Who would ever hold a retirement ceremony for him? You'd never know if it was actually going to be the real thing. Selanne is so passionate about the game he just can't stay away, and he confirmed that by making it known that the only thing holding up his decision this time was the condition of his surgically repaired left knee.

Still, he was asked on Thursday's teleconference if he was going into the season thinking this indeed will be the last go-round.

"Well, I think so," he said. "Obviously I've said that the last five years, but I've got to stop somewhere.

"And the way I've approached this whole thing, by (annually) saying this is my last year, I think that's really worked well for me."

More from Teemu:

(And a sincere stick tap to Kings' bloggers Surly & Scribe, Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo!'s Puck Daddy blog and Adam Gretz of cbssports.com for the mentions.)

But there is one additional observation Ferreira made which might help explain the lack of movement between the Kings and Doughty's people, primarily Don Meehan of Newport Sports.

"Agents are primarily trying to set new ground ... and it's more so now with Donald Fehr," Ferreira said, referring to the new executive director of the NHL Players Association. "They (the union) have become more active in negotiations, as they were with (former union head) Bob Goodenow."

Which makes sense, and speaks to Fehr's background with the Major League Baseball Players Association, which he ran as successor to and protege of legendary union leader Marvin Miller for 23 years. In that environment, with no salary cap, the union was very cognizant of the role individual contracts played in setting market value and driving salaries upward, particularly when that precedent influenced arbitration awards.

With Doughty, a third-year defenseman who hasn't made an All-Star team but was a 2010 Olympian and has one Norris Trophy nomination to his name, it makes sense for Meehan to push for as much as he can get anyway. But the union's interest seems to be a trend that has affected other contracts.

"Contracts that we thought would be easy, like with Alec Martinez (a defenseman who has played 64 career NHL games) ... that almost went to arbitration," Ferreira said. "That's their job. That's the union's job. They're trying to set standards for the next guys coming along."

As for Doughty, those Kings fans/message board commenters who are already approaching panic mode because he isn't signed -- and went into Defcon One mode when Ferreira's forecast of a potential holdout hit cyberspace -- might want to take a deep breath. He will stay in LA, even if someone else presents an offer sheet.

"During this whole process, even when we were trying to get (free agent) Brad Richards, we've always kept X amount of dollars open in our cap in case somebody does come through with an offer sheet on Doughty," Ferreira said. "We can't be blindsided. Jeff Solomon and Dean and Hexy (Ron Hextall), they work on that almost every day. We can't be caught with our pants down."

It's just a matter of when the deal gets done, and these things have been known to develop quickly.

EL SEGUNDO -- Technically, Kings' goaltending prospect Martin Jones could be considered an Ontario Reign alumnus (see photographic proof, above). But it was a quick matriculation.

Jones, signed as an undrafted free agent by Los Angeles last summer, was assigned to its ECHL affiliate to start the season and played one game, stopping 26 shots in a 5-4 overtime victory at Stockton in the season opener.

Four days later, he was called up to Manchester, after Erik Ersberg went AWOL from that club to sign with a team in the KHL.

"We had four (goalies) one day, and then the next day we had none," Reign coach Karl Taylor said last January, recalling Jones' quick callup and the goaltending flux his team subsequently faced all season. "Those are things you can't plan for ... We'd love to have Jonesy all year -- obviously he's doing quite well in the American League -- but that's just the ebb and flow. They didn't plan on losing Ersberg, either, but those things occur, and the bottom of the tree gets rattled most."

It turned out to be the best thing that could happen to Jones, who essentially beat out Jeff Zatkoff for the No. 1 goalie's job in Manchester and made the AHL All-Star Game, finishing 23-12-1 with a 2.25 goals-against average, a .924 save percentage and four shutouts in 39 games.

"It was a good experience (in Ontario), but I was happy to get called back up and then happy with the way things went there," said Jones, who is one of six goalies in the Kings' Development Camp this week at their El Segundo training complex.

