Day 1 is in the books!

The LA Kings hit the ice for an extended first day, consisting of four total on-ice sessions. Groups A and B each held a 50-minute practice session, sandwiched around a scrimmage session that consisted of two, 30-minute halves.

Scrimmage Notes

Group A began the day with a 10 AM practice and the scrimmage began just before 11 AM and consisted of two, 30-minute halves, running time.

The first half saw Group B score twice, taking a 2-1 lead in the process. David Rittich was the starting goaltender for Group B, while Darcy Kuemper took the net for Group A.

Group A kicked off the scoring through young Aatu Jamsen, who scored a Michigan-style goal early in the first half. Trevor Moore equalized for Group B with a very Trevor Moore-esque goal. After his linemates, Tanner Jeannot and Phillip Danault, transported the puck through the neutral zone, Moore worked his way into the right-hand circle and snapped a shot past Kuemper with his lightning-quick release, putting the puck just underneath the crossbar and in for a 1-1 score. Taylor Ward scored late in the first half, putting Group B up 2-1 on a rebound goal heading into the ice cut.

In the second half, the scoring was started by an unlikely goalscorer – Jacob Moverare. Moverare drew a tripping penalty behind his own net and by camp scrimmage rules, he was awarded a penalty shot. Moverare moved in, handled the puck onto his forehand and snapped a shot low on the blocker side, past new goaltender Erik Portillo. Group B added a fourth goal from defenseman Joe Hicketts, who had his shot from the goal line deflected past Portillo and in.

Group A pushed back with two goals, one from Kevin Fiala and one from Quinton Byfield, to turn 4-1 into 4-3. Byfield and Fiala connected on the first goal, with Byfield passing from low-to-high and Fiala one-timing it past Pheonix Copley in net. Byfield was then awarded a penalty shot after a tripping call and he deked to the forehand to slot past Copley for another point. Group B iced the game with an empty-net goal from Moore, bringing us to the 5-3 final.

Group B then held their practice session, followed by Group C to conclude the afternoon.

Increased Physicality

As far as Day 1 of camp goes, the format and routine as pretty similar. A practice and a scrimmage for all of the veterans. It wasn’t the same old versions of those events, though.

For Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson, they focused in on the uptick in physicality, right from the puck drop in the scrimmages.

Doughty – The scrimmage felt more physical than we’ve had in the last few years. We signed a lot of physical players and I think they started that right from the start and then everybody kind of jumped in and realized it was going to be a tough battle out there. That was nice to see.

Anderson – I think it was much more physical than it’s been the past years. I think it’s good. It gets guys back in the game, pace and play and everything. I think it’s important, it’ll help us out once we start playing games for real.

When asked after Day 1, Hiller said the same kinds of things.

“I sure did,” Hiller said, when asked about the uptick in physicality. “I saw it in practice, we didn’t have that many contact drills, but when we did at the end, you can see it. I thought the game had a tone to it that I haven’t seen, that was more like the old school. Usually with old school, there’d be a bunch of fights, there still isn’t a lot of fighting, but the physicality and I thought maybe te general seriousness of the scrimmage is what really impressed me.”

Day 1’s scrimmage certainly didn’t consist of fighting, but perhaps got closer than in years past. That comes from intensity and players looking to play a certain way. There were more hits, more intensity during the battles and, overall, an approach that seemed to lean into the acquisitions that were made over the summer.

Stragetic Changes

In terms of strategic and structural changes, the biggest news of the day involved discussion around the 1-3-1 neutral zone approach that the Kings have used over the last couple of seasons. As Anze Kopitar put it relatively bluntly, “we are not going to play the 1-3-1 this season.”

In today’s scrimmage session, we saw the 1-2-2 used in the neutral zone, as Adrian Kempe confirmed during his own media availability. We saw the Kings use that approach early in the 5-on-5 session as they get used to a new way of doing things in that area of the ice.

Kempe and Fiala were both players who expressed a desire to deviate from that system in their exit interviews after the 2023-24 season. Both players were asked about the changes today and gave their thoughts on what the team might do differently.

Kempe on 1-3-1: I think that playing the 1-2-2, once we turn the puck over in our favor, I think there’s going to be some times where we get good rush opportunities and that’s where I feel like my game is really good. So, that’s something that I’m excited about, but on the other hand, I think it’s going to be a good way to break out the pucks for the D as well, always having our D back in the right spot……I think it’s going to be a better way to create offense for us, especially in the neutral zone.

Fiala on 1-3-1: Yeah, I mean, it’s good change I think, let’s see how it goes. We still know how to do the 1-3-1, so I don’t know if it’s gone, but yeah, it was a good first day. Good to work on the system, to deal with the guys again and it was lots of fun and excitement. You can feel it.

Jim Hiller also spoke about the decisions to make the change.

“The team has had relatively good success, coming through a short dip in the rebuild, coming through with the 1-3-1, playing the 1-3-1 and making the playoffs three years ago, then two years ago and last year,” Hiller said. “We’ll sit here and I’ll tell you forever we’re not happy that we didn’t advance beyond the first round in either those three years. How much of that success to attribute to the 1-3-1, because there’s certainly some that you have to right? So it’s difficult to just pick one little piece of the game and say that was good or that was bad. They all tie together. So I think the 1-3-1 is a very effective system, I thought the guys played it very well. We just think where we’re at now, as a franchise, it’s time to make an adjustment, to see if we can get the forwards to skate a little bit more and hopefully we get better results because of it.”

The Kings will return to the ice for Day 2 tomorrow at 10 AM. There will be a scrimmage at 10:50, the second practice session at 12 PM and Group C will take the ice at 1 PM.