The Los Angeles Kings have quickly turned themselves into one of the league’s best teams. Not only did they start the season with 11 consecutive road wins, they are defying expectations in net. Many had this team finishing in the top-three in the Pacific Division, and I don’t think there’s any question that should happen, but they are winning by preventing goals, not only scoring them.
While the Kings impressively rank fourth in the league in goals per game (3.56), the team has first place locked down in goals against per game (2.41). While the strong defensive team led by two great two-way centermen helps, saves are a big factor in the success as well. This comes down to Cam Talbot. He was brought in through free agency on a one-year, $1 million AAV deal and has been lights out, playing as good as he ever has in his entire impressive career.
The Offseason Steal by the Kings
Free agent goalies are not easy to come by. This is generally the case when a starter moves teams and organizations are looking for someone to take control of the crease and win. The Kings brought in Joonas Korpisalo last season at the trade deadline to be their starter, and he did well until they ran into the Edmonton Oilers again. Not many teams or goalies can shut down that offense. I don’t believe this was the entire reason for the Kings not to bring Korpisalo back, but he left and signed with the Ottawa Senators for five years at $4 million AAV.
While Korpisalo would likely be doing better on the Kings this season than he is on the Senators, it’s no guarantee. What is guaranteed is Talbot’s success on the Kings. Last season, before the Korpisalo acquisition, Cal Petersen was sent to the AHL, never to return, Jonathan Quick struggled the entire time he was on the Kings, and Pheonix Copley, an AHL journeyman, had to hold down the fort. It wasn’t ideal in net at all despite a strong defensive team.
The Kings had to outscore their problems and did so. Even if this team wasn’t scoring as much this season, Talbot would be keeping them in games and winning games. The 36-year-old, on maybe the best contract amongst goaltenders in the league, has a 13-5-2 record with a 2.02 goals against average, .926 save percentage, and two shutouts in 19 games thus far. They are fourth in the league in points percentage for a good reason, Talbot.
Other Kings Moves Pale in Comparison
Finding good goaltending with such little money allocated to do so is very impressive and very difficult to do. So far, it has worked out better than anyone could have expected. Going into the season, goaltending was the area where the team and observers were worried about. So what about the other two main moves? These moves involved re-signing Vladislav Gavrikov, the other piece that came over in the Korpisalo trade deadline deal, and acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois.
I think we can all agree that Dubois has not been as advertised and it wasn’t a great move looking at how the pieces on the Winnipeg Jets are currently doing. He is in the first of an eight-year deal paying him $8.5 million AAV and is serving as the third line center. While Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault are the top two centers for the time being, Dubois is being paid like he should be playing and doing much more. He has five goals and 12 points in 27 games coming off of 27 goals and 63 points last season.
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Gavrikov has done well enough on defense, but he is also being paid a sizeable amount to do so. If you compare Talbot’s and Gavrikov’s impact this season, Talbot is far ahead because of the numbers he has put up. Yes, this could get worse, but helping the Kings get off to this great start will help a lot by the end of the season.
