After A “Whirlwind” Trade, Zack MacEwen Ready To Contribute With LA Kings

Zack MacEwen didn’t think he’d be traded at the deadline.

There was a point in the season when he thought he would be, just not when it actually happened. When he broke his jaw in late-January, MacEwen figured a potential trade-deadline move was behind him and that he’d stay with the Philadelphia Flyers for the rest of the season.

“Honestly, not really because I had the injury to my jaw,” he said, when asked if he felt a trade was coming. “I thought before the injury there was a good chance, but with the injury happening and not playing games in the last few weeks, I kind of figured that maybe it wasn’t really going to happen because of that. I was definitely surprised when I found out but surprised for the better, that’s for sure.”

That surprise occurred when the LA Kings came calling, acquiring the bruising winger in exchange for forward Brendan Lemieux and a fifth-round draft pick.

Then, the whirlwind was on.

For a player who gets traded, the process is certainly aided by the staff around them but it’s not necessarily easy, either. MacEwen was traded before noon on Friday and was in Los Angeles before noon on Saturday. Though he arrived before his gear, everything was in place for him to skate in warmups on Saturday evening at Crypto.com Arena. Less than 36 hours later, MacEwen had traded his orange sweater for a black and white one and ge played with his Kings teammates for the first time yesterday evening versus Washington.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It was a bit of a whirlwind leaving Philly quickly, getting packed up and getting on the flight, long travel. Just to get here and meet the guys and get a feel for the routine, it feels good. Good to get settled in and being here is a good feeling.”

MacEwen is in a somewhat fortunate position that he’s not the only player who joined the Kings at the deadline. He wouldn’t have been completely unfamiliar – he was teammates with defenseman Alex Edler in Vancouver – but he caught a ride to the rink with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo for his first trip into downtown Los Angeles, though he admitted he’d need to learn the way himself sooner rather than later.

He said Gavrikov did an admirable job navigating his way to the arena and it offered one new guy the chance to meet the other two, all joining the organization at the same time.

“It was nice just getting introduced, it was my first time really meeting them,” he said. “They seem like great guys and it’s nice that we’re all kind of getting here at the same time together and all figuring it out together. It’s great to have them here.”

Now that he’s an LA King and now that he’s got his directions down, MacEwen finds himself smack in the middle of a playoff race. While Philadelphia has treaded right around the .500 mark for the majority of the season, they haven’t really been involved in a competitive and crowded race for the wild card spots in the Eastern Conference.

The Kings are not only in the playoff mix, but the division title mix. They’re 17 games over .500 compared to four games under. While he was thankful to be a Flyer, and loved his time in Pennsylvania, there’s still that extra level of excitement and motivation with joining a playoff race in progress.

“I’m through the roof coming here and playing meaningful games,” MacEwen said. “Joining a group that’s having a lot of success is super exciting, it’s what all competitors look for, playing those meaningful games and being a part of a team that can do something special and maybe go on a run here.”

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— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) March 7, 2023

While he hasn’t played in the postseason since 2020, MacEwen is familiar with how different the game is come playoff time.

When the amount of open ice shrinks and every inch becomes that much more valuable, MacEwen put the onus on how much more important the smaller details of the game become. Every mistake can cost a team a game and when it only takes four games instead of 82, every game is that much more valuable, which means every detail is that much more valuable.

“Every little detail of each game is just that much more important, I think is what it comes down to,” he said of playoff hockey. “During the regular season, there’s so many more games and things kind of get into a routine but in the playoffs, everything is so ramped up and you just have to be so dialed in on every detail of the game. That’s what’s going to make differences in games and that’s what’s going to give you success.”

He prides himself on his ability to grind and play with physicality, two traits that tend to translate at that time of the year. We saw it firsthand here in Los Angeles a season ago with how Carl Grundstrom’s game took off come the playoffs and while they are not the same player, they do have some of the same qualities in their game.

Perhaps like Grundstrom, MacEwen believes that his game translates to that type of hockey.

“I feel that’s the type of player that I am,” he said. “I haven’t been there the last couple of years, but at different times in my career, the playoffs is when you really find out what you’re made of. It’s just something that I really look forward to as a player and I want to show what I’m able to prove in that kind of setting.”

For players who are typically in a fourth-line role, that understanding of who you are as a player becomes important.

Being able to play that role is one thing, but embracing it is another. When playing under John Tortorella this season in Philadelphia, that goes double. MacEwen was a player who saw his minutes increase when playing under Tortorella and he learned to really value the things that make him important to a team. Simplicity, dependability, and work ethic are words that have been thrown out to describe his style of play and he’s bought into embracing them as a player.

“Just with playing that direct, simple game, I kind of learned what brings value to a player like me in this league,” he said of his time in Philadelphia. “It’s being dependable on the ice, making smart decisions, recovering pucks. I think I’ve had a lot of success doing that this year and I think Torts helped me to find that aspect of my game.”

MacEwen now has one game with the LA Kings under his belt, after he made his debut with the organization last night against Washington. The Prince Edward Island native logged just shy of six minutes skating on the fourth line with Grundstrom and Rasmus Kupari. His new Head Coach, Todd McLellan, praised MacEwen’s presence on the bench with his communication and engagement standing out to the veteran bench boss.

With MacEwen in the mix, last night’s fourth line was one of the largest the Kings have been able to ice this season. He’s a player who skates well for being six-foot-three and someone who thrives when playing directly, forechecking aggressively and bringing grit and tenacity to the game. A right shot as well, one of just four the Kings have at the forward position, the organization valued the different presence MacEwen brought as big reasons behind the acquisition.

With 15 forwards in the mix for ice time, nothing is a given. What is a given, however, is that when his number is called, the Kings will get everything number 17 in black and white has got, each and every night.

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images