So how do we fix our special teams?

[Sparky206]

Since being drafted all I ever saw of Kaliyev in juniors was him sitting in the RW circle blasting one timers to the top corner Ovi style. Now they play him LW and telegraph any sort pass to him and can't create space for him at all. Hes a one man PP and theyre just butchering him.

As for the PK, they had a problem for years where the opposition would just be able to walk in from the circles and the low man would hold and both forwards would cover a seam pass but the opposition player could just stroll from the circle into the slot unchallenged. They've fixed it in the last month where the D man will come out to challenge but now thats just opening up seem passes. Its a mess where the forwards are just hell bent on blocking any sort of shooting lanes from the point whilst the players in closer high danger areas are just left alone and any pass getting through is a high danger chance on goal.

 

[Herby]

It's the personnel. Kopitar is a great offensive player but he's been through countless coaching staffs and always defaults to feeding Doughty one-timers on the half wall. The limited success the Kings have had on the powerplay this season has mainly come from goals scored on the rush or by playing the game as if it were still 5 on 5. Gaining the zone and standing along the perimeter with a screen in front of the net may work once in a while but it's easy to defend.

This is very true. Maybe I am biased and see it through rose colored lenses, but the Kings seem to play the cycle game on the PP way more than anyone else. It is like it is hard-wired with a lot of these guys to just get it to the boards and grind it out, even on the PP.

 

[lumbergh]

The limited success the Kings have had on the powerplay this season has mainly come from goals scored on the rush or by playing the game as if it were still 5 on 5.

Well maybe there’s your answer right there.

 

[The Lukeman]

PP

PK: Big mouth breathing, knuckle dragging D.

If the Kings traded Laine, Strum would probably park him in front of the net on the 2nd pp unit

 

[VILARGOD]

Wd40 , bondo, and silly string

Dan always has the jokes

 

[VILARGOD]

I would argue that Bayfeild kailev turcotte durzi are as talented a group as that group was

Bud did you even try to spell their names lol

 

[apocalypse]

Make them play hot potato after practice.

 

[Jason Squirties]

Bud did you even try to spell their names lol

Enjoyable, thank you.

 

[Buddy The Elf]

Well maybe there’s your answer right there.

Yeah I'd go with what's working if I were the coach.

 

[Rorschach]

The good news is we have personnel on the way/coming up soon, player-wise, for the PP. Coaching staff on the other hand, that will have to be a more direct intervention by the front office.

Kaliyev, Byfield, Durzi and others not yet here like Chromiak and Clarke all look like they could do some damage on the PP, if used correctly.

Hopefully the latter will get addressed soon. This new Kings identity of hard charging, vertical skating to the net thing, I like it a lot. But it could be neutralized by the opposition just taking lazy penalties on our forwards skating in, if everyone knows we can't score on the PP or worse, can get scored on.

On the other hand if we are skating hard at their net, draw penalties and then punish the opposition with PP scores, that sounds like a very effective way to play your way into the playoffs.

 

[All The Kings Men]

Sean Durzi was asked about this very question this morning and his answer was great. Not sure if Dooley will/has put it in his notes from practice this morning but if he doesn't someone remind me and I'll put the audio in a highlight somewhere.

It'll probably get played on the pregame show tomorrow ("radio" no TV sorry)

 

[Maynard]

Sean Durzi was asked about this very question this morning and his answer was great. Not sure if Dooley will/has put it in his notes from practice this morning but if he doesn't someone remind me and I'll put the audio in a highlight somewhere.

It'll probably get played on the pregame show tomorrow ("radio" no TV sorry)

Care to summarize what he said? Or is this a tease to entice people to read the blog?

 

[All The Kings Men]

Care to summarize what he said? Or is this a tease to entice people to read the blog?

No I just don't actually remember.

If I have an answer I believe in just giving it to the person that asks.

(Listening back now)

Daryl Evans - Looking at PP anything that you're doing or not doing to get better at it

Durzi - Building chemistry. Getting familiar with tendencies and movements. Some Xs and Os talk about puck support and player placement.

Out work the PK units. PP players tend to play as if a PP shift will be "easy". PK units go out with the mentality to work hard. PP unit has to outwork every PK unit.

In retrospect it wasn't as interesting or enlightening as I thought it was but the bit about outworking the PK units rang true to me.

Todd mentioned a day or so ago that they'll likely be tinkering with the units.

 

[All The Kings Men]

A look inside the Kings power play heading into the final 35 games - LA Kings Insider

“It’s just building chemistry,” Durzi said of his unit. “Once you get here for a little while, you start to know where guys are, know where you like to shoot and they start to read off of what I do now. When I first came up, I was taking shots in different areas and now you see the net-front guys moving into the right screen and tipping, middle guys are supporting in the right spots. We’re working really hard as a unit and I think that’s going to be very critical, to outwork any PK.”

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It's a small thing but it's a big thing--on PP2 Durzi is clearly 'the guy' and guys play off him. When they have to reset, puck goes to Durzi at the point and he settles it down. On PP1 Kopitar and Doughty are BOTH the guys but neither wants to be. When they want to reset the puck kinda goes to either guy and either gets stuck on the halfwall with Kopitar's aging inability to fight off multiple checkers or at the point with Doughty getting a pass or shot broken up and cleared.

 

[Kurrilino]

IMO it's a coaching and player issue

We have personal on our PP who have proven since multiple years or decades that they can't play PP because of missing killer instinct even under several coaches. Remove those guys and try the youngsters.
Kaliev is criminally misused.
Let him do exactly what he did in the juniors, build a PP around him
Then build a 2nd PP units that is specialized in a similar way.

It can't get possibly worse than what we have right now

 

[Trash Panda]

The main problem with the PK is that it is one of those systems that works on paper, but just doesn’t translate to the ice very well. Far too much time & ice is given to skilled players to work with, and it’s killing them.

A simple, aggressive PK based on player effort and heart used to be a hallmark of this organization at its best times. I’d wager that going back to that with some of the speed & tenacity that is present now would at least garner some sort of improvement.

 

[HookKing]

The main problem with the PK is that it is one of those systems that works on paper, but just doesn’t translate to the ice very well. Far too much time & ice is given to skilled players to work with, and it’s killing them.

A simple, aggressive PK based on player effort and heart used to be a hallmark of this organization at its best times. I’d wager that going back to that with some of the speed & tenacity that is present now would at least garner some sort of improvement.

I agree completely, with the speed this team has and lack of size...it should be pressure, pressure, pressure. What do they have to lose?