the trophy loses all credibility…

• Somebody could tell me they’ve got the Ottawa Senators slotted anywhere between one and 12 in their Eastern Conference predictions and I wouldn’t bat an eye. A team that used to be the model of regular season consistency is far and away the most unpredictable squad out there…

• One more year out of the post-season and Columbus and Florida each get relegated to the American League. I mean, seriously. Give the last two Calder Cup winners a crack…

• I was all set to chastise the NHL for wearing out a good thing by having an Outdoor Classic in consecutive years, but then they put it in one of sport’s most hallowed grounds in a city that’s beginning to rediscover its love for the sport. I don’t think Steve Bartman himself could ruin Hawks-Wings at Wrigley.

Liverpool have signed highly-rated teenage striker David Ngog from Paris Saint-Germain for a reported fee of around £1.5million.The 19-year-old has repeatedly been linked to the Reds in recent weeks and has signed a four-year contract with the Premier League club.

He will go straight into the Merseysiders’ first-team squad, joining fellow summer arrivals Andrea Dossena, Diego Cavalieri and Philipp Degen.

Ngog, who is the cousin of former Rangers and Newcastle defender Jean-Alain Boumsong, struggled in an under-performing Paris St Germain team last season as the French club barely maintained their Ligue 1 status.

He scored just once in 18 appearances but has been far more effective at various levels for France.

The pacy forward has scored at every youth level for his country, including a brace against England Under-19s last season.

His exit from the Parc des Princes seemed inevitable from the moment he refused to sign a new contract with Paul le Guen’s side as he entered the final year of his deal, and Liverpool soon stepped in with a bid.

Ngog’s arrival adds welcome reinforcement to manager Rafael Benitez’s

strikeforce following the departure of Peter Crouch for Portsmouth.

Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has admitted he does not expect to spend more than another two seasons at the club.

The 33-year-old has spent his entire career at Old Trafford and been at the heart of most of United’s success under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Scholes said: “How long will I go on? I’d think two years at the most.

“I have one year left on my contract and hopefully I’ll get another one but I suppose it all depends on how you’re feeling and how you’re playing.

“At the moment I just think two years would be about right.”

Scholes has not ruled out moving to a club at a lower level to prolong his career or later becoming a coach, but he admits he will not miss the spotlight that comes with playing at the top level.

He added: “I can’t say that I can’t wait to finish but I am looking forward to finishing with everything that goes with it.

“I suppose people are just very invasive and are always wanting to know what you’re going to do.

“The only thing I will definitely miss is the football, not the general life of a footballer.”

The Los Angeles Clippers acquired center Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday for the option to exchange second-round picks with the Clippers in 2010.

Camby led the NBA in blocked shots with 3.61 per game last season, only the second player in league history to do so in three consecutive seasons.

He averaged 9.1 points and 13.1 rebounds playing a career-best 34.9 minutes per game for the Nuggets. Camby was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2006-07.

He played the last six seasons in Denver after four years with the New York Knicks.

Camby is the second big-name player to land with the Clippers in less than a week. Baron Davis left Golden State to sign with his hometown team last Thursday on the heels of Elton Brand and leading scorer Corey Maggette departing as free agents.

Brand bolted to Philadelphia, while Maggette went to the Warriors. Davis signed a five-year deal worth $65 million.

Camby will be counted on to help replace the 20 points and 10 rebounds that Brand has averaged from the power forward spot in his nine-year career. Camby will join center Chris Kaman, who had by far his best season, but was limited to 56 games by several injuries.

“I love this acquisition for the current makeup of our team,” Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. “We are getting a consummate pro who is maybe the best team defender in the league and who has 60 playoff games under his belt.”

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