Kopitar a rock in Kings’ rebuild
The 32-year-old leads the team in points and still sets the example in L.A.’s 5-9 start.
Todd McLellan listed plaudits of Kings center and captain Anze Kopitar in rapid-fire fashion.
“Two-hundred foot player,” McLellan said. “Both ends. Pretty good in the [faceoff] circle. Leadership skills. Plays all situations.”
Then, the first-year Kings coach paused and reflected, able to cherish a player he’s spent most of his career game-planning against.
“Sounds like a former Hart Trophy nominee, Selke [Trophy]-type player,” said McLellan, who coached against the Kings 53 times before being hired by the club this offseason.
Because of his rising age (32) and robust contact (his runs through the 2023-24 season at $10 million in annual average value), Kopitar is clumped in with the rest of the Kings’ aging core, considered by some to be a leftover relic of a past generation.
But even in the midst of the franchise’s rebuild this season, his career seems nowhere near its expiration date. Like a fine wine, he continues to uncork stirring performances in his 14th NHL season.
Entering a 4-3 overtime win Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks at Staples Center, Kopitar topped the team in points (13), and led all forwards in average ice time (19:43). He had the second-best faceoff percentage (54%, among players with at least 10 draws), the third-most shots (34), and fourth-best plus-minus rating (zero).
“His presence out there, it’s unbelievable,” said Alex Iafallo, a Kopitar linemate for most of the past two seasons. “He’s buzzing around, making plays. It’s fun to play with him.”
On Wednesday, Kopitar recorded his 900th point with a first-period assist on a Jeff Carter goal.
“It will probably take a little while for that to sink in,” Kopitar said after becoming the fifth player in franchise history to eclipse the milestone. “I knew it was coming up. The last couple games, I didn’t get any points. I figured it was a good time to do it.”
Kopitar acknowledged that, in the Kings’ current state, such landmark moments can be “bittersweet.” Despite his 13 points in October, the fourth-most productive opening month of his career, the Kings look headed toward a second-straight non-playoff season for the first time since 2008-2009.
Back then, the powerful 6-foot-3, 225-pound center was one of the franchise’s several young building blocks. Now, he’s trying to help bridge the Kings to the future.
To that end, he has been in the middle of several “structure goals,” as McLellan describes them, passages of play that accentuate the new direct style the new coach is trying to install.
“He’s a pretty intelligent player,” McLellan said. “He sees things, he picks things up. He’s not a drill-killer. The mistakes he makes on the ice are sometimes battles he might lose or a misread. but it’s not that he doesn’t understand what we’re trying to do.”
Take Kopitar’s first goal of the season on opening night in Edmonton, when he beat Connor McDavid to the high slot to finish a swift neutral-zone rush. His assist on Carter’s goal Wednesday was another such example, as he raced out of his own end to receive a long breakout pass from Alec Martinez before finding Carter streaking toward the net.
“Just trying to get it into our best player’s hands,” Martinez said.
McLellan is still pushing for more from Kopitar, especially on special team’s units that have struggled mightily. . Entering Saturday, the Kings had the fourth-worst power-play (9.8%) and second-worst penalty kill (68.8%) in the NHL.
“A lot of those responsibilities fall on veteran guys,” McLellan said.
“I think those two units can get sharper and get better. He plays on both, so grab the bull by the horns and let’s go.”