10/8 Preview – Gameday Thoughts + Byfield Update, Net Play, Versatility At The Bottom

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (2-3-1) vs. Anaheim Ducks (4-2-0)
WHAT: NHL PRESEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, October 8 @ 1:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports So-Cal – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are approaching their preseason finale this afternoon, as they host the Anaheim Ducks in a matinee at Crypto.com Arena.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Ducks have split their two preseason meetings to date, with each team winning on home ice. Gabe Vilardi and Arthur Kaliyev each have two goals from the two games, while Jonathan Quick earned the victory in Los Angeles with 24 saves on October 2.

KINGS VITALS: Without a morning skate today, we’re guessing a bit with today’s lineup, but here’s an overview of what we’ve seen from the Kings when fully healthy…..not a roster projection for tonight, rather just what we’ve seen over the last few practice days –

Kevin Fiala – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore – Phillip Danault – Viktor Arvidsson
Alex Iafallo – Quinton Byfield – Arthur Kaliyev
Brendan Lemieux – Blake Lizotte – Carl Grundstrom
Jaret Anderson-Dolan – Rasmus Kupari – Gabe Vilardi

Mikey Anderson – Drew Doughty
Sean Walker – Matt Roy
Alex Edler – Sean Durzi
Jacob Moverare – Brandt Clarke

Jonathan Quick
Cal Petersen
Pheonix Copley

It would not be outside the realm of possibility to see an additional name added to that roster from those recently assigned to the AHL, but there’s at least a solid assumption that today’s game against Anaheim will be the closest thing we’ve seen to date regarding a full Kings roster. There’s something to be said for not only getting individuals engaged and up to speed, but also with seeing everyone play in their projected roles in the lineup at the same time. We haven’t quite had that yet and today’s game could be when we see it.

So as to not see him go more than a week without playing a game, the expectation for today is that goaltender Jonathan Quick will get the start between the pipes. Quick has allowed just two goals from 4+ periods of exhibition action to date, and should he indeed start this afternoon, he’ll conclude his preseason slate this afternoon against the Ducks.

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images

Quinning Time
Welcome Back Quinton Byfield!

After he missed a series of skates with an illness, Byfield has skated with the group over the last two days, including a full practice yesterday. Byfield’s absence has been noticeable, but it at least came at a time when he was able to get into a couple of early exhibition games, so he’s not playing catchup to the degree that some others have been.

Byfield also played in the Rookie Faceoff in San Jose that proceeded training camp, giving him a couple of extra tuneup games under his belt. Regardless though, he has missed a few opportunities to get more games under his belt, so he’s treating tomorrow as an important step towards readiness for Opening Night.

“I’ve got to look at it like it’s my first game,” Byfield said. “It’s my first game back, so I need to be prepared for that, no time to spare. Just leave it all out there and then hopefully I’ll be ready for the home opener.”

As he’s worked his way back into the equation, he pointed out that a little bit of extra rest was never a bad thing, but it certainly didn’t outweigh participating in camp each day and progressing with the squad.

“I got some good rest, you know, I had been playing a lot of hockey so that was nice but you want to be playing hockey every day,” Byfield said, looking at the positives of the situation if you will. “That definitely sucked, but they let me ease my way back into it over the last two, three days so I think I’m back up to speed with my cardio and everything. I’m just trying to get back into it.”

As he works towards today’s game, he’ll likely slot in between Alex Iafallo and Arthur Kaliyev on the team’s third forward line. The trio made waves early in training camp, as they proved to be an energetic group that excelled on the forecheck in the offensive zone, using a tenacious approach to create multiple looks and extended sequences offensively.

Assuming they all play, today would be their second game as a line, after the Empire Classic in Ontario, and we’ll how that play translates into live game action.

Protect The House
Both Drew Doughty and Todd McLellan talked about the concept of net play after yesterday’s practice, as a smaller detail the Kings focused on yesterday to improve from recent preseason action.

“Our net play, quite frankly, hasn’t been good,” McLellan said. “We spent a large chunk of practice [yesterday] just working on that one specific area and would like to see it pay dividends as early as tomorrow. It’ll be a work in progress.”

Doughty also felt that the Kings lacked in that area over the last couple of games, noting that it’s something you can’t really focus on over the summer because of the physicality and the team-on-team action that it entails.

“[Yesterday] in practice, we focused on net play,” he said. “We’ve been struggling a little bit throughout the preseason and that’s something you obviously don’t work during the summer because you’re not trying to hurt guys or anything like that. That’s something that you need to get back through preseason, because you can’t work on it, it’s probably the main things, defending for real and net play.”

It’s also something, along with several other smaller, more detailed facets of the game, that you need a smaller group on the ice to get the most out of.

Early in camp, with more bodies on the ice, repetitions are minimized and the ability to have impactful progress made from those smaller details is lessened.

With the group more or less parried down into an NHL-sized squad, those things are being focused on more and more.

“The practices at the start camp are a little slow, too many guys, not getting enough reps,” Doughty added. “Now that we’ve narrowed it down, we can work on individual things, like at the end of practice, we worked on 2-on-2s, 1-on-1s and stuff like that. If you do have to start a camp, there’s just too many guys and guys aren’t getting reps. So you have to wait until you pare it down.”

As McLellan said, things are a work in progress rihgt now, with the expectation that the Kings will continue to improve on the fly.

Deep V-ersatility
As we continue towards Opening Night, the Kings have a few decisions that still need to be formalized over the next 48 hours. Currently, the roster has more than 23 names on it and decisions need to be made as to who is on the roster for game one versus Vegas and from there, who is in the lineup for that game.

The decisions for the lineup are one thing, because they impact that game directly, but players who are in contention for a spot in the lineup are likely going to make the team should they not be among the first game’s skaters. Where the decisions go beyond that are for the final players on the roster, your three extra players the team is allowed to carry. That configuration typically constitutes two forwards and a defenseman, though the Kings have not ruled out the possibility of carrying eight defensemen, for a variety of factors.

Having players in those final roles requires a few elements, with versatility being one of them and Todd McLellan also highlighting that of a trusting player.

“That player has to be a trusting player,” McLellan said. “The 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th forward, the seventh or eighth D, you have to be a trusting individual because you might not go every night but when your number’s called, we have to be able to trust you to go in and do the job on both sides of the puck.”

A follow up came regarding the amount we’ve been able to see players utilized in different roles during the exhibition season.

One particular player used in just about every imaginable role has been Jaret Anderson-Dolan, who has featured in all three forward positions at one time or another. That’s certainly not a bad thing to have in his arsenal. Rasmus Kupari can play both center and wing, as can the recently reassigned Lias Andersson.

“We have [moved players around] throughout exhibition season, some of it by design, sometimes when it just happens,” McLellan added. “Guys on the left side, the right side, I think Anderson-Dolan has played just about everywhere. You’re trying to calculate where he fits best, or where whoever that group is fits best in case of injury, poor play and how you spot them in.”

While there won’t be any one factor that likely puts a player on the final roster, or keeps him off, the thoughts on some of what plays into it is nice to hear nonetheless.

Kings and Ducks, today at 1 PM from Crypto.com Arena. See you then!

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images