Practice 10/21 – Kuemper skates, is “progressing” + Edmundson’s New Title, Hiller on Thomas

Practice, Travel, Vegas.

The LA Kings were on the ice today for around 40 minutes, before heading out to Vegas to end what has been a long, winding start to the season away from home.

With practice today, I’d expect an optional morning skate tomorrow in Vegas. That’s been the team’s general flow under Jim Hiller. The Kings worked on their power play during today’s practice, as well as a couple of other situational things, both offensively and defensively. Drawn out practices likely won’t be done on days like today, when the Kings are in between games. Video work, target a few key areas during practice and get a move on.

For today, no apparent lineup changes from how the Kings were aligned last night in Anaheim –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Foegele – Turcotte – Laferriere
Lee – Jeannot – Lewis – Thomas

Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Englund – Spence
Jones – Burroughs

Kuemper / Rittich / Copley

In terms of the power-play units, status quo. Laferriere/Kopitar/Fiala/Kempe/Clarke and Byfield/Danault/Moore/Turcotte/Spence. Kings are clicking at 17.4 percent on the power play early in the season. Most of that damage came in Ottawa, when the Kings scored three times, though the team’s goal in Boston was one second away from that number being 22 percent. Some ups and downs, but good to see a lot of works today spent on enhancing that area.

On Kuemper, Jim Hiller said he is “making progress but still not there yet.”

Still, JH said it was good to see him skate with the full group today. https://t.co/0CBtOho6Bo

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 21, 2024

In terms of the personnel, it was good to include Darcy Kuemper in that above alignment.

Kuemper has missed the last three games due to a minor injury, which saw the Kings place him on injured reserve over the weekend. Kuemper started the team’s first three games of the season but tweaked something during practice in Toronto last week. He remained with the team, working out off the ice and skated on his own on Saturday on home turf. Today, he was with the full group, as one of three goaltenders on the ice.

“He’s making progress, still not there yet, but nice to see,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said today. “I haven’t actually talked to him or heard how it went for him, but yeah, definitely good to see him with the group.”

Speaking of guys coming back, last night marked the return of Joel Edmundson to the game group for the LA Kings.

Like Kuemper, Edmundson played in his team’s first three games this season but left the team from Toronto to return home for a different reason, as he and his wife Ebony welcomed their first child last week.

Edmundson did practice on Saturday, but it was still a bit of time away from playing games, while his teammates played twice together. How did he feel he fared on Night 1?

“I felt better than I thought,” he said. “Not much sleep the past couple days, but the wife let me sleep in my own room [on Saturday] so I felt pretty good .”

Hiller has come to really appreciate and value the game that Edmundson brings.

With Edmundson on the ice last night, the Kings controlled two-thirds of shot attempts in the win over the Ducks. Per Natural Stat Trick, no King was on the ice for more high-danger chances yesterday than Edmundson was. Same goes for shots on goal. You don’t typically measure a guy like Edmundson’s game by the possession metrics, but he’s over 60 percent on high-danger chances this season, with a small sample size. He’s also among the team’s best in terms of blocked shots on a per/60 basis. Doing the things you’d like, while perhaps being a bit better than expected in other areas in the early stages.

“He’s just been a really strong addition for us, I think that’s easy for everybody to see,” Hiller said. “Big guy, that’s the obvious one, jumps out at you, but great hockey sense, better offensive player than I thought, good shot, can get it from the blue line to the net. Just really fit exactly what we wanted.”

Still, despite Edmundson’s veteran presence with the group, it was an easy decision to let him miss a couple of games to attend to a monumental moment in his life.

As Hiller pointed out, it hasn’t always been that way in hockey. He directed his response today by acknowledging Jim Fox, during today’s media availability, saying that “there was a time, when Foxy played, it wasn’t like that.”

It’s just a little bit different now and Hiller understood the importance of that moment. Not just for Edmundson to be there to support his wife, but to experience a life-changing moment for himself. That’s important and last week, it was more important than a couple of hockey games.

“I think things have changed a little bit and everybody understands that,” Hiller said. “That doesn’t come around very often in your life, for some people, onc, maybe is all they have. So, you’ve got to make sure you’re there for not only your wife but it’s the experience for yourself and I talked to Eddy about that. He was there to support but it’s also a great experience for him.”

For Edmundson, it was a moment he’d been waiting his entire life for.

“I’ve always wanted to be a dad, so it’s the coolest experience.”

He added that his wife’s family is in town to help out here at the start, as he adjusts to the task no one envies – changing diapers.

Edmundson will travel to Vegas with the team for the short trip, his first flight as a father. On the ice, he remains an important part of what the Kings are trying to do defensively, as a steady, reliable player who can help guide those around him and also provide contributions himself. Early days yet, but so far so good for the big man.

In terms of additional personnel, the time is coming soon for forward Akil Thomas.

Hiller reinforced today that Thomas will check into the lineup soon, though it’s unclear if that time will come tomorrow in Vegas.

It’s been six games now and we have yet to see Thomas dress for the Kings. I thought it might come in Montreal, with the back-to-back, or perhaps yesterday in Anaheim, but Hiller chose to stick with Jeannot – Lewis – Lee on the fourth line and those guys had a good night, with more than 80 percent of shot attempts in their favor over 7:37 played together 5-on-5.

Hiller noted he wanted to get Thomas in during the trip, but the timing didn’t align. The night to do it might’ve been Montreal, but the fourth line’s best game was arguably in Toronto.

“I really wanted to get him in on that road trip, get Akil out there and just, it’s kind of a funny trip, the way it all came up, the way we played, good, not so good, good, not [good] and he never got his chance. He’ll be in soon enough, probably not soon enough for him, but soon enough for the team.”

In September, I think the expectation was that both Thomas and Alex Turcotte would be regulars to start the season.

Training camp is there for a reason, though. Turcotte had a great camp, as did Andre Lee, who earned his own time in the early goings of the season. Lee’s play brought him from off the board to the opening-night lineup. He hasn’t done a ton to relinquish that spot. I don’t expect Trevor Lewis to play all 82 games and Thomas will get a look here soon. When he does, he’ll have the chance to make that spot his own. Here’s to hoping he does, I think he’s someone who can help the Kings.

“You can have expectations, but it’s competition, it’s competitive, so you have to earn your spot all the time,” Hiller added. “He’s done a good job, he’s worked hard. He didn’t make the opening-night roster and he’ll get a chance to go in fairly soon and see what he can do. He’s got a job to do, so nothing really given and we like him, he’s a good player, but he’ll have to go earn his spot.”

Working on a feature story for this evening on forward Alex Turcotte, who has been one of the team’s best performers early in the season. Really strong start for Turcotte, who is working to establish himself as not just an everyday player, but a nightly NHL contributor. Six games in, so far so good.