11/11 Practice – Diving into lineup changes and the state of the power play w/ Todd McLellan

Happy Friday, Insiders!

We’re flowing with articles today. If you haven’t read through it yet, Jared Shafran’s feature on Alex Turcotte from earlier today is a great read. Turcotte takes us through his process of recovery, from the check to the head he received in last season’s AHL playoffs through a difficult summer and finally getting back into the lineup with the Ontario Reign yesterday evening in San Jose.

Great to see Turcotte back in action and here’s to hoping for a clean bill of health moving forward. Would expect to see him back at it again this weekend as the Reign continue along with their successful start to the season. Also in action yesterday was forward Quinton Byfield, who missed several games with the Kings due to an illness that saw him lose a substantial amount of weight. He’s working his way back into fitness now and while he did not collect a point, he was on the ice for two of Ontario’s three goals yesterday and made a selfless backcheck in overtime that preserved an opportunity to win in the shootout, even if the opportunity wasn’t taken. Good signs for those two, as well as forward Samuel Fagemo, who returned to the lineup for first time since October 29.

Gooooooooood times on the farm indeed.

With the big club, the Kings were back on the ice today as the rhythm of the schedule starts to pick up. In many areas of the game, we’ve seen that rhythm hit translate onto ice. The Kings have played drastically better defensively as of late. Three of the last four games have seen the team allow one or fewer goals playing 5-on-5. The Florida game aside, the Kings have allowed five total goals during 5-on-5 play between their previous six games played. As Phil Danault said last night, it’s more like Kings hockey.

As it pertains to today’s practice, there were a couple of larger conversation topics coming after the skate as Todd McLellan addressed the media and broadcasters who attended today’s skate. The first of those topics pertains to the balance that exists between keeping momentum rolling and continuing with a winning lineup versus the potential of “losing” a player who isn’t playing. The second topic was with regards to a power-play unit that has struggled from a production standpoint as of late.

McLellan said last night that he believes a power play is all about rhythm. The Kings have found a rhythm in many areas of the game but special teams has not been one of them. Games against Minnesota and Chicago were closer than they should have been, in part because the power play wasn’t able to convert. The Blackhawks power play was in control when on the ice last night, leading to their only goal scored on a night when even-strength play was generally controlled by the Kings.

An area of focus that the Kings spent additional time working on during today’s practice.

“We are a work in progress and we’re going be talking about that,” McLellan said of the power play. “We have a new coach coming in with some power play ideas, it doesn’t happen right away. Sometimes, it gets going and you try to add a bit more on and as you add a bit more, you stunt what you had, because they begin to think again. When we’re just playing, when teams just play special teams, it’s valuable. When teams think then, you can still be good, but odds are you’re not going to be where you want to be.”

McLellan emphasized the notion that on the power play, the Kings aren’t expected to be glued to a single spot on the ice. It’s a concept that we picked up on during the preseason and it was extremely refreshing and looked effective in the early goings. Even through struggles as of late, we’re seeing new concepts tried and players attempting to rotate around as intended and that has been evident in practices.

During today’s skate, we saw a bit of a different look, but the point of it all is that there is not just one alignment the Kings have. We’re talking Anze Kopitar as the net-front player, Adrian Kempe at the center point and Drew Doughty in a one-timer position on the left. That’s a new look than we had not seen, but if things are executed as intended, it’s not meant to be THE look, it’s meant to be A look. That’s what the Kings are working towards.

“Part of our power-play issue is that everybody thinks they have a spot to play and they’ve got to get to that spot,” McLellan said. “That isn’t how it works. It’s hockey, you’re going to roll around and be in different spots. If Kopi ends up net front, great, but he could end up on the blue line running things from up there, you have to be interchangeable pieces and you won’t be predictable if you’re moving. If you’re standing around in the same spots and it’s predictable if you’re standing still.”

With that in mind, no apparent changes to lines with how the Kings lined up during today’s practice.

Kempe – Kopitar – Vilardi
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Kupari – Grundstrom
Lemieux – Lizotte – Kaliyev
Anderson-Dolan

Anderson – Doughty
Durzi – Roy
Edler – Walker
Clarke

Quick / Petersen

And that carries us nicely into the second storyline discussed today. Actually, it was the first sequentially, but I thought the story rolled out better this way.

