Practice Day 1 Notes – Scrimmage Recap + Increased Physicality, RIP 1-3-1, Copley/Kaliyev Notes

Day 1 is in the books!

For those who are able to read this, hope it’s enjoyed. For those who can’t, a story will also be posted on LAKings.com until Insider is fully back up and running, a problem that is hopefully resolved sooner rather than later.

The LA Kings hit the ice for an extended first day, consisting of four total on-ice sessions. Groups A and B each held a 50-minute practice session, sandwiched around a scrimmage session that consisted of two, 30-minute halves.

Scrimmage Notes
Group A began the day with a 10 AM practice and the scrimmage began just before 11 AM and consisted of two, 30-minute halves, running time.

The first half saw Group B score twice, taking a 2-1 lead in the process. David Rittich was the starting goaltender for Group B, while Darcy Kuemper took the net for Group A.

Group A kicked off the scoring through young Aatu Jamsen, who scored a Michigan-style goal early in the first half. Trevor Moore equalized for Group B with a very Trevor Moore-esque goal. After his linemates, Tanner Jeannot and Phillip Danault, transported the puck through the neutral zone, Moore worked his way into the right-hand circle and snapped a shot past Kuemper with his lightning-quick release, putting the puck just underneath the crossbar and in for a 1-1 score. Taylor Ward scored late in the first half, putting Group B up 2-1 on a rebound goal heading into the ice cut.

In the second half, the scoring was started by an unlikely goalscorer – Jacob Moverare. Moverare drew a tripping penalty behind his own net and by camp scrimmage rules, he was awarded a penalty shot. Moverare moved in, handled the puck onto his forehand and snapped a shot low on the blocker side, past new goaltender Erik Portillo. Group B added a fourth goal from defenseman Joe Hicketts, who had his shot from the goal line deflected past Portillo and in.

Group A pushed back with two goals, one from Kevin Fiala and one from Quinton Byfield, to turn 4-1 into 4-3. Byfield and Fiala connected on the first goal, with Byfield passing from low-to-high and Fiala one-timing it past Pheonix Copley in net. Byfield was then awarded a penalty shot after a tripping call and he deked to the forehand to slot past Copley for another point. Group B iced the game with an empty-net goal from Moore, bringing us to the 5-3 final.

Group B then held their practice session, followed by Group C to conclude the afternoon.

Increased Physicality
As far as Day 1 of camp goes, the format and routine as pretty similar. A practice and a scrimmage for all of the veterans. It wasn’t the same old versions of those events, though.

For Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson, they focused in on the uptick in physicality, right from the puck drop in the scrimmages.

Doughty – The scrimmage felt more physical than we’ve had in the last few years. We signed a lot of physical players and I think they started that right from the start and then everybody kind of jumped in and realized it was going to be a tough battle out there. That was nice to see.

Anderson – I think it was much more physical than it’s been the past years. I think it’s good. It gets guys back in the game, pace and play and everything. I think it’s important, it’ll help us out once we start playing games for real.

When asked after Day 1, Hiller said the same kinds of things.

“I sure did,” Hiller said, when asked about the uptick in physicality. “I saw it in practice, we didn’t have that many contact drills, but when we did at the end, you can see it. I thought the game had a tone to it that I haven’t seen, that was more like the old school. Usually with old school, there’d be a bunch of fights, there still isn’t a lot of fighting, but the physicality and I thought maybe the general seriousness of the scrimmage is what really impressed me.”

Day 1’s scrimmage certainly didn’t consist of fighting, but perhaps got closer than in years past. That comes from intensity and players looking to play a certain way. There were more hits, more intensity during the battles and, overall, an approach that seemed to lean into the acquisitions that were made over the summer. More to come on that area, with several players weighing in on the type of players added to the group this summer.

Stragetic Changes
In terms of strategic and structural changes, the biggest news of the day involved discussion around the 1-3-1 neutral zone approach that the Kings have used over the last couple of seasons.

As Anze Kopitar put it relatively bluntly, “we are not going to play the 1-3-1 this season.”

In today’s scrimmage session, we saw the 1-2-2 used in the neutral zone, something that Adrian Kempe confirmed during his own media availability. We saw the Kings use that approach early in the 5-on-5 session as they get used to a new way of doing things in that area of the ice.

