EL SEGUNDO, CA — I continue my Summer Series of Sunday Thoughts regarding the Los Angeles Kings, it's about time we talked about one of the most pressing matters on my mind—and realistically, what should be on everyone's mind: Quinton Byfield and his pivotal next season in the City of Angels.

Change is a good thing, right? This club could surely use a young facelift despite the franchise juicing some legacy players into positions of failure. I previously wrote about how the Kings have relied on and have been unwilling to commit to their future while Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar remain on the roster. The two former champions have been deployed at 1C and 1D (top positional spots) regardless of the prospects available or the proof-in-the-pudding result at the end of the previous four seasons. 

The ladder in Kopitar, however, does have a player who has shown promise to take over a top positional spot, given that Jim Hiller gave him the leeway to do so this last season. The shift happened two seasons ago when Byfield was elevated to the top line as Kopitar's wing, flanked by the burgeoning star in Adrian Kempe. Last season, Byfield was locked into the center position, becoming the best player on the roster down the final stretch of the regular season (12-14-26 in the last 30gp). Despite the turnover at 1D not looking overly optimistic, the top center turnover looks at least past the handshake mark.

Byfield, by all accounts, must be their fully fledged 1C next season.

I'll mention that credit should go to Hiller because, man o' man, he was deploying Byfield as the 1C/top matchups right around when the Kings left for New York last December. The young 6'5" centerman ran with it in his first full season at his natural position. Kopitar was still getting routine deployments against top competition. Still, unlike the previous few seasons' rotation with defensive stalwart Phillip Danault, it added the prowess and potential of a 22-year-old showing signs of stepping into some massive skates rather than shoes.

For example, here are some of the matchups against some of the top centerman in the league:(Even strength statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick)

Byfield saw more ice time than Kopitar in three of the seven matchups: against the Panthers, the Lightning, and against Edmonton (Leon Draisaitl). Oddly enough, Byfield saw almost every minute of Brayden Point playing against Tampa (which means he also saw an onus of Nikita Kucherov). He had generally better possession rates than the stalwart Kings Captain (Corsi, 4 times; Fenwick, 5 times). In this graph, Kopitar still had the edge in outshooting or sawing off top competition (5 times). Still, Byfield had better outchancing ratios (4 times). High danger, per the chart, is an even split.

Things are off to an excellent start for a player designated as an heir apparent. From my viewpoint, Hiller gave Byfield a ton of leash for a 22-year-old centerman, which is an excellent sign as they transition their future cornerstone into place. 

Hiller gave Byfield shutdown and 1C minutes sprinkled heavily across the midway mark and the last 2/3rds of the season with various results, yet still a net positive. Except for a cratering under a few mighty centermen (Draisaitl, Aleksander Barkov, and Nathan Mackinnon), he largely held his own and sometimes even dominated (Mark Sheifele, Jack Eichel). In the curious case of Barkov, the league's new version of Kopitar, Byfield only saw 1:30 of him on the road. This would indicate that Paul Maurice chose to combat the Kopitar line with Barkov head to head (8:52 compared to Byfield at 1:30) while owning the last change.

Now let's fast forward to the playoffs, aka when it matters most, aka Edmonton again:

Point blank, Kopitar was crushed in this series. It might be his worst playoff performance if it wasn't for the first two games. There's some runoff of Kempe's excellence on Kopitar here too. That wore off after his four-on-four goal in game three. Kempe would not score a goal again in the rest of the series. When Connor McDavid and Draisaitl were separated, Kopitar could not handle either matchup, getting caved in against both players. He was likely the go-to center to face Draisaitl strictly due to his size matchup and experience.

Size might've been the most significant factor against Draisaitl since Byfield almost doubled the ice time that Danault had against the imposing superstar German. Byfield, imposing in his own right, was the best head-to-head center option against the lethal top two Oiler centers when they were separated. Draisatil and McDavid posted their worst numbers shot, possession, and chance-wise (all in shaded blue) against Byfield head-to-head.

Now, Danault deserves a lot of credit here. He saw the nuclear or, rather, superline more than both Byfield and Kopitar combined, sawing them off scoring-wise (1 to1), but my goodness, he outchanced 10 to 28. His possession numbers were cratered, but the least when considering Byfield and Kopitar's folly against Edmonton's yearly go-to nuclear option. But in the argument of Byfield over Kopitar, Byfield himself saw nearly twice the amount of ice time (20:55) against the superline than Kopitar (11:30). You also can't say, well, "Knoblauch really chased Byfield as a matchup" when considering the 11-0 shot advantage, 10-3 chances for, and 2-0 scoring advantage when deploying superline against Kopitar.

Both lines with Kopitar and Byfield were victimized by the superline, which is clear as day. However, despite a more than 3:1 shot advantage (18-5), the Oilers were outscored when deploying the superline against Byfield, with the closest high-danger ratio of all three Los Angeles centermen (6:4).

