Training camp is over for the Kings, and the picture is a little clearer in some spots than others.
When they get back on the ice tomorrow morning, it should feel like a regular-season practice. Two days later, they’re back in Denver for the opener against the Colorado Avalanche. That’s when this thing really starts.
For now, the big takeaway is that camp answered a few questions without really settling them. That’s especially true in the areas that mattered most: goal, center depth, the blue line and special teams.
The goaltending battle still looks wide open. Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg both had strong second preseason outings, and both picked up wins over the Anaheim Ducks.
Forsberg was solid at Honda Center on Wednesday, and Kuemper responded with a good performance at Crypto.com Arena yesterday afternoon. That was a particularly important night for Kuemper after he gave up five goals in his first game, though much of that was tied to a rough defensive showing in front of him.
There’s no real rush to decide anything there, either. The Kings play only six games in the first three weeks of the season, and there isn’t a back-to-back in that stretch.
They also don’t have any games separated by just one day. So this isn’t a spot that gets sorted out quickly.
Coming into camp, it felt like a true competition, with Forsberg maybe having a slight edge after his strong finish last season. But neither goalie separated himself in camp, and that evaluation is going to continue once the games count.
Up front, the second-line center spot remains one of the biggest unresolved items. The Kings did not land a top-six center over the summer, even though they looked into it. For a while, the most realistic option was Adrian Kempe, but with Kevin Fiala injured, that doesn’t look like a real starting point to open the season.
That leaves the Kings with options, but no obvious answer behind Quinton Byfield, who is getting a chance to center the top line. Alex Turcotte seems to offer the most upside in that role, and he’s been given a look there.
Erik Haula is also in the mix. He brings more certainty as a proven NHL middle-six center, though he also matters to the third line and the penalty kill.
Turcotte has shown he can work with skilled players before, including a stretch a couple years ago alongside Kempe and Anze Kopitar. He wasn’t producing like a first-line forward, but he was able to hold his own. Peter Laviolette also sounded encouraged by what he’s seen from him in camp.
“I think he’s worked really hard in camp to show what he could do. He’s always been a highly-skilled player and basically, it’s training camp, it’s an opportunity for people to show what they can do. I think there’s other things that I like about the lineup too, where it allows me to layer something into a third line that can be used in a different way.”
That lines up with the idea that Turcotte in the second-line center spot could let Laviolette build a third line with more defensive bite and flexibility, using players like Trevor Moore, Erik Haula, Scott Laughton and Joel Armia in tougher matchups. It also gives Turcotte a real chance at a natural position. He’s had chances before, but maybe not one quite like this.
On the back end, the Kings did exactly what Phil Housley said they would do: mix and match. He said over the summer that he and Laviolette would use camp to test different pairings, and that’s what happened. Some familiar combinations showed up, but so did a few others.
The pairings that still look best to me are Dumoulin/Doughty and Anderson/Clarke. That’s what I felt before camp, and it’s what I felt last season too, even if the Kings never fully settled into it. Now they might.
Dumoulin and Doughty had a strong preseason together. They weren’t even used together in practice, then got the nod at Honda Center on Wednesday and played well.
They followed that with another good outing on Saturday. Dumoulin seems to bring out his best when he’s in a more elevated role, and his game appears to fit Doughty’s pretty naturally.
Anderson and Clarke also make sense together. They played together against Utah, though not against Anaheim, and their styles seem to complement each other.
That pairing could give the Kings more puck-moving ability in the top four. There’s still a chance they stick with Edmundson/Clarke and Anderson/Ceci, but Edmundson’s day-to-day status complicates the picture.
We’ll see how it looks this week.
At minimum, the staff now has options. That matters, because changes always come during a season. The Kings spent camp making sure they have some different looks ready when that happens.
Special teams have been a mixed bag, but there’s been enough positive there to call it encouraging. Starting with the positives, I mean, c’mon.
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