Last season, Jordan Spence was on the up and up.
He was in a relatively cushy role, being the RHD3 behind Matt Roy and Drew Doughty. He got to run the second powerplay unit last year, which was somewhat successful, and he faced relatively low competition with two elite defensive pairs ahead of him.
Roy walked in free agency, and Doughty has yet to play a game this season due to injury. That leaves Spence and a full-time Brandt Clarke to stabilize the defensive core as right-handed shots. There's Kyle Burroughs, but he wasn't brought in to run a powerplay or produce like those two.
When compared to his numbers last season, Spence has been up and down this season. While his suppression numbers reflected the previous year, specific stats leave cause for concern.
He leads LA this year in giveaways with 28 in 19 games, compared to 18 in 71 games played last year. More than half are defensive zone giveaways, with 15. He had 17 all of last season.
In retrospect, and in all fairness to the player, he started the year next to Mikey Anderson. Anderson is the King's best defensive defenseman. He usually is paired with Drew Doughty and faces the most formidable opposition. That workload didn't go well for Spence to start the season.
In 79:51 minutes together, they were cratered on Corsi, at 41.72%. Surprisingly, they outscored opponents 5-2 but were outshot 37-32. The pair gave up more high-danger chances on the ice together than providing, 15-11.
Spence is no longer on the top pair likely because the coaching staff felt that the young defenseman was overwhelmed in his new role. His demotion is beneficial overall since he's fared better, with Vladislav Gavrikov and Anderson taking on the bulk of elite competition.
He has found a home next to Jacob Moverare. In 22:06 minutes together (albeit a smaller sample size), they've managed to have 64.29 Corsi %, outshooting opponents 16-6 when they are on the ice and outscoring 1-0.
Moverare and Spence have stitched together some promising performances but have yet to be genuinely burned, which will be tested in a road-heavy December.
Finally, Spence was removed as the point man on the completely dry second powerplay unit. In his place, the Kings moved Brandt Clarke from PP1 with the hope of sparking the lackluster unit.
The moves are not necessarily blaming Spence's inability to produce on the man advantage, but rather the lack of talent within the overall personnel scheme. Like Spence, Clarke needs finishers on that unit to succeed, as he's a natural facilitator.
In many ways, the Kings' desperation to get Quinton Byfield going has come at the expense of both Clarke and Spence. Byfield has been elevated to the first powerplay unit despite not performing at a level that calls for a promotion.
So, while Spence was cratered to start this season facing premiere competition, he's found a better spot next to familiar faces in Andreas Englund and of recent, Moverare.
In December, their elasticity as a pair will be put to the test.
Spence was always going to be dethroned by Clarke on the man advantage, which happened sooner due to the loss of Doughty. The second unit will marginally produce more (zero production to date) with Clarke, but there aren't any go-to shooters on that unit.
Doughty's return might be precisely what Spence needs, as an extra layer of insulation could help the young defenseman's season, which has started off quite rocky.