Los Angeles Kings trending up, down to begin the 2024-25 season
While it is still early in the 2024-25 season, the Los Angeles Kings have played nine games to this point and there are early indications of players trending in the right direction with their performance. They have done a good job meeting, or exceeding expectations, to this point but will need to keep that production going.
Meanwhile, a few players on the Los Angeles Kings have struggled to make an impact and have seen their role diminish or be nonexistent to this point. With that in mind, these are three players trending up while two players are trending down.
Players trending up, down for the Los Angeles Kings to begin 2024-25 season
Trend Up: Alex Laferriere
Alex Laferriere is having an incredible start to the season and it seemingly doesn't matter who he plays with. He began the season on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe and had three points in the first three games, including two goals against Ottawa.
Jim Hiller would shuffle the lines after a disappointing performance against Toronto and Laferriere was moved to the line with Alex Turcotte and Warren Foegele. He continued his strong play and over five games has two goals and two assists.
Trend Up: Alex Turcotte
Alex Turcotte is another player who is off to a great start to the season and has been a big part of the success for that line. On the season, Turcotte has one goal and three assists with a +/- of 6 in nine games.
While those stats may not jump out, they don't tell the whole story. When looking at some of the advanced metrics, Turcotte is one of the best on the Kings. He currently ranks second in Corsi For % at 59.6% and first in Expected +/- at 3.4.
It would not be overly surprising to see the line of Foegele-Turcotte-Laferriere getting more ice time in the coming games.
Trend Up: Brandt Clarke
This had the potential to be a breakout season for Brandt Clarke and recently has been living up to those expectations. On the season, he has one goal and six assists and currently is tied for third in points at seven. He also is second on the team in blocked shots with 18.
The past two games in particular have been great for Clarke with one goal and two assists. He also blocked four shots against the Utah Hockey Club. The pairing of him and veteran Joel Edmundson is showing a lot of promise and should continue for the foreseeable future.
Trend Down: Kevin Fiala
As good as the past two games were for Brandt Clarke, they were equally as bad for Kevin Fiala. He started the year off well with four goals through the first six games but has only had one point in the past three games.
The reason that Fiala is trending down is because of penalties as he has been called for three in the past two games. Against the Anaheim Ducks, he would go to the penalty box in the closing minutes of the third and the Ducks would convert the man advantage into a goal and cut the lead down to 3-2.
Against the Utah Hockey Club, Fiala would be called for a penalty midway through the second period and Hiller saw enough. He would decide to bench Fiala for the rest of the game.
When Fiala is playing well, he is a great goal scorer for this team but he has to cut down on these penalties if he wants to stay on the ice.
Trend Down: Akil Thomas
The final player is unfortunately on here because he can't get on the ice. It is surprising that Jim Hiller has not gotten Akil Thomas more ice time at this point as he has the talent to contribute to their offense.
He has seemingly been passed by Trevor Lewis and Andre Lee and it will be interesting if Kevin Fiala being benched opens the door for Akil Thomas to play Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks. If he doesn't play then, it is tough to see when Hiller will get him on the ice.
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