Category number one: LA Kings Offense.
Grade: C
The good news is there is actually some improvement in this category from years past. The bad news is that it isn’t enough. The Kings have two games this season where they have scored four or more goals, but they also have five games where they have scored two goals or less. All told, they have scored 28 goals in ten games for an average of 2.8 goals per game.
As usual, Anze Kopitar leads the team in scoring with one goal and twelve assists for thirteen points. Kopitar’s twelve assists have him tied for fourth in the NHL with Nathan MacKinnon, which is even more impressive when taking into account the Kings do not generate a lot of scoring chances.
Former team captain Dustin Brown leads the team in goals scored with four (all on the power play), with that fourth goal coming in the team’s tenth game on Friday night. The fact that the LA Kings leading goal scorer has only four goals highlights a glaring obvious need to generate more offense.
They actually started this season at least looking like a faster team that was more offensively engaged, but the speed and the ability to break out of their zone and establish themselves in the opponent’s zone has taken a sharp decline. This must be fixed very soon, or it’s going to be a disappointing season once again.