Practice 10/26 – Today’s Alignment + Ice Time Distribution, Strong JAD Report From ONT

Practice Today, Arizona Tonight.

The LA Kings hit the ice this morning in El Segundo, before a mid-afternoon flight to the desert in advance of tomorrow’s game versus the Coyotes.

A return match coming tomorrow against Arizona and we’ll take a look through that tomorrow. For today, the Kings spent some time on both 5-on-5 play and on special teams, with both the PP and the PK a focal point for the group going forward. The Kings have seen notable improvement on the penalty kill this season and the power play is showing signs of progress and adjustment, with personnel requiring changes to strategy and execution. A really nice goal last game, with more hopefully to come for a unit that ranked fourth in the NHL a season ago.

For today, here’s how the Kings aligned, without much change from what we’ve seen in recent games –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Kaliyev
Fiala – Dubois – Laferriere
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis
Anderson-Dolan

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Bjornfot

Copley / Talbot

Chrome domes at practice 🤌 pic.twitter.com/98OniK1kzB

— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 26, 2023

These practice alignments are starting to feel like rinse and repeat here.

Minus the injury to Viktor Arvidsson, lineup reports have been relatively uneventful from a personnel standpoint. The Kings have an established lineup, which they believe gives them the best chance to win right now, and they’ve ran with it over the last four games. It’s left forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Tobias Bjornfot, both capable players, on the outside looking in for five of the team’s first six games this season.

It’s a tough assignment, there’s no doubt about it.

“Toby has to be ready to play, it’s as simple as that, and JAD has to be ready to play,” McLellan said this morning. “Three, four years ago, we’d be rotating guys in and out, but we’re playing what we feel we need to play and they aren’t kids anymore. They’re still developing and evolving, but they have to find a way and we have to help them in practice, to stay ready to play. When their number’s called, they need to perform, it’s as simple as that.”

For Bjornfot, it’s been five consecutive games out since he dressed on opening night. For Anderson-Dolan, he started the season in the AHL for one game, after clearing waivers, but was the first player recalled after Arvidsson was placed on LTIR. Bjornfot would be eligible for a conditioning loan to Ontario without clearing waivers, should the Kings opt for that, but that’s a 3-5 game situation and it has not come to light just yet. Anderson-Dolan was assigned to the AHL yesterday for a quick 24 hours and he dressed for Ontario last night against Coachella Valley.

As McLellan shared this morning, the report on Anderson-Dolan’s game was quite positive, coming from Reign bench boss Marco Sturm.

“The report that I got was he played really well last night and he played his game,” McLellan said. “He didn’t try and go and run the power play – he was good in those situations – but he played his game and he’s very focused. I don’t worry about him if he gets the call, he’ll be just fine. He’s going to come in and do the things he needs to do.”

Sturm spoke highly of Anderson-Dolan after the game, when talking to our Ontario Reign correspondent Jared Shafran yesterday.

It would probably be easy for a player like Anderson-Dolan, who spent the entire 2022-23 season in the NHL, to sulk about an assignment. As usual, that wasn’t the case. Anderson-Dolan is a consummate professional and showcased it in his commitment for the AHL club.

“He’s a very professional hockey player and it doesn’t matter where he plays, in which league, for which team, he will give you everything and we definitely appreciated his effort,” Sturm said after the game. “We were very excited to have him at least for one game, but it’s not easy for him too, not playing regularly with the Kings and I thought he didn’t miss a beat.”

For his part, Anderson-Dolan spoke highly of getting the opportunity to play last night in Palm Desert. When you go awhile without a game, it can be good just to get 60 minutes in whenever you can.

He also talked about how similarly the two teams operate, with the same language and systems at both levels. That makes it easier for any player to go up or down and feel right at home. All in all, just good to get back into a game.

“When you go 10 days, or whatever it was, between games, it’s hard to keep that sharpness,” Anderson-Dolan said this morning. “To get some reps, lots of ice time down there, I think it’s good just to keep you sharp and keep your conditioning up. It was good to be a part of a big win last night.”

While Anderson-Dolan and Bjornfot await their next NHL opportunity, much of that comes down to a group of 12 forwards and six defensemen who are operating at a certain level, with an established line of credit at the ATM, to go back to an expression McLellan used last season.

While there have been drop-offs in team play, and individual errors made along the way, it would be hard to argue too much about the results from those playing towards the bottom of the lineup. Two goals in each of the last two games for the fourth line, which has fallen right in order with the other three. Offensive distribution has been split almost right down the middle between the four lines, not just three.

Most of the talk about this team this offseason pertained to a team with a strong and established top nine. We have seen that, but don’t forget that this is a four-line team when at its best. The energy, forechecking and output from the Grundstrom/Lizotte/Lewis line on Tuesday will make it hard not to play them their minutes. Even though that generally still means fewer than the other lines get, in principle, the fourth line play a little bit more means a little bit less for everyone else.

Part of the balance, as McLellan explained this morning.

“It’s been tougher to keep everybody happy, I can tell you that, because we have a fourth line that we really trust right now,” McLellan said. “We started that fourth line the other night in each of the three periods, so if Lizzo’s line starts and you’re the fourth line coming out, you’re playing a 51-minute game only. So now, the guys that normally are running a little higher, are getting shorted, so it’s hard to keep people happy. Three minutes in the first, three in the second, three in the third and before you even get on the ice you only have 51 minutes.”

The Minnesota game was perhaps the ideal distribution of minutes at 5-on-5, but that was also the game that has featured the most even-strength play so far this season. The top three lines each played between 12 and 13 minutes together, while the fourth line was right around eight. The Kings are confident in their special teams play, but they’d like to play at 5-on-5 as much as they can.

In order to build a team with the level of depth that the Kings have, it means some sacrifices have to come from individuals. Generally speaking, when everyone gives up a little bit, because the good of the team calls for everyone to be involved, it’s a pretty good thing.

“Ultimately, this is what we all asked for, we asked for trusting players that were true NHL players, and when you ask for that, you have a responsibility to perform at a high level and often give something up,” McLellan added. “That comes with ice time and there’s no reason why Lizzo, Grundy and [Lewis] shouldn’t get ice time when they’re playing really well. Somebody’s got to give it up somewhere and that’s what happens. When you when you have that problem, usually you’re in a good spot.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow, the Kings are hopeful of seeing those full-lineup contributions continue in part two of two versus Arizona. The Kings will skate tomorrow at the nation’s most famous collegiate hockey rink, before the rematch versus the Coyotes in the evening. Full coverage to follow in AZ!