Kings seek balance between increased offensive point production from blueline and limiting goals against - LA Kings Insider
# Kings seek balance between increased offensive point production from blueline and limiting goals against - LA Kings Insider
# Contributors
# Summary
Last season saw the LA Kings rank 28th in points by defensemen, with only the Detroit Red Wings getting fewer goals from their blueliners than the 21 scored by the Kings. The Kings haven’t placed higher than 25th in that area since the 2017-18 season, typically ranking among the NHL’s bottom-five teams in that category.
# Players
# Staff
# Notes and Quotes
# Todd McLellan
I hope we can. We’ve allowed our D to be aggressive, with that in mind. It coincides with the forwards being responsible as the D are aggressive. We’ve offensively had some reward for that, but we’ve also paid the price at the other end. At some point there has to be a balance.
[Matt Roy]’s got a really heavy shot and we’re asking him to use it more, I think we saw that [in Nashville]. He has some confidence and our D has been in flux a little bit, trying to find steady partner, but I think [the offense] is in Matt’s game. He’s shown that in the past and we saw it [in Nashville].
# Drew Doughty
That’s our job as defenseman, that’s what we’re supposed to do, we’re supposed to defend the other team. Yeah, we’re supposed to get some points too and be more offensive but we need to get back to playing better defense, that’s really what our weakness is right now and we need to sharpen it up. It’s easy to balance the two out, don’t take high risks, make the right play at the right time and when you can jump in offensively, you can’t jump in and create offense from nothing, you’ve got to be smart about it.
We do need to help with the offense, there’s no doubt about that, but our main priority is defending our end. Usually if you do all the right things and play the right way, points will come your way. Maybe not as much in our organization because we’re more of a defense-oriented team, but we need to get it back.
They don’t have to affect each other, but obviously that happens when we jump in at the wrong times and things like that. We have a pretty defensively responsible identity and that’s something we’ll stick to. It’ll allow us to play offense and have the right cover for when we’re defending.
# Mikey Anderson
A big part of it is forecheck, trying to keep a play alive if it comes out the weak side or if there’s a way for us to try and help out, I think the coaches want us doing that. I think we’ve gotten more comfortable with the structure and as a group, we’re comfortable with each other where we’re confident and trusting that the forwards to cover for us.
# Sean Durzi
In the Pittsburgh game, the decisions we were making offensively were affecting us defensively. I know the game was kind of out of our hands, so maybe that’s why it was happening, but it was happening way too often. We were losing guys for 3-on-2’s, 2-on-1’s, breakaways against. If we want to be more aggressive, we need them to cover and we need to be smarter about our aggression as well
I think if we do a good job with that it’ll allow the defense to contribute offensively, that’ll come in spurts. You want to help offensively but I think our identity is being defensively responsible, so it’s something we’ll take care of.