Practice 11/1 – “Clean-Out Day” in OTT + Notes On Maintenance Days, Talbot,Spence & Copley HOF

Practice Day, Ottawa edition!

Very quick skate today for the LA Kings, coming in between games in Toronto and Ottawa. The Kings got into the hotel in Ottawa after 1:30 AM following their 4-1 win over the Maple Leafs. The ESPN broadcast last night meant a later than usual start time and the puck wasn’t dropped until 8:10 PM in Toronto, which naturally pushed back the team’s arrival after a short flight. As such, and with the game tomorrow, the Kings got on the ice today to get the legs and bodies moving in between games. It wasn’t a long skate, nor was it a particularly detailed skate, but it was a practice nonetheless.

With that in mind, there’s not a ton to report as far as what the group worked on. A day design, mainly, to flush the legs and get the group on its way heading into tomorrow.

“Today would be, we call it clean-out day, they have a good idea of what that’s all about now, we’ve done it enough,” McLellan said. “Late arrival, late game last night, so players got to do what they need to do at the rink to prepare for tomorrow. Skate real quick, handle the puck, make some passes, not a lot of thinking and we’re giving them every opportunity to be fully recharged when it comes to game time.

Here’s how the Kings aligned this morning, sorted by jersey color –

Gray: Byfield, Kaliyev, Kempe, Kopitar, Moore
White: Dubois, Grundstrom, Laferriere, Lewis, Lizotte
Black: Anderson, Bjornfot, Doughty, Englund, Roy, Spence
Goalies: Copley, Talbot

Looking at that list, there were naturally a few names missing from today’s skate. The quartet of Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Phillip Danault, Kevin Fiala and Vladislav Gavrikov did not practice today. The Kings opted not to bring those players to the rink today, with a few of the guys feeling a bit under the weather, as Todd McLellan detailed this morning.

“We have, not an illness, but some sniffles and stuff going on that we thought it would be better to leave some guys behind and have a real light and quick skate today to try to be prepared for tomorrow.”

Hopefully, all will be good to go heading into tomorrow’s game against Ottawa and if not, the Kings have players who are eager to play and in a worst-case scenario, could make the necessary adjustments as needed. At this time, though, nothing pointing to that being needed, so we’ll re-examine in the morning should that be necessary.

Notes –
Talbot Talks Return
A week of returns for Kings goaltender Cam Talbot.

Yesterday evening in Toronto, Talbot put in a fine performance in the victory over the Maple Leafs, in front of friends and family in attendance. Talbot’s return to Toronto perhaps wasn’t as widely broadcast as Quinton Byfield’s was, as the young player played in his home province for the first time in the NHL. Still though, a special night for Talbot every time he comes back to Ontario.

Today, he’s still in Ontario, but this time it’s in the market he played in last season. Talbot spent the 2022-23 campaign with the Ottawa Senators, a campaign in which he was never really able to hit the ground running. Talbot came in ready to roll with a young and exciting Senators squad, but beginning as early as training camp, he battled nagging injuries pretty much the entire step of the way, which made his integration into a new group difficult.

“Yeah, it was tough, obviously, being injured three separate times and out of training camp and stuff like that, it was tough to gel with the new team,” Talbot said. “They’d go out East and I’m stuck back at home and you’re one of the new guys and you’re coming into the locker room 10 games into the year, so it was tough but that’s a great group over there. You meet a lot of guys throughout your career that you’re going to be friends with and that group is no different. So, I look back on it fondly, but obviously I’m here now and I’m looking forward to playing them on Thursday.”

He’s got strong memories of Ottawa, enjoying his time here with his teammates and living in the city for a season. He admitted he’d send a few texts out to today to reach out to former teammates who will be opponents tomorrow. Such is life in the NHL for any player who’s donned multiple jerseys, especially one who is beginning his 11th season in the league, his 14th as a professional hockey player.

Now though, Talbot is an LA Kings and he’s focused on the opportunity he has in front of him.

While he’s deeper into his career, he still feels he has something to give and something to offer. Early in the season with the Kings, he’s certainly shown that, establishing a strong, calming and consistent start to the season. Talbot has been around long enough that he’s not taking anything for granted right now. He’s just here to continue to battle.

“I never take a day for granted here,” Talbot said. “At this point in my career, all I wanted to do is have an opportunity to show that I can still play and still battle for starts. When I’m healthy. I feel like I can be at the top of my game like that. It felt good [in Toronto].”

McLellan on Spence
“On the offensive side, I think he’s got that. He was very good at moving laterally, if you remember the goal, he went to his left, he came back to his right and he moved their pieces around a little bit to create that opportunity, so he did a tremendous job.”

That was Todd McLellan on young defenseman Jordan Spence this morning, speaking specifically about his contributions on Danault’s goal last night.

Much of the accolades, deservedly, will go to Trevor Moore for his quickness on the play, escaping his defended to thread the needle with the pass to Danault at the back post. Don’t sleep on the play Spence made, though, to set it up.

Watch the footwork from Spence on this play.

Spence adeptly recognizes the advantage, as a Toronto forward defending at the center point is without his stick. Spence first brings the play to his left by using quick feet and then moves back to his right while maintaining possession, understanding that he can’t be pokechecked in that situation. When the nearest defender goes to the bench to get a stick, Spence springs into action, recognizing the 5-on-4 advantage. He feeds Moore, who does what he does from there.

The most recent of three assists this season for Spence, who is also +2 in the early goings. Spence is well on the right side of 50 percent in most puck-possession metrics, including over 60 percent in terms of high-danger chances. While it perhaps took him a few games to get up to speed, his hockey sense and ability to make plays in the offensive zone continues to shine through. With that play last night, a terrific first-person example to look at.

HOF Copley
Lastly, Insiders, a fun little note from the team’s trip to Toronto.

With a couple of hours free between morning skate and the game, I had the chance to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame to take a look around before heading over to the rink. There’s a section at the Hall that has goalie masks through the years, featured from all eras, all leagues and a ton of different goaltenders.

Included in that wall was a mask of Kings goaltender Pheonix Copley, back from when he played with the Hershey Bears in the 2017-18 season. Copley knew right away that one of his masks was in the Hall, recalling the process back from when he played with Hershey, while in the Washington organization.

“They just asked the equipment guys if I was okay with that and I said absolutely,” Copley explained this morning. “I don’t remember if there was a reason for it, I think they just thought the candy canes were cool.”

Copley joked that the HOF crew puts his mask front and center as the holidays approach, to give the candy canes some love.

The candy canes have been a staple of Copley’s masks dating back to his time at Michigan Tech, and they’re still a part of his look today with the Kings. Copley hails from North Pole, Alaska and leans into it a bit when designing his masks. Right timing to visit!

“They cycle them through, there’s a big archive of masks in the back. I think it’s always when Christmas starts coming up, they put it out. After that, they probably put it away,” he said with a laugh.

Among some of the coolest designs in hockey history, the candy canes live on. A fun little way to end the trip to Toronto.

More to come here later this evening Insiders, but wanted to get a few quick hitters out from today’s skate!

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.