Los Angeles Kings: Coaching change is apparent from Day 1

The Los Angeles Kings fired Daryl Sutter this offseason. So far, hiring John Stevens to replace him is paying dividends.

Daryl Sutter and Dean Lombardi’s legacies in Los Angeles Kings lore are secure. They brought the Kings and their long-suffering fans two Stanley Cups in three years. No small feat for a franchise that had gone 45 years with barely a sniff of silver polish.

What followed was three sub-par seasons: Out of the playoffs twice and a first-round elimination in five games. From 2012 to 2014, the Kings had 25 playoff victories. However, from 2015 to 2017, they only had one playoff win. Results like these ended up costing both Sutter and Lombardi their jobs. Quite a fall from grace.

One of the primary issues surrounding the duo’s departure stemmed from their relying on past glories and the players who made it happen. Lombardi dished out cap-shattering contracts to players who helped bring him Cups but whose careers were on the decline (see: Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown).

Meanwhile, Sutter could not break his habit of stubbornly sticking to a system and players that were not able to adjust to the “new” NHL. His reluctance, disdain, whatever you want to call it, left young up-and-comers developed in the Kings system buried on the depth chart.

In last year’s opener, the Kings roster was exclusively comprised of NHL veterans, not a single rookie save Derek Forbert who had played 14 games the year before. The result? The Kings went on lose their first three games scoring just 6 goals.

Jump to the 2017-18 season and there’s the start of a new system under the stewardship of head coach John Stevens and general manager Rob Blake. The differences are demonstrative, a 2-0 shutout of the Philadelphia Flyers, but even after one game, it was apparent that these new guys might be onto something.

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Thursday night at Staples Center the Stevens-led Kings started FOUR rookies: Oscar Fantenberg, Kurtis McDermit, Jonny Brodzinski and Alex Iafallo. Each player saw a decent amount of ice time, some made standout plays and all got praise from their coaches and teammates after their 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. This repeated after a 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

There has been a clear sense that this Kings team was not going to be playing Sutter hockey anymore. There’s a jump in their step, and an urgency to push the play hard into the opposing zone. Previous Kings teams wanted to be known as “hard to play against”, meaning the Kings played a “heavy” game with big-bodied punishers.

The Kings are still going to leave bruises on opposing players. After all, Stevens toiled under Sutter for many years. But now there is a stronger sense of offensive urgency. Quick breakouts from their own zone, smoother entries into the attacking zone and passes that are both crisp and unpredictable.

It’s just one game but it was clear inside Staples Center that the fans are buying into the changes, eager to see the young players getting ice time, showing off their skills and gelling with their veteran teammates.

The awe and excitement of playing in their first NHL game, in front of a home crowd, was not lost on the newbies. Alex Iafallo said after the game, “We battled all training camp together, and it was just fun to get to play the home opener with such an amazing team and amazing players,” he said. “I couldn’t have pictured it any better than that.”

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Neither could Kings fans.

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