I took some time off after the Carolina game to gather my thoughts before weighing in on the current state of affairs for this team.
First, I have to give a ton of props to the Hurricanes. Out of all the teams in the league, they may be the most disciplined, well-oiled machine in terms of what you are going to see night in and night out. We had some good spurts, but it felt like we were fighting an uphill battle the entire night. Kudos to them.
Second - I think there are 3 main areas the Kings will need to address before they are going to be a serious contender in the playoffs.
1. Team identity - We all talk about this a lot. Does this team have a well established identity? IMHO, we have nothing close to what we saw during those 2012/2014 Stanley Cup runs. When you look at the teams that are really succeeding in this league (Boston, Carolina, Vegas, even Seattle) there is a clear purpose to what they are doing. You will rarely see these huge dysfunctional gaps from game to game. When it is looking like we are overmatched/outplayed in a game, I would like to see the team be flexible enough to fall back to a tight-checking/physical game. I'm not sure that we can accomplish that with our current personnel. It really makes me miss that Darryl Sutter brand of hockey that we were accustomed to during those Stanley Cup runs. Bottom line, this all starts with the coaching staff. I've never been a big McClellan guy. I don't think he's a bad coach, but is he what this team needs? I don't have faith that this guy will be able to take us to the next level.
2. Team toughness - The biggest standout to me in the Carolina game was their unwavering mental toughness. They stuck to a gameplan throughout and did not give the Kings an inch. The Kings just haven't shown me that kind of detailed focus in any kind of sustained fashion. There are just so many mental mistakes/lapses that end up costing us a goal at a critical juncture. I'm not sure I can count on one hand the amount of games this year where I think to myself....wow, we really dominated that team tonight.
3. Defense/Goaltending - Another area we really need to improve. Blake may wait until the end of the season to address this, but I think it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Edler has taken a clear step back, Durzi (while having a high offensive ceiling) is prone to so many boneheaded plays and Walker is definitely odd man out. For all that crap we were putting on Maatta, he would be a difference maker on the team this year. If it was me, I would definitely work Spence/Bjornfot onto the roster full-time and look to trade Durzi/pick/prospect for a D that we really covet.
Goaltending is another area that concerns me. I think 70% of it is more about cleaning up the D and clearing out space for the goalies, but this team definitely needs to have a plan in place moving forward. It's pretty disgusting to see how much salary we have tied up in goaltending and no results to show for it.
The single word that entered my head after the Carolina game: discouraged. This was a litmus test for us and we failed. Hopefully some of the roster changes will start clicking and we will see a different team moving forward. We still have a great prospect pool and the future is bright. Byfield is really looking good in Ontario and Turcotte has really started to get his footing. As always...Go Kings!
