LAK HALFWAY: WHEN IS A 100-POINT TEAM NOT A 100-POINT TEAM?

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles Kings are just past the halfway mark of a season that has reversed course since the calendar turned to 2024. There was history made with their road winning streak to start the season, a 23-game run that had all the hallmarks of a serious Stanley Cup contender, but a finish (5-9-5) that resembles the play of a non-playoff qualifier.

General Manager Rob Blake’s State of the Union midseason availability on Thursday focused on the team’s lack of execution, specifically at the defensive end of the rink, as the primary reason for the tailspin. The sixth-year GM was clear that with limited roster flexibility due to the team’s proximity to the salary cap ceiling, the option of removing Todd McLellan as coach is not on the table.

“Not at all,” he said. “Our philosophy here for the past three, four years is on the structure and the system and the design in the buying of players and he's gotten that from the play. I'm going to rely on the players in the leadership to get us out of that. No one came home from that trip happy, but their focus coming in today ... it’s going to (get back to playing well) by defending.”

It was a brutal roadtrip for the Kings, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory multiple times, and had they not put up a four-goal third period in Carolina, who knows what Blake’s answer would have been.

There are two circumstances that lead to a change behind the bench, losing regularly and team effort. In speaking with the players both on and off the record, it’s clear they have not quit on McLellan. But you can have all the belief and try in the world, if the losing continues at this pace, Blake’s hand will eventually be forced.

The success of this team lies not with its scheme or cosmetic moves presently at the General Manager’s disposal, it’s about the performance on the ice. As we’ve done before, the grades for the first half of the season follow:

REPORT CARD TIME

A reminder: this is a comprehensive look at the season’s halfway point. Staying true to my preseason analysis, I will defer on a grade for Blake (and team president Luc Robitaille) as the full season performance will dictate that.

Given their play over the last month, some may disagree with the grades being at the higher end of the scale but I’m focusing on the entire body of work for 42 games including incomplete grades for Brandt Clarke, David Rittich and Jaret Anderson-Dolan. The optics are tricky for individual players on a slide this big because with one major exception, no one on the team has underachieved.

COACH

Todd McLellan: B-. It started off as an A but plummeted with an eight-game winless (and nine out of 10) streak, who knows where it would be if not for the Kings big third period in Carolina.

The team was ready at season start, four lines were rolling, opposition offenses were getting swallowed up in the sticky 1-3-1 defense. What could he have done to shorten the winless streak? It would have helped if one of his charges made a winning play during that stretch. Maybe he’s overplayed Cam Talbot in net, maybe a tweak to a scheme opponents seem have figured out to some degree, but this team is still on track for 100 points. High mark for defense and penalty kill, lower for the powerplay (not as bad as some would have you believe at 16th overall) and even lower for the poor home record (how many championship teams start off 7-8-5 at home?).

FORWARDS

Anze Kopitar (captain): A-. In a league that gets increasingly younger, and speed and skill seem to improve daily, a 36-year-old isn’t supposed to be tied for the lead in a scoring for a contending team, but is anyone surprised? We’ve been spoiled with the consistency of his play at the elite level but there has been a bit of regression in his game as the roadtrip lengthened. Blake hinted that he isn’t 100% healthy on Thursday, something to keep track of.

Quinton Byfield: A. With a lot on the line coming into the season, Byfield has delivered. The confidence needed to go along with his skillset arrived and was a major factor in the team’s charge out of the starting gate. His goal in Montreal is my play of the season and even with the fact that he’s on pace for 24 goals over a full season, I think he has even more to give in the goal scoring department.

Trevor Moore: A. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago on our “Kings Of The Podcast” pod that Trevor Moore was my team MVP for the first half. Cam Talbot deserves that title but 20 goals in 42 games makes a pretty strong case, too. Having the health he didn’t possess last season, he’s returned to the form of his 2021-22 season and just not as a goal scorer, he’s a puck hound on the forecheck. A great success story for a local kid.

Adrian Kempe: A-. You might question the grade given he’s on pace for his lowest goal scoring total in three seasons, but Kempe is simultaneously on track for a career year in points, a function of improvement in his overall game. Kempe would have to go on a goal scoring binge to match his career high forty-one of last season but his leadership (comfortable regularly speaking with the media, he’s a leader without a letter) adds to his mark. A better second half on the powerplay (two this season, 11 last) would keep his A for the full semester.

Phil Danault: B+. There’s tons of talk about overpaid centers in Los Angeles, not enough talk about the value of Danault’s deal at a $5.5 million cap hit. He lays it out on the line every night, has been a conduit to Moore’s goal scoring production and is the type of player you need to win a championship. One of the productive players on the rough roadtrip, he may have found the key to unlock the secret of playing with Kevin Fiala.

Blake Lizotte: B+. Lizotte may be becoming the Kings’ version of the New York Islanders’ Casey Cizikis, a fixture on the bottom-six on the Island. Possessing the IQ, tenacity and willingness to accept the 4C role, he’s established himself as a fixture on the Kings depth chart. We’ll see how costly the injury he suffered against Carolina will be, but if not long-term, if he can get back to the double figure goal scoring level of last season, it’s an A. A lower-body injury that could sideline him until after the All-Star break is more costly than you think.

Kevin Fiala: B. A threat to snap Kopitar’s consecutive season streak of leading the team in points, he’s also a threat to a team victory some nights. If he could improve his decision making by 10%, he’d be an A+. The most entertaining player whenever he steps on the ice (though not always in a good way) and one who opposing defenses must account for, the partnership with Moore and Danault seem to have curbed his enthusiasm a bit.

