The LA Kings were back on the ice this morning at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, after a disappointing 4-2 loss last night against Pittsburgh.
The news of the day came with regards to forward Anze Kopitar, who is now on a week-to-week timeline with a foot injury.
Coming off the team’s recent roadtrip, Kopitar did not practice on Wednesday after he logged his usual workload in the 4-3 shootout loss against Minnesota. During the second period, however, Kopitar was the victim of a bit of friendly fire, as a cross-ice pass from forward Adrian Kempe hit Kopitar somewhere on the skate. Seems like that was the play in question. Kopitar looked to be in a bit of discomfort on the bench after but finished the game and even collected an assist in the third period comeback effort.
Since the team got back home, however, Kopitar hasn’t been back on the ice with the team. After last night’s game, Head Coach Jim Hiller said that the Kings would hope to have a firmer update on Kopitar in the morning, with further examination planned. Now, consider his timeline to be longer than the original day-to-day as they’ve had the chance to get more information. Doesn’t appear to be anything that is super long term, but with the week-to-week timeline, he won’t play tomorrow against Carolina and we shouldn’t expect him ready to begin the roadtrip next week either, even if that is a possibility.
With the Kings sitting at 1-3-1, obviously not ideal timing to lose the captain, a player who has an assist in all four games he’s played this season. But that’s where the Kings are at right now and they need to find a way to turn it around without him. And frankly, it’s time to see others step up and lead the way. This is Kopitar’s final season in the NHL and come next fall, this has to be a team that’s ready to play without Kopitar. Last night wasn’t a great start, but it’s going to have to improve and the Kings will need players other than number 11 to be the ones pulling the team out of the current “funk” as Hiller put it.
For Day 1, the Kings moved forward Alex Laferriere to the middle of the ice, centering the line with Kempe and Kuzmenko.
Laferriere to center is a move that has slowly been formulating now for over a year, dating back at its earliest to the 2024 preseason.
“I’m really comfortable with him at center, clearly,” Hiller said of Laferriere. “I’ve seen him play low, encouraged that he can do the job, in my mind and I think he’s got enough reps now where he just feels like it’s not a big deal to transition either way.”
Laferriere was inclined to agree.
From that first shift there in the preseason, which if I recall came during the Empire Classic in Ontario, he feels vastly more comfortable at that position. What was interesting is he said he’s always felt comfortable with the defensive responsibilities of playing center, which happens to everyone who plays forward. First player back typically plays down low in the defensive zone, so he’s been there plenty of times. So that’s a plus. But it’s one thing to backcheck there and another to be the center of a line. He’s growing with those responsibilities and feels well-equipped to move to the middle.
“Yeah, [I feel] a lot more comfortable,” Laferriere said of playing center now compared to the first time. “I think I’ve always kind of felt comfortable during the game, when I get stuck down there, but I think it’s a different thing when your position is to play center. When you get stuck down there, I’ve always felt comfortable being that low guy, being there in the d-zone, but I think when your position is to play center, it’s having to think about everywhere you’re supposed to be and it’s a lot more of a beast. I think I’ve definitely gotten a lot more comfortable getting those reps in.”
Playing center also, naturally, means faceoffs. Laferriere has been working on draws after practice and he’s been taking select faceoffs already, typically on the penalty kill. He’s one of the only right-shot players on the team who can take faceoffs, so improvements there would help him not just in the interim, while he’s playing center, but also earn him more opportunities later down the road.
Laferriere had a slower start to the season, but last night against Pittsburgh was definitely his best game we’ve seen.
He attributed it to playing more direct, something he felt he didn’t do enough of in the first four games of the season. When he’s on his game, Laferriere has a good blend of offensive ability and tenacity. He’s a guy with 30-goal upside and the Kings need him to be someone who is putting the puck in the net. He’s also, though, been one of the few players who hasn’t seen his overall game drop when he’s slumped offensively.
Last season, his chances actually went up when he wasn’t scoring. A lot of times it’s an overall drop off, and I didn’t feel he strayed from the way he was playing when he was scoring. To see him play that way last night was really encouraging.
“I think I was being a lot more direct, more engaged in the game and getting into the dirtier areas,” he said. “That’s how I love to play. I love to kind of create havoc out there and get out on the forecheck and just make it hard for the other team to play. I think I was doing a lot better job of that last night, just kind of getting in and being direct.”
Should the Kings go this way tomorrow, I wouldn’t think of this as a defined first line.
Last night, Quinton Byfield led all centers in time on ice. The line chart really doesn’t matter. If Byfield is listed third but he leads all forwards in icetime is he the third-line center? No.
“I think for us, and I’ve said this earlier, it’s not a matter of first line, second line, third line, it’s the ice time on most nights, at even strength at least, is balanced pretty evenly between those three lines,” Hiller added. “So you’ve got to make sure that you’re not trying to fix one thing and ruining another thing at the same time and we really like Kevin and Q together.”
There’s something to be said for making a different move instead, and that’s keeping Byfield and Fiala together, sliding Adrian Kempe into that spot. A change from a three lines spread approach to a true first line, followed by what would likely be more of a traditional middle six. I could see that happening at some point as well, depending on how quickly Kopitar returns and how the Kings handle the games he’s not playing. If the currently plan works and the team starts to win games, you probably don’t make that change. If the Kings continue to struggle, larger-scale moves have to be on the table. Because, while we’re only five games in, the points count just as much in October as they do in April. It’s not time to panic, but it’s time to be urgent in making improvements.
The Day-To-Day Squad
– Still day-to-day for Darcy Kuemper.
He has gotten on the ice, getting in some work away from the group as a whole, but he did not practice with the Kings today. Kuemper has a lower-body injury and considering that Hiller updated Kopitar’s designation, when given the chance to do so with Kuemper, he said day-to-day. So, on both fronts, it shows it’s not expected to be anything particularly long term.
Not expecting him in net tomorrow against Carolina, but let’s reassess for the trip, as the Kings leave for five straight games on the road on Monday.
– On Corey Perry, we saw him on the ice in a regular jersey for today’s practice for the first time.
Perry is day-to-day as well, but in a different capacity. He’s a guy who has yet to feature and he’s close to five weeks removed from his injury, as opposed to a guy who just suffered it a few days ago. So, that’s a progression from a 6-8 week timeline to where now he’s thought of as being evaluated each day.
“He’s day-to-day, close, but he’s been out for so long that I can say he’s close, because he’s a heck of a lot closer and we haven’t been able to talk about him much at all,” Hiller said.
He added that there is a “good chance” Perry could travel next week to St. Louis and that if he does travel, there’s a chance he could play on that trip. The Kings wouldn’t bring him if there wasn’t that chance.
Thought Perry looked pretty good out there today and the hands/shot combination we’ve come to expect was certainly there. Hard to get a full sense of how he’s moving in practice, but he certainly was on the pace. So he’s getting there.
There you have it.
Kings host Carolina tomorrow. As usual, an elite team through the analytics and a team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals last spring. Not getting any easier and it’ll take a strong effort tomorrow to get a result.