Coming off the extended road trip, the Kings took Sunday off before having back-to-back practice days. Now, as things turn to more of a focus on Wednesday night’s game, several roster changes kicked off the day’s activity.
First up, a goalie swap, with Troy Grosenick sent to AHL Ontario and Matt Villalta being pulled up to the taxi squad. Several other moves followed:
As we hinted at a few days ago, Lias Andersson has now been officially assigned to AHL Ontario.
Also joining the Reign in advance of tomorrow's big game with the San Diego Gulls are Rasmus Kupari and Boko Imama.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) March 2, 2021
Austin Strand has been reassigned to AHL Ontario. https://t.co/5TcZKewi9K
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) March 2, 2021
As always, for more info on how taxi works and which players are illegible (and inelligible), see here https://t.co/yTFXrurVAd
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) March 2, 2021
For actual on-ice work, the Kings lined up as follows:
Forwards
Gray jerseys – Athanasiou, Brown, Carter, Iafallo, Kopitar, Vilardi
White jerseys – Amadio, Grundstrom, Kempe, Lizotte, Luff, Moore, Wagner
Defensemen
Black jerseys – Anderson, Bjornfot, Doughty, Maatta, MacDermid, Roy, Walker
Goaltenders
Quick, Petersen, Villalta
Following practice, coach Todd McLellan shared the following thoughts:
On what they worked on over the past two days:
Practice time is precious right now. When we got back from Minnesota, we certainly needed a rest. Somebody mentioned to me, we just played 12 of our past 16 on the road. It didn’t feel like it, but that’s what we did. We rested, then these past two days, we tried to get a lot of pace back into our practice. We worked a lot on coming out of our zone a lot cleaner than we have been. Obviously, special teams always get some attention and some of the offensive concepts. Basically, we tried to tap a little bit of all areas in a short period of time.
On the play of Amadio over the past few games in Minnesota
We did like what we saw, particularly the second game, but at that point we made some line changes. Amadio is a type of player that I think sometimes he needs to be used with the right wingers. Sometimes he’s a victim of our decisions, our choices that we make. I think when he was reunited with Kempe and Grundstrom, there’s a little more playmaking ability there and we saw that come out in him. At this point in his career, he has to find a way now to take his opportunities and to produce with them. Every now and then, he has to get on the score sheet, especially with his mindset and his skill, and try to alleviate some of the scoring pressure from others on the team. He did get some power play time, as well. We’re counting on him and I know he’s betting on himself, so that’s a good thing and let’s see where it goes.
On how he approaches a season, in terms of taking things in segments
We spent part of yesterday breaking down where we were after 10 games and after 20; where we were last year at the 10-game mark and this year at the 20-game mark. We talked about the changes, the growth, and the team — not only from a numbers perspective, because that can be a little deceiving — but also from individual and collective player growth, the transition of the team from some of the older veterans that were here last year at this time to the youth and how they’re impacting the game on a nightly basis. Certainly, the plan is falling into place. We’ll hit some some roadblocks and pitfalls as we go forward, we always do. But the slow, ever-moving, evolving re-tool, re-build, whatever you want to call it, is taking place. The older players are playing very well and the younger players are buying into how we need to do things and they’re contributing. At the 20-game mark, we’re probably where we want to be. We’d always like to be a little higher in the standings, of course.
On the challenges of guys on the outside trying to get back into the lineup
Maybe 10-15% of the time we are finding ways to get guys in and take them out. The other 85%, they decide. They play the game, they give us the evidence. We watch it and we make decisions going forward. Matt Luff is a prime example. He came out, and by no fault of his own, he hasn’t been able to get back in in six or seven games because, the group as a whole, has played fairly well. That could change at any moment, maybe somebody gives up their position, they get a little sloppy a few games in a row and all of a sudden, then it’s his turn to take advantage of it. That internal competition is what every team looks for. Sometimes the Stanley Cup teams, they have it even in the top-6; they have it on the power play, where it’s just not automatic that certain guys are jumping over the boards at certain times. There’s a competitiveness for ice time and we’re working towards that. We think we have it on the bottom and working our way up as the years go on here.
On if battling back in Minnesota was a sign of growth for the Kings
It happened two nights in a row. We didn’t roll over and play dead in night one, although I thought we were better in night two. So those are positive signs. I’ve been back around the rink here and talking to people that have watched the game and others that have called just to see how we’re doing, there is that resilience factor that people are recognizing. We’re happy about that, but the fact is we fell behind twice, by three fairly early in games against a good team. It’s hard to chase that every night. Eventually, it will catch up with you or you just put your hands in the air and you say, ‘We can’t do this anymore.’ We have to fix that a little bit and we’re happy with the resilient part of it.
On which younger players are having an impact compared to a year ago
We can go through the lineup – Cal Peterson wasn’t here; Toby and Mikey Anderson weren’t here at that time, as far as youth goes on the backend; Roy and Walker were just getting their feet really wet in the league. You move up front and Grunny was a a very short-term player, he moved down; Moore wasn’t here yet, as far as a trade goes; Lizzo was just a rookie finding his way through; Gabe hadn’t experienced much or any I guess at this point of ice time, forget about even playing on either of the teams; the veterans were learning a new system, a new structure, they had a new voice again trying to guide them and direct them. A lot has changed since then. A lot of that is the youth coming in after a year in the minors, somewhat prepared to play and graduate and take more on here.
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