The Los Angeles Kings have 14 games under the belt after last nights OT loss to the New York Islanders, and so far it has been a bit of an up and down season you could say. The team sits at a 7-4-3 record which is 6th in the Western Conference and, of course, just 4th in the Pacific division.
I like to look at the overall trends of the team to kind of figure out what they are all about. It might be a little early, as most pundits say American Thanksgiving is about the time you figure out who is who and what they are about. However, with over a month in the books already here are some trends to look at.
One-Liners
The talk of the Kings team in the past has been that if Anze Kopitar and the top line isn't scoring then the whole team isn't scoring. A problem that was thought to be solved, and looked solved in the 2013-14 postseason. Ya know, that time when the Kings were the highest scoring team in the league and everyone from Trevor Lewis to Kyle Clifford to Dustin Brown was putting the puck in the net? Yea.
Now, unfortunately, in these early goings the Kings are back to being a team that is relying heavily on the production of one line. That line is Carter-Toffoli-Pearson. The trio have accumulated 18 of the Kings 29 goals that have come off the sticks of forwards. That's three members outproducing nine players combined.
The emergence of the youthful talents of Pearson and Toffoli is a definite positive thing, both players are shooting at an unsustainable rate. You have to hope that once they cool off the rest of the team is ready to kick into gear. Too many games lately have gone into a mode of shut down line XYZ and then the Kings can't score.
Offense, My Kingdom for an Offense (And powerplay)
If you have been a Kings fan, this is no surprise to you. The Kings offense, as discussed before, is pretty lackluster at the moment. The Powerplay is even worse. Just like years prior, the Kings are sitting at 26th in the league in goals per game, just a shade over 2.00. It's a 3-2 hockey league right Darryl? Well, the Kings hardly score 2 right now, so, there's that. The powerplay is flying equally as high at 26th, at a 12.8%.
It's hard to pinpoint what exactly makes the Kings powerplay so historically bad, but after moving on from Jamie Kompon to Davis Payne with little to no difference you gotta think it's personnel. Too many cooks in the kitchen perhaps? Too many passers and not enough shooters? Not surprising, the leaders for the Kings in powerplay goals....you guessed it: Toffoli, Pearson, Carter.
This powerplay finished 27th overall last season, 10th during the lockout, and 17th in 2011-12. Are we really that surprised that they are struggling?
Advanced Stat Kings No More?
All the talk after the Kings 2nd cup was how they were the masters of analytics. How they single handedly corsi'd there way to two Stanley Cups.
All of a sudden though the Kings are getting beat in the possession numbers on a nightly basis. After a few years of finishing in the top 5 in the league in corsi and fenwick for percentages, the Kings are scrounging around the area of 15-20 this season so far. On a number of occasions already they have been outshot and out possessed heavily but still managed to pull off victories. It is still too early to say the Kings aren't as strong a possession team as before, but they have been noticably bad in limiting opposing chances this year already. There have been a plethora of injuries and early slumps as well, so take that into consideration.
Jake Muzzin, a corsi golden boy last year, started slow but has slowly begun to readjust his stats and is looking more and more like the Jake Muzzin of old. However, the numbers of Jarret Stoll, Robyn Regehr, Alec Martinez, Dustin Brown, and even Marian Gaborik are not positive from an analytics standpoint. In terms of Marian Gaborik, he and Kopitar both have a negative difference in their zone start percentage. This is definitely an odd thing for Kopitar specifically. Concerning Gaborik, he was one of the better corsi forwards on Columbus back in the lockout shortened 2012-13 season. A season in which he missed just one game.
Some of these numbers will correct themselves over the course of an entire season, but some of them are definitely a step outside the norm for LA and look like they might be more than just a trend of the moment.
Jonathan Freaking Quick
I have questioned his regular season form. I think a lot of people have. Especially when you look at his subpar regular season numbers over the course of the last two years. Say what you went about the past, but as of right now he might be the best goaltender in the league this year.
