Assistant Coach Ray Whitney On Successful Power Plays + Training Camp Day 9 Primer

What makes a good NHL power play?

Easy question to answer, if you ask new Kings assistant coach Ray Whitney.

“A great player, it’s as simple as that,” Whitney said. “I think we got one at the trade deadline and that’s a big part of it. He’s had very good success with Peter as well in New York and he’s done very well in his career for an undrafted player. It’s phenomenal. So, to have him, and then I think a fresh start and some new ideas.”

New ideas, I think, have been on display throughout training camp and the exhibition season thus far.

The buzzword of Kings training camp to this point has been movement in the offensive zone. While it’s really being emphasized during 5-on-5 play, movement has been important and noticeable on the power play as well. Look no further than the first power-play goal of the exhibition slate. Brandt Clarke, who starts up top, rotated down and found himself at the netfront. Adrian Kempe, who will typically line up in the bumper role or on the right side of the umbrella, rotated up top. They connected on a tip play, in reverse. On that sequence, leading up to the goal, Artemi Panarin and Quinton Byfield both were at the center point, at one time or another. That’s three players in that position, none of which are Clarke, who started there.

While there is a base alignment and it won’t be a free-for-all, Whitney is encouraging his players to move around the zone, reading off each other, similar to what we see from some of the NHL’s best power plays.

“There’s a baseline structure that you put in and it’s holes to fill and places to be,” Whitney said. “The one thing that I’m adamant about is that you need to have is somebody in front of the net. Goaltenders are too big, they’re too good, defenses are too good nowadays. You’re not scoring on a shot with nobody in front, causing some kind of havoc. So, other than that, there’s some spots that need to be filled, but by filled by whoever happens to be there and gets going. I think nobody’s slotted to stay in one spot.”

Whitney detailed the emphasis on players moving around the zone, while also emphasizing that the shape won’t always remain the same. The base alignment of a Kings power play has been a 1-3-1 for as long as I can remember. He introduced the term “box” as well, meaning that the Kings won’t always look like they did in the neutral zone in 2022. It’ll be more fluid than that. You can see that on Clarke’s goal as well. That’s not a 1-3-1. It’s an ever-fluctuating shape.

The name of the game, though, is movement. The more you move, the more tired opposing penalty killers get. The easier it becomes to win puck battles and extend power-play sequences without needing to re-establish the zone against fresh opponents.

“There’s going to be creativity and movement with a base concept in place, that you want to move in from 1-3-1, to a box, to a 1-3-1,” Whitney detailed. “You just want to keep everything moving, keep the penalty killers moving, get them tired, get pucks in, that type of thing. It’s a lot to work on. It’s the hardest one to work on because you don’t want to be hurting your own players in practice with shots and things like that and it’s harder to score. That’s why the goalscorers usually get the most money in this league. It’s hard to score goals.”

At the end of the day, the power play is, indeed, about scoring goals.

How does Whitney measure the success of the power play for the Kings?

“[First], I think us creating power plays is what’s most important and that means that our 5-on-5 game is dictating that,” he added. “From there, the amount of goals. Is our power play winning us some games? Is it costing us games? That’s probably what the most important thing is. If we go 1-for-4 one night or 1-for-5, but we scored it in the third period with four or five minutes left, then that’s a good power play. You did your job for the night. Could it be better? Yes, but at least you were a factor in the win. So, that’s what we’re looking for.”

More from Whitney on the latest episode of All The Kings Men, as he spoke about a number of topics in advance of his first season behind the bench for the Kings. Enjoyed what Whitney had to say, as I felt when speaking with the remainder of the coaching staff over the summer.

Kings are back on the ice today at 11 AM for their final practice before the preseason finale on Saturday. Kings and Ducks at 1 PM from Crypto.com Arena. From there, it’s on to regular-season preparation. Practices on Monday and Tuesday of next week before the real deal gets underway on Wednesday in Colorado.

For today’s skate, expecting to see 15 forwards, eight defensemen and three goaltenders on the ice for sure, with Corey Perry’s status unknown at this time. The name to watch this morning is Mats Zuccarello. Imagine we’d need to see him as a full-contact participant in order for him to potentially get a preseason game in tomorrow. If not, it’ll likely be a focus on Wednesday’s regular-season opener. Be good to get the rep in, but it’s a long season.

Here’s the group expected for today’s training camp session –

Forwards (15) – Joel Armia, Quinton Byfield, Kenny Connors, Erik Haula, Samuel Helenius, Adrian Kempe, Alex Laferriere, Scott Laughton, Andre Lee, Trevor Moore, Artemi Panarin, Alex Turcotte, Taylor Ward, Jared Wright, Mats Zuccarello

Defensemen (8) – Mikey Anderson, Cody Ceci, Brandt Clarke, Drew Doughty, Brian Dumoulin, Joel Edmundson, Erik Gustafsson, Scott Perunovich

Goaltenders (3) – Anton Forsberg, Darcy Kuemper, Erik Portillo