SEVEN SMOLDERING SITUATIONS IN L.A.

LOS ANGELES, CA -- Less than a week from the 2021 Los Angeles Kings season opener against the Minnesota Wild, there is some clarity on what the season will look like.

While internal optimism is higher than it has been since 2018, the external consensus has the team more likely fighting for the lottery than post-season positioning. With uncertainty comes questions or more aptly named, situations that will determine Los Angeles’ final standing.

So, I give you the Seven Smoldering Situations in L.A.:

1. A Wild Start – For those believing Los Angeles will be in the mix for the post-season in the Honda West, the Minnesota Wild probably hold the key for post-season contention. Eight of the first 20 games are against Minnesota and L.A. must improve their recent form against the State of Hockey six (2-3-1 over last two campaigns) to start well. A good showing against another rebuilding team will help them as they wade into the deep end of the 56-game slate.

2. The Kids Aren’t Alright, For Now – In the words of ESPN’s College GameDay legend Lee Corso, “Not So Fast” ... for the prospects returning from the World Junior Championships in Edmonton. The thought was, being inside the IIHF bubble with constant COVID-19 testing would exempt the players from the need to quarantine upon their arrival in Los Angeles. But not soon after the private jet wheels touched down at LAX, Coach Todd McLellan gave guidance that Quinton Byfield, Tobias Bjornfot, Alex Turcotte and Arthur Kaliyev will have to enter the local protocols over the next week before they can hit the ice in L.A. The timing will have the quartet playing catch up as they will miss training camp to further delay any varsity debuts.

3. Mission Control – Drew Doughty is a man on a mission to show his detractors that the past two seasons were an anomaly. In his first media availability of the season, he took personal offense to the consensus that he is no longer an elite defenseman and appears to be determined to return to a level of play we saw during the Kings’ championship runs. The team has added a defensive partner in Olli Maatta, whom he speaks glowingly of, and he appears to be committed to the direction the organization is trending. Furthering the positive vibes is the chatter that his conditioning – always a question mark – is improved and his renewed mental approach to the game can resurface the old Doughty. It all sounds great, but I believe things need to go well in the early run to keep Doughty engaged. Even with the positive vibes coming out of the World Juniors, a third consecutive down season for L.A. won’t sit well for a player who wants to win now. Simply adding Maatta to the mix won’t placate him as there is no substitute for winning.

4. Bottom Nine Lives – Don’t worry about the first line. Anze Kopitar will continue to drive play and provide defensive stability by drawing big minutes against the opposition’s top players with his usual line mates Alex Iafallo and Dustin Brown. For the next nine forwards, who knows that the production will look like. It’s a combination of unproven youth (Gabe Vilardi only at this point), offensive underachievers and retreads who need to produce for L.A. to be playing games of importance in the season’s final weeks. Moves like a no-risk dice roll on Andreas Athanasiou and surrendering a second-round pick on Lias Andersson tells you how far this offense needs to come to get to respectability.

5. Veni. Vidi. Vilardi. – Encased in the Bottom Nine Lives, Vilardi is the one player whose performance is pivotal to compete for the fourth spot in the Pacific that appears to be wide open. His production in the 10 games he played in 2019-20 season was encouraging (3G, 4A), but he was spotted judiciously by the Toddfather averaging less than 13 minutes a night. While that makes for an impressive per minute production, he’ll have to play more minutes of consequence to be an impact top-six player. McLellan is non-committal to where his line (assumed to be Adrian Kempe-Vilardi-Martin Frk) slots on the depth chart, but stated Gabe looks like a different player than the one who departed in March. In Thursday’s media availability, Vilardi admitted that conditioning was the area he worked on the most, citing that most of his shifts were 15 seconds of max effort before feeling gassed.

6. Mikey Likes It – With the backdrop of a tough 2019-20 season came the emergence of Matt Roy and Sean Walker on the Los Angeles blueline. With the defense in transition, both logged over 18 minutes a night and didn’t miss a game of the truncated 70-game season, earning Walker a four-year extension. Next up is Mikey Anderson, the 21-year-old defenseman whose six-game cameo was well-received with a combination of solid on-ice play and off-ice maturity which positions him as part of the next generation leadership group with a top-four defensive slot there for the taking.

7. Is Sharing Caring for Quick – Another defiant veteran when quizzed about the team’s playoff chances, Jonathan Quick’s play down the stretch of last season was a major factor in the team’s seven-game winning streak. It’s been 10 months since that stretch of improved play but for those who don’t recall, it was goaltending that bailed them out on many occasions. With Cal Petersen now 26 years old and McLellan noncommittal on his plans for the L.A. net, this could be the first time in Quick’s career he shares the net when healthy. How does he adapt to an unaccustomed 1A role where a good stretch of play by his younger partner will have him sitting on the bench for multiple games?

