Don Fulton tracked down Jack Johnson for an interview, in which Johnson talks about his summer, his recovery from his injury and his thoughts about his rookie season, which included his first NHL goal (seen below).

Here's the interview...

For those who haven't seen it already, the Kings today traded winger Lauri Tukonen to Dallas for winger Richard Clune.

It seemed increasingly clear that Tukonen had fallen out of the Kings' plans. Here's what the Kings' press release had to say about Clune:

Clune, 21, was selected by Dallas in the third round (71st overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. He played in 38 games with the Iowa Stars of the American Hockey League (AHL) this past season and recorded eight points (3-5=8) while finishing second on the club with 137 penalty minutes. Clune, a 6-0, 195-pound native of Toronto, also skated in 19 games with the ECHL's Idaho Steelheads this past season and registered 10 points (1-9=10) and 41 penalty minutes.

Clune finished third on his team in goals (32), assists (46) and points (78) and led his club in penalty minutes (151) while skating with the Ontario Hockey League's (OHL) Barrie Colts during the 2006-07 season. He also led the Colts in postseason scoring with seven points (3-4=7) and eight penalty minutes in eight playoff games that year. In addition, Clune appeared in one game with the Iowa Stars that same season, recording two penalty minutes.

The Kings have signed restricted free agent defenseman Peter Harrold to a three-year contract. I'll try to get the money on that at some point but I'm still out of the loop this week.

Also... the Kings are not trading Anze Kopitar. Please, folks, just stop this stuff. All you're going to do is give yourselves ulcers. It's just absurd, as are 98.4 percent of all rumors.

There was a report that the Kings might sign defenseman Danny Markov out of Russia. A Kings source said the team talked to Markov but that Markov declined to take a physical in advance and Markov declined. So it seems that unless Markov has a change of heart, he won't be coming to the Kings.

OK, here's the last part of the question-and-answer session. Once again, major thanks to Jim for volunteering his time to give me an outstanding feature on the blog. One of the best parts of hanging out in El Segundo is getting to chat with Jim, get his insights and trade opinions with him. I hope everyone enjoyed the special ``open forum.''

Here's the second-to-last group of answers from Jim...

The Kings have signed forward David Meckler to a standard three-year, entry-level contract. Meckler got strong reviews at the development camp. A 21-year-old Illinois native, Meckler had 23 goals and 13 assists in 76 games for Manchester last season.

The next set of answers from Jim...

Now that the coaching news has died down, we can resume the Jim Fox questions and answers. Looking at some of the questions, I think maybe it's time to have a semi-regular Jim Fox wine column on the site! And I'm particularly happy to see a mention of the L.A. Blades, as I still have one of their jerseys in my closet. Here's the next set of Jim's answers...

Major thanks again to Don for compiling this. He has included the press-conference quotes from Dean Lombardi and Terry Murray as well as quotes from a one-on-one interview with Murray...

Don Fulton went out to the Terry Murray news conference today and filed this great report. He's working on more of the transcript of the day and we'll have those quotes up later in the day. Thanks, Don...

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Hoping to have secured a vital component of its rebuilding plan, the Los Angeles Kings today named Terry Murray as their head coach - the 22nd in team history - at a news conference at the team's practice facility in El Segundo.

Murray, who turns 58 on Sunday, succeeds Marc Crawford, who was fired June 10, and has ties to Kings' general manager Dean Lombardi, as the two worked together in the Philadelphia Flyers organization from 2002 to 2006.

"We are very pleased that Terry has accepted this challenge," Lombardi said. "He has a wide range of coaching experience and he understands the importance of teaching, which is critical to the building process."

Murray takes over a team that tied Tampa Bay with a league low 71 points last season, a task that is not lost on his general manager.

"I think this is the toughest job in the National Hockey League right now," Lombardi said.

For his part, Murray seems excited about the prospects of having such a young group of players to send out to battle each night.

"I'm coming in to this with my eyes wide open. I know exactly what the process is, to move this along and to get this organization back on track. We have some very good young hockey players in this organization, and we're going to get younger and we are going to bring along those young players at the right time and develop them in the right process so that they can feel success in this NHL," he said.

In the press release announcing his hiring, Terry Murray said...

"I am very excited about this opportunity. This will be my biggest challenge as a coach. There is a lot of work ahead and it will take a collective effort to execute the plan we have in place. I am looking forward to training camp and to getting the process under way."

I'm expecting to have the full transcript of today's press conference later...

And now, the third part of the Jim Fox question-and-answer session...

The second part of the Jim Fox answers follows...

Here's the first part of Jim Fox's answers. Once again, Jim has done a fantastic job of answering your questions with insight and honesty, and I'm working to get all of his answers up as soon as possible. Here's the first set...

Here's the Kings' 2008-09 schedule...

Just wanted everyone to know that Don Fulton will be at the press conference today for a full report on the hiring of Terry Murray.

Also, I got some loose, general information last night about Patrick O'Sullivan, and why a contract hasn't gotten done yet. Seems as though it's part of the bigger struggle between teams and agents/players regarding the value of younger players. Teams want long-term deals and agents want short-term deals, since salaries keep rising every year. It didn't sound as though a lot of progress was being made, but it's still only mid-July.

Terry Murray will be introduced as the Kings' head coach tomorrow at 1 p.m. in El Segundo. He signed a three-year contract. Murray will be allowed to pick his assistant coaches but Nelson Emerson, Jamie Kompon and Bill Ranford are expected to return.

Erik Ersberg signed a two-way contract worth $700,000 if he makes the NHL roster.

From the Kings...

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Kings will open their 2008-09 regular season home schedule at STAPLES Center on Sunday, October 12, against the San Jose Sharks at 6 p.m., the Kings and the NHL announced today.

In addition to the Kings-Sharks home game on October 12, the Kings/NHL today announced each club's 2008-09 "at large" games against non-conference opponents: The Kings will play a "home-and-home series" as follows: The Kings host Washington on November 20 and visit Washington on February 5; the Kings host New Jersey on January 10 and visit New Jersey on February 7; and the Kings host Philadelphia on January 3 and visit Philadelphia on February 25.

The complete 2008-09 Kings/NHL schedule is to be released tomorrow, Thursday. The club's first on-ice training camp session date is Saturday, September 20, at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo.