Los Angeles, CA–As he is prone to do, LA Kings coach Jim Hiller went with an eleven-and-seven (forwards/defensemen) lineup against the New Jersey Devils. This was at least the third time in a row he’s done this. One reporter I spoke to said that he had tracked the practice back to last season, and of the games the Kings played with this lineup configuration, they had won 17 of 20 dating back to last season.
Hiller was asked about this after the first of the team’s most recent three games which he played with eleven forwards, Dec. 28th versus Edmonton. His answer as to why was somewhat non-specific. IH made a point of asking again after Sunday’s game versus New Jersey. More on that after a bit of context.
What’s good and bad about this configuration? First, the positives. The coach can essentially run three lines of his choosing, and just filter the two “extra” forwards in as he wishes. This allows him to spell the top three lines at times to keep them fresh, but mostly to feature his top nine and not worry about ten, eleven and (nonexistent) twelve.
It also allows for a good deal of mixing and matching of players who might not otherwise play together. Thus, for example, versus New Jersey, the first period wasn’t out when Hiller was moving players all around. The lines had started out as in the prior game. That was: Alex Turcotte with Kopitar and Kempe; Byfield centering Foegele and Tanner Jeannot; and Kevin Fiala with Danault and Alex Laferriere. The two extras were Andre Lee and Samuel Helenius.
But shortly into the first frame, the two extras were paired up with Warren Foegele. Period two saw the aforementioned standard three combos again in turn early, but then Foegele with Fiala and Helenius. Then Andre Lee with Byfield and Tanner Jeannot. Then it was Fiala with Kopitar and Kempe. Then the two extras with Alex Laferriere.
Aside from keeping everyone paying attention, this juggling act, and the space of an absent twelfth person at forward, allowed Hiller to accomplish something talked about last week, when he was extremely complimentary of Foegele, and Foegele in turn said he’d never been trusted so much by any coach and was thriving on it. Namely, Foegele was used in two ways not familiar. First, he was often the third player with Lee and Helenius, in many more instances than were already cited. Second, he was used on the penalty kill. That was something that Coach Hiller indicted the other night was a possibility, an area to be explored.
However, here’s an irony to this whole situation: One of the extras, Andre Lee, scored his first NHL goal, and a beauty up and over the goalie’s shoulder on a semi-breakaway. But at the time, he was on the ice with Jeannot and Byfield, not Helenius and Foegele, who were his linemates often on the night.
Hiller talked about Foegele afterwards in response to IH’s question: “He’s a really good skater, so when you’re doing eleven-and-seven, you look for somebody to double-shift sometimes. I tried to give a few guys a chance and tried to get a gauge on who’s really moving tonight, because not everybody has their legs every single night. I thought [Foegele] had his legs early, so he got some of those double shifts. Then nearer the end, when they loaded up [the Hughes line], I put him with Kopi[tar] and Juice [Kempe], just to get a big bigger and stronger player against their top line. Those are all positive things for [Foegele].”
Hiller also added that changing circumstances, like a PP or PK, can demand shifts in lines and line combos as well. This is where having a Lee or a Helenius fresh can be an important tool when veterans (he mentioned Kempe in particular, and added Kopitar) have done a spell killing off a shorthanded situation.
To sum up, it might be fair to say that flexibility and opportunity meet in the eleven-and-seven format, and that it’s not the coach’s concern who can follow the merry-go-round, just whether his players thrive in the circumstances, and of late, the answer has been yes, heatily.
What’s Hiller likely to do in games to come? What incentive would he have to change anything up? At some point, extra minutes might start to add miles to veteran legs, but with no sign of this as of now, why mess with success?
The Kings dispatched the Devils 3-0, with everyone happy for Darcy Kuemper for getting a shutout and the goalie himself crediting those who played hard in front of him. As he said, “A shutout is a team stat.”
The Kings are now off until the weekend.
Note
I am proud to say that with this game, I have been to 750 NHL contests.
