This season's marketing slogan is "Play Hard!," but the only thing they will be competing hard for the rest of this season is the first-overall pick in the Entry Draft at Columbus, Ohio in June.

FORWARDS

Anze Kopitar – The cornerstone of the franchise. A very smart, very skilled player who has played like he belongs in the NHL since day one. Comparisons to Mario Lemieux are premature, but he makes moves in tight quarters like few in the league. His defensive game needs to improve as he's a double digit minus. Grade: A-

Alexander Frolov – The Kings wanted 35+ goals from the kid and they'll get it barring injury. He's played better and tougher this season and those early season trade whispers have vanished. Like Kopitar, he needs to be more responsible in his own zone. Grade: A-

Mike Cammalleri – The diminutive center is having an odd season. His numbers look good; he's tracking a career year in points and is one of the few on the club with a plus rating. He's just not the impact player that Brian Gionta or Martin St. Louis is because he only has two game winning goals. He needs to be more of a factor in crunch time. Grade: B

Derek Armstrong – We're biased because Armstrong is such a solid citizen, but you read me for opinions, right? He's having a career year at age 33 and has a plus-11 rating, an amazing number for arguably the worst defensive team in the league. I could only imagine what he'd do on a better team. Grade: A

Sean Avery – For every Armstrong, there's an Avery. He doesn't cheat on effort but his poor attitude in the locker room is something the franchise needs to eliminate, hopefully by the trade deadline. At this point, no one cares if he sells tickets and he probably doesn't anymore, they've all seen that act. Grade: C

Dustin Brown – He was on the verge of first round pick oblivion when he decided to put some power in the powerplay, eight of his ten markers have come with the man-advantage. Brown is the most physical forward on the team but still takes a lot of bad penalties, so Crawford needs to raise his hockey IQ. Grade: C

Craig Conroy – Wow. The player that was damaged most by the trade of Pavol Demitra to Minnesota. That 22-goal, 66-point year in 2005-06 now seems like a mirage. Only redeeming factor for him this year is his positive attitude in the room. Likely to be the first player dealt in the purge around deadline time. Grade: D

Tom Kostopoulous – When Kostopolous and Armstrong are having the best all around seasons on the team, that's not good. That shouldn't diminish the teamwork that he and his center have developed over the first half of the year. He's got the second best plus/minus rating on the team and is a responsible citizen in his own zone. He lacks the natural scoring ability to ever be a star in the league but has done nothing wrong. Grade: B+

Brian Willsie – This guy is a buster. He must have scored 19 in Washington picking up Alexander Ovechkin's trash. Possess a horrid minus-19 rating and has only scored four goals, so you could say he doesn't do it on either end of the ice. He's stealing the $800,000 he's getting this season. Lombardi should consider buying out the second year of his contract and going with younger talent in the system. Grade: F-

Scott Thornton – Lombardi obviously signed the WRONG Thornton. Known as a heady player in San Jose, he's not been ice savvy in LA during the first 41. Expected better from him coming out of a winning situation in San Jose. Grade: D

Raitis Ivanans – A fourth line winger who is a decent scrapper but doesn't instill fear in the other side. Ultimately replaceable with a fighter that possesses a little more punch on offense. Grade: C

Alyn McCauley – How couldn't Lombardi know that this guy's knee was that bad? Will help on the penalty kill and faceoffs once he gets up to speed. Grade: Incomplete.

DEFENSE

Lubomir Visnovsky – Every team needs an offensive defenseman like Visnovsky. He's fleet, smart with the puck and has good decision making ability. He'll never be the stopper you need on the last shift of the game but should be kept when they blow the team up. Grade: B.

Rob Blake – Started off horribly, didn't score a goal in his first twelve games. Has warmed to the task in the last twenty games, but almost all his points have come on the power play, where he's stationed in front of the net, not at the point. Surprisingly not the physical force he was in Denver and projects out at a dirty minus-22 at present rate. That is not worth $6 million, period, and his money makes him impossible to deal. Grade: C

Brent Sopel – This guy is a gamer, he's been beat up all year with injuries, but when healthy he's a decent offensive player. His bad knees have diminished a good deal of his speed but he's played smartly in his own zone for the most part. Grade: C.

Mattias Norstrom – I'm not quite sure what's happened to the Captain. I'm hesitant to say the game has passed him by, but you would have never imagined he would be minus-14 through 41 games. With the rule changes last season, he was only a minus-3 and scored a career high 27 points. It may be time to see what the market can be for him in the coming weeks. Grade: C-

Kevin Dallman – Well, he IS versatile, playing both defense and center poorly. Not sure what Lombardi saw in this player to warrant a two-year deal. Grade: D

Aaron Miller – An average year for a better than average defenseman. Best part of this player's season is that he hasn't missed a game, a miracle given all the injury problems he's experienced. He could have some worth to a contender, as he's an unrestricted free agent at season's end. Grade: C

Oleg Tverdovsky – Far past his prime, but he hopefully he'll be the positive footnote the day D Jack Johnson steps foot on Staples Center ice. Grade: D

GOALIES

Dan Cloutier – A disaster for poor Dan. Has the daily double, possesses the worst goals against average and save percentage in the league. Now surrendering goals on the first shot of games as well as from outside the blueline. Maybe you could excuse away the early season performance on a sixty game absence due to a knee injury last season, but this has turned into a mental issue for the veteran. Crawford wanted him and with no proven No.1 goalie the move was understandable but for Lombardi to grant him a two year extension before the season started now appears to be ludicrous and I don't mean the hiphop star. Crawford would be a miracle worker if he could resurrect this player, but it's for the best if they admit the mistake, buy him out and look again for the man because it's not Dan. Grade: F-

Mathieu Garon – Garon's history with the organization is that every time to the door opens to the number one job, he fails to seize the opportunity. With Cloutier failing miserably, Garon had to string just a few games together to capture the number one role. Instead, he gets a groin injury and lets Barry Brust somehow get in the mix. His destiny smells like a solid No.2 and nothing more. Grade: C-

Barry Brust – The night of his first emergency start in Phoenix, he was shakier than a kid getting on skates for the first time. He has good size, but who knows if he has the skills and mental approach to win at this level. I'm thinking he doesn't. You could honestly say that the Kings haven't had their goalies steal one game from the opposition this season. Grade: D

COACH

Marc Crawford – We liked this choice in the summer. He's a proven winner who has won in every place he's been. There were a few whispers that he's always had the talent to win, so maybe it was a Catch 22. He's turned a worse than average defensive team into the poorest in the league. His line combinations baffle everyone (sometimes playing grinders Kostopoulos and Ivanans with Kopitar, huh?) and it's hard to build continuity on a team when you start making line changes before the first period is out. There is little cohesion between the forwards and defense when the opposition attacks, giving them plenty of time and space in the Kings' defensive zone and that's a coaching issue. The penalty kill is under 80 percent, as bad as it was last year. On the plus side, the powerplay is better as they rank in the top 10 in the league and he has shown faith in Kopitar from day one. But they are plummeting down the standings and could sit last in the conference once the teams behind them make up their games in hand. It's the worst season this coach has had in the NHL and in a different circumstance he'd be whacked. Grade: D

GENERAL MANAGER