TAMPA BAY, FL – In a place that has been a house of horrors for the Los Angeles Kings, the team was able to squeeze out a 2-1 win in sixty minutes of play, no more, no less, at Amalie Arena. For anyone following closely, that was the 23rd game this season for the Kings in which the game was decided by just one goal. Scaling down, it was also the fourth consecutive game the Kings were without defensive linchpin Phillip Danault, who has been battling the flu. In those four games, the Kings have been outscored at even strength 8-4.
While dull and uncreative deem to be real expectations of this club with or without Danault in the lineup, there always seems to be silver linings for other individuals to step up to fill the void, say a player goes down for this long for an immunity response, or the lack thereof. For Alex Turcotte, it was a brief but solid stretch to step into some larger skates, so to speak.
Tough sledding for the former fifth overall pick, with injuries in excess and player blockages around every corner of the pro roster. Turcotte finally got an opportunity last year to really run with it, playing on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, when Trevor Moore was injured during a game at the Prudential Center in New Jersey. So out of a situation born of chance, unlike a planned programmatic approach towards integrating top prospects into the top ine, then six, Turcotte waited for a by-chance to be dealt.
While that stretch also didn't go on for too long, as Turcotte slowly fell out of place against the stiffer competition top lines face across the league. The Kings' need for a top-line winger was cultivated in the Andrei Kuzmenko trade, which, by all accounts, this season has fizzled. While not a top-line winger this season, Turcotte has seen improvements to his game and has excelled with different linemates due to the Danault situation.
In 15:19, centering Trevor Moore and Kuzmenko specifically, those three dominated. Their Corsi is a stellar 70% (21 CF vs 9 CA), Fenwick 76.19% (16 FF vs 5 FA), and a 14-2 Shot for vs against margin (87.5% SF%). While the three haven't scored, they have outchanced the opposition 11-4 (73.3%), putting up a 5-1 high-danger-for vs. against margin (83.3%). Small sample size, but the combination has produced enticing results.
Turcotte has been an analytical darling this season. He leads the team in various even-strength categories, in Corsi (57.29%), Fenwick (56.59%), Shotsfor% (57.61), and is second in Scoring Chances for% (59.64%), fourth in High Danger Chances for% (59.09%). These are just like the case for defenseman Jacob Moverare, however, where softer deployment comes into play. Turcotte owns just 18.5% of the five-on-five ice time (second last to Jeff Malott) and, like Moverare, has low numbers, seeing just 6.2% of his shifts start in the defensive zone.
Despite increases in his underlying numbers and overall play, Turcotte is actually down two full minutes from his overall TOI average last season (11:44 compared to 9:23). Considering the full 10 percentage swing upwards in faceoff percentage (45.5% now to 56.3%), this one remains a headscratcher.
What is completely clear now is that there is a higher-end 3C waiting to be utilized in a full-time role, as Kings prospects of the past have gasped for air, Turcotte has breached, and now remains questionable based on what happens with Danault.
It would have to take living under some form of slate or rock to not have tracked the Danault dilemma in LA. Not only has the French Canadian not scored this season (29 games), but he is on track to finish with his lowest career output (82-game pace). His name has been linked everywhere for the last week, thanks to a subtle tweet that took flight.
Danault's agent poured cold water on it, but the movement has since produced more smoke. Coupled with the player missing time due to illness, the situation has escalated into a range of thoughts and possibilities.
Could the Kings get a solid piece for the defensively savvy centerman? The Kings desperately need a scoring uptick, despite one of the league's slowest, worst offensively producing, and transitional-capable bluelines. The team has scored one five-on-five goal in 20 of 34 games. The red line items are cast in more than one direction for the club, but will likely execute a trade that bolsters the top six in defiance of their current state of affairs.
If the Kings could put together a package for a solid 2C, then there's some noise to be made regarding that 'defiance' logic. Danault would have to be paired with a prospect and picks to make that work. Picks they have; prospects just started regrowing after nearly half a decade of purge and mismanagement. It doesn't make sense to throw it all on black when the club is clearly hamstrung towards a legitimate roster build and schema.
Regardless, Holland is here to win, and he will try to win it all with the mandate he has been given. If he gets that piece, say Ryan O'Reilly, then there's some roster shuffling to be done that might, and I say, edge their chances of success incrementally. At that point, the Kings could play with Byfield back on the wing, use the new 2C to handle the volatile relationship with Fiala, with Turcotte filling the 3C role, and explore larger sample sizes that Turcotte is currently dazzling with alongside Moore and Kuzmenko. Lots of options with new blood.
It's risky, as this club has not shown any semblance of being in the conversation for inclusion among the top teams, but it is a "contending team" by organization standards and thought process. Much like Edward Smith of the Titanic, they might just hold the helm until it all crashes down.
You're move, Holland.