Doughty to IR, Lee Recalled, Practice in Buffalo + 5 Questions Heading Into Opening Night

The folks at KeyBank Center were busy setting up the plaza outside the rink for the Buffalo Sabres home opening day festivities on Thursday.

On the ice, the Los Angeles Kings were putting the finishing touches to a long preseason with a final, vigorous practice before Thursday’s season-opener against the Sabres.

Buffalo is 0-2-0 after dropping both ends of a two-game set against New Jersey in Prague and head coach Lindy Ruff, back for a second go-round in Buffalo, was working on the power play and puck retrieval among other things during a long Sabres skate Wednesday.

So, with the start of the season now, finally, fully in view here are five burning questions confronting the LA Kings as they hope to make it four straight playoff appearances next April plus a couple of post-practice notes.

As Zach has written on pretty extensively, one of the surprises of camp was the play of Andre Lee who played in the final two preseason games in Quebec City. He was called up to the main roster on Wednesday after Doughty was placed on LTIR. Lee had been skating with Alex Turcotte and Trevor Lewis on the team’s fourth line and has continued to impress the coaching staff with meeting each new challenge they threw his way. His presence in the two Quebec City games seemed to indicate he would be in the opening night lineup. On Wednesday, though, Akil Thomas took a lot of reps with Turcotte and Lewis as well. Hiller did not provide any clarity on what his roster plan is for Thursday night in spite of repeated attempts to get the coach to tip his hand.

“Mix and match, those guys did a good job. We also think that those guys can play up some shifts, too,” Hiller said.

Captain Anze Kopitar recalled his mindset 18 years ago as he prepared to start his first NHL game in 2006.

The Kings played in Anaheim and traveled the night before which is unusual given the proximity of the two markets. At the team dinner current GM Rob Blake, then nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career, made sure Kopitar and other youngsters Patrick O’Sullivan and future captain Dustin Brown, were sitting with some of the veteran players to help ease the nerves.

“It took me about two or three shifts to kind of settle in, to I guess wake myself up,” Kopitar recalled.

Now he is that veteran player who keeps tabs on the integration of the many new faces in this Kings lineup.

“Now I know how it felt for them,” Kopitar said of the veterans 18 years ago. “Rest assured getting ready for Game 1 still brings some nerves. I mean the nervous level might be a touch lower than it was 18 years ago but you know the butterflies, and the excitement of obviously Game 1 of the season and everybody’s excited so that translates into a bigger group excitement.”

Additionally, Hiller announced that while Drew Doughty is out of the lineup, Mikey Anderson will wear an assistant captain’s “A” on the road while Adrian Kempe will wear an “A” at home. Both players have worn the “A” throughout the preseason and both are younger players who have grown in leaders throughout their time with the organization.

5 Questions Facing the LA Kings –

With opening day on the horizon tomorrow, sharing five questions facing the team entering the 2024-25 season.

Will A Kuemper Homecoming Yield Positive Results?
Speaking of reunions, starting Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper returned to the Kings by way of a trade that sent forward Pierre-Luc Dubois to Washington. I spoke to Kuemper at length in Quebec City and he spoke glowingly about his initial brief time with the Kings. It came at a time when he needed a reboot for his career – more on that HERE.

Kuemper went on to win a Stanley Cup in Colorado and had a solid first season in Washington in 2022-23 but he did not have a great second half in Washington last season with Charlie Lindgren taking over the starting role for the Caps setting the stage for the trade. Kuemper said he’s already working on things with goaltending coach Mike Buckley to get his game back to where he wants it. Last season the Kings ranked third in goals allowed per game. Getting to that lofty standard again might be difficult especially with the team playing a new system (see below). Of the top 10 teams in goals allowed only one, Seattle, didn’t make the playoffs. So, if Kuemper and goaltending partner David Rittich, can keep the Kings somewhere in the top 10 in goals allowed per game that will go a long way to securing a post-season berth.

