On the eve of the 2022-23 season, Kings leadership expecting progress from increased expectations - LA Kings Insider

Last updated Oct 11, 2022 Edit Source

• News post

• Zach Dooley

• Anze Kopitar
• Drew Doughty

• Rob Blake
• Todd McLellan

“Progress. Continued progress.” That was Rob Blake’s generalized answer to what he would see as growth from last season to this season. Throughout last season, Blake maintained that word, progress. It was never, publicly at least, about setting a bar or a line for what the team needed to achieve, there wasn’t a mandate as to what progress was, but rather just a focus on the word. Progress.

Progress. Continued progress. – Rob Blake

We’ve made a big step getting back in the playoffs and now you’ve got to hold that level and keep getting in. I think the roster starts to take a little more shape, you add a few pieces through free agency, give the young guys a couple more years to get up and running at the NHL level and now you put the emphasis on them producing and helping us. – Rob Blake

I would say it’s tougher going from once you become a playoff team to be able to become a real contender. Now you’re dealing with really, really good teams once you get in. We made a step last year, but now we have to make sure we have the ability to move past that and keep that going. I think Todd used the phrase ‘we’re not sneaking up on anybody’. Not anymore. I think our coaching staff will have our players prepared for that. – Rob Blake

Last year was a big step for this team and for some individuals and the team in general, but now we have to upgrade it again. Yeah, it was great to make the playoffs of course but making the playoffs is not the goal here. It’s doing some damage in the playoffs, but in order to do that, it’s getting there first and then roll from there. – Anze Kopitar

You’re never the finished product on day one. I think I’ve mentioned to a few guys that day one is often too high or too low and day two is really where you start to see what the team is made of. We’re at day one, we’re going to make it important because it obviously is. We’d like to see our identity come out, we’d like to see our structure come out, we’d like to see individuals find their game within our game. There are areas that we’ve concentrated a little bit more on through training camp and we should see improvements in those areas, but it will take some time. – Todd McLellan

There are a bunch of guys in here that have gone through a bunch of camps, so I think everybody’s looking to a day like today, where we’re working towards tomorrow. We are in a good spot and we’re in good spirits for the start of the season. – Drew Doughty

It’s getting there. I think there are less and less concerns throughout the lineup. I think there still are at different times and that there will be as the season goes on, but I do think we have players that can fill certain roles. We do have some depth in the right positions if needed, that was a major factor last year that I’m not sure we had set and understood well enough with major injuries Some of these guys were able to step in and play those minutes. – Rob Blake

Expectations, there’s a lot that goes with it and I think we have to define within our interior walls what we expect out of this group,” Blake said. “Building and getting better, every time we’re on the ice, we have to get better. We’ve got to get our special teams better, a lot of areas of our game need to increase from a year ago to keep that level. Those are the expectations and we’ve talked to the players and it’s from within. We’ve defined that on a personal level and on a team level, there are expectations that we want these guys to meet. – Rob Blake