Couple of changes here today.
First things first, Adrian Kempe rotated into the middle and played center for the first time in a long time.
Kempe and center is the Ross and Rachel, will they, won’t they of LA Kings training camp.
It was an idea that was first floated out there back at the NHL Draft.
Laviolette spoke directly with Kempe about the prospect of playing the position when he took over as Head Coach. He saw the gap in the top six at that position, understood that Kempe was drafted as a center and had played the position extensively in the NHL and asked if he would be open to it. Kempe said that he was.
As free agency progressed, the Kings did add two players who are natural centers in Erik Haula and Scott Laughton, though neither are established, top-six scoring centers. Certainly not to the tune that a Kempe/Byfield combination would offer. The argument against is that a Kempe/Byfield combination playing together offers higher upside, while keeping Kempe at a position where he is one the league’s best.
The answer as to why today is simple – this is training camp.
“It’s training camp. All we’re doing right now is just looking at different things,” Laviolette said. “He’s played there before, we’ve had conversations and I didn’t want to go through all of training camp and not look at it. So, it’s just something that we talked about. It was an opportunity to put him there and see.”
If you’re going to try it, the first time we see it shouldn’t be during a regular-season game. Kempe should get looks there at the center position during training camp, to see how he feels there and how everyone likes it, while the stakes are lower. If you think it’s a possibility, practice it and see how it goes. Doesn’t mean it will not change tomorrow.
I think that the injury situations with Kevin Fiala and, to a lesser extent, Mats Zuccarello, point more towards keeping Kempe on the wing, at least to start. However, Day 2 of camp is a great day to try it. With Fiala out, the depth on the wings isn’t what it was and then Zuccarello’s absence complicates things a bit. Everyone expects Zuccarello to be fine for Game 1, but we’ll see how thing shake out with those personnel.
With the blueline, Dumoulin was reintegrated into the group and was back on a pairing with Cody Ceci.
The top three pairs were as they were last season.
Asking Laviolette, while he didn’t make any massive moves, it’s also something he could tinker around with. I think that there are two looks that merit consideration. One involves the same players as last season, configured differently, while the other would involve working an Erik Gustafsson into the mix.
“I can’t say that it’s sharpie marker and it’s there for the year, so right now, it was the same and as we move through camp, it could be possibly different,” Laviolette said. “It might be different in exhibition games, but today went back to the same with Dumo in there and Gus playing with Perunovich.”
That’s that for today. Expecting to see some changes over the next few days, based on Laviolette’s comments, as they look for the right combinations.
Notes –
– The Panarin/Laviolette connection is one that resulted in career-best numbers in New York.
Panarin has his best offensive seasons playing under Laviolette with the Rangers
“I’m very happy, he has a very aggressive and attack-oriented style and tactics, which is very good news for all the attackers on the team,” Panarin said today, through an interpreter.
Laviolette’s approach to handling a player like Panarin is to let him be himself.
Players can’t freewheel, even of Panarin’s caliber, but Laviolette understands that has to let Panarin utilize his creativity and to be himself. That’s how he plans to coach him.
“I coached Artemi already and the way he thinks the game and the way he creates offense, it’s at a very high level,” Laviolette said. “Everybody has to move inside of a mindset of how we’re going to defend and how we’re going to play offense, but his creativity, especially the offensive side of the puck, I don’t think you can try to harness that. I think you have to let that go. I think he’s a competitor, I think he’s highly skilled and a player that can make a difference in a game. I don’t want to do anything that constrains him from reaching that level.”
– Speaking of Panarin, he signed a two-year contract with the Kings back in February, carrying an AAV of $11,000,000 for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons.
After seeing contracts dished out around the league this offseason, all the way up to contracts that exceed $20,000,000 per season, Panarin was asked how he feels about it?
“I feel like I’m an Uber driver.”
He thought about it for a minute.
“Uber Black, though.”
Panarin’s sense of humor was on display during his first availability of the season. As you watched the Kings play, his level always stands out, as you’d expect from one of the NHL’s premier playmakers.
– After practice today, Panarin and Brandt Clarke were working on deflections with several of the team’s forwards. It was good for Clarke and Panarin to get repetitions together in their positions on the power play, but it provided a lot of work for the forwards as well.
Adrian Kempe, Corey Perry and Alex Laferriere all rotated in. If you want a little insight into how good Perry is at the netfront, he would do the deflection drills with his stick turned around, to where he was deflecting pucks with the butt end of his stick. I don’t think he missed a single shot from the top. Laferriere was working on it as well and clearly learning from Perry, who remains one of the NHL’s best players at the top of the crease.
Kings vs. Golden Knights tomorrow night in Ontario, CA. Expecting a very young roster tomorrow, lots of guys on the bubble, lots of guys fighting to make an impact to make the NHL team. There should be a few veterans in the lineup, though. Will have that lineup to share in the morning along with a few notes for the game.
