After another glacial start, losing Jonathan Quick, and missing Anze Kopitar for a few, the Kings are probably pleased to be 12-9-1.
And since we're at about a quarter mark of the season, here are some interesting stats to consider:
Team
The Kings are still a possession giant -- their 53.7 5v5 Corsi For % is second in the league -- but of some concern is their 5v5 High-danger Corsi For %. A strictly average 50% figure suggests that more attention to detail has to be paid around the "dirty areas." They're usually among the best in the league in this category.
While LA's power play has only struck at a 28th-ranked 12.1%, they're piling on shot attempts -- their 116.3 5v4 Corsi For/60 is second in the NHL. Hopefully, persistence begins to pay off. It did last year, when a Western Conference-leading 114.6 CF60 translated into a top-10 power play.
Underlying stats also suggest that the Los Angeles penalty kill should be more successful. While their 82.4 PK% is about middle of the pack, they lead the NHL with a 56.3 4v5 Fenwick Against/60. Essentially, they're limiting unblocked shots down a man, which should improve their kill rate. For what it's worth, a 20th-ranked 72.7 FA60 last season led to a 15th-ranked 81.4 PK%.
Forwards
Dustin Brown
Brown's "revival" can be credited a lot to being given the most power play time that he's enjoyed (1:47/game) since 2013-14. His 4.64 5v4 Points/60 is second among forwards; from 2013-16, he posted a much-leaner 2.14.
His 1.09 5v5 Points/60 is in line with his 1.19 from 2012-16.
In every season for a decade (2005-15), Dustin Brown paced all LA forwards in Hits/Game. Last year, he relinquished the top spot to Milan Lucic. So far this year?
Nic Dowd
Surprisingly, Dowd leads all Los Angeles forwards with 2.7 Hits/Game. Brown is second with 2.5.
Dowd has registered just 3.96 5v5 Shots/60. To illustrate how low this number is, he's 270th out of 284 qualified forwards (200+ 5v5 minutes) in this department -- Patric Hornqvist tops the NHL with 15.21. While there's no shame in being part of this basement -- star playmakers Henrik Sedin and Joe Thornton trail Dowd -- should the rookie shoot more? Is he deferring too much?
On the other hand, he's pacing Kings forwards with a 14.25 5v4 Shots/60. So he looks comfortable shooting a man up.
In all situations, he's averaging 1.25 shots/game, whereas last year in Ontario, he offered 2.41 shots/game.
Similar to Brown, Dowd's production has been buoyed by a probably unsustainable 6.34 Power Play Points/60. That figure, if sustained, would make him an equal on the man advantage to Sidney Crosby (6.21 from 2013-16).
Dowd has enjoyed a forwards-friendliest 43.9 5v5 Offensive Zone Faceoff Percentage (OZFO%). He's also been used on a team-easiest 25.9 DZFO%. It appears the rookie has yet to earn Darryl Sutter's complete trust.
Anze Kopitar
Kopitar is slumping with a 1.19 5v5 Points/60. He should heat up -- his 1.99 5v5 Points/60 from 2013-16 ranks 46th out of 264 qualified forwards (2000+ 5v5 minutes).
You can make a strong case that no forward is more valuable to his team than Kopitar -- he's currently the only skater in the league to lead his squad's forwards in EV TOI/Game (15:40), PP TOI/Game (3:21), and SH TOI/Game (2:09). He achieved this feat last season too.
Jordan Nolan
With a team-worst seven minor penalties in just 12 appearances, Nolan is already halfway to last year's total of 14 in 52 games.
Tanner Pearson
Pearson has sported an eye-popping +10 Penalty Differential. His career-best was last season's +8. There is some belief that the 24-year-old is breaking out this year; sustaining his success in this category would suggest that he is indeed harder to contain than ever.
Teddy Purcell
Purcell is dead last among LA's forwards with a 44.03 5v5 Corsi For %, 35.96 5v5 Scoring Chances For %, and 25.0 5v5 High-danger Scoring Chances For %.
One sign that Purcell might be snapping out of his slump? You should see him shoot more. His current 4.21 5v5 Shots/60 is a far cry from his career 7.16 mark.
Purcell would benefit from more offensive zone starts -- the playmaker's 29.7 OZFO% is last among forwards.
Eventually, Purcell might be able to help kickstart the Los Angeles man advantage. He's averaged just 00:51 PP TOI, far below his career 2:32.
