Joe Patarino The LA Kings are nearly a third of the way through the 2022-23 NHL season. At 12-9-4, they currently sit in third place in the Pacific Division.
In recent years, the Kings have been a team that has struggled to find the back of the net, despite their strong possession and expected goals numbers. This season, however, the Kings have been one of the highest-scoring teams in the league. Their 88 goals are the fourth most in the NHL overall, and their 54 goals at 5-on-5 are sixth in the league. Just last season, they ranked 20th and 25th in those categories, respectively.
The most significant addition to the team this offseason was forward Kevin Fiala from the Minnesota Wild. He’s been as advertised, leading the team in scoring with 26 points in 25 games. Anze Kopitar is second on the team with 19 points, while Gabriel Vilardi, Phillip Danault, and Viktor Arvidsson each have 18.
I’d like to get an idea of who is driving the offense for the LA Kings. For this, we’ll look at a couple of different things. First is primary points, meaning who is scoring the goals and picking up primary assists (i.e., the pass that led directly to the goal). Additionally, we’ll look at shot contributions. This consists of individual shot attempts and shot assists (the pass leading directly to a shot attempt).
*These numbers will be at 5-on-5, and the individual shot attempt and primary point data are from Natural Stat Trick.
Here are the top goal scorers at 5-on-5:
Interesting to note here Blake Lizotte is third on this list. On a per-60-minute basis, Lizotte has been one of the top goal scorers on the team in the young season.
When it comes to primary assists, Fiala leads the way. Anze Kopitar seems to be someone drawing a lot of negative attention. Yet, he is second on the team in points and second in primary assists.
Fiala, Vilardi, and Kopitar are the top three on the team in primary points, with 12, 11, and 10, respectively.
It isn’t a surprise that Adrian Kempe leads the team in individual shot attempts (98). But the player driving the bus in terms of shot assists is Kevin Fiala.
Fiala also leads the team in overall shot contributions. I think he’s a player that Todd McLellan is able to use on any given line to jump-start some activity because of how instrumental he is in the offense. We saw this when he was moved to the third line and helped elevate that line, and now since being back with Kopitar and Kempe, the trio has combined to generate scoring chances aplenty.
On a per-60-minute basis, Lizotte again shows up high on a list. This time in shot assists.
There are two main takeaways for me when doing this. The first is I don’t think I realized just how good Kevin Fiala really is, and the second is that Blake Lizotte is underappreciated.
When looking specifically at defensemen, the leaders in overall shot contributions per 60 minutes may surprise you.
The much-maligned Sean Walker has seemed to look more involved lately, and at least in terms of generating shots, he has been. He had seven shot attempts alone against the New York Rangers last week. Obviously, shot contributions aren’t the be-all and end-all, and I don’t think his recent stretch is enough to make LA Kings fans forget about the lingering Brandt Clarke, but it’s worth noting that Walker hasn’t been bad.
At 5-on-5, Sean Durzi leads in goals among defensemen with three, and Matt Roy‘s four primary points are the most on the blue line. Oddly enough, Drew Doughty has yet to record a goal or a primary assist at 5-on-5.
While there is still plenty of hockey left in the season, this is giving us a good idea as to who is contributing to the offense, particularly as it relates to their ice time.
(Main Photo Credit: Mark J. Terrill, AP)