Observations from Week 1

The 2025-26 season is underway and the LA Kings started their first week with a 1-2 record against some of the top teams in the Western Conference.

After an opening night 4-1 home loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the Kings brought a much better effort the next night, winning a thriller in Vegas 6-5 in a shootout. Opening week ended with a 3-2 loss in Winnipeg on Saturday which featured a couple of defensive errors that allowed the Jets to tie the game and eventually score the winner.

As with everything this time of year, it’s early, so whatever happened in Week 1 – good or bad – isn’t necessarily going to continue for the rest of the season. With that caveat, here are some observations from the past week.

Average Joes

The LA Kings have been one of the league’s top shot-share (CF%) and shot-quality (xGF%) teams in the league for years. This has largely been on the back of their strong, structured and stingy defense. After three games, the Kings sit 15th in CF% (50.2%) and 19th in xGF% (48.6%) at 5-on-5. Now, this is heavily skewed by the game in Vegas in which they were badly out attempted so yes, the sample size isn’t anywhere near big enough.

But, while I don’t expect the Kings to be in the lower-half of these categories all season, a big concern for me heading into it was how much worse Ken Holland made the team’s defense group, so I am skeptical that they will be the dominant possession 5-on-5 team that we’ve seen in recent years.

If they are going to be spending more time in their defensive zone this season, it’s going to put more pressure on the goaltenders as well. We’ll see how this goes as the season goes on.

Improved fourth line

A big speaking point from the offseason was the upgrades to the LA Kings’ fourth line with the additions of Joel Armia and Corey Perry. Unfortunately Perry’s pre-season injury has him sidelined to start the season, but boy has Armia looked the part so far.

On a per-60 minute basis, Armia is second on the team in shot attempts and in tracking scoring chances this season, his four chances are second only to Anze Kopitar. He’s been excellent at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill through three games. His impressive play even saw him get some time next to Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala against Winnipeg.

Armia’s willingness to shoot and intelligence to get himself into higher danger scoring areas is a perfect fit next to Alex Turcotte. Whenever Turcotte has been healthy, he’s been a contributor to the offense. Right now, he’s healthy and he’s doing just that. He leads the team in Chance Assists and is second (again only to Kopitar) in shot assists per-60. He’s a creative player who, in fourth line matchups, should give LA a significant advantage.

Jeff Malott has served a role nicely, dropping the gloves sticking up for his teammates. I don’t know that he’s long for the roster spot once Perry returns, but he’s holding his own.

So far, so good for the fourth line.

One more year?

Or how about another ten for captain Anze Kopitar? The ageless Slovenian is off to a strong start, leading the team in points (3) while also continuing to be the key cog on the top line, leading the team in Shot Assists.