Quick has been tremendous, outstanding, and whatever other superlative you want to throw in there. He has been them all.
He is currently sitting atop the league with a .943 save percentage (amongst goalies who have played at least 9 games. He has faced a league high 409 shots, and has a sparkling goals against of 1.93. If you are penciling in Vezina winners right now (which you shouldn't be) then put JQs name right smack dab at the top.
And it isn't just the numbers that are impressive. Having had the pleasure of watching him on a nightly basis...the guy has been making saves no human has business making. The athleticism and anticipation have been superb this season, and one can only hope he continues to ride this unbelievable form throughout the year.
It's kind of an odd theory, but maybe the Kings allowing more shots than usual has helped JQ a bit. The Kings have been notoriously stingy with their shot prevention in the past, which has reflected poorly on Quicks numbers. They might allow 18 shots one night, but the 3 chances they allow are Grade-A scoring chances. The Kings are currently allowing 33 shots a night on average, and Quick has been able to get into a grove and pad his stats a bit so to speak.
Regardless, stats or not, Quick has single handedly won the Kings more than a few games this year with highlight reel saves and outstanding performances.
Mike Richards' New Condo
Ahhh the penalty box. Lovely this time of year right? I certainly hope it is since the Kings seem to be making their way to it like they are in there getting Swedish massages and mai tais.
For the second year running the Kings can't stay out of the box. The Kings are currently the 4th most penalized team. They have been averaging just over 14 minutes a night in penalties...and here's the kicker; most of them are minors. The Kings have taken the 5th most minor penalties in the league, led by our main men Mike Richards and Jarret Stoll, each with a whopping seven 10 minors already.
This isn't new territory for Jarret Stoll, who was tied for the team lead amongst forwards last season with Justin Williams for minor penalties with 24. However, Mike Richards took all of 14 minor penalties last year...AND HE ALREADY HAS 10?!?
Wow, slow down Mike. We know you did a bunch of offseason training and all that but if this new found intensity is going to result in more box time then slow down a bit. Richards and Stoll are also two of the Kings primary penalty killers, which can be a bit taxing on guys like Carter or Kopitar.
Overall the Kings penalty kill isn't the greatest this year, but it's not the worst so far. They are sitting at 14th with an 81.5% kill rate.
Slow Starts
You've probably noticed this one as well, but the Kings have been slow slow starters. In fact, the first period is the only period in which the Kings have a negative score differential. They have scored 11 first period goals, but have given up 14.
2nd period? 11 for, 8 against.
3rd period? 9 for, 4 against.
They have been trailing after the first period seven times this year, and have won just two of those games (2-4-1). On the flip side they are 4-0-1 if they are leading after the first.
All the other stuffs
The Kings are currently leading the league in hits, led by Robyn Regehr, Matt Greene, and Brayden McNabb.
They again are the masters of missed shots, leading the league in said category with 194. That means the Kings miss around 14 shots a night on average, most of them Trevor Lewis breakaways I'm sure. Couple that with the fact that the Kings only get about 29.6 shots on goal a game.
They remain an exceptionally strong faceoff team, coming in at 6th overall with Jeff Carter winning 55.6% of his draws this year. Nice job for a guy who played primarily wing all of last year.
Kopitar has 3 points in 11 games. Yea. On pace for a solid 21 points this year.
Overall you can't really complain too much with the Kings so far. There have been some abnormal stats and trends, some of which will readjust moving forward.
But with a record of 7-4-3 it is hard to complain too much considering they have that record while not exactly playing Kings hockey. Kings play 5 games in the next 11 days, including two against the Anaheim Ducks. Should be a good measuring stick game early in the season.
Follow me on twitter for news and notes about the Kings and the NHL
++++I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR ADVERTISERS! If you, or anyone you know would be interested in placing an ad on the blog here at HockeyBuzz then send me a PM!+++++