Practice 4/10 – Short & Sweet + Kings Focus on Two Areas, Teammates on Kopitar’s NHLPA Nod, Turcotte conditioning loan

Practice Day, Insiders.

After a missed opportunity to clinch a playoff spot yesterday, in a disappointing performance in Anaheim, the Kings got back at it here this morning for a practice day in El Segundo.

Jim Hiller called yesterday’s mistakes correctable. Felt they were relatively easily correctable, actually. But that requires application.

Today’s practice was short and sweet, considering the game tomorrow. The Kings were off the ice by 11:15, for a practice that was scheduled to begin at 11. The guys were on early, off early, but got a couple of things done.

“Last night, I don’t know how many shots we ended up with, but there wasn’t a lot of traffic in front of Dostal, so we tried to address that a little bit here this morning,” Hiller said. “Not going too long, because we’ve got to play tomorrow night, but we tried to get something out of it.”

That’s the physical side of things. There’s also the mental side of the game, which we’ll dive into a bit more tomorrow, but the Kings were unhappy with their mentality in the final 50 minutes yesterday at Honda Center. A strong start, that wasn’t followed up upon yesterday.

In terms of alignment today, the Kings were missing forward Anze Kopitar, who took a maintenance day, as well as goaltender Cam Talbot, with an EBUG on the ice for the day. Everyone else was accounted for.

Line rushes didn’t really happen today, so unsure how the Kings could potentially make any adjustments heading into tomorrow, if any. Pierre-Luc Dubois was in a gray jersey, in Kopitar’s spot for the day. Didn’t sound like Kopitar wouldn’t be available tomorrow, though, so nothing to read too much into. Will update that in tomorrow’s game preview should that change between now and then.

Gray: Arvidsson, Byfield, Danault, Dubois, Kempe, Moore
White: Fiala, Grundstrom, Kaliyev, Laferriere, Lewis, Lizotte, Thomas
Black: Anderson, Doughty, Englund, Gavrikov, Moverare, Roy, Spence
Goalie: Rittich

Kopitar Recognized by NHLPA
Anze Kopitar was twice recognized today by his peers in the annual NHLPA Player Poll.

Kopitar received the third most votes from the players in the category of “who is the most complete player?”, garnering 8.15% of the total vote. Kopitar trailed only Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Florida’s Aleksander Barkov in that category.

Additionally, Kopitar ranked in the top five for players when asked “which player is the most difficult to face in their own end?”, as Kopitar finished fourth in that vote but was second amongst forwards. Only Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman, Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin outpaced Kopitar, who tallied 6.09% of the vote in that category.

“To me, that says it all,” Hiller said this morning of Kopitar. “There’s a lot of people, with a lot of opinions, a lot of different ways to look at the game and when your peers say that this guy is one of the most complete and one of the hardest to play against, especially with the experience that Kopi has, that’s impressive. That’s one to hang your hat on.”

In total, 639 NHLPA members took part in the poll, representing all 32 NHL teams.

We asked and the players answered.

See the full results of the 2023-24 #NHLPAPlayerPoll here: https://t.co/etjsis17U1 pic.twitter.com/T8Gp5C4Svb

— NHLPA (@NHLPA) April 10, 2024

To see Kopitar selected and recognized by the players in these two categories isn’t all that surprising, considering how he plays the game, but what it really does is speak to the respect that he has around the league, amongst his fellow players.

Sometimes, we take Kopitar’s day-to-day consistency and excellence for granted. We’ve come to expect it. It’s clear that those around the NHL, who are in the trenches against him, do not him for granted at all. A good sign of respect for the Kings’ captain, one of the most well-respected players in the NHL, who plays the game right right way.

His linemates were more than willing to talk about what Kopitar means to them, and what this honor says about his place in the NHL –

Quinton Byfield – He’s been doing it for years now, so to still be doing it at that level, his peers realize that, it’s something special and just a testament to how good he is at both ends of the ice. It’s pretty special to play with him each night, be able to get the offensive side and defensive side out of him. Something special for him and it’s special for me just to be a part of that.

Adrian Kempe – It says a lot. Ever since I came into the league, he’s been the same, complete, consistent player. I’ve obviously never played against him, so I can’t tell you how it is on the other side, besides being out there against him in practice, but it’s really hard to play against him on both sides of the puck. When you have the puck, he’s really hard to get by, he’s strong and doesn’t give you a lot of room. On the other side of that, I think when he has the puck, it’s almost just as hard to take that from him. I’m not surprised [to see him recognized].

Just another event in the year of Anze Kopitar. To have this one come from his peers, nice deal.

Turcotte Conditioning Loan
Forward Alex Turcotte was also not on the ice and was assigned to the AHL’s Ontario Reign on a conditioning loan. Turcotte is on LTIR, as he continues to work his way back from injury. He’s been out of action since the Kings defeated Chicago on March 19. Ontario plays games tonight, Friday and Saturday and Turcotte would be eligible to be activated as soon as Friday, April 12. We’ll see how the situation plays out, but a good step forward in his return from injury.

Forward Alex Turcotte has been assigned to the @ontarioreign on an LTI conditioning loan. pic.twitter.com/YbN7tz8wjD

— LA Kings PR (@LAKingsPR) April 10, 2024

Turcotte has 23 points (9-16-23) from 30 games played with the Reign this season and has been an impact offensive player at that level. He had four points (1-3-4) from 20 games played with the Kings. Brought energy, was effective and impactful in a depth role, even if the productive didn’t match. Be good to see him get some minutes and legs in the AHL and perhaps contribute again in a playoff run, at either the NHL or AHL level, down the stretch.

Gameday tomorrow. Kings could lock up a playoff spot tonight if Chicago defeats St. Louis in regulation. With an overtime or shootout win by the Blackhawks, Kings will need one point to clinch tomorrow night. With a Blues win, it’s on the Kings tomorrow to get their own two points to clinch a playoff berth.