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Have Kings Lacked Leadership?; Reign Eliminated; Defending Zatkoff & Flinn
May 3, 2017, 9:35 AM ET [12 Comments]
Sheng Peng
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A few days ago, John Hoven wrote about the leadership void in the Kings locker room since 2014. Rob Blake, Mike Futa, and Mark Yannetti offered insight:

Since 2014, coming off a run that included two Stanley Cup parades in three years, the Los Angeles Kings have been plagued with constant questions surrounding what’s gone wrong...Yet, nobody actually had the definitive answer, nor a solution.

Then, everything changed in Calgary on March 19, 2017.

It became even more clear 10 days later, against that same Flames team.

A light switch was flipped on. Clouds parted. Answers were now obvious.

And the worst part about this revelation is it was in front of everyone the entire time. Perhaps it was a secret that people knew and didn’t talk about...or it was just missed, until last month...

The 2016-17 Kings largely lacked a key ingredient that has actually been absent for a few years. What was it exactly, you ask?

“When you look at our teams that won, we were so surrounded by incredible leadership,” noted Kings Assistant GM Mike Futa. “If you think about it, they were borderline Hall of Fame leaders -- Mike Richards, Jarret Stoll, Matt Greene. And Justin Williams, that’s another level or form of grit. The amount of ‘pack mentality’ that we had, as far as team toughness, it was incredible...And it was brought to a clear head in that Calgary game. Being out of the playoffs aside, or where we were in the standings, to see the way that all unfolded kind of brought more of a focus on what was missing. When Jarome Iginla, who had only been part of our family for three or four weeks, is the guy that answered the bell the way our entire 2012-2014 teams would normally answer the bell for each other, there’s a concern.”


If more leadership is indeed the key answer to unlocking LA's potential, I'll be surprised. That's said with all due respect to "intangibles" -- chemistry, grit, leadership -- which do matter, even it's difficult to quantify how much.

The 2014-15 Kings, however, still featured Richards, Stoll, Greene, and Williams -- and missed the playoffs. Next season's edition loaded up with Milan Lucic, Vinny Lecavalier, and Rob Scuderi -- and were knocked out in five games. This year, they added Iginla at the Deadline and went 9-8-2 to run themselves out of the postseason chase.

That's a lot of leadership -- and a lot of losing.

So if you want to fling leadership onto the bonfire of LA's would-be dynasty, with the many things which have gone wrong since 2014, sure. But did "intangibles," or a lack of, light the pyre? In other words, was it a chief cause?

I don't think so. Let's hope the organization isn't missing the forest for the trees here.

***

LA's season kicked off with an injury to their starting goalie -- Ontario's closed with an injury to their starting goalie, as they fell to San Diego in a decisive Game Five last night.

Jack Campbell appeared to get hurt during this Game Four sequence:




Campbell trooped on, making 21 saves in a 4-1 victory, supported by Jonny Brodzinski, Justin Auger, Adrian Kempe, and others.

Brodzinski, as usual, was an artist with the puck, while Auger flashed some surprising hands:




Not as surprising? The 6'7" Auger was a bull down low:




Meanwhile, Kempe showed off tenacity and speed:






However, these good vibes did not carry over as the banged-up Campbell was ruled out the next morning. Jeff Zatkoff was tapped to take the reins -- that is, until "Mr. Game One" got hurt during warm-ups.

An aside: There was a ton of vitriol directed at Zatkoff because he couldn't answer the bell. It should be needless to say -- this criticism was unwarranted.

Granted, Zatkoff's work this season has been less than remarkable, and he bears some responsiblity for these results, but getting raked over the coals for a freak injury is ridiculous.

I imagine nobody feels worse about his season than Zatkoff himself.

Anyway, third-stringer Jack Flinn, who had just five previous AHL appearances under his belt, was pressed into action. But after giving up three goals in 15 minutes, he was yanked, and a hobbled Campbell took over.

In Flinn's defense, he was beset by bad luck. His first goal against looked like it was last touched by a Nic Kerdiles high stick:




For whatever reason, this was deemed unworthy of even a review.

Then, the Gulls finished off Flinn with a pinball-like deflection which would've challenged many a netminder.




A laboring Campbell had better fortune, but it was too late, and San Diego eliminated Ontario by a 4-1 score. To the gutty goalie's credit, he let in just two goals over his last two, hampered appearances. Overall, he posted a sparkling 1.70 Goals Against Average and .934 Save % in this series.

***

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