With everyone available up front, the Kings have decisions to make down the stretch

With the state of those who are available, we’ve been able to push this conversation back until today. It’s a conversation we probably wanted to have sooner, but sometimes injuries get in the way.

Todd McLellan has foreshadowed it going back over a week, with his quote below setting the stage.

“I think right now we have nine that are pretty consistent, with Kevin sitting in the wings. That doesn’t mean it can’t change but that’s how we look at it.”

McLellan’s quote came with regards to the team’s forwards and their availability and placement within the lineup. For a while, it was Trevor Moore’s absence that kept the Kings at nine forwards in that consistent column. When Moore returned to action, that return came on the fourth line on March 9 in Colorado, as the Kings had their tenth forward back in that group. That lasted all of a period and a half, as Kevin Fiala suffered a lower-body injury on that day, one that kept him out of the lineup until last night.

A one-game suspension to forward Blake Lizotte pushed the conversation back by 24 hours, but Lizotte is now cleared to play and cleared to return to action tomorrow evening against Calgary. Thus, we re-visit the above quote. The Kings finally have all 10 of those forwards and each can stake this claim for a top-nine role.

There’s not one among them who you can simply discount. We talk a lot about depth and how it pertains to lineup decisions, meaning who plays and who doesn’t on a given night. That’s a valid conversation. Frankly, in another situation, guys like Rasmus Kupari and Carl Grundstrom would likely have woven themselves into that discussion as well, but the depth the Kings have has placed both players on the fourth line. We’ve got to start talking about depth on another level, though, and that’s roles within the lineup for those who are playing.

With Lizotte out of action, but Fiala returning, the Kings opted to shake things up on the third line. Fiala moved back to the spot he vacated due to injury, skating alongside Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault on the second unit. That created a group of Alex Iafallo, Trevor Moore and Gabe Vilardi on the third line. Moore, who played some center in college and with Team USA at the 2021 World Championships, drew the first turn in the middle, flanked by Iafallo on the left and Vilardi on the right.

On paper, that line has a whole lot of potential. All three players have played in the top six in their careers and when you put the sum of that line together on paper, it’s pretty darn good. It’s also a line that consists of three players who have spent almost the entire season playing on the wing. Moore and Vilardi shared faceoff duty yesterday, both taking draws on their forehand, but that’s just one of the finer details in the process. It’s a different role playing in the middle versus playing on the outside. Moore is a versatile player, though, a player who is up for a challenge.

The results on night one included a couple of goals against, though Moore and Iafallo each scored on the power play. Despite an expected goals for percentage that read higher than 65 percent, the actual goals column showed none for and two against. Expecting night one to be flawless was probably a little bit too much, but McLellan did feel that line wasn’t quite as effective without Lizotte in the lineup.

“I think it was a big factor, he fits that spot on our team really well,” McLellan said. “I give Moorsie credit, and Gabe and Al, but that line wasn’t the same without Lizzo in the middle. We missed him.”

Moore skating in the middle against St. Louis was a matter of the Kings putting together three players who belong in top-nine roles in those spots in the lineup, choosing that consistency over positional favoritism. It also allowed for the fourth line, which has been exceptionally good with Grundstrom and Kupari as two of the three pieces, the opportunity to stay together, with Jaret Anderson-Dolan checking back in as the third member.

In the Kings system, McLellan indicated that all forwards need to be able to play in all roles. First man back takes on the center position in the interim and you never know what lane you might find yourself in offensively.

“In our system, everybody has to be able to play that center-ice position, regardless if you line up there for a faceoff or not,” McLellan said. “They’re quite interchangeable parts. A guy like Moorsie has played center in the past, whether it was college or World Championships, a little bit at the pro level, so that opens up opportunity for him. We have Vilardi, Byfield, Kempe, these guys were all trained as centers at one point, so we shouldn’t feel afraid to put them in that situation, but we’d also like to keep some of our chemistry and lines together as well.”

Yesterday, the suspension gave the Kings one decision to make, but Lizotte returning to action gives them perhaps a trickier one, as Lizotte will be eligible to be in the lineup against the Flames. He’s had himself a fine season, spending the last few months on the third line at the center position, a job that he wasn’t given, but a job he’s earned through his play. Someone has to play on the fourth line, though, and those decisions won’t be easy to make. The players on that line have been effective and productive, meaning that something’s got to give for the Kings and it won’t be an easy something. As it stood, players who probably deserved to play regularly were not in the lineup. Now, with 15 forwards in that conversation, and 10 consistently in, those decisions become even more difficult.

The Kings, as a whole, have set themselves up to experiment a bit, should they so choose. The magic number is currently 5, following yesterday’s results around the NHL, including the win in Los Angeles. The Kings are not yet a playoff lock, but their play throughout the month of March has put them right on the verge of clinching a playoff spot, with nine games yet to play this season.

There’s a reason you play the games, but that moment could come as soon as this trip. With that in mind, you don’t want a playoff game to be the first time trying something, so with a lot of runway here before that time, McLellan and his staff have shown that they’re willing to see how certain combinations look now, to have that knowledge when the time comes in April. With the caliber of players we’re talking about here, those experimentations could also give the team the best chance to win on a given night. The Kings have shown a willingness to move things around as needed all season, all throughout the lineup, and being so close to a playoff spot, the Kings will have every opportunity to do it again, should they so choose.

We’ll see what the lines look like tomorrow in Calgary, with tomorrow’s game figuring to be just the fifth time over the last two months that all 10 of those players have been available. We’ll see how things shake out in the morning, with the Kings scheduled to hit the ice at 11:30 from the Saddledome!