Lubomir Visnovsky, from Slovakia, is one of the most successful players to come out of that country, and the Los Angeles Kings were the first North American beneficiary of his services.

Visnovsky, a Fourth Round Pick in 2000, made the Kings roster the following year, where the Defenseman was fourth in Calder voting on the strength of a 39-Point Season.  Visnovsky did not break 30 Points in the next three years, and his rookie year looked to be a bit of a fluke, but in 2005-06, Visnovsky scored 67 Points, with a career-high 50 Assists. Visnovsky was tenth for the Norris, and the Slovakian had truly arrived.

Visnovsky had two more years with the Kings, and both were good with 58 and 41 Points, respectively.  Los Angeles was a struggling squad, and they traded him to Edmonton after the 2007-08 campaign.  With the Kings, Visnovsky totaled 279 Points.

Ziggy Palffy played the first six years of his career with the New York Islanders, where he had a three-year run of at least 87 Points.  The Isles dealt Palffy to the Kings in a large transaction in the summer of 2000, and Palffy achieved approximately the same level of success in LaLa Land.

The Right Wing had three consecutive 30-plus goal seasons for Los Angeles2-03), with his best year being 2000-01, scoring 89 Points and finishing fifth in the Lady Byng voti (2000-01 to 200ng.  Twice an All-Star as a King, Palffy scored 340 Points in his five seasons in Los Angeles, nine more than he had with the Islanders.  He also had a Plus/Minus of +85 in L.A.

The Supporters’ Shield is given out to Major League Soccer’s best team over the course of the regular season. In Europe’s top soccer leagues, team play a full season schedule with the team at the top of the league standings at the campaign’s end being crowned the champion. In MLS, like other sports leagues in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, a playoff structure is used to crown the league’s overall champion. 

The MLS season is headed towards its climax with the MLS Cup kicking off in December. For the best sportsbooks bonuses and reviews for bookies in Illinois, visit US Bookies ahead of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The New England Revolution are the 2021 MLS Supporters’ Shield winners – their first-ever Supporters’ Shield trophy win. The problem is that winning the Supporters’ Shield doesn’t mean the Revolution will win the more glamorous MLS Cup trophy. 

What is the Supporters’ Shield?

As previously written, the MLS Supporters’ Shield is given out to the team with the best regular season points total in the league after 34 regular season matches. Despite the league being split into an Eastern and Western Conference, the Supporters’ Shield is given to the team with the most points if all 27 teams were place in a single league table format. 

The Supporters’ Shield was originally handed out at the end of the MLS season. However, after fans of traditional European soccer wanted MLS to be more like the leagues overseas, it created the Supporters’ Shield trophy. Although the league’s first season was 1996, the Supporters’ Shield wasn’t given out until 1999.

Is the Supporters’ Shield important?

The 2021 MLS season is its 26^th overall. While the 2021 season isn’t complete as yet, history is not on the New England Revolution’s side for winning the MLS Cup. Just seven of the previous 25 Supporters’ Shield winners went onto win the MLS Cup. The last team to do the Supporters’ Shield-MLS Cup double was Toronto FC in 2017. Three seasons have now passed since the Reds pulled off the double. 

The Supporter Shield winning teams’ inability to win the MLS Cup over the last three seasons diminishes the accomplishment of collecting the most points during the regular season. As long as a team can qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs, anyone can win it and the Supporters’ Shield winner should not be looked at as the favourite. Only 28% of the team has a team done the league and cup double. 

The Los Angeles Galaxy and DC United have won the joint-most MLS Supporters’ Shield trophies. The Galaxy’s last shield was won in 2011. DC United’s most recent shield was won in 2007. It has been years since either of those teams claimed the trophy. 

The Supporters’ Shield’s importance in MLS is overblown. Just seven times have teams won the trophy and the MLS Cup. Fans shouldn’t expect the New England Revolution to pull off the league trophy and cup double this December as history doesn’t bode well for both pieces of silverware to be won. 

You don’t expect an undrafted Canadian player to do much in the National Hockey League, but Steve Duchesne had other ideas.

Duchesne signed with Los Angeles in 1984 and made the Kings two years later after two seasons in the Minors.  In his first year in the NHL, the Defenseman surprised the hockey world with a 38 Point year and an All-Rookie Selection.  Duchesne progressed into one of the better offensive Defenseman of the game, and he secured 55 Points as a sophomore, which he grew to 75 the year after, which netted him his first All-Star Game appearance.

Duchesne was an All-Star again in 1990, scoring 62 Points, a mark he would reach again the following year.  The Kings elected to retool, and he was traded to Los Angeles in a transaction that reunited Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri.  Duchesne returned as a Free Agent in 1998 but did not complete the season because he was traded to Philadelphia again.

As a King, Duchesne played 442 Games, scoring 315 Points with a Plus/Minus of +50.