Quinton Byfield takes ownership of the Kings

His six-game goalscoring streak, the longest of his young career, reinforces his evolution into being the heart of the team.

With all due respect to Anze Kopitar—and he has earned boundless admiration for becoming a two-time Stanley Cup champion and two-time winner of the Selke trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward while sacrificing personal scoring stats throughout nearly 19 seasons—the Kings are Quinton Byfield’s team now.

And that’s as it should be. That’s how it must be, if the Kings are to again experience the success they enjoyed in the most glorious stages of Kopitar and Drew Doughty’s parallel careers. The moment has arrived for Byfield to take over, and he appears ready to meet it and to stamp his personality on what should become his team.

Kopitar, of course, still has the captain’s C. And he deserves it. The 37-year-old Slovenian is rightfully and universally respected around the league and in international hockey for his many achievements. His production has slowed during the second half of this season, but he still leads the Kings in assists, with 37, and ranks second in points, with 53, a point behind Adrian Kempe. He is, on paper and in terms of his leadership skills, still the top-line center.

There’s no denying, though, that Byfield has lately become their most dynamic presence. Coach Jim Hiller, asked if Byfield’s six-game goalscoring success had propelled him past Kopitar to become the team’s No. 1 center, diplomatically demurred and tap-danced around the question.

“You look at the minutes and how those guys all play on the power play and the penalty kill,” Hiller said of Kopitar, Byfield, and Phillip Danault. “I don’t know that there’s one guy that you can say he’s the No. 1 center. I think we’ve got three guys….There’s three guys there to me that on any given night is the guy that leads us, but he’s going pretty good right now.”

Still, it’s clear that Byfield has stepped up and has become a difference-maker.

“I don’t know exactly what that means, but I will tell you this: he’s a good player and he’s getting better,” Hiller told reporters. “I don’t know, if somebody can decide when he hits the threshold but he’s been a difference-maker for us for some time.”

It has taken some time and some struggles and a lot of patience. Byfield endured some early misfortune and a few missteps following his selection as the second overall pick in the 2020 entry draft, but he’s now consistently showing signs that he can succeed Kopitar as the No. 1 center—and as the future heart of the team.

He clearly has had the size and talent all along. Now, he’s proving that he has the will to carry a team on his strong back, and he’s shouldering more and more of the load with not the slightest flinch.

He has emergenced into a prime force just because he extended his career-best goalscoring streak to six games Saturday when he was set up by Kempe for the winner 3:20 into overtime to lift the laboring Kings to a 1-0 victory over Nashville at the Crypt. That was his third overtime goal this season, all set up by Kempe. His streak, incidentally, is the longest recorded by a Kings skater since Hall of Fame left wing Luc Robitaille had a 10-game goal streak from Feb. 27 through March 20, 1993.

And his arrival at this moment isn’t just because his physicality gets him into the hits column on a regular basis, though with 66 hits in 65 games he has as many hits to his credit as he did in 80 games last season. That was his breakthrough season, with 20 goals and 55 points, totals he’s approaching again with 17 goals and 40 points so far.

“I’m just trying to play how I always play, and right now I just feel like I’m finding the back of the net, getting some bounces,” he said, in typically modest hockey player fashion.

What has changed lately is that Byfield has become more sure of himself and his abilities, as if he has caught up to the game and slowed it down. He can command the ice now, throw bone-rattling checks and bounce off hits intended to crush him, sensing keenly when he and his teammates need a lift. He has figured out how to best use his rare combination of size (6-foot-5, 225 pounds), quick acceleration, and clever hands, and that’s the best thing that has happened to the Kings in a long time.

“He’s been awesome,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “I think last year he took big strides. This year I think he’s taken another step, especially defensively. He’s been much harder to play against. It’s fun to see him start scoring goals, kind of going on a run like this. So, really good for him, but good for us as a group.”

Exactly. As Byfield goes, so will the Kings go.

At the moment, following goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper’s second straight shutout, they’re riding a five-game winning streak and a 9-0-3 point streak at home. They moved a point ahead of Edmonton Saturday and into second place in the Pacific division—a position that, if the standings remain the same, would give them home-ice advantage over the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs. That could be significant.

“I think the confidence, you can see it, just the way he moves out there. he touches the puck, he wants it on his stick. He makes some plays,” Anderson said of Byfield. “He’s been really fun to watch and someone we’re going to want to keep going in that direction. It’s awesome.”

Byfield attributed his success in the three-on-three overtime format to being able to thrive with fewer would-be checkers in his way. “All that ice, it’s so much fun out there. Guys enjoy being out there. You get a lot of time and space,” he said. “You just make plays and have fun.”

He also credited Hiller with trusting him enough to put him out there in sudden-death play. “It’s all just repetition as well,” Byfield said. “Before, I never got that chance until this year. really. He has me out there over and over again, and I kind of feel more comfortable with that.”

If he remains comfortable and confident and productive, the Kings have a chance at moving past what has become for them the treacherous first playoff round. There’s a ways to go before then, starting with leaving the friendly confines of the Crypt to play at Minnesota on Monday at at Chicago on Thursday.

“This is going to be a good test for us in Minnesota,” Hiller said. “They play a certain kind of game. They’re strong. We’re going to have to take a deep breath and we’re going to have to come with some more energy in that one for sure. I think it’s going to be a really good test for our team.”

Other tests await. The Kings have three back-to-back sequences left, which means they’ll have to give Kuemper a night or two off or risk exhausting him before the playoffs. Backup David Rittich has given up 17 goals on 122 shots in his last five games (a .861 save percentage) and has an 885 save percentage this season, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. And the power play, ranked 28th after Saturday’s action with a 15.2% success rate, is still a potential vulnerability. Winger Andrei Kuzmenko, their lone pre-trade deadline acquisition, has yet to record a point, though he hasn’t been a liability.

But there’s plenty of reason for optimism. They’ve found a good balance with four consistent lines, including a muscular fourth line of Tanner Jeannot, Samuel Helenius, and Alex Turcotte that keeps opponents honest, and Hiller has abandoned the 11-forward, seven-defenseman configuration to keep a stable 12-forward, six-defenseman lineup. And Byfield, even if he isn’t listed as their No. 1 center on the lineup sheet, is playing like the No. 1 center the Kings urgently need to carry them deeper into the playoffs this season and take them back to Stanley Cup contention after the Kopitar era comes to a close.