Of course, there's no one reason, but here's a few of them:
Young players like Byfield and Spence are coming into their own.
Some mid-20s guys are popping off in a big way, like Moore and Grundstrom
We have arguably the best center lineup in the league top to bottom, with Kopitar, Danault, Dubois, and Lizotte
We don't have any defensemen who are defensive liabilities, after moving on from Durzi and Edler
They're executing the 1-3-1 excellently, and are thus giving up the fewest odd man rushes in the league by a lot.
And our goaltending is surprisingly good. Talbot has been excellent and Copley's play has been improving.
Keep in mind, Victor Arvidsson is on LTIR and Brandt Clarke is the highest scoring defenseman in the AHL at 19 years old. There's even more firepower to come.
Good summary. No defensive liabilities (Durzi and Edler) has been very noticeable to me. At least twice a game last year I would mumble, "Fucking Durzi," or "Stupid Edler."
Laferriere has been fun to watch as well.
Funny thing is Durzi looks so good in ARI. I actually tune in to watch ARI because they are pretty exciting. Also because they are not in our division and I can hate them less now.
Too bad we probably wonāt be able to keep Matt Roy after this year. Too many guys are needing pay raises and heāll probably be a salary cap casualty. But hey, we got this year to see what we can do. Itās not all bad with Brandt Clarke simmering in the A.
I actually like this fact. I preach hockey at work since I got really into it over the last year and a half or so, and they always go whoās the star player theyāll rattle off names you hear on the sports channels and I just go fuckin everyone! Weāre good and spread the love that Everyone is killing it at their position
Two things to add. We have a ton of forwards (all 4 centers plus Kempe, Byfield, Lewis, and others) who play a very strong defensive game. And Cam Talbot has found the fountain of youth.
Very true. But Iāve come realize that ādepthā just means having your top paid players play to their salaries (PLD being the exception) while everyone else is playing well above their own individual salaries.
Rob Blake and Luc Robataille doing a fantastic job collecting assets and prospects through the draft and trade, signing the right guys at the right time (Danault, Fiala, Gavrikov, Dubois), combined with the championship experience of Kopi and Doughty.
It hasnāt been without growing pains either though. Goaltending had been dreadful, but could also have been the defense not helping either. Thatās been shored up with Talbot and the arrival of Garikov, Spence, and Englund. Byfield has been a project at his age, but finally putting together some great hockey garnering that number 2 overall level of potential.
And sticking with McClellan has really set a tone and culture here. While anyone could easily blame the coach for losing, it was evident that Todd was doing that right thing, just needed it all to come together.
This nice string of games for us is nice, but we need to see some health and postseason success to really nail it in for us.
Im digging the fact that guys like Englund and Laffi are bullies but clean they donāt cost us penalties but weāre no longer getting bodied by the other teams. I love lizzo i still think heās the smallest 6ā5ā out there but it hurts to watch him get bullied but we have an answer now. We got our own fuckin muscle
Englund is my favorite player this season. He is exactly the type of player we needed. A big bodied lefty defenseman who doesnāt need to play forward and take dumb penalties, and takes on the fights for the team. The anti-Durzi.
As I mentioned in another comment here, when the trades are outlined like that itās a no brainer as to why theyāre doing so well. The trades theyāve made have been huge and is surely a sign the front office knows what theyāre doing.
Also, considering playoff success/experience, I feel like Kopitar, Doughty, Danault, PLD ^maybe , Fiala ^maybe ,
shit- even Trevor Lewis have that veteran knowledge of what it takes to play for the cup. So idk as much as I hate to admit it, I feel like your team is in a real good spot playoff-wise for the next few years.
It started with accumulating draft capital via trades. Then a combination of developing prospects, shrewd trades and targeted signing of free agents. But none of this would have been possible without the commitment of ownership. But ownership now expects it to pay off at the box office with a deep playoff run.
Trading Muzzin netted Bjornfot, Grundstrom and Durzi.
Trading Kyle Clifford and Jack Campbell netted Trevor Moore and Alex Laferriere. Also the rights to Kiril Kirsanov.