Alex Laferriere: B. A scrap on opening night in front of his family could have earned him an A alone. Alex plays a well-rounded game you would expect for a 22-year-old rookie and is a willing board battler. Like most middle round wingers, the last step in his development is the degree to which he can elevate his offensive game.

Trevor Lewis: B. It’s no mistake that Lewis’ return is aligned with the improvement on the LA penalty kill (from 24th overall to league leading). The Lewis/Lizotte/Carl Grundstrom fourth line was impactful in the first 25 games but with the recent offensive woes, Grundstrom has been shifted around. Assuming the offense gets back on track (and these days, that’s no certainty), a reunion should happen.

Carl Grundstrom: B. Grundstrom defines what an NHL middle six winger is. Referring to the Lizotte/Lewis partnership, Carl looks like he might be a marginal top-six forward playing a solid-two-way game and his underrated shot was finding the net during the hot start. But top-six wingers don’t have 22 game goalless streaks, his current state. He’s contributing too much off the scoresheet to be a scratch but not enough to elevate up the depth chart.

Arthur Kaliyev: C. Drafted as a goal scorer, Kaliyev is in the midst of a 14-game goalless streak, something that shouldn’t occur in his third full NHL season. A scratch on January 2 at home against Toronto seemed to get his attention, he came back more engaged (more shots) in his next two games but was again a healthy scratch in Detroit and Carolina. While I’m not expecting anything big on the trade deadline front for Los Angeles, Kaliyev is at the top of my trade target list of roster players if a significant deal is pulled.

Pierre-Luc Dubois: D-. Los Angeles is getting a $3.5 million performance for an $8.5 million price tag. PL was set up to win upon his arrival in the Golden State with the stability provided by Kopitar, Danault and Lizotte in the pivot, so he didn’t have to be the man from Day 1. The biggest issue is that quality NHL centers must either be productive or hard to play against (the elite centers are both) and Dubois is not providing either. The team won as he attempted to find his way but when they faltered and needed him to elevate his game, he went goalless in seven games. He scored in back-to-back games in Detroit and Carolina, and you can give him a little more leash because he hasn’t played with top wingers but if he replicates his 19-point first half production, the D- goes to an F.

DEFENSE

Drew Doughty: A. The grade was going to be an A- until his eloquent two word tweet of this past weekend. Nothing much has changed for Doughty, presently leading the NHL in time on ice (he’s the only player registering over 26 minutes per night) and he’s matched last season’s goal production in half a season. More importantly, the passion for the game that elevated Drew to a Hall-of-Famer career still burns inside.

Mikey Anderson: A-. The coolness that is the perfect compliment to Doughty’s fire on the top pair. He’ll never be a point producer but his cerebral effectiveness and surprising physicality while lacking great size or speed is a key to the team’s second-best goal against per game.

Vladislav Gavrikov: A-. Not only has he fit in well since Day 1 in Los Angeles, but he also delivers 20 minutes a night while simultaneously managing locker room DJ and choreography. His aggressiveness in the offensive zone has produced less offense than I expected but that doesn’t devalue his importance.

Matt Roy: A-. Using the expected goals percentage as an evaluation tool, Roy and his partner Gavrikov have been the first half’s most effective pairing. It was a bit much for Roy to replicate his goal scoring of last season (nine then, presently with two, but both coming in his last six games). The chatter about Roy is more about his future than his present with unrestricted free agency pending this summer. His cap hit is $3.15 million but he’s at $4.2 million salary wise, which makes a raise to $ 5 million plus in order, a price tag that would be tough for Los Angeles to swallow.

Jordan Spence: B. With the trades of Sean Durzi and Sean Walker in the off-season, Spence got the shot he’s been waiting for since last season. His partnership with Englund on the third pair was not forecasted over the summer and overall, it’s been what you need from a bottom pair. The offensive production is fine (13 points), above average for a third pair, second unit powerplay defender but you’d like him to hit the goal scoring column in the second half. His long-term future may be directly tied to Roy’s – assuming Brandt Clarke is going nowhere (Blake recommitted to the rotation with Spence and Clarke going forward), a Roy extension would move Spence to the 7D spot.

Andreas Englund: B-. The most (only?) willing player to drop the gloves on the roster, Englund has delivered on the team’s third pair on the left side when internal options Toby Bjornfot and Jacob Moverare could not. Like any third pair defender, his game has limitations but at $1 million cap hit for this season and next, his value exceeds his contract.

GOALIE

Cam Talbot: A. Hey Cam, you’re an All Star, you get an A. It came down to Talbot and Alex Nedeljkovic as the choices to pair with the now-departed Pheonix Copley for the Los Angeles net. As much heat as Blake is getting for the Dubois deal, if he didn’t choose Talbot this team isn’t starting 16-4-3. His last couple of performances have him trending in the wrong direction and it may be a sign of fatigue, making David Rittich a key for the second half. The question: Would you extend him for $5 million total over two more seasons?

TEAM

While still on track for 100 points, the peaks and valleys of the season’s first half makes it appear the Kings haven’t improved markedly over last season’s one playoff round and out squad. Are they equipped to meet and defeat Edmonton should they play for a third consecutive season? Can they meet the physicality of the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights? Can they shut down the offensive prowess of the Colorado Avalanche or the Vancouver Canucks?

At Thanksgiving of 2023, the answer was yes. On January 19, 2024, the final 40 games may determine the long-range future of the franchise.

With the roster set and virtually no cap space at the trade deadline with Viktor Arvidsson coming off LTIR in February, unless Arvidsson can’t make it all the way back, what you see now is probably what you’ll get post trade deadline.

There is still plenty of talent on this team but it’s a team that needs to play with more desperation in the second half. Setting all the cliches aside – somehow, someway, Los Angeles needs to find a way to win its first playoff round in 10 years.