Los Angeles Kings

What Is Kings Hockey Now?
April 11, 2017, 11:11 PM ET [16 Comments]
Sheng Peng
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT


(Updated 4/12/17, 2:36 AM)

This afternoon, Dan Beckerman introduced Luc Robitaille as President of the Kings and Rob Blake as General Manager.

Here are some of my thoughts about the press conference and other hits from Robitaille, Blake, and Drew Doughty.

Luc Robitaille

We believe this team has the core in place to contend for the Stanley Cup. Guys like Kopi, Jeff, and Drew...Jonathan Quick, these guys are all in their prime.


When the Kings touch down in China this fall, Kopitar, Carter, and Quick will all be on the wrong side of 30. This doesn't mean that they can't still perform at an elite level -- the 32-year-old Carter was enjoying a Hart-quality campaign through February -- but as we saw with Dustin Brown and Marian Gaborik, the wall hits unexpectedly.

The organization is betting that Kopitar rebounds from a career-worst year, Quick stays healthy, and Carter keeps it up. It's not an unreasonable bet, but it's always a dicier gamble to build around an aging, possibly declining core.

There are a lot of coaches, they'll say the way they're doing things, that's their formula and they're going to stick with it. There are other coaches that try to adapt every year.
("Petros & Money Show")


We can guess which kind of coach Darryl Sutter is. But I don't see this as a stinging rebuke. Sutter won two titles, while in another sport, Phil Jackson won 11 with his unwavering Triangle offense.

However, this might give us the hint that LA will be looking for a coach who's more flexible.

At the end of the day, it's a results game. ("Petros & Money Show")


If everybody is being held to the championship-caliber standard that Lombardi/Sutter established (and admittedly failed in recent years), will Robitaille/Blake be on the same, relatively short leash?

Rob Blake

I'm going to keep it a little bit short.





Mike [Futa] has been tremendous...

There are vacant positions...

I'm going to lean tremendously on him...

We'll come with an agreement here shortly.


John Hoven's guess here seems solid:




We don't score. It's flat. It's been that way this year. There needs to be some emphasis on how we're going to do that.


One way to score more goals is to tweak the power play. To that end, assistant coach Davis Payne, who oversaw LA's 15th-ranked unit, was dismissed.

There was an emphasis on shot mentality on Payne's man advantage, will that change?

I also wonder if we will see more progressive 1-3-1 and four forwards-one defenseman alignments next season?

Just speculating, but I'd guess the team's underlying stats will look different next year with more of an emphasis on high-quality scoring chances and less on Sutter's commitment to shot volume.

Los Angeles has dominated shot quantity for half a decade -- will such changes dethrone the "Corsi Kings"?

I figure there might be a couple less bottom-six grinders around next year too.




Adding this to my guess that the Kings will seek a more flexible head coach, maybe they look at veteran Lindy Ruff? Ruff had a reputation as a "defense first and better defense second" coach in Buffalo, but he adjusted to his personnel after the lockout and let the Sabres and then the Stars open it up.

Drew Doughty

Jim Hill: Did this surprise you at all?

Doughty: I wasn't completely shocked. I was a little surprised that Dean was leaving as well. (LAKings.com)


Doesn't it sound like the locker room had some idea that Sutter was departing, but not Lombardi?

We’ve been taught with the same things over and over for so long we’re almost easy to read because we’ve been doing it for so long. (LA Times)


I believe the team's failures this season had more to do with ineffective personnel than being "easy to read." But this is a damning quote.

We have a lot of guys that can skate real fast and we need to bring that out of them and I think a different system might bring that out. (LA Times)


Sutter always emphasized playing fast over skating fast. He wasn't wrong. Doughty isn't either. Another system may indeed highlight LA's skating. How effective it will be is the question.

This supports the notion that a couple grinders may leave. And my best guess is Jarome Iginla walks.

I also wonder how such prospective systemic changes will affect the Ontario Reign and Mike Stothers next year?

The Reign are taught to play Kings hockey, but what is Kings hockey now?