2 weeks Ago
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — When appraising the Los Angeles Kings’ roster, it’s easy to commend its depth through the forward lines, its sturdiness across the defense pairings and a team-wide commitment to play sound, workmanlike hockey. What the roster has often been dinged on is the lack of a superstar — the kind of player that can change a game or swing a playoff series.
Advertisement Franchise pillars Anže Kopitar and Drew Doughty were among the NHL’s very best at their peak but even their dominance always veered more toward understated excellence. Leading scorer Adrian Kempe could easily be seen as their best player now, but he’s never finished among the league leaders in the main offensive categories. Quinton Byfield is in his fourth playoff round and has come a long way since dipping his toe into the NHL postseason as a rookie in 2022.
All these series, of course, have come against the Edmonton Oilers, but the difference in this one is he’s a full-fledged, big-minutes center tasked with driving a line. This is the time where the 22-year-old can be the factor in the Kings finally ousting their annual adversary. And he may have to be just that for a club reliant on its depth to overcome the superpower that is Connor McDavid, who willed a furious late Oilers comeback in Game 1 but came up short.
Byfield playing his natural position and forming another skilled trio with Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere has helped Kings coach Jim Hiller roll three set lines that all produced a goal in Monday’s 6-5 victory thanks to Phillip Danault’s tiebreaking goal in the final minute. “Big difference this year,” Hiller said. “He got brought along with Kempe and Kopitar and did a really good job to complement them and I thought played well in last year’s playoffs.
Different animal for him this year, his own line like that. And it’s really made us a stronger team, because now we’re just so much deeper with him being complemented by Kevin and Laff. “(Andrei) Kuzmenko with Kopi.
You got Phil’s line and then you got the young line. It just makes us so much deeper for him to be able to do that.” Byfield got off to a good start by playing a vital role in the Kings building a 4-0 lead over the first two periods.
Advertisement Late in the first with the Kings up 1-0 on an early power-play goal, Byfield managed to catch an airborne puck stopped by Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner off Drew Doughty’s point shot. Byfield, who teamed with Kevin Fiala to win a puck battle at the start of the possession, immediately dropped it and banked in a shot off Skinner’s back as he scrambled to get back into position. A dump-in to the Edmonton zone in the second period spurred a forecheck.
Byfield got a hit on Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak as he rimmed the puck behind the Edmonton net to Evan Bouchard. Fiala pressured Bouchard into committing a bad turnover that Byfield jumped on as he hustled back into the slot area. He saw Danault and gave a light touch pass that the veteran fired past Skinner for a four-goal bulge.
At 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, Byfield is a physical wonder with tremendous skating speed for his size. The Kings took him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft between the New York Rangers selecting Alexis Lafrenière and the Ottawa Senators grabbing Tim Stützle.
But they always knew Byfield was more of a longer-term project they’d be patient with developing. Having Kopitar as their longtime No. 1 center allowed them to take things slower with Byfield.
Signing Danault as a free agent also relieved any pressure to push Byfield forward before he was ready. There were injuries for him to deal with, but the last two seasons have seen him start to turn his vast potential into production. “I think he’s becoming that difference-maker,” forward Trevor Moore said.
“You look at him and he still looks kind of skinny but he’s heavy. He’s gained a lot of weight and he’s a guy who’s just going to continue to fill out. He’s so explosive.
I think that he’s a guy who could definitely take over games and potentially take over a series.” Advertisement While a career-high 23 goals and 31 assists don’t scream stardom when you look at what top centers around the NHL do for their teams, Byfield is playing more like a leading man than ever for the Kings. He had 14 goals and 33 of his 54 points over the final 37 games.
The chemistry he forged with Fiala played a role in the Swiss winger having a scorching second half and setting a new career best with 35 goals. Ice time can measure a player’s importance to his team. In Game 1, Byfield’s 22 minutes and 53 seconds of action was the most of any Kings forward.
“Confidence everywhere,” said Danault of what he sees as Byfield’s greatest facets of growth. “In every area. Offensively.
Dishing. Scoring touch as well. Very shifty on the ice.
He’s finding himself more. He’s such a tall kid that it’s hard to find your way sometimes in the NHL, especially as a center. And now he’s strong.
He’s a beast, you know. “He just found his game. Found his way.
That’s probably one of the hardest things to do in the NHL. Find your way, find your game and what you can be good at. And he did it throughout the whole year.
” Last year, Byfield broke through as a player with his first 20-goal season. He found comfort at left wing on the top line with Kopitar and Kempe. But he also felt out of place.
The Kings reaffirmed their investment in him last summer by signing him to a five-year extension worth more than $31 million. And that came with an expressed desire to move back to center, which was the Kings’ grand plan for him and fast-tracked when they traded Pierre-Luc Dubois. But through the course of the season, Hiller took to giving Byfield occasional shifts against the opposition’s top lines in a matchup role.
It not only gave Kopitar and Danault, their usual shutdown centers, a breather in terms of always dueling against the best forwards, it’s helped prepare Byfield for the challenge of dealing with McDavid – or Leon Draisaitl, when the Oilers have them on different lines. Advertisement “I think everybody looks for that opportunity,” Byfield said. “Those guys, two of the best players in the league.
So if you get that challenge against you, you kind of dig in a little bit more. That’s what you have to do against those guys.” Game 1 wasn’t spotless: Byfield was on the ice for two of the goals against in the McDavid-fueled rally from three goals down in the third period to forge a late tie.
Other than a lost faceoff on Corey Perry’s tally, he couldn’t be faulted for either goal. But that’s all part of the increased responsibility he now has. Learning from Kopitar and Danault, he’s got the mindset and the ability to play Selke Trophy-level defense, but he’s just at the initial steps in that process.
Now Byfield is back on a playoff stage. He’s learned from the prior postseasons and considers himself more mature with the experience gained from them. This is where reputations are made.
This is where he can be the difference-maker the Kings need. “Everybody in the end knows that to really be measured and really climb up the ladder in your career, it’s often on your playoff success,” Hiller said. “Everybody will give a person his props for having a good regular season.
But then the next step for all players is can you get it done in the playoffs? “So I think as a younger player, the earlier you can get that done and establish yourself as somebody who can get it done at that time of the year, the less questions you get and the ability to start just climbing that ladder starts at an earlier point in your career. And it’s hard to do. But I think that’s the benefit of being able as a young player to get that playoff success under your belt.
” (Top photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images).
