By Jordan Long
The L.A. Kings sit at 4-8-1 for total of 9 points, tied with the Florida Panthers for the least amount of points in the NHL. They decided their struggles were the result of Head Coach John Stevens’ leadership and to let him go, becoming the first coach in the NHL fired this season.
The Kings hoped they would improve on their 45-29-8 record from last season. They signed Ilya Kovalchuk who would create scoring. The Kings knew they had one of the top goaltenders in the NHL in Jonathan Quick. Quick was the key for them to have a hot start to the year.
It has not happened. Quick started in 4 games for the Kings. He didn’t record a win going 0-3-1 with a goals against average of 4.55 and a save percentage of.845. Quick is now out indefinitely because of surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. This is a big loss since Quick is a veteran goaltender. The Kings’ goaltender while Quick is recovering is Jack Campbell. Campbell played in 10 games this season. His record is slightly better than Quick’s at 4-5. He gives up 2.67 goals per game and his save percentage is .912. Behind Campbell is Peter Budaj who has yet to start a game but played 29 minutes and 59 seconds. Budaj allows 2 goals per game with a save percentage of .909.
The Kings’ struggles in net aren’t the reason they are off to a slow start. The offense isn’t there. They have scored 28 goals this season, last in the NHL. Those equal 2.15 goals scored per game. The Kings are having a difficult time scoring on the man advantage. When they try to set up the power play, opponents steal the puck and fire it to the other end of the ice. Their power play percentage is 14.9%, 23rd in the NHL.
On defense the Kings let the opponents dictate the pace of play. The Kings permit teams to rush into the defensive zone for scoring chances. Those end in goals. They allow teams to score 3.46 goals per game, 9th highest in the NHL. The power play kill is the only area where they are playing well. They don’t let teams set up. The Kings kill off 81.1% of their penalties, 13th in the NHL.
General Manager Rob Blake feels the season isn’t over but a change was necessary. According to ESPN.com, Blake said, “This is a critical time in our season and our results to date have fallen well below our expectations. With that in mind, this was a difficult decision but one we feel was necessary.”
The Kings know there is still time to turn the year around. It was not the start they had envisioned. They will now go with Willie Desjardins as the interim head coach. Desjardins has NHL head coaching experience with the Vancouver Canucks from 2014 to 2017. Vancouver was 109-110-27 a winning percentage of .498 under him. Vancouver made the playoffs once with him in the 2014-2015 season.
The Kings are optimistic Desjardins can turn this team around and make a run to the postseason. If he is able to, Desjardins might earn the job for years to come.
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