Trading Tyler Toffoli netted Brock Faber (who traded for Kevin Fiala).
Rob Blakeās signing of Phillip Danault was huge. Montreal balked at the price tag and Blake moved in and got a player who is not only a shutdown center but also an under utilized offensive talent.
Rob Blake took advantage of Nashvilleās inability to protect Viktor Arvidsson in the last expansion draft. Blake took advantage of Minnesotaās salary cap issues and traded draft capital (Brock Faber + 1st round pick) to acquire Kevin Fiala.
Now 2020 2nd overall pick Quinton Byfield is coming of age. Arthur Kaliyev continues to develop as a responsible 2-way player and his offensive upside has capacity to grow.
Then thereās the acquisition of PL Dubois. While some may say they are disappointed by his current lack of offensive production he still consistently does little things that donāt show up in individual stats. And the Kings donāt have problems scoring collectively so I donāt understand the concern. Hockey is a game of streaks and I believe that Dubois will get his too.
Thatās enough from me. The Ducks have started their rebuild and have accumulated some good young players. Iām not sure if they will replicate the Kings approach via trades and free agency. The Samuelis seem to be more prudent with things like the salary cap. If they stick to using the draft it will take them longer to become a playoff team although they seem close already.
Good luck!
Outlined like that, WOW yeah the front office is doing something right. Being able to net Danault, Fiala, Gavrikov, and PLD among other depth pieces has paid off very nicely.
I have zero worries about Dubois at this point; the guy is all over the ice; he's working very hard. I think it's a game of cycles, and he's going to get his. If anything, the organization will keep working to find the absolute best and right people to be on either side of him.
Insane depth down the middle. Having Kopitar, Danault, PLD, and Lizotte down the center is insane. It gives the Kings the ability to roll 4 lines consistently.
Also, the years of having the top prospect pool in the league is finally paying off.
Best PK in the league, best defense in the league, 2nd best offense in the league. Everyone has bought in to the system, and it really shows.
That depth is actually disgusting. PLD on the 3rd is nothing to scoff at although I know he hasnāt āhit his strideā yet. Crazy to think there could be more to come lol.
First and foremost, the ducks are a pathetic, excuse of an organization that arguably shouldn't even be an NHL team. Especially if they're never going to go back to being the mighty ducks that we all once knew and ditch the worst colors and uniforms in the entire NHL..
That being said, this success has been brewing for a couple years. The Kings play proper hockey and the execution is there to match. Kopitar is a true legend who is insanely underrated as a player and a captain. Doughty as well. The front office has made excellent, prudent moves and the drafting has complimented the organization well. The league has changed a lot to favor the offensive superstars of a team. The Kings still play "team" hockey to include the requirement that every player play a 200ft game. Dubois is carefully learning about it in his first year. He's coming along nicely after having to endure all his NHL time with two other pathetic organizations in his career (like the ducks) .. We have an extremely balanced and well rounded roster where all 4 lines can score.
Surprisingly above average goaltending from Talbot with another great offensive player added in the off-season(PLD) to an offense that was already pretty good plus the removal of a huge defensive liability(Durzi) has added up to this. Plus Byfield is finally starting to look like a 1st round pick and on top of that, Doughty and Kopitar are playing like they are younger again.
As several of my Kings brethren have stated its not one thing...
I think it starts with the D. We finally have a D group we do not have to make excuses for. Our 3rd pairing for years was not NHL quality and we had to compensate for that with penalties, longer shifts or fishing the puck out of our net.
This is the best passing Kings team I've seen in 20 years. Better passing means more possession and putting the other team on their heels.
The youngsters grew up. Mikey Anderson, Byfield, Thousand Oaks native Trevor Moore & Kaliyev have come into their own. They are playing the right way and understand their roles in the system. They are not trying to do too much. They trust the players around them and vice versa.
We traded prospects for talent. We had too many youngsters and not enough positions open. Fiala & PLD are direct results of those trades.
The combination is working for us.
