Midseason analysis: the defensemen

It good be argued that the toughest opponent for the Kings’ defensemen this season has been health. Early in the season, the Kings planned to pair Drew Doughty with Willie Mitchell, Jack Johnson with Rob Scuderi, and Matt Greene with one of the younger defensemen. What happened? Greene missed the first six games because of mid-summer shoulder surgery. Just when he returned, Drew Doughty missed six games with a concussion. Two games after Doughty returned, Willie Mitchell broke his wrist. In fact, until Jan. 8, the Kings’ full complement of defensemen had been together for only three of the first 40 games. In spite of all that, things didn’t go too badly. The Kings are allowing 2.57 goals per game, the ninth-best total in the NHL, and 27.9 shots on goal per game, the third-best total in the NHL. The defense, in particular, deserves the bulk of the credit for the latter number, a statistic that has been a point of emphasis for the Kings since Terry Murray’s arrival.

The positives? When healthy — which has been in only 17 of 42 games — Mitchell has been as advertised. He’s intelligent, manages the puck well, provides good support for his partner and is particularly adept on the power play. Scuderi is as steady as always, and has even increased his point production this season with some timely assists and a big goal on Dec. 21 at Colorado. Johnson is on pace to shatter his previous career high in points and, when he keeps the game simple, shows signs of being a two-way force. Alec Martinez arrived from the AHL in late November with fairly low expectations, but has been a lineup regular ever since. HIs puck-moving and shooting skills have been solid. For most of the season, the Kings were a top-five team in terms of penalty-kill efficiency, but in this latest 1-6 slide, the penalty-kill numbers have taken a significant hit.

The negatives? Doughty was a Norris Trophy finalist last season. People noticed, particularly NHL opponents, who are making life much more difficult on Doughty. He’s only 21 years old, and in his third NHL season, and there’s almost zero reason for concern about Doughty’s long-term future, but he needs to elevate his game even further and show that he can handle being a target. Doughty was a force on the power play last season, for example. Now, opponents are taking away time and space. How will he deal with that, going forward? Johnson, while still improving in all areas, still tries to do too much at times, rather than making a good, simple play.

What’s next? Again, the pieces are there, if they can stay healthy. If the young defensemen can continue to develop, and the more veteran players can provide their usual, stable play, this shapes up as the area of least concern for the Kings for the rest of the season.