All We Want For Christmas For The LA Kings/Ducks

Dean Schauer

All I want for Christmas for the LA Kings is more secondary scoring!

The Kings’ top two lines are two that are as good as any in the NHL. There is the Anze Kopitar line, and the famous “That 70’s Line” that give the Kings their main offensive threats. But if any team is going to succeed in winning the Stanley Cup, as well as excelling in the regular season, it is when your third and fourth line has the ability to get some pucks in the net. Our bottom lines have usually been with Andy Andreoff/ Michael Mersch – Nick Shore – Dustin Brown on the third line, and having Kyle Clifford – Jordan Nolan – Jordan Weal, (Note that these lines are not consistent). Shore’s line is made to keep goals from happening against the Kings, while Clifford’s line brings physicality to put a stop to top line scorers. Now those two lines have been doing their job and Shore’s line has been more than great at their job, but they have not been able to complete their occasional offensive breakouts.

The fourth line has also had many offensive breakouts that just haven’t gone the Kings way. When you look at Jordan Nolan over the past 10 games, he is able to produce a countless amount of chances for goals to go in. He just lacks the ability to finish and get that goal. If you look at his play, he is a very similar player to Milan Lucic. They’re both physical players who get their teammates past the forecheck to make offensive chances. If Nolan was put to play with better players, I feel like he would be a solid addition to that 70’s line. Granted he may not have the same skill of Milan Lucic, but he would for sure be a lot cheaper and produce in the same way as Lucic.