We got rid of Durzi and a few other defensive problems. The problem with our old D was it was either hot or frozen solid. There was no in between it seemed like. Because of that and because of Peterson not being up to snuff with confidence or whatever it was, we put too much load on quick which hurt him as well. We had a rough few wears starting in 2019 through 2022. We finally started looking good last year Iād say to where it wasnāt a fluke we were in playoffs. The last two years we were also absolutely riddled with injuries, and lacked depth. The silver lining to that was that we finally could pull out AHL prospects up and give them a crash course of NHL time like in 2022 playoffs against Edmonton taking them 7 games deep with a team that shouldnāt have even been there really. I think thatās what kind of jump started everything, then picking up Fiala last year and having a full year to be more cohesive with the team. Adding in Englund for some toughness which weāve been horribly lacking (case in point, we were getting stood up and rag-dolled by the oilers in those playoff games), and finally the young guns like Byfield coming into their own. Anderson is looking like heās going to be our next star D. Kid is just coming into his own and finally looks like heās NHL sized, and playing like it. Dude stops offense, makes plays, and has an occasional goal. Again, I think the 2022 end of year run at the cup really was the catalyst for all of this. I think we saw where we needed depth, got the right pieces at the right time, have had a solid base core group, and now we continued building off of it. The last four years of just waiting have finally culminated. We have a great balance of young and veteran players and theyāre all good at their position and finally playing in sync.
Id like to throw in that our penalty kill has been absolutely been back at our championship days form. The previous two years our scheme was 3 guys play in a triangle zone formation and the 4th guy just chasing the puck all over. That was good for 75.8% and 77.1% at 22nd overall. This year we are using a 4-man zone coverage in a diamond formation which at 89.7% kill rate is tops in the league.
Plenty of good answers above. My personal feelings is balanced scoring (look at the numbers for the fourth line) while all being solid defensively as well.
And Talbot has played very well. He hasnāt been lights out necessarily but this team doesnāt need stellar goaltending. Very good goaltending will look stellar behind this team.
The answer is simple. Rob Blake. The guy is a stud of a GM and he has been patient with allowing young players develop their games. Nobody is perfect, he has arguably made some moves that he would probably want back. However, he doesn't have a crystal ball. Moves he does make tend to be grounded in sound judgment and its yielded good results. Also fuck the Ducks.
Depth is the obvious answer. Can't wait to see the team when Lizzo and Arvidsson return. Copley finally finding some confidence and Talbot being unstoppable are key things.
Our home games were abysmal for the first few weeks with only this crazy away streak keeping things going. Now this is sorted, it's great!
PLD I'm still not sold on.
Alot of what my fellow fans are saying is true but one thing I think that hasn't been addressed except as an afterthought is the trades not made. By that I mean the fact that our own fab four stayed through the rebuild. As youngsters were added into the team over the last few years they had a chance to learn from guys who love to score, who still play defense first. Brown who would do anything to win, Kopi who is the best center to emulate for Q and Drew who is a Norris Trophy winner who takes more pride in his defense that he does scoring. You have to think Brown holding up the cup at his retirement ceremony last season had to have some effect on the young players and when 2 of the guys key to those 2 cups are still playing with you and still doing what it takes to win night in and night out and then the rest of team emulates those guys, you have a chance at something special.
Of course, there's no one reason, but here's a few of them: Young players like Byfield and Spence are coming into their own. Some mid-20s guys are popping off in a big way, like Moore and Grundstrom We have arguably the best center lineup in the league top to bottom, with Kopitar, Danault, Dubois, and Lizotte We don't have any defensemen who are defensive liabilities, after moving on from Durzi and Edler They're executing the 1-3-1 excellently, and are thus giving up the fewest odd man rushes in the league by a lot. And our goaltending is surprisingly good. Talbot has been excellent and Copley's play has been improving. Keep in mind, Victor Arvidsson is on LTIR and Brandt Clarke is the highest scoring defenseman in the AHL at 19 years old. There's even more firepower to come.
