Intense. Competitive. Tiring. Physical. Kings players talk first five days of 2024 Training Camp

The first day off of training camp, Insiders.

Certainly a deserved one for many after the intensity shown by the group over the first five days.

Training camp this fall has certainly been different. Is it better? We won’t know those answers until we actually start playing games. The start wasn’t really a problem last season, as the Kings set an NHL record for the most consecutive road victories to begin a season. But the finish hasn’t been there and the Kings put the onus on changing. I’ve seen a lot of thoughts on what those changes mean. One thing that I believe in though is that change does not happen overnight. If changes are desired in the playoffs they need to start now. It’s not flipping a switch in Game 83. Change has to start early, it has to carry from training camp into the regular season and if it works well enough, it has to carry over into the postseason as well.

For better or for worse, change has started early and so far, it’s been quite evident. Camp has certainly been different and that’s been confirmed by most players we’ve spoken to here early in training camp.

Upon asking the question to a number of players, I received back a lot of telling laughs or smiles in return.

Smiles of players acknowledging the work they’ve put in during practices, drills, scrimmages and conditioning. Laughs that said yeah, I’m a little bit tired here, but signaled of a hard day’s work. Smiles that were followed by answers that felt the changes could be for the better when it comes to how the Kings want to play this season.

Players have described this camp as the most physical camp many of the organization’s younger players have been to. The most intense. The most competitive. The most tiring.

It started right from Day 1.

Mikey Anderson called the scrimmage on Day 1 “the most intense camp game we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

His defensive partner, Drew Doughty, said the scrimmage “felt more physical than we’ve had in past years”, noting that it started almost immediately and everyone realized that even in-camp competitions would be a tougher battle.

I think the message from the team has been pretty clear. The Kings felt they needed to up the desire to win. They want to and need to do things that make them uncomfortable. They felt they had to improve physically in order to get to where they want to get to. Doughty added that he felt there were times in seasons past where the Kings got pushed around.

“I don’t see that happening anymore.”

Over the first five days of camp, we’ve had the chance to speak with just about every player expected to be on the NHL roster. Pulling a few selects from those players on their thoughts thus far.

Going back through today's interviews, Mikey Anderson called today's scrimmage "the most intense camp game we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Good reflection of Day 1. Will have more reactions on that front tonight. https://t.co/9PXRkqUJ9i

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) September 20, 2024

Anderson
I think it’s much more physical than it’s been in past years. I think it’s good, it gets guys back in the game pace and play and everything, I think it’s important. It’ll help us out once we start playing games for real.

Alex Turcotte
This has definitely been one of the more intense camps I’ve been a part of, but it’s been a lot of fun. I think it makes everyone better. Everyone is dialed in, ready to go and it keeps you on your toes. It’s been pretty fun, I honestly can’t lie, with physicality. It’s going to be cool to see how physical we are this season as well.

Jordan Spence
I think the physicality is the biggest thing that that caught my eye. I’ve only been to, I think, only like five training camps, but this one’s been the most physical that I’ve ever seen, but it’s good. There’s a lot of compete on the ice during the scrimmages, even in practices, so, it’s kind of good to kind of change it up a little bit and just to be physical and get ready for the season.

Akil Thomas
I think this is, I don’t know what camp this is for me here, but it’s definitely been the most like competitive and physical camp I’ve been to here. Practices are definitely very tiring, they’re challenging and they’re kind of hidden bag skates into the drills. Every minute we’re out there, it’s challenging.

Warren Foegele
High-paced, physical, there’s been a lot of compete out there. I think that’s kind of the message that was relayed at the introduction of guys, playing hard and trying to put a little bit more into it. guys are working hard and those are the right things to move forward.

One difference that Hiller has implemented is how he works in conditioning.

Typically, you see practices feature intensity and skating, but conditioning is usually separated at the end. Players on the line, whistles, sprints. We did see a bit of that on Monday, but it came after a structure-driven practice, when the Kings worked extensively on the 1-2-2 neutral zone and the power play. On the first four days, Hiller has worked conditioning in throughout the drills by stacking drills tighter together, minimizing rest and emphasizing pace and skating during the practices themselves.

“[Over the summer], you’re in shape, you skate but you never push yourself as hard as when the coaches get out there,” Hiller said. “What we’ve tried to do is build that conditioning into the drills, rather than just lining people up at the end of practice, going down and back, we’ve had to go on a little bit of a rest. You’ve seen the drills, they’re on and off the bench, quickly on and off, we’re trying to build that in there so they’re tired, because those are tiring practices. There’s not too many places during the season that you can have too many of those types of practices, it just zaps your energy. For now, the job is to build everything up so we can push it pretty hard.”

Hiller’s point is a fair one and it’s one he brought up last season. Once you get into the season, there aren’t a ton of times when you can have these types of practices. It’s also training camp and with that comes building the legs, working in conditioning. That’s the kind of work that is important throughout the season, with in-season practices focusing more on maintenance than hard and fast conditioning.

“Everybody has a different philosophy, for sure, but camp has to be hard, that’s pretty much a standard,” Hiller said. “It’s just how do you structure that. Personally, I appreciated it when it was hard but I was feeling like I was playing hockey the whole time.”

Over the week to come, I’d expect the Kings to continue to push, but also have days when they dial it back and focus on structure, systems and special teams. We’ve seen one practice apiece with power play and penalty kill worked on for at least a part of the day. We’ve seen the new-look neutral zone practiced as well and later in camp, as practices continue, will get some reactions from players as they adjust to what’s different. Those types of things are important and as October 10 approaches, as camp shifts to Quebec, as the roster becomes more manageable, those types of practices will continue. I’d also expect the intensity to continue, though. Hiller highlights dates on the calendar to practice harder and there will be a couple for sure that make sense.

Back to it tomorrow, as the Kings return to game action against Vegas. Full preview, live thread and post-game reactions to follow!