Warren Foegele gives first impression after joining Los Angeles Kings

Warren Foegele had a career season last year with the Edmonton Oilers but the one team that he struggled against was the Los Angeles Kings. It was the only team that he played four times in the regular season that he wasn't able to muster a point against and had only three shots total.

He had a little more success in the playoffs as he had a goal in Game 1 and an assist in Game 2 as the Oilers would go on to knock out the Kings in the opening series on their way to a Stanley Cup appearance. Foegele would decide after that run to join the division rival as he signed a three-year, $10.5 million contract.

Foegele spoke to the media on Friday after practice and asked what his impression of the Kings has been after playing against them for a few seasons now.

"I think they just work hard and they're relentless. I think through the past couple of years they've been the better five on five team and honestly that's the key for playoff hockey is being good on five on five," said Foegele. "Obviously it went the other way in special teams for the OIlers but you know these guys play hard."

The Kings have been trying for three seasons now to get past the first round and when looking back at this last season, on the surface it didn't seem to be very close. The Oilers would win the series 4-1 and outscore the Kings 22 to 13 however it was the special teams that was the difference.

Over those five games, the Kings and Oilers each had 13 goals in five-on-five situations but it was the power play that was the deciding factor as the Oilers had nine goals while the Kings couldn't score one.

The struggles on the power play during the playoffs were pretty surprising considering the Kings were second in the NHL during the regular season in power-play kill percentage. As Foegele noted the teams that are good in those five-on-five situations are always going to be competitive and hopefully that carries over to the playoffs this season.