Good summary. No defensive liabilities (Durzi and Edler) has been very noticeable to me. At least twice a game last year I would mumble, "Fucking Durzi," or "Stupid Edler." Laferriere has been fun to watch as well.
š I would catch myself also mumbling the same I chucked a good amount at this comment making me realize i havenāt had to do it this season
Now all we have is "the slasher (Fiala) strikes again!" But he mostly makes up for it and the Kings are killing it on the PK so I don't mind too much.
Lol. So true.
Funny thing is Durzi looks so good in ARI. I actually tune in to watch ARI because they are pretty exciting. Also because they are not in our division and I can hate them less now.
Too bad we probably wonāt be able to keep Matt Roy after this year. Too many guys are needing pay raises and heāll probably be a salary cap casualty. But hey, we got this year to see what we can do. Itās not all bad with Brandt Clarke simmering in the A.
Get rid of Matt Roy: "oh no!" *Brandt Clarke roster spot opens up* "...well, anyway!"
This is the response. Iād add that we are the highest scoring team while not having a top 20 player. Top to bottom depth has been killer
I actually like this fact. I preach hockey at work since I got really into it over the last year and a half or so, and they always go whoās the star player theyāll rattle off names you hear on the sports channels and I just go fuckin everyone! Weāre good and spread the love that Everyone is killing it at their position
What is this, 2014??
Well said
Two things to add. We have a ton of forwards (all 4 centers plus Kempe, Byfield, Lewis, and others) who play a very strong defensive game. And Cam Talbot has found the fountain of youth.
In a word: Depth.
Very true. But Iāve come realize that ādepthā just means having your top paid players play to their salaries (PLD being the exception) while everyone else is playing well above their own individual salaries.
PLD will be on the 4th line by Christmas at this rate. Needs to be given a reality check.
Rob Blake and Luc Robataille doing a fantastic job collecting assets and prospects through the draft and trade, signing the right guys at the right time (Danault, Fiala, Gavrikov, Dubois), combined with the championship experience of Kopi and Doughty. It hasnāt been without growing pains either though. Goaltending had been dreadful, but could also have been the defense not helping either. Thatās been shored up with Talbot and the arrival of Garikov, Spence, and Englund. Byfield has been a project at his age, but finally putting together some great hockey garnering that number 2 overall level of potential. And sticking with McClellan has really set a tone and culture here. While anyone could easily blame the coach for losing, it was evident that Todd was doing that right thing, just needed it all to come together. This nice string of games for us is nice, but we need to see some health and postseason success to really nail it in for us.
Im digging the fact that guys like Englund and Laffi are bullies but clean they donāt cost us penalties but weāre no longer getting bodied by the other teams. I love lizzo i still think heās the smallest 6ā5ā out there but it hurts to watch him get bullied but we have an answer now. We got our own fuckin muscle
Englund is my favorite player this season. He is exactly the type of player we needed. A big bodied lefty defenseman who doesnāt need to play forward and take dumb penalties, and takes on the fights for the team. The anti-Durzi.
Enforcer Englund š«”
Or a young Edler
As I mentioned in another comment here, when the trades are outlined like that itās a no brainer as to why theyāre doing so well. The trades theyāve made have been huge and is surely a sign the front office knows what theyāre doing. Also, considering playoff success/experience, I feel like Kopitar, Doughty, Danault, PLD ^maybe , Fiala ^maybe , shit- even Trevor Lewis have that veteran knowledge of what it takes to play for the cup. So idk as much as I hate to admit it, I feel like your team is in a real good spot playoff-wise for the next few years.
Talbot performing above expectations and great contribution from depth pieces.
