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You’d be forgiven if you lost track of the Los Angeles Kings for a while. It’s been 10 years since the last Stanley Cup. They haven’t won a round in the playoffs since, with four very sloppy first-round naps in the meantime. They threw (perhaps literally) some pretty awful bands that were definitely not worth staying up late to watch Residents East of the Rockies.
Even making the playoffs the last two seasons never really built much momentum of interest or anticipation, as it was just part of the tale of Connor McDavid and the Oilers’ Sisyphean legend echoing loudly through the halls of hockey.
This time, the Kings seem like much more than someone else’s plot device. They have the best points percentage in the West, third best in the NHL and their metrics suggest they are even better than Which. There’s definitely something brewing on Figueroa Street.
The first thing to know about the Kings is that they may have the best center depth in the NHL. While they’ve given up everything they’ve done for the No. 3 spot, as they did with Pierre-Luc Dubois and what he’s become so far this season in the silver and black (which should still be purple and gold), it’s a daunting task. Look for any team that can take on Anze Kopitar-Phillip Danault-Dubois in midfield. This is a good start to a lot of good things.
Yes, Anze Kopitar is still doing everything you remember. He may not be the 200-footer he once was, but he’s also not just an offensive weapon like others he’s been compared to late in their careers. Kopitar still starts most of his shifts outside the attacking zone and still finishes most of them in it. He was flanked by his usual running buddy Adrian Kempe, who has scored a subdued 76 goals in the past two seasons, and they helped turn former No.2 Quinton Byfield into an absolute terror on the other wing. Byfield is 6-5 and has baby-soft hands, and in no time he will be a real problem for anyone.
Kopitar doesn’t have to put in the amount of work we might remember from 2012 or 2014 thanks to his young player in Danault, one of the best checking centers in the league, who can also contribute big offensively (excuse me while I go for a mailbox kick over the Hawks kicking this guy overboard to please Joel Quenneville for Dale Wise and Thomas Fleischmann, two players he didn’t even use.) Danault makes more dungeon changes than Kopitar and turns up the ice more. Kevin Fiala is on that line and is tied with Kempe for the team lead in points. The Kings have a top-six player who can do anything at any time.
Joining Kopitar on the Leftover Lunch crew is Drew Doughty, who is playing like his Norris days again (which may engineer a good deal of Canucks fan-like whining about how West Coast start times are preventing Doughty from another Norris. They’ve done it before). Doughty makes transitions harder than you’d think for a defenseman who’s been in the league for 84 years or whatever (he’s still only 33), starting only 35 percent of his turnovers in the offensive zone. But that did not stop him and his regular partner Micky Anderson from continuing to play. The second pair of Matt Roy and Vladislav Gavrikov, freed from playing meaningless hockey in Columbus, got cherry points thanks to the work of Doughty and Anderson.
In net, it’s another refresher from Cam Talbot, who has a .919 save percentage and the fourth-best mark for goals saved above expected in the league. It wasn’t completely out of left field for Talbot, who was very good in Edmonton years ago, but he collapsed under the Oilers’ insane workload. Talbot has put up useful seasons as a backup or 1B in both Calgary and Minnesota in recent seasons, though perhaps not quite that. Do that as Pheonix Copley struggles as a backup, though Talbot is probably looking at how much of a start has turned him into a puddle in Edmonton. One problem the Kings may need to solve.
Overall, the Kings have the best expected goals percentage and second-best Corsi percentage, trailing only the Hurricanes, who are increasing their numbers thanks to their shooting-from-the-Mars policies that inflate their totals (and tend to do so in can). The Kings are riding the wave of the league’s best penalty kill as well, as Talbot has a .917 save percentage. This will likely decrease at some point, but playing Kings with balanced power will prevent this from diminishing them too much.
There is little air in the Kings’ performance so far. Kopitar won’t double his career shooting percentage all season, and Talbot won’t do Patrick Roy’s kill all year either. But Pacific has the edge over them and the Knights, who have taken the Kings three points out of four so far. Trevor Moore is not a point-per-game player. But perhaps another winger is added before the deadline, and something to shore up the crease either to Talbot’s side or in front of him (less likely the more Talbot plays that way), and suddenly the Kings look like a real powerhouse. Coach Todd McLellan has been a member of the Non-Morons club for a decade and a half now. His high pressing system ensures that the Kings will continue to have more chances than their opponents.
Which unfortunately for the rest of us means we’ll be hearing a lot of Cartman screaming from the scoreboard come spring. Oh joy.
Follow Sam on Twitter @Felsgate and on Bluesky @felsgate.bsky.social
