Angeles Analysis – Next Stop, Regular Season!

Happy Sunday, Insiders!

Nothing too crazy today, with the team off from practice on a transition day between the preseason and the regular season. The Kings have two players on waivers today – Jacob Moverare and Pheonix Copley – as we approach the official, roster submission in advance of Tuesday’s season opener. We’ll receive the fate of those two individuals in the morning, with a massive list of players on waivers today from around the league. We’ll receive official clarity on the roster tomorrow, though with those two moves now made, you can pretty much see how the Kings will roll entering Opening Night from a roster standpoint, though you can’t rule out what could happen with waivers or injuries over the next 24 hours.

From a lineup standpoint, yesterday’s game gave us a good glimpse into what we might see against the Golden Knights, though that’s no guarantee either. I’d place the over/under on personnel moves from Saturday’s game to Tuesday’s at 0.5, with the possibility that we could see a change made between those who were scratched and those who played. Neither Brendan Lemieux nor Brandt Clarke played in the preseason finale, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see either player in the lineup on Tuesday. It also wouldn’t be surprising to see the lineup that defeated the Ducks be the one we see in Game 1, either. Forwards Gabe Vilardi, Arthur Kaliyev and Carl Grundstrom, the bottom three wings as listed, all had very strong preseasons from an offensive standpoint, while Viktor Arvidsson looked and felt good in his preseason debut yesterday afternoon. Injury concerns to Sean Walker and Sean Durzi on the backend seem to be alleviated as well, likely giving the Kings a full complement of players to choose from.

With that in mind, however, we’ve reached the end of training camp, with the regular season now just over 48 hours away.

On Tuesday, when the Kings host the Vegas Golden Knights at Crypto.com Arena, our take on certain moments change. As I’ve watched reactions to various aspects of the preseason, it’s been a time to home your side of a particular player, or a particular phase of the game and ignore the other side of it. For players you like, the defensive miscues or turnovers aren’t important because of the sexier plays the other way. For players you don’t, context is sometimes ignored to highlight the mistakes made. We all do it, and preseason is a time when those positives can be highlighted, while the negatives don’t matter as much, because they’re not costing the Kings points.

That changes this week.

As we depart training camp, what’s been the biggest surprise for the Kings, positively or negatively?

From a team perspective, has it been the fact that the Kings have scored in six of seven games on the power play, averaging more than a power-play goal per game, as they’ve clearly integrated new concepts and mindsets into the approach? Or has it been the vast differences between the first four games of the preseason to the latter three, as none of the first four games saw more than four combined goals during regulation. The Kings alone scored at least four goals in regulation on their own in each of the final three games, though they also gave up a total of 14.

The Kings were not a run and gun team last season that outscored their opposition to win games. We also didn’t really see the group pull together a full 60 minutes during the preseason. The stretches that were good looked really good, showcasing what should be greatly improved depth up front and another level when it comes to speed, skill and attacking threats in the offensive zone. Other stretches saw them give a lot of that good play back, as the Kings deviated from some of the things that made them successful last season, which almost always started with being solid in their own end. The first two periods yesterday against the Ducks were that in a nutshell.

In the preseason, we emphasize those good stretches, because there is no downside in the standings to the outcome of the games. But, on Tuesday, the other side of the coin becomes more important, and we’ll need to evaluate the team on what they are on that day, for better or for worse. The good stretches become that much better because they dictate outcomes in the standings, while the bad stretches do the opposite. The good plays offensively are still good, but we have to apply more focus on the mistakes the other way, because they’ll now cost you goals and points.

Practice tomorrow at 11 AM, morning skate at 10:30 AM on Tuesday and then away we go with the first game of the regular season. 7 games in 12 days to open the season, compared to 15 days last year. A bit more crowded off the hop for the Kings, with an early five-game trip following two divisional games at home. Expectations start early, but so does excitement. It feels good to be back. Talk tomorrow!