Ken Holland addressed the media in Los Angeles today on a variety of topics, beginning with his 20-game assessment of the club.

“Slow start, 1-3-2, but we’re 9-3-2 in the last 14. Early on, the special teams weren’t performing the way we wanted but recently, they’ve been much better, penalty kill has been excellent, one goal against on the last 16 shorties. Power play, I know that they’re looking at a few changes here going forward. The league is really tight, we’re in the thick of the race. Good on the road, haven’t been good at home.”

– On defenseman Drew Doughty, his timeline is “week-to-week”, with Holland confirming what Jim Hiller said in Washington on Monday. From there, he added that the hope right now is “two-to-three weeks, we’re hoping” which would be on the shorter end of that timeline, which is good.

In the interim, the Kings will not recall another defenseman, the plan right now is to roll with six. However, the Ontario Reign are local, it’s an easy transaction if they need to make a move, so if the Kings feel like the need to add a seventh defenseman, Kyle Burroughs is likely the guy and he could come up at any time. For right now, though, the Kings want him and the Ontario group as it is currently constructed to be playing games, so makes sense to stick with six while the team is at home. The Kings play their next eight games in California, so any potential move would be very simple to make.

I’d expect the Kings to place Doughty on injured reserve soon, likely tomorrow. In an additional piece of news provided by Holland, goaltender Darcy Kuemper won’t travel to San Jose and goaltender Pheonix Copley will be recalled from AHL-Ontario. The reasoning is rest. Kuemper will start on Friday against Boston, with Anton Forsberg in net against the Sharks. Since Kuemper won’t play, it’s an easy opportunity to bring Copley along as the backup, sparing Kuemper some travel time.

As the Kings move forward here, managing Kuemper’s minutes will be important. He’s the undisputed number-one goaltender but he can’t play every night. Forsberg was great in Ottawa and he’ll get his games, especially with the condensed schedule this season due to the Olympic break in February. A chance to give Kuemper the time off here is nice, easy win for the Kings.

– On forward Andrei Kuzmenko, he will check back into the lineup for the Kings tomorrow night in San Jose. Head Coach Jim Hiller later confirmed he will play with Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore.

Here’s what Holland had to say on Kuzmenko –

“He obviously was, at the trade deadline, he was a big piece at making the power play go, and the scoring offense, so he’s a guy that can provide offense. Hopefully this reset gets him going the way he was at the end of last year.”

Holland added that in situations like that, Jim Hiller comes to him to get his take on lineup decisions, such as choosing to take Kuzmenko out and choosing to put him back in, but ultimately Holland leaves the final decision with the Head Coach.

“The final decision comes with the coach, that’s what he’s hired to do, to coach. Certainly before he makes decisions, he talks to me, he gets my opinion, but he’s got the final say.”

Interesting line with Moore and Kopitar, but he’ll be in that top-six role and it’s important for him to play there in the lineup. If you’re going to put him back in, put him back in a place he can succeed. I think that qualifies there, so it’ll be good to watch him tomorrow night against the Sharks.

– On Adrian Kempe, Holland was naturally thrilled to get the contract done. He understood Kempe’s importance here, especially with Kopitar retiring at the end of the season, and was glad to find the deal that made it work.

“He’s a really good player, he’s produced two 40-goal seasons, 30+ 2-3 times, so he’s a scorer. He’s got good speed, competes hard, he’s physical, he can play on the penalty kill, obviously he’s on the power play. He’s good skater, he’s a good person, he’s well respected in the locker room, like he’s a really good player. When you look at his resume and his age, he’s a player that we couldn’t lose. Obviously, we’re losing Kopitar, he announced that this is last year, I think it was important to keep Kempe. It took some time to find a solution and obviously when we signed the contract, both sides feel good about this solution, the eight years of 10.6. We’re thrilled to keep him in a Kings Jersey and he’s a legitimate first-line, top-six forward on any team in the National Hockey League.”

