Offense from the defense is an oxymoron, but it’s helped power the Kings to early-season production

Offense from the defense.

It’s the oxymoron of hockey.

For the Kings early this season, though, it’s an oxymoron that has helped to lead the way in terms of scoring goals.

When Saturday’s game ended, with Los Angeles defensemen burying all three of their team’s goals in a 3-2 victory, the Kings sat tied for the NHL lead in goals from their blueliners this season. In total, that number was seven, led by a brace from defenseman Joel Edmundson in the victory over Utah. Though Philadelphia and Calgary have both jumped ahead, at eight goals, no team in the NHL has gotten a larger percentage of its points this season from defensemen than the Kings.

Defensemen have accounted for 32.4 percent of the total goals and assists amassed by Kings players this season, the highest percentage in the league. This coming from a team that, one season ago, got just 18 total goals from their blueline from players not named Drew Doughty, who buried 15 himself. We all know that Doughty is out and Matt Roy’s five goals are in Washington. Through nine games, though, seven from the blueline has certainly represented an uptick.

If you told me back in September that the Kings led the league in that category, I’d have assumed Doughty was burning a hole in the net on the power play. With Doughty yet to make his season debut due to injury, it speaks volumes of a group that has collectively changed its mindset this season to uptick in one area – shooting the puck.

Five different defensemen have scored this season, led by a pair of goals from Edmundson and Mikey Anderson.

How does the saying go?

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t.”
– Wayne Gretzky
(Michael Scott)

For Anderson, he has certainly been more willing to shoot the puck. Last season, Anderson averaged just over nine shot attempts per/60 and fewer than four shots on goal per/60. In the early days this year, Anderson is up to 10.4 and 4.6, respectively.

“Part of it is just trying to shoot it more,” Anderson said. “Our forwards have done a good job getting to the net, or at least getting around it to create some chaos, but yeah, we’re trying to throw it there……just trying to get pucks to the net and hopefully the forwards are there to create a little disruption.”

The increase hasn’t been just one guy though. It’s been across the board, in one category or another.

Vladislav Gavrikov, like Anderson, has shown more of a shooter’s mentality from the point. Last season, Gavrikov averaged 9.4 shot attempts per/60, a number that is up to 12.8 so far this season.

“Whenever we have a chance to shoot the puck, we’ve got to do that, especially if we have someone in front of the net, because you can get tips out of that and rebounds,” Gavrikov said. “I think it’s not a bad thing at all and we’ve just got to do it more and more consistently, I would say.”

For Jordan Spence, he’s seeing more of his shots from the point get through the first layer of forwards trying to block it. Last season, Spence saw 42 percent of his attempts blocked. This season, he’s down to just 22 percent, as he’s done a better of job of getting the puck past the first layer of defense. Example A was in Montreal, when Spence’s shot led to a deflection goal from Alex Laferriere. Slight change in angle from the point, got the shot through, deflection goal.

That’s three defensemen who have seen improvements and we haven’t even mentioned the defenseman who leads the Kings through nine games in just about every shooting category. You know who I’m talking about. It’s a guy who has played on the most consistently used defensive pairing for the Kings this season, featuring the young, offensively-touted first round pick and the stable, reliable veteran. You know which one this is referring to. Talking, obviously, about Joel Edmundson.

Edmundson leads all Kings defensemen in shot attempts, unblocked shot attempts, shots on goal, scoring chances and high-danger chances on a per/60 basis.

You know, all of the things we figured the Kings acquired him to provide.

Edmundson has always had a rocket of a shot. Last season, per NHL edge data, Edmundson ranked in the 91st percentile in hardest recorded shot, the 93rd percentile in shots between 90 and 100 MPH and the 98th percentile in average shot speed.

This season, he’s using that shot more and more, hammering home the game-winning goal early in the third period on Saturday against Utah. It’s obviously early days, but his per/60 numbers on both shot attempts and shots on goal are both higher than any NHL season to date in his career.

“I think just for us, getting it past that first layer and then our forwards crashing the net,” Edmundson said. “If the goalies can’t see the puck, it’s hard to stop. Our forwards are doing a great job of that.”

What’s been perhaps the most encouraging is that the approach has been done collectively.

As multiple players pointed out, a shooting mentality is something that Associate Coach D.J. Smith has preached since taking over the blueline this offseason. That’s not to say the Kings are encouraged to be reckless when shooting the puck, but they have been instructed to take their shots perhaps over a D-to-D pass, or over a dump behind the net. When the risk level is the same, get the puck into a dangerous area and let something good happen.

“It’s been big, he’s been preaching that, don’t waste a D-to-D pass if you can just throw it to the net,” Anderson said of Smith. “Trying to sling pucks from everywhere, anything, even if it’s just a bouncer that’s kind of going there, you know, it’s hard to defend sometimes, or get in front of. So, if you can throw anything down there, it might not create something right away, but over time, it’ll loosen it up maybe a little bit.”

Of course, the area only becomes dangerous when there’s traffic in front. Even the NHL’s hardest slap shot is easily saved by most NHL goaltenders when there’s a clear path to seeing it.

Head Coach Jim Hiller praised his forwards for getting into those areas on a regular basis.

He was quick to point out that it hasn’t been just one or two players in that space, but rather an entire group of 12 who have committed. Last game, it was Anze Kopitar who got his big body to the front of the net on both of Edmundson’s goals. Alex Laferriere provided the screen on Brandt Clarke’s goal. If you look back to the Montreal game, Anderson’s goal saw a screen provided by Quinton Byfield.

“I think what we’ve done better this year, and it’s something Blakey talked about, I think in the press conference when I was hired, was we needed to get a little dirtier around their net,” Hiller said. “I think if the goalie sees the puck, usually they’re going to save it, so we’ve got some deflection goals too and we’ve got some good screens. So, it’s a product of the forwards getting to the net and the D obviously, finding a way through.”

The point about the deflections is key too.

Goals are trending well up from last season, but with attempts and shots on goal doing so as well, it gives the Kings not only the potential of scoring on the first shot, but on potential second and third opportunities as well. Kyle Burroughs collected his only assist thus far this season with a point shot that Laferriere deflected. Laferriere also got a stick on a Spence shot in Montreal for the goal, while Warren Foegele tipped home a Clarke shot in the San Jose game on Thursday.

Not every shot is going to go in but getting the puck past the first layer, into what can become a dangerous area has the chance to create rebound opportunities. Overall, the Kings have done that well through nine games.

Now, nine game sample sizes aren’t always reliable. That much is certain. The trends on this one specifically are positive but if we’re going to drop a “well it’s early” to describe things that aren’t going well, we have to use the same conditions here as well.

You’d like to see players not as widely known for shooting the puck continue to do so and you’d like to see younger defensemen like Clarke and Spence continue to get themselves into more dangerous areas, as Spence did so well on his goal vereus the Sharks. When Doughty ultimately returns, it should only help, considering how strong of a weapon his shot was for the team last season, but the Kings can’t rely on Doughty alone, as seemed to be the case at times last season.

If Doughty can bring his shot back into the mix while others behind him continue as they have been, it makes this group that much more dangerous offensively. A continued shooting mindset from a group of six, working to elevate its collective game without their leader, has been encouraging.

Photo by Arianne Bergeron/NHLI via Getty Images

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