Waking up with the Kings - October 16

Last updated Oct 17, 2022 Edit Source

• News post

• Jon Rosen

• Gabe Vilardi
• Quinton Byfield
• Matt Roy
• Kevin Fiala
• Adrian Kempe
• Cal Petersen
• Phillip Danault

• Todd McLellan

The Kings and Wild’s competitive cycles last decade overlapped somewhat, and even if Minnesota couldn’t match Los Angeles’ blossoming superstardom or postseason success, they were an upper-echelon team in a difficult division whose traditional structure and collective buy-in made teams play their way – often to their opponents’ demise. Like Nashville, or L.A., St. Paul wasn’t the best place to go when trying to figure your game out, and while the National Hockey League provides such incredible theatre every night, defensively sharp Kings-Wild games often made you squint to find it. But it is not 2013 anymore, and the series’ sluggardly yesteryear was finally and mercifully laid to rest by a 13-goal, 1980’s-style game where Los Angeles won all the momentum swings and received tantalizing performances from several players whose importance to the organization is much broader than their stat line on a Saturday in October.

I don’t know that [the offense] will increase, but I do believe [last year’s surge] will remain the same because the amount of talent coming into the league is immense. Teams are built differently now than they were even five, six, seven years ago. – Todd McLellan