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Bernie Nicholls on pre-Sutter Kings: “they were terrible to watch”

Bernie Nicholls

Bernie Nicholls scored 475 goals in 1,127 regular-season NHL games. Most of those goals came with the Los Angeles Kings, including a 70-goal season in 1988-89 on a team that not-so-coincidentally featured Wayne Gretzky.

These days, Nicholls is trying to help the current Kings fill the net. The 50-year-old has been brought in as a “casual” consultant by new coach Darryl Sutter.

The Pumper Nicholler pulled no punches in assessing L.A.’s offense under former coach Terry Murray.

“…for a skilled team, it’s sad to say but they were terrible to watch,” said Nicholls, as per the Los Angeles Times. “They may get 15 shots in a game and you’re going, ‘Wow.’ They’ve got too much skill and too much offense to do that.”

The Kings still rank dead last in offense, averaging 2.1 goals per game. However, they’ve managed four goals in two of their last five games. So…progress?