If anything, more than the regular season, the playoffs proved three things for these Los Angeles Kings. First, Byfield is ready for 1C duties. Second, Kopitar, while not needing to be 'sheltered,' as he's a two-time Selke winner, cannot continue to be the 1C for both short-term and long-term success. Finally, Danault continues to be an excellent high-leverage center despite getting long in the tooth and having one of the more moveable contracts on the roster.

Speaking of leverage, Byfield was the most used forward in the six-game defeat to the Oilers (134:40) over players like Kevin Fiala (131:15) and Kempe (130:21). Kopitar was fourth most (128:55) and Danault fifth (123:54). Numbers speaking for themselves, it seems the franchise has already started to pass the baton, but has the team given Byfield the right horse to run with?

Byfield's most common linemates last season were Warren Foegele, Alex Laferriere, and Fiala. Two of those players will not cultivate bundles of points for the up-and-coming centerman. At the same time, one has historically gotten shut down when facing top competition. Fiala might be the most expensive forward on the roster, but the clear-cut best player is another winger: Kempe.

So why not play your best center with your best winger, you may ask. Good question, for the Kings have glued Kempe and Kopitar together for four straight seasons. To their credit, the duo has been a staple for the Kings' lineup: 

These numbers still represent a quality top-line fixture, not elite, but quality. But away from Kempe, Kopitar has shown signs of being what would be considered 'dependent' on a high-quality winger. Away from Kempe in 2023-24, in 236:25 total, Kopitar had a 49.8% and 50.34% Corsi and Fenwick. He had a 108 to 105 shot advantage (SF vs. SA), 9 to 12 goals for vs. against (GF vs. GA), and outchanced 86 to 84 (SCA vs. SCF). However, the elder Selke centerman still managed opposition in high danger chances, 37 to 28. Now, moving into last season, things have changed. In 172:21 during the 2024-25 season, these numbers were 49.69% Corsi, 47.79% Fenwick, 73-85 (SF vs. SA), 2 to 10 (GF vs. GA), 66 to 86 (SCF vs. SCA), and 26 to 30 (HDCF vs. HDCA).

It has become clearer that as Kopitar ages, it's time to give someone else the reins: Byfield. A second overall pick at the center position after the departure of Gabriel Vilardi (11th overall 2017) and potentially completely striking out with Alex Turcotte (5th overall 2019), Byfield represents a single point of failure for an in-house top-level center replacement for the changing of the guard. 

Giving your future 1C a top-flight winger could be the solution towards triggering a young centerman to be able to push 70+ points and cement his status amongst the top centers in the league. With Kempe emerging as a clear-cut league star, imagining an 80–90-point centerman in Byfield with Kempe fixed on his flank is plausible. The size, speed, and skill? Phew!

Unfortunately, the two barely saw one another. Byfield-Kempe, as a duo, in a measly 67:55 away from Kopitar across the 82-game season last year, produced a 56.52% and a 52.94% Corsi and Fenwick, respectively. They outshot the opposition 54-48, outscored 3-0, and outchanced 35-26, while high-danger chances were almost two to one, 15-8. 

From another numbers standpoint, Byfield arises as the purest, best in-house option for 1C moving forward, as long as management is ready to commit. From an analytical perspective, he should have the best winger moving forward. 

There should be minimal pushback here with Kopitar's potential dependency on Kempe to carry the top line offensively and his overall aging curve, favoring Byfield as next year's penciled in 1C, having one of the first six players recently announced to Sweden's Olympic roster on his flank.

The one thing I would caution for is the fact that the Kings, under Rob Blake, committed to an expensive forward in Fiala in the offseason leading up to 2022-23 who has only meshed well with centers like Danault, Blake Lizotte, Rasmus Kupari, and finally last season, a high-end center in Byfield. 

Hiller will want balance, which may pose a threat to Byfield getting Kempe as a wing, since it is unlikely he loads up the new top line with Fiala, putting the vast majority of the team's ability to create and finish on one line. Kopitar and Fiala have not worked, as Fiala needs a speedy center. That puts this all in jeopardy, as the realistic duos that work would end up as Fiala-Byfield, Kempe-Kopitar, Danault-Trevor Moore, repeating a schematic that faltered in April.

The Kings could always stick Fiala with Danault, which has seen stretches of success, but then it takes away from Danault's ability to shut down top competition.

That leads me back to the question: Has Byfield emerged as the clear-cut number one for the Kings? I would say yes. Can he develop a higher threshold for his potential next to Kempe? Absolutely. 

There's a 1C ready to burst onto the scene with the right horses running alongside him, but the Kings, under new management will have to shape a roster together to put the proper alignment in place for their young future cornerstone to thrive.

Last thoughts, quite literally: Byfield did say he'll be thinking all Summer about his failed clear near the end of game four in Edmonton that would eventually lead to the Oilers capitalizing on the pulled goalie, as he mentioned in his season ending media availability. That is a tough pill to swallow, as he clears that or makes a play, and the Kings come home for game five with the opportunity to advance. No point lingering in hindsight, he's got a heck of a career in front of him.

He should be thinking that the center throne is his next season, as a new era is upon us.