Day 2 Camp Primer + Fiala Talks Finding His On-Ice Home, Line Chemistry, Fatherhood

Day 2, Insiders.

The Kings are back on the ice for a second spin here this morning. The format, overall, remains the same. The Kings will have a practice session at 10 AM, a scrimmage around 11 and a second practice session at noon, followed by the final practice of the day at 1 PM. That stays the same, though there will be some small tweaks regarding who is in what session.

For starters, Groups A and B are flopped from Day 1. Group B skates at 10 and scrimmages at 11, while Group A scrimmages first and then practices at 12. Group C will remain in the 1 PM slot. In terms of who is in what group, while all of the veterans are still in place, the Kings made some adjustments between Days 1 and 2 regarding the deployment and alignment. Day 2’s lineup is shown below –

Group A
Alex Laferriere – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala – Quinton Byfield – Warren Foegele
Jeff Malott – Alex Turcotte – Samuel Fagemo
Liam Greentree – Glenn Gawdin – Martin Chromiak

Vladislav Gavrikov – Jordan Spence
Andreas Englund – Kyle Burroughs
Jakub Dvorak – Corbin Vaughan
Jared Woolley – Angus Booth

Darcy Kuemper
Carter George

Group B
Tanner Jeannot – Phillip Danault – Trevor Moore
Arthur Kaliyev – Akil Thomas – Trevor Lewis
Andre Lee – Samuel Helenius – Taylor Ward
Aatu Jamsen – Kaleb Lawrence – Koehn Ziemmer

Mikey Anderson – Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson – Brandt Clarke
Jacob Moverare – Joe Hicketts
Caleb Jones – Matthew Mania

David Rittich
Pheonix Copley

Group C
Shawn Element – Francesco Pinelli – Jacob Doty
Charles Hudon – Jack Studnicka – Tyler Madden
Cole Davis – Jake Wise – John Parker-Jones
Quinn Olson – Oliver Tulk – Ethan Neutens
Bryce Brodzinski – Luke Woodworth – Patrick Moynihan
Arvid Caderoth

Luke Rowe – Jack Millar
Parker Berge – Reilly Walsh
Dru Krebs

Erik Portillo
Dryden McKay

Defenseman Cole Krygier (maintenance day) is not expected to practice today.

Yesterday was our first chance of the season to connect with forward Kevin Fiala.

Fiala’s quote about moving away from the 1-3-1 in the neutral zone was perhaps the most important to share on Day 1, considering what he said during his exit interview. Fiala is an offensively-gifted player who appreciates creative freedom and the ability to create off the rush and in transition. That can’t be done free-wheeling and the Kings will need defensive buy-in as they transition away the 1-3-1. Fiala spoke about that after yesterday’s practice but he also touched on a number of different topics.

For Fiala, he’s in search of an on-ice home.

On Day 1, that home was the left wing on a line with Quinton Byfield and Warren Foegele.

“It’s always nice if you have YOUR linemates,” Fiala said. “Obviously it’s also good that you can move around, play with anybody, especially when the coach needs to do it or when the team doesn’t work, whatever it is, but obviously it’s nice to have your linemates. I’m going to try to to have that this year a little more.”

It’s been two years in the making here and it’s still a work in progress.

It hasn’t hindered Fiala, who has produced 70+ points in back-to-back seasons, but perhaps his value could be even greater offensively with more consistency. His versatility has been good, showing the ability to collect points even when playing with more defensively-oriented players. To begin training camp, Fiala is skating with two very gifted players. Byfield is currently working back at the center position, where he grew up and where he’s played throughout his amateur career. He has NHL experience there too, but broke out offensively last season playing on the wing, on the team’s top forward line.

Having him at center is important for the Kings, who are hoping to execute what they were not able to last season. The hope was for Fiala and Pierre-Luc Dubois to form that third line to create matchups other teams couldn’t handle. That duo did not click, with Fiala finding success with Phillip Danault’s line and Dubois ultimately traded over the summer to Washington. With Byfield, he’s not going anywhere, and on paper, it’s an exciting pairing. With the hardworking and speedy Foegele as the third member, there’s a lot of potential. It could take time, as Fiala admitted, but it’s also important to gel as quickly as possible and that’s part of the goal early here in camp.

“Yeah, it’s big, it’s obviously big, you always want to try to feel as comfortable as possible, always,” Fiala said. “You want to figure it out right away, but sometimes it doesn’t work, sometimes it takes one, two, three weeks, whatever, maybe a month and then when it clicks, it clicks So, I don’t think we can be frustrated if doesn’t work out right away, but I’m comfortable. I played with Q a little bit in the past and I’m comfortable with him and Foegs as well, I’ve seen him the last week and seen what he can do, obviously, playing against him, you can tell a little bit what he does and also today. So, yeah, it will be interesting, it will be exciting and let’s see how it works out.”

For Fiala, there is obviously the on-ice component, but he also comes into his first training camp as a father, after he and his wife Jessica welcomed their first child just after the playoffs ended.

Other than not quite getting the sleep he might’ve in the past, Fiala almost struggled to put into words how much being a father means to him, personally.

“It’s just different, a different life, a better life,” he said. “It’s awesome. I can’t even describe it first, it’s just happiness. I can’t really tell you how it is, I mean, you’ve got to feel it as a dad.”

For today, Father Fiala and the Kings hit the ice again at 10 AM to begin the second day of training camp. Looking for the same level of performance and intensity from the team in the scrimmage setting, as well as perhaps some different things worked into practices. Full coverage to follow later in the day!