Will Quinton Byfield’s Move To Center Be The Catalyst To A Breakout Season?
With the departure of Dubois, who was a natural center although he didn’t always play in the middle, the decision was made quickly to move Byfield to his natural position as a center, even though Byfield has played on the wing over the last season and a half. After practice on Wednesday, Head Coach Jim Hiller said Byfield’s transition back to center has been “seamless” and that they’ve stopped really thinking about it. In fact, he said the staff really only pointed out one minor missed assignment in the neutral zone during the preseason.

“The beauty of this whole thing is we really haven’t worried about him from the start,” Hiller said.

Byfield, likewise, seems at ease with how the move to the important position has gone even though centers always bear significantly more burden to be solid on both sides of the puck than wingers.

“Obviously moving back to center it shows trust from the coaching staff, that they believe in you playing down low below the goal line,” Byfield said. “I’m excited for the opportunity. I’m excited for the challenge as well.”

The expectations for Byfield this season are through the roof. He started to show in the second half of last season that he was on the cusp of being a force, ultimately finishing with 20 goals and 55 points. What is he capable of this season? Would 40 goals be asking too much? Can he be a point-a-game player? Given his maturity both physically and mentally those benchmarks should be attainable. If he is in that range it takes so much pressure off fellow centers captain Anze Kopitar and Phil Danault, while creating a dynamic where the Kings would boast as good of depth down the middle as you’re going to find pretty much anywhere in the league. And if that’s the case they Kings will create massive matchup headaches for opposing coaches.

How Much Will Drew Doughty’s Absence Hurt?
This is an easy one, right? A lot. Sure. He’s a Hall of Famer and he’s the heart and soul of this franchise. Has been for a long time. So to lose him to an ankle injury in a meaningless preseason game really does suck. But, bear with me here. I’m not sure there isn’t a significant silver lining in all of this. Top defensive prospects Brandt Clarke and Jordan Spence are both going to get opportunities they might not otherwise have gotten had Doughty not got hurt. Right now Clarke is getting an opportunity on the first power play unit while Spence is with a second unit that, quite frankly, has looked at least as dangerous as the top unit during preseason. The expectations within the organization for both young defenders are high and now the team will get to see them taking on significant roles in all situations. Will there be some growing pains as the reworked defensive alignment – all three defensive pairings are new this season – gets into a rhythm. But no time like the present to find out what you really have. Then there is the fact that Doughty, 34, will return sometime in the middle of the season. (he is currently out month-to-month following surgery performed the first week of October.) He will, of course, take time to get up to speed but by the time the stretch run and the playoffs roll around, Doughty will not have been grinding for a full 82 games. In short, he should be fresher and perhaps have a little more gas in the tank, and that’s not a bad thing.

Will The Kings’ Style Of Play Look Markedly Different This Season?
Fans should see a Kings team that will play with more pace and use its considerable speed and skill up front to pressure opposing teams through the neutral zone, creating turnovers and by extension creating scoring chances off the rush. It will be demanding of the players but it should make this Kings team a fun one to watch as players will have the opportunity to be a little more creative than in the past. A big focus of training camp has been on play in the neutral zone, the transition game and the like. Hiller has talked about the phases of training camp and he said Wednesday the coaching staff were “very happy with the way it went both first phase and I would say the second phase. So we’re just excited to get started.”

Can Tanner Jeannot Rediscover His Wrecking Ball Mentality?
I spent some time talking to the new Kings winger Tanner Jeannot, as well as folks who know him and were impressed with his self-awareness. He’s a guy who has had to scratch and claw for every opportunity in his hockey career. He understands this is a fresh start for him after a couple of disappointing seasons in Tampa. He certainly hopes he can get back to the form that saw him score 24 goals in Nashville in 2021-22 which led to the Bolts offering up a king’s ransom (ha, ha, I couldn’t resist that) for Jeannot. More than the goals, though, was the manner in which Jeannot ran through people en route to that breakout offensive season for the Preds. It’s not about needing Jeannot to fight, although he has those skills too. He is, though, going to be asked to be fully engaged physically something that hasn’t been on full display yet during training camp. To be at his best he has to make opposing players nervous when he’s on the ice. He’ll start the season playing on a line with veteran Phil Danault and Trevor Moore who led the Kings in goals last season with 31. Could this trio combine for north of 75 goals? Yes. If they can get in that range I think you can book the Kings a trip to the post-season.