The Los Angeles Kings have been shuffling their lines a bit over their losing streak as they tried to find what they had at the beginning of February. At one point, Anze Kopitar was ont he line with Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala.
However, on Wednesday night against the Blue the Kings went back to Kempe playing with Anze Kopitar and had Alex Turcotte on their line with Alex Laferriere on the line with Byfield and Fiala.
Tonight's projected @LAKings lines from DTLA:
— LA Kings PR (@LAKingsPR) March 6, 2025
📺: @FanDuelSN_West
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The Kings once again will be looking to shuffle their lines with the addition of Andrei Kuzmenko, who Rob Blake said they hope to have available on Saturday night against the St. Louis Blues.
Where does Andrei Kuzmenko fit on the Los Angeles Kings?
At this point, the likely spot for Kuzmenko to start would be on that second line with Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield. He is a right-handed goal-scorer who could benefit from playing on the Kings' best line over the past few weeks.
Kuzmenko struggled earlier this season, but after being traded to the Flyers at the end of January found some of that offensive production with five points in seven games with Philadelphia.
If the Kings do add Kuzmenko on that line, this means Alex Laferriere will need a spot. He has struggled a bit recently with no points in the past six games and only three in the past 13 but being added to a veteran line like Kopitar and Kempe could be what he needs to break out of the slump.
The other reason for the Kings to put Laferriere there is that it allows Alex Turcotte to move to center and play on the fourth line. That has been a bit of an issue for the Kings, and putting Turcotte there would be an immediate upgrade.
It would allow them to rotate that line a bit with Trevor Lewis, Tanner Jeannot, Samuel Helenius and Akil Thomas but Turcotte should be a constant at center moving forward.