10/5 Preview – Projected Lineup + Managing workloads, establishing routine & returning to STAPLES Center

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (2-2-0) vs. Arizona Coyotes (3-1-0)
WHAT: NHL PRESEASON GAME
WHEN: Tuesday, October 5 @ 7:30 PM Pacific
WHERE: STAPLES Center – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The LA Kings are back in action this evening, for the first preseason game of 2021 at STAPLES Center. The Kings will host the Arizona Coyotes tonight, the first of three exhibition games this week.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Coyotes met eight days prior in the exhibition opener for LA, with Arizona coming out on top by a 2-1 final. On that night, the Kings dressed several younger players, giving many prospects their debuts at the NHL level. Defenseman Sean Walker scored the lone goal for the Kings, with forward Arthur Kaliyev and defenseman Cade McNelly tallying the assists on the play.

KINGS VITALS: It’s game day, baby! For the first time since the AHL/NHL split, the Kings are in preseason action, and we should expect to see our closest projection yet to the roster we might see on Opening Night nine days from today.

Keep in mind, there are still roster moves to be made, juggling to be done and potential personal shifts to be seen. But, from what we heard this morning from Todd McLellan and what we’ve seen over the last three days, the Kings could go with the following alignment tonight –

Arvidsson – Kopitar – Brown
Iafallo – Danault – Kempe
Tkachev – Vilardi – Andersson
Moore – Byfield – Wagner

Anderson – Doughty
Bjornfot – Roy
Edler – Walker

Quick
Petersen

The Kings current roster has 15 healthy forwards, eight healthy defensemen and two healthy goaltenders. That leaves five scratched players for this evening, with today’s skate implying that we’ll see the de-facto top four lines and three pairings from the last two days, giving the Kings their first taste of what the lineup on Opening Night could look like.

Expect to see Kopitar – Danault – Vilardi – Byfield as the centers tonight for the @LAKings.

Todd McLellan called it “a look we want to see over the course of 60 minutes.”

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 5, 2021

Todd McLellan indicated that the centers for this evening will be Anze Kopitar, Phillip Danault, Gabe Vilardi and Quinton Byfield, while also noting that he would keep the lines together from this morning. Combined with the players on late from this morning’s skate, that likely leaves defensemen Christian Wolanin and Austin Strand, along with forwards Carl Grundstrom, Blake Lizotte and Brendan Lemieux outside of tonight’s lineup. All five skaters – by traditional morning skate logic at least – appear likely to not play tonight, though we should expect to see some rotation within the squad between tonight’s game and tomorrow’s game in Orange County.

This morning, goaltender Jonathan Quick was the first off the ice, indicating that he will make his second start of the preseason. Quick was extremely sharp in his exhibition debut one week prior, as he made 22 saves on 23 shots in just over 30 minutes of game action against San Jose in his preseason debut.

Notes –

Preseason Game Management
Tonight marks the first of the final three preseason games, with the expectation that we’ll see the “veterans” tonight and Saturday.

Talking with Kopitar yesterday, he said that “three or four” exhibition games is traditionally where he likes to be during the preseason, though he said, half-jokingly, that number goes down with age. Pointing out the Olympic qualifiers he already played in back in August, which were higher-level game situations, he feels like he’s ready to go, with the expectation he will play in a couple more games this week.

“That number obviously came down. a bit with age,” he said. “I’ve talked to Todd about it, 3-4 is usually the magic number for me, and having already playing the [Olympic] qualifiers, I know that was a month ago, but those are still three games I’ve played already. Two more for me would be good.”

McLellan said that the number typically does vary from guy to guy. Each player knows what he needs to be prepared for the season, and McLellan has an idea of what he expects from each veteran during camp.

At the same time, camp is as much about getting the individual ready as it is about getting the team, and giving the organization, as a whole what they need. McLellan provided us with a breakdown of that process, and how he’s broken down game assignments to get everyone what they need.

“Each one of them is unique,” he said. “Kopi, I think, would like to play maybe a little bit more, but camp is for everybody. It’s for management, for scouts, it allows that group of people to see, early in camp, draft prospects, American League prospects, evaluate them in game situations and then it quickly dwindles down to the point where we were at right now. With each individual, 3-4 games is a common number for a veteran who wants to play, we prefer not to play a lot of our veteran guys back-to-back.”

The added wrinkle this season is managing the workloads and minutes of players over the course of what is set to be the first, full 82-game season the Kings have played since 2018-19. With the 2019-20 campaign shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and last season reduced to 56 games, the Kings are ramping themselves up for a full go here in 2021-22.

“I think I mentioned yesterday that this group hasn’t played 82 games since the 2018-19 season, so it’s been a long time and we’re going to have to manage some of our bodies throughout the season,” McLellan said. “Travel is going to be a little bit different this year than it was last year, some longer trips, some back-to-backs that are extended, rather than in the same city. We’re taking that information into consideration, but with that being said, we have to make sure that the team, and individual players, are ready to go.”

Establishing The Routine
Preseason can be a bit of a weird integration for the players, because the games typically have a different routine to them. Last week’s preseason games on the road were day trips for the Kings, meaning that the team flew in and out on the day of the game, which is not the case during the season. Even the pre-game skates were different early in camp, with the team not breaking into game groups and non-game groups in the mornings of last week’s games.

Now, playing at home, with the team down to a more manageable number, the Kings are back in that routine for tonight’s game at STAPLES Center. The game group skated as one unit this morning in El Segundo, with a normal routine. Players are able to experience that again, get their timing down, the drive to the arena back down and their usual pre-game routine back down. All good things, and perhaps a lesser-discussed part of the preseason process.

“I think hockey players in particular are creatures of habit, and this triggers our home-ice habits if you will,” McLellan said. “Pre-game skates in the morning, getting back down to STAPLES Center, a sense of timing, lesser numbers, more familiar faces. First home game in the exhibition season, so I think you’re onto something there. Training camp is about timing, preparing yourself to play and the prep is just as important as what you do on the ice.”

Speaking with tonight’s expected starting goaltender, Jonathan Quick, earlier in camp, he pointed towards getting back into that routine as perhaps the most important part of these preseason games.

Last season, the team had no exhibition contests to truly replicate that feeling of a game day, in advance of the first one that counted in the standings. Quick was cognizant of the benefits of doing that.

“It helps, more for getting your routine, your game day routine,” he said. “When you don’t do it for 4-5 months, and especially last year, 8-9 months, it [helps] your daily routine. [Last season] we did a bunch of scrimmages, we did the Black-White game at STAPLES Center, but we probably didn’t get as many reps as you’re used to. At least we had those scrimmages to feel game pace and put yourself in those situations that you would see in a game, but, like anything, the more you get to do it, the better off you are.”

Today checks off that box for the bulk of the group that is playing tonight at STAPLES Center.

If You’re Coming Tonight……
With tonight being the first game at STAPLES Center this season, passing along the venue’s protocols for tonight, as shared by the Kings earlier today. A full list of things to know is available via the arena’s website HERE.

Everything you need to know about coming to @STAPLESCenter this season!

— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 5, 2021

Kings and Coyotes, tonight at home! Game Thread is coming up a bit later on.