Kopitar’s defensive metrics elite; offense due with Gaborik reunion?

Anze Kopitar has played alongside a stream of wingers this season, but that doesn’t matter a great deal to someone who isn’t particularly picky about any style of player he’d like to play with.

“Doesn’t matter,” said the Kings captain who has two goals and 11 points in 19 games.

Kopitar hasn’t scored since October 25 but has excelled in minimizing opportunity afforded to the opposition’s top players. His on-ice shots-against rate of 21.9 per 60 minutes is the second best rate in the league among players with at least 250 minutes, an impressive ability considering the regularity with which he faces the opposition’s top players.

It’s also impressive considering the regularity with which players continue to move on and off his line via injury, production or in response to the opposition. Though he has played over 280 minutes of five-on-five time this season, he’s only seen the ice with one forward for over 100 minutes of even strength action. That’s Dwight King, and the two have actually been quite good together, having established a 3.08 GF60 and 2.20 GA60 to go along with a 58.4% CF% side-by-side.

But that level of production is elevated from Kopitar’s seasonal rates. With a depressed GF60 of 1.92 and an impressive GA60 of 1.49 put in context with his rates in suppressing shots and chances, it’s clear that even as he’s not yet hitting his offensive marks, the defending Selke Trophy winner’s all-around defensive play is still at an elite level. An argument could be made that he’s been the best defensive player in the league to this point of the season, but we’ll save that for another time.

It’s of note because Kopitar is now likely to become acclimated to playing alongside Marian Gaborik again. The Kings had waited for Gaborik to get his game pace and endurance back before moving up alongside his more familiar partner, but since midway through the San Jose game he has been used in a role more suited to capture a skill set sustained by “his speed and just his ability to score and finding the pucks around the net and putting them in the net,” as Kopitar described it.

“We play a somewhat similar game, meaning the give-and-go plays and a lot of quick little plays and try to cycle the puck a lot,” the captain continued. “After that I’m usually more of a playmaker and he’s more of a shooter so that’s what compliments us pretty well.”

The two played with Trevor Lewis Thursday night in Arizona, a win after which Sutter referred to Kopitar as “a dominant player.”

“He should make players around him better,” Sutter said after Saturday’s practice, in which Gaborik, Kopitar and Lewis were aligned again.

“That’s what elite players do. Look at #19 on Chicago. Plays [with] a lot of kids. He plays with everybody, right? Kopi does that. It’s not just about points for Kopi. I mean, it’s got nothing with who he plays with. Look at how he played in Arizona. He’s more of a complete game, and when he’s a complete game, he’s a better player.”

While the Kings need Kopitar to maintain his defensive play, they also need him to hit a chord with Gaborik, who has two assists and has taken 10 shots in three games but suffered a knee injury that halted last year’s 54-game, 22-point campaign and has only recently returned from a broken foot suffered at the World Cup. According to Kopitar, the chemistry gained some traction as Thursday’s game progressed.

“Yeah, I think the second part of the [Arizona] game I thought we were really good, especially in the third period – we were playing in their zone quite a bit and creating chances and eventually got the goal in the end, so that was obviously very nice to see for all three of us. Yeah, I saw him during the World Cup, and I played with him a little bit and he was obviously up to speed and then of course an injury like his, it’ll slow you down and it’ll throw your timing off a little bit, but I think he’s getting back and I think he’ll be back soon.”

Like Kopitar, whose offensive output will eventually rise sharply, those who play with the world class center have expectations to reach and levels to hit.

“Hey, Gabby’s got to produce,” Sutter said. “The guys that play with Kopi, it’s one thing to say ‘Kopi makes guys better,’ those guys who play with Kopi, you remember, you’re playing against the other team’s best players, so you’ve got to produce. That’s the challenge of playing with Kopi. You’re on the ice against better players all the time. When guys don’t produce, it’s generally because they’re not performing up to the standards necessary, or they’re not capable of it.”

Anze Kopitar, on whether playing with Gaborik makes him a better player:
Well, yeah. Like I said, I think we compliment each other well and with his speed, if there’s a few extra feet on the ice for me to operate with, I think that’s what he definitely does and that makes me better.

Kopitar, on whether he’s satisfied with his game since coming back from injury:
Yeah for sure, like I said the third period that we played was good. We were on the puck, we didn’t spend a whole lot of time in our zone, so that’s obviously good and we were handling the puck and holding on to it instead of just chasing it around so that’s a very positive thing.

Kopitar, on what the team does to stay positive after a goal 15 seconds after the start:
Yeah, I think it’s just chatter in general. Obviously you try to stay positive, I mean yeah, 15 seconds in you’re down one but there’s still pretty much 59 minutes left to play so there’s still lots of time. Then we get called for another penalty and you just try to focus to kill that off and then go from there.

-advanced stats via Corsica Hockey, Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com

(Rob Marczynski/NHLI via Getty Images)

(Rob Marczynski/NHLI via Getty Images)

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