With the season he had, Jones may merely have provided a happy complication to a goaltending picture that already has Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier seemingly entrenched in Los Angeles, prospect J.F. Berube knocking on the door after a strong season in juniors (32-7-8, 2.60 GAA, .902 save percentage in Montreal), and 2011 second-round draft choice Chris Gibson also in the mix.

For an organization that always seemed to be searching for goaltending, this is an embarrassment of riches. Where does Jones fit in?

"Obviously, with the numbers they have, with Bernier and Quick coming back, it'll be a tough task," he said after today's workout and scrimmage. "But my mindset is just to make the team. From there, wherever I play it's going to be a great experience and I've just got to make the most of it.

"Obviously, this upcoming year I'll probably be back in Manchester, but it's not going to change my mindset."

Jones is a 6-foot-4, 191-pounder from North Vancouver, B.C., who was 108-28-9 in four years with the WHL's Calgary Hitmen, played for Canada in the 2010 World Junior Championships -- a tournament in which the U.S. upset Canada in overtime in the gold medal game, with Jones relieving Jake Allen in that game.

Yet with gaudy junior stats he went undrafted. And to go from there to the AHL so quickly surprised him a little bit.

"I handled it well, I guess, but I didn't expect to maybe play as much or have as much success as I did," he said. "It was an easier transition for me becuase of the team we had. It was a young group, and we had a lot of guys who made me feel right at home, so that made it easier for sure."

And what's different from last year to now?

"I hope not too much," he said. "Obviously my game's evolved a bit, but I still think I kind of have the same foundation with my technique. I keep tweaking little things here and there, but generally I'm the same kind of guy."

Having plenty of goaltending gives the Kings the material to trade for help at other positions, if need be. In any event, seeing Jones in Ontario again is unlikely -- unless he's playing in an NHL exhibition game at Citizens Business Bank Arena some year.

(Photo of Martin Jones, from October, 2010, by Kurt Miller, The Press-Enterprise)

Columnist Jim Alexander's take ...

I was told, oh so politely, by former colleague Jeff Eisenberg, that I was out of my mind the other day when I posted this on Facebook:

"Maybe it's just me being a contrarian, but the Stanley Cup finals have been far more compelling than the NBA finals ... "

OK, I may be slightly daft. I know, in this case, I'm in the minority (if you believe TV ratings). But I'm right. The pursuit of the Stanley Cup has been more interesting than the chase for the NBA's Larry O'Brien Trophy, which Dallas concluded Sunday night.

The NBA Finals were a one-act play, in essence: Six games worth of Everyone Hates Miami, the denouement of a season's worth of hype (and punch lines) that began the moment LeBron James announced he was "taking my talents to South Beach."

LeBron's fourth quarter fadeouts, and finally his Game 6 disappearance, provided some drama, true, but I don't think the NBA's show matched the tension and intensity -- and yes, the theater -- coming from Vancouver and Boston and their roller-coaster series.

And I realize there's a disconnect here. If you are predisposed to not watch hockey, then you automatically assume I don't know what I'm talking about, simply because you have nothing with which to compare.

In that case, you have my sympathy.

That game, a 6-5 Sharks victory decided on Devin Setoguchi's goal in overtime, hanged the trajectory of the series, after the Kings had played the Sharks on even terms in Game 1 at San Jose, soundly outplayed them in Game 2 in the Shark Tank, and led 4-0 early in the second period in Game 3.

"You feel like you gave them a few games earlier in the series," goaltender Jonathan Quick said. "If we'd played a little better in those games, it would have made a difference."

Even if nothing else in the series had changed -- not the defensive disaster that was Game 4, not the valiant performance by Quick to steal Game 5 in San Jose -- at least holding on to any portion of that Game 3 lead would have had the Kings going back to San Jose for a Game 7 Wednesday. Instead, they're done, a season of higher hopes and greater expectations ending exactly the way 2010 did, with an attempt to explain away a Game 6 elimination.

