Angeles Analysis – Change

How do you define change?

When you’ve lost 12 of 14, there is an obvious need.

I think from a front facing perspective, as it pertains to the stretch the Kings are in, we immediately point to personnel. From what I’ve seen and read from you all, on social media, from what people are looking for, the biggest area for change is from a personnel standpoint. From a personnel standpoint, though, the Kings have made a lineup adjustment in 12 of the 13 times between games on this stretch. The only time the Kings rolled out the exact same lineup of 12 forwards and six defensemen was between the first loss against Vegas and the second loss against Edmonton. At least one adjustment in every game since.

In watching last night’s game against Buffalo, I think it should be clear, though, that the problems that require change are not personnel related.

You might be right in saying that the lines could look a different way or different players should be dressed over others. You might be right. I can see those opinions. It wouldn’t solve the problem, though.

It was clear that last night’s performance against Buffalo was different. Anze Kopitar was asked if that was rock bottom for the team.

“I hope so”.

Drew Doughty said it’s felt like the bottom for awhile now, which is understandable. The Kings really hadn’t bottomed out, though, if you looked at each game objectively on this stretch. A stretch with 12 losses from 14 games is a bottom in itself, but there wasn’t that one moment of a flat out bottom. Perhaps last night can be that moment, as it was for the team against Buffalo last season. If you recall back, the Kings gave up six goals against in the third period in Western New York, in what was the final straw in turning a season around. Sans the opponent, the situations aren’t really similar, but the desire to turn things around is the same.

Todd McLellan talked about being a part of the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings team as an assistant coach. That team won the Stanley Cup. He highlighted a stretch where that team won 1 of 11 games. Not often talked about as a footnote of a championship squad, but what that team found a way to do was pull themselves out of the situation they were in. The Kings, while capable, haven’t done that yet. Emphasis on yet.

The most glaring takeaway from what Doughty, Kopitar and McLellan said after yesterday’s game was accountability, which is important.

Repeating the key quotes in that area from last night’s post game report –

Doughty
It’s not about the coaching staff. It’s about the players. I think the coaches on our team have done a great job. They always inform us with every single situation possible, they prepare us perfectly. It’s not about them. It’s all about the players in here. No matter what they do, if we don’t perform on the ice, we ain’t going to get wins and we all know that in here. If anyone’s questioning that, then that’s probably why we’re losing games, if people are questioning that.

Kopitar
It comes down to this room. They give us a plan, they give us the structure, they give us the motivation or the kick in the butt, it is what it is, but it’s about the guys that have to bring it out on the ice and make things happen.

McLellan
I’m responsible for this. When you look at the team that played the first 25, 30 games, if you will, it doesn’t look like the team that’s playing right now and I’m responsible for it. Our staff is doing what we can, or what we believe we can, to get them to turn it around. We’re trying different things at different times, but I’m going to keep pushing away, I’m going to try and push buttons, poke people, praise people, look at how we do things. Our numbers, our underlying numbers, say we’re more the first half team than the second half team, but the win column doesn’t say that and that’s all that matters.

Doughty and Kopitar both put the onus on the players in the locker room to perform better. At the end of the day, the two longest-tenured members of the Kings believe they are getting the preparation, the planning, the motivation that they need from the coaches, but that the group as a whole is not executing it. It’s not that it can’t be executed, because we saw how good this team can be when it does execute.

McLellan added that it’s “noble” of them to take that upon themselves, but he said that everyone shares the responsibility, taking most of the current stretch of games mostly upon himself. He and his staff have poured a lot into turning things around, but he understands his role as the team’s head coach, in a results-driven business.

Should the Kings be able to turn things around and get back on track, perhaps we will look back on a 5-3 loss against Buffalo, in a game the Kings were in full control of with a 3-1 lead, as the eventual turning point. That’s not for right now, though, because right now, we’re still in it. For right now, it’s about change. And, while it might not be in the ways that we all see publicly, there’s been lots of change tried behind the scenes, both from players and coaches. It just hasn’t been the change that can pull everyone out of this. With three games to go until the All-Star Break, the Kings know they need to find the right change because those games are important, in a season that still has the potential to be something meaningful. It starts with a difficult test, on the road in Colorado, against the team that currently leads the NHL with 19 wins on home ice. If you recall back, following that game in Buffalo, the Kings were in Boston to take on a Bruins team that was 15-0-1 at home coming into the game. That two-game stretch was the turning point of the season. If history repeats itself, it won’t be by chance. It’ll be everyone buying in, doing the right things and playing the right way, as was the case 13 months ago in Massachusetts. Game on, tomorrow night.

Short practice today from the Kings, before the team hit the road towards Denver. Have a prospect feature coming up later on today and full coverage from the team’s three-game trip, beginning tomorrow in Colorado.