That’s the notion of the balance between riding the consistency and stability that the Kings have built and created over the last few games. The Kings have won three consecutive games, with points in four straight, utilizing the same alignment of 12 forwards, six defensemen and starting goaltender in each of the four games. The only line not on the ice for multiple 5-on-5 goals for over that span has been the Fiala – Kupari – Grundstrom line, but if you expand the timeframe to seven games, they’ve been on the ice for the most goals for among the four lines. So the balance is there. 5-on-5 defense has been vastly improved as well, with the Edler-Walker pairing, the “third pair” if you will, looking as expected, controlling 60 percent of shot attempts and allowing just one goal against. In net, Jonathan Quick has been exactly Jonathan Quick.

As McLellan phrased it when asked about lineup selection – “We’re trying to do our best to win as a group and we make decisions based off of that, simple as that.”

The job here, day-to-day, is to win the game in front of you and it’s the job of the coaching staff to select the group they feel best does that. The other side of it though is the Kings want to avoid a situation where a player is not playing for four consecutive games, as Brandt Clarke and Cal Petersen have, or seven consecutive games as Jaret Anderson-Dolan has. There runs the risk of potentially “losing” a player, to use an expression McLellan has used in the past. It’s a balance and it’s one that the Kings are currently working through.

“It’s really Clarkie and JAD right now, the two individuals that have been out for more than two or three games and it’s not easy,” McLellan said. “We have to look at them as individuals and they’re great human beings to begin with, they want to be in but when they’re not, we have to be responsible as a staff to make sure that they’re prepared to be. That’s the hard part, because JAD has missed the most and he’s worked so hard, so we have to understand that we have to make sure he gets his reps, but we also have to help him when he’s ready to go. Part of being on the team, regardless of where you are in your career, is sometimes accepting that and it’s not always easy.”

Regarding Petersen specifically, you can’t reconfigure a lineup to get him into a game, it has to be a choice on a given night between he and Quick. Over the last four games, Quick has gone 3-0-1 with a shutout over Minnesota and just the one goal allowed against Chicago. Quick’s save percentage has been .936 and he’s been a rock on most nights. That being said, Petersen remains an important part of a goaltending tandem that will need to see some sort of a split as the season progresses.

“Yeah, I think it’s different [with goalies], it’s one or the other,” McLellan said. “With forwards, you’re picking from 12 bodies but with a goalie, it’s a team game and you’ve got an individual spot. With forwards, you have three guys that you have to intertwine your game with, defensive pairs, five at a time, different units. Goalies play with the team all the time, but they play their position as an individual more than anybody else.”

As it pertains to Clarke, contract and logistical ramifications aside, he’s going through something he’s certainly never experienced in his career so far. Clarke has always been a star player and you’d have to imagine he’s never been a healthy scratch before in his career, as most players with his ability level and draft pedigree haven’t. It’s not even that he’s deserved to be a healthy scratch here with the Kings, but there hasn’t been another odd-man out as of late, with more consistency being shown from the other players who have missed a game this season in Sean Durzi and Sean Walker.

“They don’t know what they don’t know, so when they arrive, they’re not sure how this all happens. Just think, they’ve had a dream their whole life of playing in the NHL, now they’ve arrived and they’re here now, so okay what happens? Play a game, next day practice, but now I’m out, what do I do now, how do I behave, why is this happening to me? We’ve got to spend a lot of time talking to these individuals, maybe Clarkie more than JAD right now, because he’s arrived and things are going okay and all of a sudden you’re not in the lineup but why, how do you need to behave? He’s never been a healthy scratch his whole life. Pee wee, bantam, midget, juniors, he’s just kept on playing. His approach to the day might be, throughout his career so far, maybe more similar to what Drew Doughty does after playing 30 minutes a night. Drew’s accountability in practice may be a little different than what Brandt Clarke has, just because of minutes, time and experience. So Brandt is Drew in juniors, but Brandt is in juniors anymore. He’s got to figure all that out and we have to help them.”

Knowing the type of player Clarke is, it’s hard to imagine he won’t get there. Sky-high potential, who can contribute at this level, and someone with the ability to contribute for the Kings as the season goes on. Where his situation goes,

A lot of longer quotes today, but quotes that I felt were important to provide the perspective of the head coach as it pertains to a couple of larger talking points as we’ve seen them develop and become louder over the last few days. Morning skate tomorrow before the Kings look to make it a 4-for-4 homestand with the Detroit Red Wings in town.

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