Practice 11/6 – Notes on Doughty, Talbot & Kopitar + Talbot Named NHL’s Second Star of Week

Back at it, Insiders!

The Kings returned to the ice for practice today following yesterday’s team off day. They’ll also skate tomorrow in advance of a Pacific Division showdown in Vegas on Wednesday evening. For today’s practice, we saw the full group on the ice coming off the East Coast swing, aligned as follows –

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

Anderson – Bjornfot
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence

Copley

The first practice day like this for the Kings in a bit, considering the recent trip East, so for Todd McLellan and the Kings coaching staff, it was a good opportunity today both to get the engines up and running again, but also to dive into some more specific details for the upcoming games versus Vegas and Pittsburgh.

“We haven’t had a chance to really dig in like we did today for a while, just with the travel and some back-to-back games here,” McLellan said earlier today. “We had some specific things that we think will be needed for Vegas and some for Pittsburgh that we tried to work into practice. We always try to get a little special teams work in, so we were able to both tap both power play and penalty kill and then we just had to get the engine going, get them up and down the rink, feeling like they were back to a normal routine.”

Will have more on the special teams side of things after tomorrow’s practice, but for today, a good practice all around with a bunch of different areas covered.

A couple of notes from a clerical point of view –

– Goaltender Cam Talbot and defenseman Drew Doughty did not skate today, but no cause for concern on either front. Simply an additional day of rest for both players. Talbot started all four games the Kings played last week, while Doughty is as high-minute a player as the Kings have. The schedule has set itself up to provide pockets of rest for veteran players – we saw it in Ottawa, as a trio of Kings did not practice when they were feeling a little bit under the weather – and we could continue to see it at times as we go forward.

“We’ll take a look at that, even with Kopi as time goes on throughout the year, but [Doughty and Talbot] should both be back in there tomorrow and be ready to go,” McLellan said of both players.

As McLellan alluded to, it’s something we could see more of with veterans at times, as the Kings look to manage the minutes of certain individuals throughout the course of the season.

It’s something that the Kings are cognizant of as a season progresses along. With players like Talbot and Doughty, or Anze Kopitar and Trevor Lewis, just to name a few, an effort to give both players an additional day off is never a bad thing. As McLellan notes below, everything is tracked and the Kings know their personnel well.

“Our sports science department tracks just about everything you could possibly think of,” McLellan added. “We get some feedback, where somebody’s running hot, obviously tired, or somebody might be running cold too, players who haven’t played a lot, so we’ve got to take it up for certain individuals or cut it back. We’re also aware of the mileage that’s on the car and how can we conserve energy when we get a chance. Those two in particular today got that.”

Nothing to be concerned with and assume we’ll see both players back tomorrow.

– Kings forward Anze Kopitar chose to wear a neck guard during today’s practice and indicated that he will likely wear it in the game on Wednesday against Vegas.

“It’s adding another layer of protection and if I can do that without being uncomfortable, I’ll gladly do it.”

Anze Kopitar wore a neck guard at today’s practice, said there’s a good chance he’ll wear it in Vegas on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/CK3DTDGHXI

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) November 6, 2023

“Just another layer of protection and it didn’t feel too bad, it actually felt good,” Kopitar said after today’s practice. “There’s a good chance I’m going to wear it again on Wednesday.”

I can’t think I had ever seen a neck guard on an NHL player until the last couple of weeks, as the hockey community mourns the loss of Adam Johnson, who tragically passed away after a game played in the United Kingdom, after he took an errant skate blade to the neck. Johnson played for the Ontario Reign from 2020-22, across two seasons, and we’ve seen several players in Ontario wear neckguards since Johnson’s passing.

It’s something that is clearly impacting the hockey community and likely will for some time.

For Kopitar, he recalled back to playing in his younger years when all players were required to wear neckguards growing up. It’s been awhile for him, but he said that as time went on today, he pretty much forgot it was there.

“I wore it growing up too, obviously I haven’t done it in about 17 years now, but it’s not something that really bugs me or anything,” he added. “Like I said, it’s adding another layer of protection and if I can do that without being uncomfortable without being uncomfortable, I’ll gladly do it.”

– The Kings made a pair of transactions yesterday, with forwards Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Alex Laferriere assigned to the AHL on an off day. Nothing of concern here from the Kings point of view and both players were back with the NHL group today for practice. These types of moves are simply salary-cap related, nothing to do with performance or lineups, and we’ll probably see them at times on off days as the season rolls on. Foresight based, with eyes towards later in the season, when the Kings could potentially use some of that space to add to the group if something presents itself.

Talbot, NHL Honor
Also, Insiders, sharing a note on Talbot, who was selected as the NHL’s Second Star of the week for the week ending on November 5.

Talbot started all four Kings games over that span, posting a record of 3-0-0, with a .963 save percentage, a 1.00 goals-against average and one shutout. More on Talbot’s start to the season HERE, with a detailed feature on how well the veteran has played behind this group in the early goings. A well-deserved honor for Talbot coming off a strong week of play.

From the league’s official release –

Talbot turned aside 77 of the 80 shots he faced, compiling a 3-0-0 record, 1.00 goals-against average, .963 save percentage and one shutout to backstop the Kings (7-2-2, 16 points) to a perfect week as they stretched their point streak to six games dating to Oct. 24 (5-0-1). He made 29 saves, including 24 across the second and third periods, in a 4-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs Oct. 31. Talbot then defeated two of his former teams, denying 24 of 26 shots in a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators Nov. 2 and earning his 29th career shutout – and first with Los Angeles – with another 24 saves in a 5-0 triumph versus the Philadelphia Flyers Nov. 4. The 36-year-old Talbot, who signed with the Kings in July, shares the League lead with six wins and ranks fourth overall with 229 saves through nine total appearances this season (6-2-1, 2.14 GAA, .923 SV%, 1 SO). That record includes an active five-game point streak dating to Oct. 27 (4-0-1, 1.42 GAA, .945 SV%, 1 SO).

More to follow later on today, Insiders! Several different storylines right now around this team, so we’ll have a few of them to share over the next couple of days, leading into Wednesday’s showdown against the Golden Knights!