Special teams consistently change the dynamic of games and significantly impact the success of teams. For the Los Angeles Kings, last season, the success of their special teams was bittersweet. Their penalty kill was a strength, and for a team that was defensively focused throughout the entire lineup, that was expected. Their aggressive mentality, while a man down, propelled them to have the eighth-best penalty kill when it was all said and done, operating at 81.4%.
The same couldn’t be said for the Kings’ power play, which struggled immensely, especially during the first half of the season. Despite drawing a lot of penalties, which allowed for a total of 207 power-play opportunities, the Kings rarely took advantage. They finished last season with a power play percentage of 17.9% which ranked the sixth-worst.
The Kings didn’t have the perfect setup on the power play, and part of that was because they didn’t have a right-shot forward who had experience playing on the left flank. It was a combination of not having the right pieces, completely choking on prime opportunities, poor puck movement, and the inability to find clean looks toward the net.
As the season went on, the power play continued to get worse until March hit, when something changed. The Kings acquired Andrei Kuzmenko at the trade deadline and finally had a forward who was known for his craftiness and ability to be a threat on the man advantage. He was thrown onto the first power play unit right off the bat, and with the Kings having that additional element, the power play saw a major improvement. From operating at just 10% in February and never reaching a percentage higher than 17.6, it was clicking at 23.7% in March, and got even better in April at 24.2%. Throughout the first round of the playoffs, it was their special teams that made the most impact, especially early on when both the power play and penalty kill were rolling.
As we know, Kuzmenko will be returning to the lineup this season in hopes that he brings everything he displayed throughout those 28 games with the Kings last season and much more. Now with a level of familiarity and comfort, the impact Kuzmenko can make on the power play should not only come right away, but continue to get greater as the season unfolds.
Aside from Kuzmenko, there are more reasons as to why the Kings’ power play has the potential to be much…
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