The Los Angeles Kings have not played a worse 60 minutes than the one they put together against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.
They've had bad games this season, but none have been so sloppy and disjointed.
The Kings looked like a group of players out at stick time who have never played together before trying to find chemistry. Not connecting on passes, bobbling pucks under no pressure, etc.
To combat this start, Todd McLellan went to the blender, mixing up his lines in a big way.
McLellan's been known to do this in the past, but hasn't had to much this season, and rarely makes changes as big as the ones he made on Tuesday.
It's unlikely all of these stick, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Kings' lineup look different on Thursday than it did to start Tuesday's game.
Let's look at the changes McLellan made, and toy around with some other options he can go with.
The Changes:
The first change actually came before puck drop. After a brutal game on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers, Arthur Kaliyev found himself in the press box, replaced by Jaret Anderson-Dolan.
This meant Carl Grundstrom moved up into Kaliyev's spot on the third line, and Anderson-Dolan replaced Grundstrom on the fourth line.
Here's how the Kings started.
Then, after going 2-0 down in the second period, McLellan made his changes.
Trevor Moore moved onto the top line with Anze Kopitar and Quinton Byfield. Grundstrom moved up with Phil Danault and Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe moved onto the third line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Laferriere.
The fact that McLellan mixed up the lines isn't surprising but some of the changes he made were.
When he's made changes in the past, he's rarely broken up the Byfield-Kopitar-Kempe line and has seldom split Danault and Moore up. But, desperate times and all.
The most successful of these changes was by far moving Moore up to the top line. As a line, Byfield-Kopitar-Moore heavily out-chanced and out-possessed the Leafs in the third.
They were the only Kings line who really got anything going and looked dangerous in the game.
Danault's line looked okay after the change and Dubois' line was mostly caved in.
That leaves us with the question of what to do next game. The Kings need to shake things up, and even if these changes don't stay exactly the same, changes should be made.
Potential Changes:
McLellan is going to be reluctant to mess with the Byfield-Kopitar-Kempe line outside of a half-game adjustment, but based on Tuesday's game it might be a good option.
Not because that line needs changing, but because it opens up options across the lineup.
Kempe has played his most complete hockey this season, creating chances and driving play for his teammates, so it might be time to let him take on his own line.
If McLellan opts for that, I'd keep Moore on the top line and move Kempe down to Danault's line.
I'd also like to see Laferriere moved off of Dubois' wing and Fiala back down to the third line. Dubois and Fiala together didn't work great to start the season, but it's time to try it again.
Assuming Kaliyev comes back into the lineup, that gives you a very offensive third line to try and win matchups.
Your top nine then becomes:
Byfield-Kopitar-Moore
Laferriere-Danault-Kempe
Kaliyev-Dubois-Fiala.
There's significant risk in that third line, but if you give them mostly offensive zone starts and manage your matchups, they should be okay.
It also puts Kaliyev in a good spot to succeed, playing with the team's best passer in Fiala and someone who can work the corners and create traffic in Dubois.
That second line gives Kempe a chance to carry his own line. He becomes the play driver and creative force next to two hard workers in Danault and Laferriere.
While the top line goes to work as they did against Toronto.
I doubt McLellan goes with this lineup, that third line would give him a heart attack and I don't expect him to change the first line, but the Kings need to shake things up.
They haven't played with the lines much this season, and in fairness, they haven't needed to, but now is the time for some experimenting.