Welcome to the latest series here at Last Word on Hockey. Each day, we will take a look at a new team and examine three of their potential breakout or bounce-back players. What are these? These are players that have the chance to make a serious difference with their teams. Whether that’s as someone who finally finds their place in the NHL, or as someone who had previously been good but has struggled as of recently. Each day we will be looking at a different team! However, today we will take a look at the potential 2020-21 Los Angeles Kings key players.
2020-21 Los Angeles Kings Candidates
Adrian Kempe
When looking at Los Angeles Kings breakout candidates, the first name that should come to mind for most is Adrian Kempe. Kempe, the Kings’ first-round selection in 2014, has been struggling to find consistency and production in Los Angeles. During Kempe’s rookie year in 2017-18, he posted 16 goals and 21 assists for 37 points in 81 games. The Kings were hopeful and thought this would be a good starting point for Kempe to build off of. Unfortunately, he never really did build off of this, as that remains his career-high in goals, and points. Kempe was on pace to break that mark by just one point had the 2019-20 season not paused.
What’s Been Going Wrong
Ultimately, what has been preventing Kempe from producing is his consistency. He will frequently show flashes of high-end skill and talent, but at the end of the day, flashes are not enough. He will go through stretches where he develops small, short point streaks, and will be a key contributor to the Kings offence. Unfortunately, these streaks tend to end abruptly, causing Kempe to go quiet, often for longer than while he was going through a hot streak. This is why Kempe struggles with production.
Why He Can Breakout
Throughout the majority of Kempe’s short NHL career, he has been deployed at centre. It wasn’t until late into the 2019-20 season that the Kings started to realize that Kempe was not really suited to be a centre at the NHL, but is much better off on the wing. Once Kempe was moved to the wing, he seemed much more comfortable on the ice. He will likely play on the wing for the 2020-21 season, which should help him tremendously.
Additionally, Kempe will have significantly better linemates for his 2020-21 campaign. In the 2019-20 season, Kempe’s two most frequent linemates were Austin Wagner (47 percent) and Blake Lizotte (44 percent). While these players are decent, they certainly are not top-six players, which is how the Kings applied them with Kempe. Instead of playing with Lizotte and Wagner, Kempe will likely get time on the second line with Gabriel Vilardi and Martin Frk. These two players are ones that the Kings believe will be able to make a rather large immediate impact on their team. These players should help increase Kempe’s production.
Martin Frk
Speaking of Martin Frk, Mr. 109.2 will be looking to break out in his own way next season. While it might be unusual for a player who is 27 years old to break out, an exception should be made for Frk. He has spent the majority of his career going up and down between NHL and AHL lineups. He should finally have a secure spot on the 2020-21 Los Angeles Kings. After leading the Ontario Reign in goals and points last season, Frk has earned his spot in the NHL. He has a lethal shot that the Kings think can net him several goals at the NHL level.
Frk is expected to play on the second line in Los Angeles, alongside touted prospect Gabriel Vilardi. The two of them had tremendous chemistry in Ontario and will look to translate it to the NHL. Both of them should see powerplay time as well. Frk could very well end up being the number one shooting option on the Kings powerplay too. With all of these big minutes, Frk could be poised for a breakout.
Dustin Brown
A major bounce-back candidate for the 2020-21 Los Angeles Kings could be winger Dustin Brown. While he just turned 36 years old, Brown still has some gas left in the tank. After scoring 51 points in 72 games in 2018-19, Brown posted just 35 in 66 games in 2019-20. While this is a big decline, it’s also worth noting that Brown has had several coaching changes over the past few seasons.
After having a major dropoff in production under Darryl Sutter compared to his earlier years, Brown had a resurgence under John Stevens. Stevens was later fired though, making Willie Desjardins the interim head coach of the Kings. After Desjardins and the Kings didn’t seem to mesh well together, the team hired current head coach, Todd McLellan in the 2019 offseason.
After now having almost a full season under his belt with McLellan, Brown should be much more used to his system. Additionally, Brown will also be with a broken-out Alex Iafallo and a resurged Kings powerplay. This could also help him up his production.
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