"It's hard to reflect" so soon after the end of hostilities, captain Dustin Brown said. "But that's the one thing everyone's going to talk about.

"They're not going to remember who had the winning goal tonight (Joe Thornton, for the record). They're not going to remember any game but probably the third. I still thought we fought hard and played well after that. But if we don't blow that, it's 3-3 and we're headed back to San Jose ... We had a great situation in Game 3, but we lost control, and then we didn't play good in Game 4.

"At the end of the day we didn't get the job done."

Last April 25, the Kings led Vancouver 2-1 going into the third period but coughed up that lead and lost 4-2, the second third period lead they'd squandered at home in the series.

The idea, as players said at the time, was that this needed to be a lesson for a young team making the franchise's first playoff appearance in eight seasons.

Now, with a do-over, will the Kings do things right this time and force a Game 7 Wednesday night in San Jose?

"I hope the experience of last year has been a benefit to our playoff (performance) this year," Kings coach Terry Murray said at today's morning skate. "Last year I remember in Game 6, we had two unbelievable opportunities -- a breakaway and a two-on-one -- that could have iced the game. Those are critical moments in the game. You need to identify them, and you need to take advantage of them in a critical situation, because they're few and far between at that stage of a game."

Captain Dustin Brown -- whose most notable comment in the wake of last year's loss was, "In a year's time, if we're sitting here having these same conversations, then we haven't learned anything at all" -- was asked Monday what from that game these Kings could use to their advantatage.

"Going into Game 6 last year at home, it was a different team just from the result of not (ever) being in that situation, win or go home," he said. "I think everyone understands.

"Playing in that game, it wasn't a big mistake or a couple of big mistakes. It was stuff that probably the average fan doesn't even recognize ... that cost us that Game 6. The message needs to be, in this room, eliminating those tiny mistakes. That's what's going to be the difference tonight."

It will help if Jonathan Quick faces a little less pressure tonight, though Brown said that the quantity of shots is less important than the quality. Quick stopped 51 of 52 shots in Saturday night's 3-1 victory.

"You can look at that game and say Quickie stole it for us, and you know what, maybe he did," Brown said. "They've had one of the highest shot totals all year long, so they're gonna get shots. It's just a matter of eliminating those Grade A (scoring opportunities). Quickie's gonna make those saves if they're going to throw it from the outside or the point with no traffic. Those are the shots we want to give up. If we have 50 of those again tonight, that's fine with us.

"It's eliminating those really good chances that's important. They had more than we wanted in Game 5."

"It was definitely tough listening to the fans talk around us, yelling and screaming, and not being able to say anything," said Ryan, who witnessed those games from a suite in Nashville's Bridgestone Arena with the rest of the Ducks' healthy scratches.

He will be back in his comfort zone for tonight's Game 5. Ryan, who finished the regular season with 34 goals, second on the team to Corey Perry's 50, had two in the first two games of this series.

"Obvously, we're looking forward to having Bobby back and making the contribution we're accustomed to," Coach Randy Carlyle said.

The big line of Ryan, Perry and Ryan Getzlaf -- who took a "maintenance day" Thursday and didn't participate in the team's afternoon practice followiing its flight from Nashville -- will bear the responsibility of getting the Ducks going. They have played well in the two victories in this series, not so well in the two losses.

"We have to carry the load," Ryan said. "I think that's the pressure that's put on us, and we've set the bar there. That's no more pressure than the three of us put on each other as a line ... We certainly feel we're the catalysts on htis team, and we've got to put our best foot forward every night."

Added Perry: "The whole season, if our line's been going, the whole team's been going. We've gotten secondary scoring at crucial times and crucial points of our season. There's a lot of pressure for us to produce each and every night. We've got to be ready to play and have big games every night, We can't take nights off."