LOS ANGELES – Quinton Byfield played his 100th NHL game Wednesday night as the Kings started a pivotal year, in which they’ll either crack open a new championship window or just stare at it longingly.
The first 99 games didn’t put the No. 2 pick of the 2020 draft on a flight to stardom. The 21-year-old’s development has been staggered and, at times, even stunted. There are also times when his determined skating and eagerness to do the work that doesn’t light up the scoreboard provide the hints that consistent production will eventually come.
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The Kings’ push toward real Stanley Cup contention began with a whimper after Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar tore through them for four goals and a combined nine points in a 5-2 season-opening win at Crypto.com Arena. The best moment for the hosts was Alex Laferriere dropping the gloves in his NHL debut, with his judo-like takedown of Colorado’s Logan O’Connor causing his family to go wild in the stands and earning loud applause from the appreciative crowd.
But the thing that could have a lasting effect is Byfield’s hard-charging game. And it could be a sign that his next 100 games will drive him into new and better territory as a player in the league.
A hopeful start to his season was highlighted by a play with just over 10 seconds left in the middle period, with the Kings down 3-1. With MacKinnon trying to win the puck forward on a center-ice draw, Kings captain Anze Kopitar instead gained possession and flipped it toward the Colorado net. Byfield powered past Rantanen and Makar to make a play on it after Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev blocked the puck down instead of securing it.
Byfield’s play was to pass the puck across to Adrian Kempe, but he got a kind bounce as the puck deflected off Makar’s stick and past Georgiev.
“We knew we weren’t going to make any big set plays off of center ice,” Kopitar said. “We kind of said it to each other — to try and flip it on net and get a faceoff in the offensive zone and see if we can do something off of that. I guess it was a good bounce for us obviously. It worked out.”
With just 4.6 seconds remaining, the Kings were back in the game and Byfield had his first goal. And that’s a big thing right away for someone who had only three goals in 53 games last season. But Byfield’s night wasn’t about good fortune. It was earned. He skated hard all night, whether driving in on entries into the offensive zone or pressing Avalanche puck-carriers on backchecks.
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In defeat, Kings coach Todd McLellan wasn’t wholly dissatisfied with the showing of his undermanned team — thanks to salary-cap issues putting constraints on his roster. Some things did stick at him. The power play that went 0-for-5 either didn’t finish the chances that materialized or, as McLellan said, “we looked good doing nothing.” He also thought the Avs were better with puck play, whether in going to recover it or tipping pucks, as Rantanen did for one of his two goals. He didn’t like that Colorado held a decisive 23-13 edge in blocked shots.
But when discussing Byfield, McLellan had no problem calling it his best game with the Kings.
“I thought he was all over the ice,” he said. “He looked confident. He made great plays, not only offensively but defensively. Nice to see him score a goal for all the hard work he did. But I thought he had a really strong night and something to build on as he goes forward.”
To see that Byfield scored only his ninth goal in his first 100 hasn’t been easy, when the next player taken in that draft, Ottawa’s Tim Stützle, has 74 in 211 and blew up with a 39-goal, 90-point campaign last season. That’s true even if it was understood on draft day that Byfield was going to be the longer-term project. It’s also taken Byfield into his fourth year of games with the Kings to reach 100 games. Two years ago, a broken ankle cost him the first half of the 2021-22 season. Last year, an illness shaved off a large bank of games early on and had him once again playing catch-up.
Coming into this one, Byfield is healthy and continuing to strengthen his once-wiry 6-foot-5 frame. He wants to build momentum and he said the key to that is confidence.
“If I go back to my OHL days, I had a solid first year,” Byfield said. “Then it was my draft year, and I didn’t think about it too much. But I had to impress, and I just went out there and said I wanted to dominate. I can be the best in this league.
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“First game, I produced. It just builds from there. You know that you can score, and you can make plays. Momentum builds from confidence. Once you have that momentum, it’s hard to stop that.”
Naturally, Byfield must build on this. He is going to get plenty of opportunities playing left wing on the top line with Kopitar and Adrian Kempe. But he got a goal and put three of his six shot attempts on net in his 16 minutes Wednesday, living up to a pregame vow that he wants to shoot the puck more, as his linemates are encouraging him to do.
Still, as he showed on his goal, his first thought can be to look for either. “I’m still playing with a 40-goal scorer and a Hall of Famer,” Byfield said after the team’s morning skate. “Obviously, if I pass it off, it’s a good chance as well it’s going in the back of the net.”
What kept him with those two on the top line was being a diligent worker who accepted his move from center to wing and won battles that come with playing in the corners and along the boards. And that has carried over to the first game of a new season.
“He made some strong plays,” Kopitar said. “He made some good plays, just like he (did) last year. Hopefully, him individually and as a line, we’ll benefit from that and just kind of go from where we left it off last year.
“Good to see him get on the sheet. Hopefully me and Juice (Kempe) can get on it pretty soon too.”
Some early success will ease the worry over Byfield and his lack of production. It has helped that his inability to find the twine more often isn’t as obsessed over in L.A. as it would be in a more hockey-centric market. He’s from Newmarket, Ontario – otherwise known as Maple Leafs country. And he’s seen the pressure that comes with playing there.
“Growing up in the Toronto area, I got to see firsthand all the Leafs guys and how much they had,” he said. “Every day it was something. A new story or a new big story. They have a lot more to deal with over there. I would say we’re lucky. Over here, it’s just not as big of a hockey-crazy market like that.”
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It doesn’t mean he is impervious to it. He wants to flourish, and sometimes he squeezes the stick too tight, like any other forward who is counted on to score and doesn’t. But he tries to keep a healthy mindset.
“There’s many ways you can deal with pressure,” Byfield said. “The main thing is, you can’t let it get to you and affect your game. You try your best to avoid it but it’s always there. You always feel it. It comes with sports. You want pressure. If there’s no pressure on you, you’re not doing anything right.
“There’s always going to be pressure. It’s just how you handle it and move forward with it.”
The Kings have been exceedingly patient, and they remain confident that the smaller plays he makes will morph into larger ones, and that the result will be more appearances on the scoresheet. Byfield’s promise is still in play over the next 100 games.
“The points will come, as we saw tonight,” McLellan said. “Ever since he went to the wing and got some confidence. Maybe played more with better players and knew he was going to keep going. His play has really evolved.
“He’s matured as a young man, too. He’s bigger, he’s stronger. He gets what’s going on now. It’s just growing up a little bit. We think that he’s going to have a real good year and a real good career.”
(Photo of Quinton Byfield: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today)