The Los Angeles Kings have one of the deeper forward groups in the NHL. It’s been a strength all season, leading to them being one of the higher-scoring teams for most of the season. However, they’ve struggled a bit over the past two weeks, and have now fallen to 12th in goals per game. The obvious reason why would be the absences of Gabriel Vilardi and Kevin Fiala, who have been important wingers for the Kings this season. If they want to have success in the playoffs, they will need these guys in the lineup.
Injuries Hurting Kings’ Depth
The impact was certainly felt for the Kings on offense. Fiala and Vilardi each have 23 goals, tied for fourth on the team. Since Vilardi went out of the lineup on March 28, the Kings are averaging just 2.13 goals per game over the course of eight games. Fiala has also missed five of those games and the results have been even worse without him, as they have scored just nine total goals in those games. Depth has been a strength of the team all season, and when you lose two important forwards and are playing against some tougher opponents like the Kings have lately, it can lead to poor results.
Fiala gets his dues around the NHL, but it’s probably gone under the radar how good of a season Vilardi is having. He has scored 1.4 goals per 60 minutes, which is good for 44th place among players who have played at least 300 minutes. For context, that’s a better rate than the likes of Brady Tkachuk, Steven Stamkos and Jake Guentzel. The Kings really need his scoring punch, as the middle-six forwards have really struggled to score in the past few weeks.
The rate stats for Fiala also make his production look even better. He’s 14th in the NHL in points per 60 in all situations. The Kings made the big trade to get him and signed him to a long-term contract expecting he would add a boost to their offense, and he’s done exactly that. The power play and the team’s scoring have both greatly improved with his addition, and they will certainly need his offensive production in the postseason.
Second Line Lacking Offense Recently
The Kings’ second line has been centered by Phillip Danault for the last two seasons. He is one of the best defensive centers in the NHL, but his offensive game can be hit or miss. When he played for the Montreal Canadiens, he infamously scored just one goal and four points in their 2021 run to the Stanley Cup Final. However, he was greatly praised for his ability to slow down the other team’s top lines, and was instrumental in their deep playoff run. In his first season with the Kings last year, he exploded for 27 goals, a career-high.
Related: Vilardi Providing Scoring Depth in Breakout Season
This season, Danault has set a career-high in points with 54. Lately, his production has been evaporating. He hasn’t scored since March 9 and has just one assist in the last eight games. His usual linemate has been Trevor Moore, who has just two assists in the same time period. The Kings will use this line to match up against the other team’s top players, especially in the playoffs, but it will be a problem if they don’t provide any offense. Fiala has sometimes played with Danault. Whether he is there to help give this line an extra offensive kick, or to help another score more to make up for this line not scoring, he’s definitely needed as has been proven over the past handful of games. Vilardi will likely go back to the third line, to cement a better third line than most teams will be able to deploy.
Rolling Lines Can Lead Kings to Playoff Success
The Kings aren’t going to overwhelm any team with one line full of stars. They also aren’t a team that is going to just completely shut down their opponents, as they don’t really have the personnel for that as they did in the years they won the Cup. Where they can gain an advantage is by getting scoring throughout the lineup. The team last season that gave the Edmonton Oilers everything they could handle did not have Fiala or this version of Vilardi. They were also missing Viktor Arvidsson, meaning they’ll have three 20-goal scorers in the lineup who weren’t there last postseason.
The Kings have the capability of overwhelming certain teams with their depth. This will certainly be the case if they play the Edmonton Oilers in the first round, as they are a much worse team when their depth players are on the ice compared to their stars. If they are to go toe-to-toe with a team who can score like Edmonton, they’ll need scoring up and down the lineup. Coming at the Oilers in waves and rolling all four lines should be the Kings’ approach. Using the depth they have would also be key if they were to meet the Vegas Golden Knights in either the first or second round.
A key will be to not only have them in the lineup, but 100 percent healthy. So far Vilardi has resumed skating, but Fiala has not. Fiala has played more recently, and came out of the lineup just as the Kings clinched a playoff spot. That should bring some optimism that he would be playing if these games were playoff games. Another few days to rest before the playoffs will hopefully be enough to get them healthy because the Kings will clearly need them if they want to make it out of the first round for the first time since 2014.