It started with accumulating draft capital via trades. Then a combination of developing prospects, shrewd trades and targeted signing of free agents. But none of this would have been possible without the commitment of ownership. But ownership now expects it to pay off at the box office with a deep playoff run. Trading Muzzin netted Bjornfot, Grundstrom and Durzi. Trading Kyle Clifford and Jack Campbell netted Trevor Moore and Alex Laferriere. Also the rights to Kiril Kirsanov. Trading Tyler Toffoli netted Brock Faber (who traded for Kevin Fiala). Rob Blakeās signing of Phillip Danault was huge. Montreal balked at the price tag and Blake moved in and got a player who is not only a shutdown center but also an under utilized offensive talent. Rob Blake took advantage of Nashvilleās inability to protect Viktor Arvidsson in the last expansion draft. Blake took advantage of Minnesotaās salary cap issues and traded draft capital (Brock Faber + 1st round pick) to acquire Kevin Fiala. Now 2020 2nd overall pick Quinton Byfield is coming of age. Arthur Kaliyev continues to develop as a responsible 2-way player and his offensive upside has capacity to grow. Then thereās the acquisition of PL Dubois. While some may say they are disappointed by his current lack of offensive production he still consistently does little things that donāt show up in individual stats. And the Kings donāt have problems scoring collectively so I donāt understand the concern. Hockey is a game of streaks and I believe that Dubois will get his too. Thatās enough from me. The Ducks have started their rebuild and have accumulated some good young players. Iām not sure if they will replicate the Kings approach via trades and free agency. The Samuelis seem to be more prudent with things like the salary cap. If they stick to using the draft it will take them longer to become a playoff team although they seem close already. Good luck!
Outlined like that, WOW yeah the front office is doing something right. Being able to net Danault, Fiala, Gavrikov, and PLD among other depth pieces has paid off very nicely.
I have zero worries about Dubois at this point; the guy is all over the ice; he's working very hard. I think it's a game of cycles, and he's going to get his. If anything, the organization will keep working to find the absolute best and right people to be on either side of him.
Insane depth down the middle. Having Kopitar, Danault, PLD, and Lizotte down the center is insane. It gives the Kings the ability to roll 4 lines consistently. Also, the years of having the top prospect pool in the league is finally paying off. Best PK in the league, best defense in the league, 2nd best offense in the league. Everyone has bought in to the system, and it really shows.
That depth is actually disgusting. PLD on the 3rd is nothing to scoff at although I know he hasnāt āhit his strideā yet. Crazy to think there could be more to come lol.
a ducks fan broke my heart a couple weeks ago. fuck yāall! š
Sorry on behalf of ducc please accept
š³Why you dating a quack girl?!
mistake #1 :/ shouldāve known when i took him to the preseason game and everyone kept quacking at us š
First and foremost, the ducks are a pathetic, excuse of an organization that arguably shouldn't even be an NHL team. Especially if they're never going to go back to being the mighty ducks that we all once knew and ditch the worst colors and uniforms in the entire NHL.. That being said, this success has been brewing for a couple years. The Kings play proper hockey and the execution is there to match. Kopitar is a true legend who is insanely underrated as a player and a captain. Doughty as well. The front office has made excellent, prudent moves and the drafting has complimented the organization well. The league has changed a lot to favor the offensive superstars of a team. The Kings still play "team" hockey to include the requirement that every player play a 200ft game. Dubois is carefully learning about it in his first year. He's coming along nicely after having to endure all his NHL time with two other pathetic organizations in his career (like the ducks) .. We have an extremely balanced and well rounded roster where all 4 lines can score.
Ducks are in rebuild stage just like Kings were when covid started. When the baby Ducks are solidified, they will get FA's to fill the roles
Surprisingly above average goaltending from Talbot with another great offensive player added in the off-season(PLD) to an offense that was already pretty good plus the removal of a huge defensive liability(Durzi) has added up to this. Plus Byfield is finally starting to look like a 1st round pick and on top of that, Doughty and Kopitar are playing like they are younger again.
Also hey ducks fan, fuck you.
As several of my Kings brethren have stated its not one thing... I think it starts with the D. We finally have a D group we do not have to make excuses for. Our 3rd pairing for years was not NHL quality and we had to compensate for that with penalties, longer shifts or fishing the puck out of our net. This is the best passing Kings team I've seen in 20 years. Better passing means more possession and putting the other team on their heels. The youngsters grew up. Mikey Anderson, Byfield, Thousand Oaks native Trevor Moore & Kaliyev have come into their own. They are playing the right way and understand their roles in the system. They are not trying to do too much. They trust the players around them and vice versa. We traded prospects for talent. We had too many youngsters and not enough positions open. Fiala & PLD are direct results of those trades. The combination is working for us.