Holland believed the final number came in “right around where we projected it to be”. When he was asked if there was any limitations on the contract that Holland could offer and he said that there was not. He also added that with a rising cap, an AAV that exceeded Drew Doughty’s $11 million would not have been a problem if that’s where the negotiations took the conversation and nor would it going forward with other signings.

– If there’s an area the Kings want more from it’s at the offensive end of the ice.

Here’s what Holland had to say about the team’s overall offensive output, as well as players in the lineup who might not be producing at the levels they have produced at throughout their careers.

“I think that we’d like a little more offense. I think there’s some people on the roster that historically have produced and I would expect that we’re going to get a little more offense out of some people. We’re sixth in the league in goals against, that’s been the calling card for the team. The first six games, I think we were 25th, 26th, 27th, so the last 15 games, we must be near the top of the league in goals against, if we’re that low the first five games. That’s been the calling card here the last couple of years, is good defense goes against, and we needed to continue that.”

Holland added that he believes Phil Danault has played “much better lately” and pointed to a number of players early who just weren’t where they needed to be. Believes several players are back on track and points to a few others who have a track record of scoring at a higher rate than they are scoring at right now, noting that “a bunch of people” have scored better throughout their careers than they are scoring right now.

– In terms of the trade market, Holland said he has checked in with several teams, as he normally would just to get a feel for things, but said that with only five teams currently below .500, there’s not a ton of action. Pointed to a lack of action around the NHL, Kings or not. He attributed some of that to a larger than usual percentage of games going into overtime, which leads to more points being distributed, while others have come from rebuilding teams starting to see some return on their investment.

Should an opportunity to potentially find a longer-term fix at center arise, Holland said that the Kings would be “in there kicking and swinging” to land that player, but as of right now, he does not see that player available via trade, meaning a young, top-six center who could partner with Quinton Byfield going forward, beginning next season. If that player does become available, though, the Kings would be competitive in landing him. He said that the Kings would be willing to move players from the active roster in order to secure a long-term fit at center, but he does not believe such a player exists on the trade market at this time.

– Regarding defenseman Brandt Clarke, Holland indicated that he has touched base with Clarke’s agent regarding his pending RFA status. Clarke himself confirming what he described as “preliminary” discussions and said that the two sides connected while the Kings were on the road in Ontario, where his agent is based. Holland said that there isn’t much on that front right now and that with Clarke being a restricted free agent, there’s plenty of time there to get a deal done. Letting it play out a bit would likely be advantageous for the player, who only has one full season as a body of work and has already outperformed that body of work this season, with 60 more games to add to his resume. Not sure if a bridge deal or a longer-term deal is there, but Clarke is a player the Kings are keen to keep for a long time and a player who wants to be a King for a long time.

Holland said he likes the Clarke/Edmundson pairing, something he did with Evan Bouchard in Edmonton, liking him with Duncan Keith and Mattias Ekholm. He likes the combination of a younger player with a more veteran defenseman and he’s liked the way those two have come together.

He also pointed to prominent minutes being played by Clarke, Byfield, Laferriere and Turcotte, noting that the primary goal of the team right now is to win, not to develop players. However, he sees those four younger players as contributing towards winning. Clarke led the team in minutes in Washington by a wide margin, while Byfield leads all forwards in time on ice per game.

– In terms of additional updates, I was not able to watch practice today with Holland speaking at the same time. However, sounds like the lineup for tomorrow will be as follows –

Fiala – Byfield – Kempe
Moore – Kopitar – Kuzmenko
Foegele – Danault – Laferriere
Armia – Turcotte – Perry

Anderson – Dumoulin
Edmundson – Clarke
Moverare – Ceci

Forsberg
Copley

Kuemper, Helenius, Malott

Will have more in tomorrow’s game preview, but embedded the full availabilities with Hiller, Clarke, Kempe and Moore from today below for those who want to watch! Ken Holland availability to follow.