Nick Shore
Shore, who topped the NHL with a 61.2 Corsi For % last season, is struggling with a mediocre 49.6 right now. While his most frequent linemates are different now, it doesn't quite explain his sharp decline.
He also excelled in scoring chance control last season, registering a 59.6 SCF%. That figure has dropped to 45.0% this year.
Shore's current 44.3 Faceoff % should improve; he's won 52.3% of his draws over the last two years.
Tyler Toffoli
Toffoli is slumping with a 1.25 5v5 Points/60. He should heat up -- his 2.14 5v5 Points/60 from 2013-16 ranks 19th out of 264 qualified forwards (2000+ 5v5 minutes). In that timespan, Toffoli has been the most productive King at 5v5, scoring better than Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Toews, and Jonny Gaudreau.
The goals should start coming for Toffoli -- his 4.17 5v5 Shooting % is a far cry from his career 9.13.
Defense
Derek Forbort
Forbort's struggles with Matt Greene at the beginning of the season were plain to the eye, and the underlying stats bear that out as well. Now, keeping in mind that they played just 44 5v5 minutes together, their joint 36.0 CF% and 12.0 SCF% was unsightly. So how has he fared with Doughty? A much-improved, but still not overwhelming 49.6 CF% and 49.3 SCF%.
Forbort has had some issues with having his shot blocked -- a defense-worst 8.2 blocked shots/60 -- Matt Greene isn't much better at 6.6, while Brayden McNabb is best at 3.0. On the other hand, Forbort hasn't missed the net much -- at 1.4 missed shots/60, he's second among defenders -- Greene is best at 1.2, Alec Martinez worst at 3.3. And unlike Greene, Forbort has had some success getting his shot through -- his 4.08 5v5 Shots/60 is middle of the pack among defenders, but markedly better than Greene's 2.74 and not far behind Drew Doughty's 4.53.
Matt Greene
Greene has settled back into the lineup, but is being deployed in extremes -- his 18.9 5v5 DZFO%, 46.7 OZFO% is a far cry from his career 30.7, 32. Concurrently, his most regular partner Kevin Gravel has seen similar usage. Sutter doesn't trust this pairing yet in their own zone.
Alec Martinez
Like last season, Martinez is handling the bulk of the 5v5 defensive zone starts. He and frequent partner Jake Muzzin have seen the most among blueliners (35.4, 36.3 DZFO%).
Martinez hasn't had a problem getting his shot through on the power play. His 19.34 5v4 Shots/60 is second out 41 qualified blueliners (50+ 5v4 minutes), up there with noted gunners like Brent Burns, Shea Weber, and P.K. Subban. Chances are, however, that Martinez's steady clip will falter -- before this season, he averaged 12.56 5v4 Shots/60.
Brayden McNabb
In just eight games, mostly with Doughty, McNabb impressed with a 66.9 CF% and 75.0 SCF%. It was a small, but tantalizing sample size.
Jake Muzzin
Muzzin and Martinez have been LA's most consistent pairing. In the face of the toughest zone starts, they've managed a stellar 57.0 5v5 CF% and 59.4 SCF%. To compare with other common pairings, Doughty-Forbort weigh in at 49.6 CF%/49.3 SCF%, Gravel-Greene 52.0/46.7, and Gravel-Gilbert 51.7/57.9.
Goaltending
Peter Budaj
Budaj has appeared in 20 straight games (and still going). It's a remarkable feat for a goalie who was supposedly to be the Ontario Reign's starter, but it's not close to the Los Angeles franchise record yet. Hall of Famer Rogie Vachon went 34 straight in 1973-74, while Felix Potvin played 36 straight regular season/postseason contests in 2000-01.
As predicted, LA's defensive structure and personnel has protected Budaj. Out of 45 qualified goalies (300+ 5v5 minutes), he's faced an Average Shot Distance Against of 39.22 feet -- the "easiest" in the league. In contrast, Michael Hutchinson has dealt with a league-worst 26.28 Avg.DISTA.
Budaj's +0.99 5v5 Adj.FSv% is 15th out of these 45 netminders. Adj.FSv% stands for
Adjusted Fenwick Save Percentage, which “shows if a goalie is saving more or less shots than an average NHL goalie would be expected to save if they faced the same quality of unblocked shots.”
Stats as of 11/29/16, courtesy of Behind the Net, Corsica, Hockey Analysis, Hockey Reference, Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Puckalytics, and Sporting Charts.
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