February 9 morning skate notes

Good afternoon from sunny and warm Fort Lauderdale. Earlier today, the Kings assembled on the BB&T Center ice and aligned thusly:

Andreoff-Kopitar-Toffoli
Pearson-Carter-Brown
Clifford-Dowd-Gaborik
King-Shore-Lewis
Setoguchi

Forbort-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
McNabb-LaDue
Gravel

-Devin Setoguchi and Kevin Gravel actually served as a fourth defensive pair, an indication that they’re probably out of the lineup. Peter Budaj was the first goaltender off the ice and is expected to start the team’s final game before the bye week.

-Paul LaDue, on whether he felt his mobility and poise translated well in his NHL debut: “Yeah, I thought that went well. I just tried to go out there and play my game and not think about anything else and that was tough in the first period. I was kind of in awe of everything because it was my first game, but I just went out there and tried to play my best and it ended up working out, and hopefully I can keep that moving forward.”

-Just for some context on Darryl Sutter’s observation this morning that the Kings have “had a great trip,” I set him up with a lazy question. That’s not to say I don’t disagree (triple-negative! That works, right?), but there’s more nuance than simply looking at a 10-0 aggregate scoreline and building an evaluation off the box score, as he alluded to. By the official LAKI count, the Kings have out-chanced their opponent in every game on the trip (yes, score effects come into play a little bit here), and scoring chance +/- is a tool of evaluation that this coaching staff puts a lot of credence in. But, as he has noted, “It’s not always whether you win or lose, it’s whether you’re winning or losing,” and the team has probably deserved a little bit better puck luck. He may have also been shielding his players from criticism. On the other hand, there still has to be results-based evaluation, not just run-of-play evaluation. It’s not as black and white of an issue as the quotes may have appeared. Of course, I’m just a blogger, so who knows? ;)

-Meanwhile, it’s Florida’s first game after emerging from their bye week. Interestingly, the Panthers will turn to James Reimer, who won the final game heading into the break. Let’s see what his career numbers against Los Angeles are. Oh. You don’t say. Reimer is 3-1-1 with a 1.88 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage in five career games against the Kings, though all of those numbers came as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In his last appearance against L.A., he stopped 39 of 41 shots in a 2-1 loss at Staples Center in the 2015-16 season. Florida is finally healthy and carries a three-game winning streak – all one-goal wins – into tonight’s game. Jonathan Huberdeau returned in their final game before the break and scored against Anaheim in his first game of the season. Aleksander Barkov also returned for that game after a 15-game absence. Jonathan Marchessault (illness) may be “questionable” tonight, but the sense I get is that he’s healthy enough to play. The Cats are on the prowl and as primed as they’ve been all season to make a standings push.

-Talking about Gabriel Landeskog is not the best use of your time, Kings fans. (If you’ve spent time in the commenting section over the last two months, you’ve heard me say this many times.) Based on conversations with executives, executives of other teams, and national reporters, there have never been any talks of major substance or seriousness between Los Angeles and Colorado regarding the Avs’ captain. I’ll join Kings Live pre-game shortly after 4:00 p.m. PT for a quick, 90-second hit to discuss the realistic options come deadline day (or in the weeks prior).

-Some quotes from Nic Dowd and Paul LaDue will follow, as will a delightful conversation with original Kings play by play voice Jiggs McDonald, who will be calling his final NHL game tonight (4:30 p.m. / FOX Sports West / FOX Sports Go / KABC 790 / I Heart Radio). Stay tuned, Insiders. It’s a busy game day.