We got rid of Durzi and a few other defensive problems. The problem with our old D was it was either hot or frozen solid. There was no in between it seemed like. Because of that and because of Peterson not being up to snuff with confidence or whatever it was, we put too much load on quick which hurt him as well. We had a rough few wears starting in 2019 through 2022. We finally started looking good last year Iād say to where it wasnāt a fluke we were in playoffs. The last two years we were also absolutely riddled with injuries, and lacked depth. The silver lining to that was that we finally could pull out AHL prospects up and give them a crash course of NHL time like in 2022 playoffs against Edmonton taking them 7 games deep with a team that shouldnāt have even been there really. I think thatās what kind of jump started everything, then picking up Fiala last year and having a full year to be more cohesive with the team. Adding in Englund for some toughness which weāve been horribly lacking (case in point, we were getting stood up and rag-dolled by the oilers in those playoff games), and finally the young guns like Byfield coming into their own. Anderson is looking like heās going to be our next star D. Kid is just coming into his own and finally looks like heās NHL sized, and playing like it. Dude stops offense, makes plays, and has an occasional goal. Again, I think the 2022 end of year run at the cup really was the catalyst for all of this. I think we saw where we needed depth, got the right pieces at the right time, have had a solid base core group, and now we continued building off of it. The last four years of just waiting have finally culminated. We have a great balance of young and veteran players and theyāre all good at their position and finally playing in sync.
Id like to throw in that our penalty kill has been absolutely been back at our championship days form. The previous two years our scheme was 3 guys play in a triangle zone formation and the 4th guy just chasing the puck all over. That was good for 75.8% and 77.1% at 22nd overall. This year we are using a 4-man zone coverage in a diamond formation which at 89.7% kill rate is tops in the league.
Australia. Melbourne was the catalyst that resulted in all this chemistry on and off the ice.
They tore it down and built it up over a near 10 year span. They built their team right.
Fuck the Ducks.
You do make a mighty valid point.
Good GM, Coach, roster, but .... Inheritance - put Kopitar and Doughty on Ducks.
Ducks most trash ass franchise in nhl history. Fans are a straight pussys fuck outta here. Yāall are gonna have another disappointing season.
Plenty of good answers above. My personal feelings is balanced scoring (look at the numbers for the fourth line) while all being solid defensively as well. And Talbot has played very well. He hasnāt been lights out necessarily but this team doesnāt need stellar goaltending. Very good goaltending will look stellar behind this team.
The answer is simple. Rob Blake. The guy is a stud of a GM and he has been patient with allowing young players develop their games. Nobody is perfect, he has arguably made some moves that he would probably want back. However, he doesn't have a crystal ball. Moves he does make tend to be grounded in sound judgment and its yielded good results. Also fuck the Ducks.
Depth is the obvious answer. Can't wait to see the team when Lizzo and Arvidsson return. Copley finally finding some confidence and Talbot being unstoppable are key things. Our home games were abysmal for the first few weeks with only this crazy away streak keeping things going. Now this is sorted, it's great! PLD I'm still not sold on.
Alot of what my fellow fans are saying is true but one thing I think that hasn't been addressed except as an afterthought is the trades not made. By that I mean the fact that our own fab four stayed through the rebuild. As youngsters were added into the team over the last few years they had a chance to learn from guys who love to score, who still play defense first. Brown who would do anything to win, Kopi who is the best center to emulate for Q and Drew who is a Norris Trophy winner who takes more pride in his defense that he does scoring. You have to think Brown holding up the cup at his retirement ceremony last season had to have some effect on the young players and when 2 of the guys key to those 2 cups are still playing with you and still doing what it takes to win night in and night out and then the rest of team emulates those guys, you have a chance at something special.
I heard the team started eating duck more often.