ANOTHER APPEAL

Here we go again. I’ll try once more.

Earlier this week, TFP reported that the Carolina Hurricanes were in hot pursuit of Winnipeg Jets sniper Patrik Laine this off-season. With one year remaining on his bridge deal, which pays him $7.5 million (cap hit $ 6.75 million), and giving all appearances that this season will be his last in Manitoba, suitors have started aligning for the 22-year-old Finn who has registered 138 regular-season goals in four NHL seasons.

Envisioning an all-Finn line of Laine, Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen would make a formidable top line for the Canes, an average team at 5-on-5 play. Carolina has a chance to win the Central if the combination of Nikita Kucherov’s absence and the dreaded Stanley Cup hangover impacts the champions’ regular-season. While a deal isn’t close to being consummated, Winnipeg appears to be targeting impressive forward Martin Necas, coming off an impressive first full season, and top-four defenseman Brett Pesce. With Laine more than replacing the goal production of Necas, the resistance from Carolina would be the willingness to part with the 26-year-old defender who is controllable for another four seasons with a cap hit just over $4 million per and absent of any trade protection. Though coming off a down season behind a stellar 2018-19 campaign, he a reliable top-four defenseman who could slot in next to Josh Morrissey on the Jets’ top pair, but Carolina’s reluctance to move him poses the issue.

With others certain to make inquires and the Kings prospects performance at the World Junior Championships maximizing their value, could General Manager Rob Blake execute the signature trade of his tenure by packaging the right assets to rival an offer like Carolina?

A competitive offer would have to take a different form as the reason the team is in its present state is the lack of established mid-20s talent like Pesce. An offer from L.A. would take an asset (or two) at the top of the prospect list in addition to other assets (draft picks) and would lack the defensive player others can offer, so it would be pricey but a perfect fit if executed.

The uniqueness of a potential Laine trade for Los Angeles is the opportunity to secure a player who, if he appeared in the Kings opening night roster – I am not suggesting a deal is close or even been discussed – would be its second youngest forward (Vliardi is 16 months younger).

The universe of elite players in this age bracket and reportedly available is small – Pierre-Luc Dubois is the other hot commodity but given the demonstrated prospect depth the Kings have in the middle, it makes no sense to deal to bolster a strength when you can address a yawning deficiency. Gazing into my crystal ball, it’s more likely that Vilardi or Quinton Byfield can develop to the level of Dubois than L.A. winger prospects can develop into Laine.

It's a deal to secure the lights-out scorer they hope Arthur Kaliyev or Sammy Fagemo might become.

It’s a player who you can pencil in 30+ goals over 82 games in a bad season.

And if the precious cap space Los Angeles has held on to is judiciously used, a player who can be locked up for the still-to-come prime of his career and grow with the new generation of Kings.

Conversely, to think you can construct a contender from only home-grown talent to add to the remaining core is wishful thinking. With all the exceptional talent found by the Tampa Bay Lightning, they needed to trade for Ryan McDonagh then add Kevin Shattenkirk, Barclay Goodrow, Blake Coleman and more to find the proper mix to win a title. The same goes for one of the major threats to their title defense, the Colorado Avalanche – half their top six is home grown, even with Cale Makar and Bo Byram, they needed to add Naz Kadri, Andre Burakowsky and this off-season Devon Toews to add length to the lineup in anticipation of a title run.

IS THIS THING ON?

If you’re a first-time visitor to this space, you’ll learn that my voice is heard more than my printed word is read these days. In no particular order, here’s where you can catch me on the airwaves:

• We start our sixth NHL season this Saturday with SiriusXM NHL Network Radio with The Hot Stove powered by TFP with co-hosts Dave Pagnotta and Ryan Paton – the good guy QB. It’s two hours of fun and intel starting live at 11am EST.

• More SXM NHL: I’ll be popping up on The Power Play with Steve Kouleas every Friday for The Discussion Room usually from 5-6pm EST

• From a Kings perspective, me and The Mayor John Hoven launched the second season of Kings Of The Podcast. If you’ve missed our comprehensive World Junior Championships coverage, you’ve missed a lot. The plan for the regular-season is to produce a couple of episodes a week, give it a try with distribution on every major podcasting platform.

• For our Canadian friends, catch me with Chris “Knuckles” Nilan on TSN Montreal Radio 690 Friday at 1:35pm EST, bi-weekly visits with Kevin Olszewski on TSN Radio Winnipeg 1290 at noon CST and the occasional visit with Roger Lajoie on the FAN590 Toronto.

• Along the way there should be the random appearance on NHL Network TV, as well as our Vegas friend Brian Blessing’s Vegas Hockey Hotline on KSHP Vegas.