Happy Thursday, Insiders!
The Kings were back on the ice in a full-group capacity after an optional day yesterday. The entire team was at the rink yesterday, but most players used the gym for an off-ice workout, considering the three days before games. There was always going to be one highly optional day, if not a day off in there. Turned out to be yesterday, which sets the stage for two higher-intensity practices today and tomorrow.
“I thought the Florida game was physical, 1-1, going into the third period and it was tight, they don’t give you a lot of space and the physicality part of the game,” Associate Coach Phil Housley said today. “I thought it was good that we just did a recovery day, get a good workout, get a sweat, a stretch, whatever you needed to do to get ready for Saturday and come back. We had a good practice today, I thought there was good pace, we worked on some things that we’re trying to improve and areas that we’re trying to improve on. Three days of practice is going to be pretty tough on the guys and you’re not only thinking now, you’re thinking February just to keep the guys fresh.”
Today’s skate was probably the most intensive of the week, as the Kings were on the ice for over an hour at Toyota Sports Performance Center. I’d consider it to be a pretty hard practice, with some goal line to goal line sprints, as well as lots of stops and starts and lots of high-intensity drills, which also carried a focal point. There was a little bit of skating just to skate, with the sprints, but also a lot of skating woven into drills that had a focus on improving things within the game that the Kings feel need addressing.
Here’s the alignment we saw for today’s skate –
Panarin – Kempe
Moore – Haula – Laferriere
Turcotte – Laughton – Armia
Lee – Helenius – Perry
Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci
Gustafsson
Kuemper / Forsberg
Of note – Forwards Quinton Byfield and Mats Zuccarello were both missing from the group. I don’t have an update there right now, but I’ll be sure to get one on both players from Peter Laviolette tomorrow, before the team flies to Vegas.
With that in mind, all of what is listed above is an approximation. There was a ton of rotation, especially between the Panarin/Kempe pairing and the three players who are on the fourth line. All three took reps with the big boys. I think the middle six is more accurate, but again, I think there was some rotation at times. The defensemen had Dumoulin, Doughty, Edmundson and Clarke in one color, with Anderson, Ceci and Gustafsson in another. Take from that what you will.
All in all, this alignment lacks the necessary context. I’ll get that for you tomorrow.
Notes –
– One thing I did find interesting though was that with no Zuccarello on the ice, Alex Laferriere was moved onto a line with Erik Haula and Trevor Moore.
Again, there were 11 forwards, so take things with a grain of salt. But we started to see more of the Haula/Laferriere pairing during the game against Florida. It was actually a lot more than I noticed during the game, in the moment. Haula’s most regular linemate in that game was Laferriere, while Laferriere only played more with Zuccarello than he did with any other forward. They connected on the team’s only goal in the first period, too.
“I think he’s a great player, I got a few shifts last game with him and he’s got great speed and he has great touch around the net,” Haula said of Laferriere. “Now we’ve practiced together, so we’ll keep building. Hopefully it works.”
Last season, the Moore/Laferriere combination was very effective together down the stretch. That was with Quinton Byfield at center, though. A different look with Haula, but the Moore/Laferriere chemistry should remain. Haula has had a nice start to the season and I think he’s a guy who contributes in a lot of different ways. In a perfect world, that’s a heck of a third line. With the Kings fully healthy, it probably is the third line. See how things shake out, but I don’t mind that look, even if it’s just for practice without Zuccarello on the ice.
– Yesterday’s skate was optional for the team and most players opted for a workout in the gym. I’m honestly surprised there were three full days at the rink overall, but perhaps that comes with the territory of three defeats to open a season. I thought it might come today, with a full skate yesterday, but sports science in a lot of ways suggests that it actually makes the most sense for team performance to take rest and recovery right after a game, before dialing it back in closer to the next game. Either way, yesterday was a small group on the ice, with most players working in the gym or with a trainer to get what they needed.
One player who took the ice though was defenseman Brandt Clarke, and he did so coming off a game that, by his own admission, was below his standards including the turnover that led to Florida’s game-winning goal. He worked individually with Assistant Coach Chris Hajt, specifically focusing in on a few specific areas of his game with the puck. I think it’s a positive reflection on a younger player who was unhappy with his game and went out to get the frustration out a bit.
“A good opportunity to just work on stuff I want to work on, it was productive day,” Clarke said. “I wasn’t too thrilled with the way I played [against Florida] overall, so I was like, let me get out there and just do what I want to do, touch pucks, and feel good.”
It’s a response I think you like to see. If Clarke didn’t feel that was what was best for him, it wouldn’t be a knock on him, on a day when players had that choice. That we went out there, seemingly almost out of frustration, might help him to get a little bit of work in, while also maybe getting a game he didn’t like behind him. New day today, focused on Vegas.
– Was interested to hear from Joel Edmundson on his fight on Tuesday.
Edmundson dropped the gloves with Garnet Hathaway, who is known for having that in his game. From that point on, I felt like Edmundson was one of the more noticeable Kings players on the ice. In total, only four players were even or better in shot attempts and Edmundson was the only defenseman on that list.
Did he think the fight had anything to do with that?
“It does for sure, I feel like I’ve kind of always had that feeling after a fight,” Edmundson said. “The game kind of slows down for you, the ice feels bigger, you’ve got more room. It’s always kind of felt that way for me.”
As the Kings are constructed within the 11/7, I don’t think there’s a fighter necessarily within that group. I don’t think that there needs to be, but Edmundson will stand up and do it, as will Corey Perry, even if that’s not their game. If it gets him going though, maybe we see it a bit more?
“Maybe I should do that more often,” he ended, with a laugh.
– After today’s practice we heard from Associate Coach Phil Housley for the first time in a general media scrum.
We had Housley on All The Kings Men over the summer and I thought he offered up a lot of information. Today, with so many days in between games, it gave the chance to mix in a new voice on the interview front. We heard from Laviolette twice on Tuesday and yesterday. We’ll hear from him tomorrow and twice on Saturday. Different Head Coaches have different policies on other coaches addressing the media and it’s nice to see that with Laviolette, there is the chance to mix Housley into the mix as well, which allows for some more targeted questions on the defense. Would think we might see the same with Ray Whitney or Chris Hajt at some point down the line also. Housley, though, is the team’s Associate Coach, Laviolette’s number-two guy. He’s been an NHL Head Coach before and has done plenty of media scrums, in a more robust hockey media market in Buffalo. So he knows the drill.
Overall, the questions were mostly tailored towards the team’s defensemen, which is Housley’s number-one priority. He touched on a variety of different aspects of the game for those players, with how they are adjusting as a group to being able to generate more from the blueline, as well as Clarke’s game and some thoughts on the contrasting nature of the first three games, stylistically.
Full interview below –
Another full practice day tomorrow, before the team departs for Vegas. It doesn’t get any easier. The Kings have had a mixed bag in Vegas in recent years. They’ve had a few very memorable, statement wins. They’ve also had some blowout defeats, memorable for different reasons. The schedule usually doesn’t give you a win because you need one. Kings will have to earn it against the defending Western Conference champions.