Kempe and Fiala were both players who expressed a desire to deviate from that system in their exit interviews after the 2023-24 season. Both players were asked about the changes today and gave their thoughts on what the team might do differently.

Kempe on 1-3-1: I think that playing the 1-2-2, once we turn the puck over in our favor, I think there’s going to be some times where we get good rush opportunities and that’s where I feel like my game is really good. So, that’s something that I’m excited about, but on the other hand, I think it’s going to be a good way to break out the pucks for the D as well, always having our D back in the right spot……I think it’s going to be a better way to create offense for us, especially in the neutral zone.

Fiala on 1-3-1: Yeah, I mean, it’s good change I think, let’s see how it goes. We still know how to do the 1-3-1, so I don’t know if it’s gone, but yeah, it was a good first day. Good to work on the system, to deal with the guys again and it was lots of fun and excitement. You can feel it.

Jim Hiller also spoke about the decisions to make the change.

“The team has had relatively good success, coming through a short dip in the rebuild, coming through with the 1-3-1, playing the 1-3-1 and making the playoffs three years ago, then two years ago and last year,” Hiller said. “We’ll sit here and I’ll tell you forever we’re not happy that we didn’t advance beyond the first round in either those three years. How much of that success to attribute to the 1-3-1, because there’s certainly some that you have to right? So it’s difficult to just pick one little piece of the game and say that was good or that was bad. They all tie together. So I think the 1-3-1 is a very effective system, I thought the guys played it very well. We just think where we’re at now, as a franchise, it’s time to make an adjustment, to see if we can get the forwards to skate a little bit more and hopefully we get better results because of it.”

Hiller added that he believes the systematic change should allow the forwards to skate more, jiving with what Kempe said during his availability.

There will be more responsibility on the entire team to commit defensively, without that added layer of protection, but the Kings believe this change should better fit their current personnel.

Additional Updates –

– There isn’t a ton to report from Day 1 with regards to incoming injuries, but goaltender Pheonix Copley was a full participant on Day 1.

Copley took a full practice session with Group 2 and played in one half of the scrimmage, the same workload as the other three goaltenders in Groups A and B. It was great to see Copley on the ice.

“Incredible,” Hiller said of Copley. “He tested out in fitness, he was near the top, again. Just a terrible injury, but to see him make it all the way back and earlier than we thought, just because of the work he put in, you have to be happy for him. He loves the game.”

– On forward Arthur Kaliyev, he was on the ice with the full group today and skated with Akil Thomas and Trevor Lewis, two other players who are competing for minutes with the NHL club this season.

In speaking with Hiller, it appears that there will be a fresh start for Kaliyev. As the player spoke with a small group of reporters, the same message seemed to come from Kaliyev himself as well. It’s the only way to make it work, if there is a solution to be found. Sounds like today was a first step towards that happening.

“I’ll just first say this and I talked to Arthur about this, it was a really, really difficult second half, we all know that, but from a personal level, it’s really, really difficult and we empathize with that for him,” Hiller said. “That was a hard summer for him, it really is, and he was up in the air, was he going to come back, wasn’t he? I think the great part of our team is he’s back, he’s a king again, we’ll move what happened in the past from our perspective and he’s had a summer to kind of flush that too, and now he just goes back to the same standard as every other player. Nothing really changes, Arthur’s with us now. He’s had some great games, he’s had some great stretches of time, it’s been a level of consistency for him, a level of detail for him, he knows these aren’t things that he doesn’t know, but it is for every player. Arthur’s got a special skill set, we understand that. He starts a clean slate, but he doesn’t start with doesn’t start up here, he’s like these other guys, who are trying to see, where do I fit.”

– Lastly, Hiller spoke a bit about the delineation of responsibilities among the coaches on the staff.

Hiller, as the Head Coach, manages the bench and runs the show, as he will continue to do. Associate Coach D.J. Smith will largely run the defensemen, while Newell Brown, who joined the staff this summer, will be more with the forwards, alongside Hiller, and will take over the power play. Derik Johnston will be the “eye in the sky” for periods one and two and will join the staff on the bench for the third periods of games, with Samson Lee and the newly added Cole Lussier overseeing video from the locker room.

That’s a wrap for Day 1. Will have plenty more to come in terms of coverage.