GDB Game Notes: Edmonton Oilers @ L.A. Kings

After a big win in San Jose against the Sharks, the Oilers will continue their road trip with a match in Los Angeles with the last-place Kings.

1. The Kings currently sit last in both the Pacific Division and the Western Conference and are tied with the @Detroit Red Wings for dead last place in the NHL. They’re 29th in the league in goals for 27th in goals against. It’s a fair bet to assume the Kings will be in the hunt for top odds at this spring’s draft lottery, especially after they inevitably sell off some of their impending free agents prior to the trade deadline.

2. This team’s demise from being a mini-dynasty in the mid-2000s to being a basement feeder was slow and steady. After winning the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, L.A. bounced in and out of the playoffs between 2015 and 2018 before completely cratering last season. In the salary cap world, such a decline is pretty much inevitable after a period of success. We saw something fairly similar with the Chicago Blackhawks, who are now trying to pull themselves back up after getting nailed by Father Time.

3. They were bad last season, finishing with a 31-42-9 record, better than only the Ottawa Senators, and they’re even worse this year. L.A. is on pace to put up just 66 points in the standings, which would be their worst finish since the 2006-07 season when they went 27-41-14. If they move impending free agents like @Tyler Toffoli, @Derek Forbort, and @Kyle Clifford, they could finish with even fewer than the 66 points they’re projected at right now.

4. Here is how Edmonton’s scoring compares to last year, and the Kings, by goals (points are in parenthesis). Gregor will be monitoring this stat all season and he sent this over to us for tonight’s matchup:

5. All three groups have scored more goals so far, for a total of 11 more. They’ve also allowed 14 fewer goals through 23 games. Last season they had scored 64 and allowed 76 (-12) and had a record of 10-11-2. This season they are 75-62 (+13) with a 14-6-3 record. A massive improvement of 25 goals scored/allowed.

6. Beating Los Angeles is paramount for the Oilers, as they’re really the only team in the Pacific Division that isn’t a possible playoff contender right now. Only 10 points separate the first-place Oilers and the seventh-place Sharks in the division right now, so things can change very quickly. Of course, there are never any easy wins in the NHL, but the Kings are the closest thing to an easy win this division has to offer right now.

7. Back in 2016-17 when the Oilers made the playoffs, a key to their success was a great play within the Pacific Division. They went 20-6-3 against the Pacific teams that year, including a 4-0-1 record against the @Vancouver Canucks, who finished dead last in the division. This year, the Oilers are 4-1-1 against Pacific teams. They haven’t yet played Calgary or Vegas, but it’s a very promising start nonetheless.

8. Just about the only good thing going for the Kings right now is Anze Kopitar. The team’s captain leads the team with seven goals and 22 points with a plus-two rating through 21 games while logging over 20 minutes per game against the other team’s top competition. The next highest scorer on the team is defenceman @Drew Doughty, who has 13 points. The next highest scoring forwards are Kopitar’s linemates, @Dustin Brown and @Alex Iafallo, who have 10 points.

9. @Jeff Carter and @Jonathan Quick, two key players in L.A.’s Cup wins in 2012 and 2014, have become shells of their former selves due to age and injuries. Carter missed the majority of the 2017-18 season due to a lacerated tendon and he hasn’t been the same since. This season, the 35-year-old Carter has just eight points through 21 games. In a similar vein, Jonathan Quick’s game has rapidly declined in recent years. Over the past two seasons, Quick has posted a .866 save percentage in 59 games.

10. Though he wasn’t part of the Kings’ Cup teams, it was expected Ilya Kovalchuk’s return to the NHL would be a boon for a team in need of some offensive skill. Kovalchuk spent five seasons dominating the KHL after “retiring” from the New Jersey Devils in 2013 and made his much-anticipated return to the NHL in 2018 with the Kings. Just a year-and-a-half later, Kovalchuk isn’t playing. He put up just 43 points over 81 games with the Kings and now the team has told him he’ll be benched for the foreseeable future. Kovalchuk apparently has a bonus to be paid out on Dec. 15, making the remaining year-and-a-half of his contract more palatable to other teams. Perhaps we could see a trade in the new few weeks.

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