The Los Angeles Kings have asked Drew Doughty, centre, to take on a more active role in supporting team captain Dustin Brown this season.Walter Tychnowicz
Drew Doughty, the best NHL defenceman never to win a Norris Trophy, will tell you: As difficult as it was for he and the Los Angeles Kings to miss the playoffs last season as the defending Stanley Cup champions, the longer off-season was exactly what he and his teammates needed to reset and recharge.
The Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks have been taking turns at winning titles, achieving a level of sustained dominance thought to be impossible during the NHL's salary-cap era, which was supposed to impose dynasty-free parity on the competitive landscape. Yet here are the Kings, after a season filled with off-ice distractions and player exits, on a roll again and looking formidable after winning five games in a row.
"A lot of people don't see what we go through as hockey players every single day," Doughty explained in an interview as the Kings made a quickie trip through Western Canada that lands them in Winnipeg Tuesday. "It's mentally draining. It kills you. There are times you can't sleep. There are a lot of things on your mind at all times. Mentally, we needed [a break] big-time, and I think all of us benefited from it.
"We weren't happy with the result – of not making the playoffs – but it was good for our team in the end. We're refreshed. We're hungry to get back in the playoffs, and hungry to win the Stanley Cup again. Yeah, we're excited for the season – to show the league and the fans that we are still one of the top teams in the league."
The Kings had a slow start – three consecutive losses – which led some to conclude that they were over, done in by an off-season of departures from their leadership group.
Gone are defencemen Slava Voynov, who left to play in Russia, and Robyn Regehr, who retired; forwards Justin Williams and Jarret Stoll, who left as unrestricted free agents; and centre Mike Richards, who was charged with possession of a controlled substance and was bought out of the remaining years in his contract.
The Kings have asked Doughty and centres Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter to take on added, more active roles in supporting team captain Dustin Brown, and it appears as if they're managing it just fine. Doughty has emerged as an important voice for the group, someone perfectly willing to speak his mind, and someone who doesn't think the leadership void is all that acute.
"I don't think it hurts us," said Doughty. "We've got guys who've been in the league a long time to take over those roles and become leaders in the room, on and off the ice. Everyone's done a good job with that. I don't think that's missed at all."
Despite all the personnel changes, Kings general manager Dean Lombardi kept his core group together, the same as his Chicago counterpart, Stan Bowman. Among the players who've moved on, the only one coach Darryl Sutter singled out in a conversation about changes was Voynov, who returned home to Russia in September after serving 90 days in jail after pleading no contest to charges of corporal spousal abuse.
"I think Slava Voynov was a borderline great player, who only played six games for us last year," said Sutter. "That was probably the biggest reason we didn't make the playoffs."
According to Sutter, "we're headed in the right direction with the type of game we need to play. We're a different type team than we've had, in terms of our experience in the back end – and fitting [Milan] Lucic into the line-up."
The Kings originally projected Lucic to play on a line with Kopitar and Marian Gaborik, but the fit wasn't there. Of late, Lucic has been playing the wing with Carter and Tyler Toffoli, their leading goal-scorer. Gaborik, the playoff scoring hero in 2014, has been pushed down the depth chart, playing with Nick Shore.
"Everybody always questions 'where does this player fit?' or 'who does he play with?'" said Sutter. "Well, that always sorts itself out, especially with a guy like Lucic, who has played in one organization his whole time and had one coach and pretty much played with the same centreman his whole career. The adjustment is not anything to do with him in terms of performance. The adjustment is just to his new surroundings. He's played really well. For sure, he's been our best left winger by a long shot."
Toffoli has no doubts the Kings can contend again.
"Chicago's still doing it, so why can't we?" said Toffoli. "We have the mindset that we want to win every night and win the Stanley Cup every season. We have the group that thinks we can do that – and that's what we want to do."