Enjoy a free replay of this week’s Mayor’s Minutes on NHL Network Radio, where John Hoven joined host Jim ‘Boomer’ Gordon to talk about all things currently plaguing the LA Kings.
Today’s radio segment can be heard using the player below or download any of our audio files for free on the MayorsManor iTunes page located here.
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As usual you are spot on, Hoven! Last night was tough. I think the team as a whole need to relearn how to close games out. At some point, the chances that they had last night need to be buried so that they have a two or three goal lead. I think as the 19-22 year olds get used to the pace and play at the NHL level those chances will find the back of the net. It is a rare occasion that a 19-2 year old gets 20-30 goals/year.
I hate to use this as an excuse because every team will have injuries throughout a season. The Kings have already had almost 20% of their projected lineup lost due to injury (Byfield, Andersson, Doughty, Walker). Take any other team in the NHL and lose a young top draft pick (Byfield), a significant forward and former 7th overall pick (Andersson), your top defenseman (Doughty), and another top 4 defenseman who quarterbacks your 2nd PP unit (Walker) and that team will suffer. As an example, if you took Svechnikov, Niederreiter, Slavin, and Skjei off of Carolina they would still be good but they would not be undefeated.