Jason Wernegreen 
Leading off the 2022-2023 season reviews is LA Kings young star, Quinton Byfield!
Season Overview
Quinton Byfield played a career-high in games this year (53), in which he put up a career-high in points and assists. Byfield once again had some tough luck with his health this season. He missed two full months spanning from October 27th to December 27th due to an illness that caused him to lose 25 pounds. Byfield ended up spending a majority of his games up on the Kings’ top line as a winger with captain Anze Kopitar and the team’s leading goal scorer Adrian Kempe.
Season Stats
Quinton Byfield put up a new career-high in points for the LA Kings with 22. He put up a total of three goals and a career-high in assists with 19. Byfield also found himself on the powerplay more often than he has in years past yet recorded just one goal and no assists on the man advantage. Byfield posted a 12.3 C/60, a massive leap from his previous 1.6 C/60 in 2021-2022. He posted a plus/minus of +13 on the season
Playoff Stats
Byfield continued to produce for the LA Kings by the time the postseason rolled around. He put up a total of four points in 6 games with one goal and 3 assists. His lone playoff goal came in game 5 with his only shot on goal of the game. Byfield however, had a somewhat poor showing in the playoffs posting a plus/minus of -5.
Looking Ahead
Headed towards the LA Kings 2023 offseason, Byfield’s long-term role on the Kings is not set in stone. Byfield has a promising future and will almost certainly have a large role in the future of the team. Whether Byfield will be moving back to the third line and back to the center position or staying up on a higher line and continuing to develop as a winger will be a big topic of discussion in the coming future. We saw Byfield spend plenty of time as a top-line winger this year, however, we also saw a possible future combination of Byfield centering a line with Gabriel Vilardi and Kevin Fiala on his wings. Watching Byfield progress and development will be a sight to see for LA Kings fans nonetheless.
Tonight's @LAKings Line Rushes –
Arvidsson – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Iafallo
Fiala – Byfield – Vilardi
Grundstrom – Lizotte – KupariAnderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Durzi – WalkerKorpisalo
Copley— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) April 30, 2023
(Main Photo Credit: NHL.com)
Byfield needs to keep getting as much minutes as possible maturing where he is comfortable on L1 learning from the 2 greatest Kings of the last 2 seasons.
Gabe takes 3c with Fiala on the left and Kaliyev gets a serious shot to develop as their RW.
If Kopi or Danault is injured or starting 24/25 you can give Byf a look at center, preferably on L1 or L2 so he gets the minutes to continue to develop as a top 6 asset.