The Kings Penalty Kill: Who Plays Where?

Who plays with who isn't really as important on the penalty kill; it's more important to get your best penalty killers out there are much as possible. Plus, your best penalty killers are usually the guys most likely to take penalties, which usually puts a wrench in your plans anyway. Here is what the Kings looked like last year:

Last year's penalty kill minute leaders, forwards (>1 min. of ice time per game):

*Mike Richards was 3rd among Flyers forwards in shorthanded ice time per game.

The Kings generally had Handzus & Kopitar out there as a unit and then Lewis & Brown, with Stoll out on draws for both units until he had an opportunity to make a change.

Next season, I'd expect Mike Richards to take Michal Handzus' minutes on the penalty kill. I also expect Kopitar to get relieved of some of his penalty kill burden, transferring it to a combination of Trevor Lewis (who emerged as a pretty good penalty killer last season) and Jarret Stoll (who will get more penalty kill ice time to compensate for his minutes lost at even strength and on the power play). I think the penalty kill will look like this:

Mike Richards-Jarret Stoll (draws)/Trevor Lewis

Anze Kopitar- Jarret Stoll (draws)/Dustin Brown

Hopefully Mike Richards can help the Kings score more than 4 shorthanded goals this season, a number the Kings haven't exceeded since Terry Murray took over as coach.

Last year's penalty kill minute leaders, defense (>57 sec. of ice time per game):

Mitchell & Doughty were together quite a bit last year, with Scuderi & Greene as the 2nd unit.

I don't expect much change with this unit. Mitchell will play all the time*, usually starting with Doughty, while Scuderi & Greene will come out 2nd. Johnson will play when one of those four are in the box.

*Willie Mitchell might be the best penalty killer in the league because not only does he own, he also never takes penalties so he's hardly ever in the box. He took 8 minors last year and 4 of those were in a 3-game span in February.

There are a lot of criticisms you could make about Terry Murray but the penalty kill is not one of them. Richards should bring speed and hockey smarts to the penalty kill and the Kings should have one of the best penalty kill units in the league next season.

(Oh, and Maggie fucking owns bones and would beat the shit out of Chandler or Gay Mike's Cat. Feast your eyes!

Fierce!

Fancy!

Fan of Fun!

Vote Maggie 2012. Way better than Chandler or Cat Mike's Gay. Or Earl's fucking aardvark or whatever the fuck weird animal he likes.)