The PK

[Brownie to Pancakes]

I'm sick of talking about even strength line combos and 'team toughness' ad nauseam.

Last year's PK was absolutely shameful. With the roster as it stands today, how are we lookin? AI and Kupari are gone. Durzi is also thankfully gone. In comes Lewis. Who else figures in?

Click to read more...

 

[Lt Dan]

I'm sick of talking about even strength line combos and 'team toughness' ad nauseam.

Last year's PK was absolutely shameful. With the roster as it stands today, how are we lookin? AI and Kupari are gone. Durzi is also thankfully gone. In comes Lewis. Who else figures in?

PLD should help on the PK and Durzi is addition by subtraction

 

[Brownie to Pancakes]

PLD doesn't kill penalties... 4 seconds shorthanded TOI per game last year

 

[Telos]

It will be interesting to see. I think coaching will factor heavily because the lineup will be similar, but potentially better on paper. We lose Iafallo but gain Lewis who would likely be relied upon during the PK. Losing Walker, Durzi, and Edler will definitely help us a bit on our mobility and decision making but our D corps is still young and someone is bound to be christened with the title of fanbase whipping boy. Unless goaltending is atrocious, I think it will just be can coaching instill a more active and aggressive penalty kill strategy?

The thing that drove me nuts against the Oilers is, sure they are a ridiculously tough powerplay to stop, but at least other teams try to stop them. The Kings gave up and sat in the tightest, most passive, box formation I've ever seen and practically allowed Oilers to skate into prime scoring areas and pick their corner.

I am optimistic on what our PK could look like, but ultimately it is hard to tell as it is almost out of the hands of the players on the ice despite now having better options to go with.

 

[Eagle Fang]

Not that it's all on them, but having Kupari and Durzi on the PK probably didn't help much either.

 

[Trash Panda]

The PK was not a personnel issue, it’s a systems issue.

The passive system we implement is just open season for skilled players. No pressure, no urgency, and no success as a result.

It blows, no matter who is out there.

 

[kilowatt]

Kopitar - Kempe
Danault - Moore
Lizotte - Lewis

Anderson - Doughty
Gavrikov - Roy

Probably better than last year just because of Gavrikov and subtracting Edler and Durzi, to be honest. Not to mention, last year, Cal Petersen had the second-worst penalty kill save percentage of all time. It would literally be historic if either Copley or Talbot were worse.

 

[Bandit]

The PK will be PP again.

 

[Fishhead]

PLD doesn't kill penalties... 4 seconds shorthanded TOI per game last year

His biggest contribution will be that Danault doesn't constantly have to be rolled out on the PP.

 

[King'sPawn]

"Our PK will be our enforcer"

 

[DoktorJeep]

The hopium fiends suggest that it’s entirely possible that the PK improves purely through coaching and does not rely upon talent alone.

So I guess a 75% PK (24th in the regular season) and 45% PK in the playoffs (worst in the league) will get better because Todd thinks it over during summer vacation. He pretty much has to, because the other coaches are not changing, so he owns it.

If Doughty and Kopitar are your pillars on the PK, what is your ceiling in 2024? I guess we need Todd to either change minutes and / or strategy. I think it’s strategy for the first 30 games, and then he’ll make ice time adjustments in the face of failure.

 

[Surf Nutz]

Tough question.
Hopefully future interim coach Hiller had a chance to think about he PK, over the summer.
Tending could be an issue with Talbot old and Copley due to touchdown back on earth,
Losing Iafallo and Kupari could hurt too.
TOugh facing a historical PP in the playoffs but the coaches needed to come up with something else.
The Vipers just snipe.
They could be wrong if they vote so their ego will not allow them to.
The Viper are actually chickens , pecking not sniping.

 

[yankeeking]

there has to be a PK whisperer that needs a job, like Hiller did for the PP night and day better in the second half . But I agree not having durzi and edler as first PK pair has got to help and maybe after the results of the diamond formation last year TM actually makes a change

 

[kingsboy11]

I mean you'd think it can't get any worse than it was last year. And then subtracting Edler and Durzi from PK duties will help and hoping for better goaltending as well. But honestly unless they change how they defend dramatically, I'm not overly optimistic.