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The Los Angeles Kings have emerged into one of the National Hockey League's best teams since play resumed after the 4 Nations Face-Off — and 22-year-old Quinton Byfield has been a huge reason why.
The former second overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft has been on a heater as of late, scoring seven goals over his last 10 games. The Kings have won nine of those as they continue to surge over the last month of the season.
“[Byfield] has been our best player for quite a while now,” LA captain Anze Kopitar told NHL.com's Tracey Myers earlier this week. “It's really great to see him confident on the ice and doing all the things that he's been doing. I guess we just had to wait a little bit longer than anticipated, but he's been a force for this team. He's been winning us games.”
“I think the confidence, you can see it,” echoed defenseman Mikey Anderson, per The Athletic's Eric Stephens. “Just the way he moves out there. He touches the puck. He wants it on his stick. He makes some plays. Yeah, he's been really fun to watch and someone we're going to want to have keep going in that direction. It's awesome.”
After breaking out to the tune of a career-high 20 goals and 55 points in 2023-24, Byfield has managed 44 points over 70 outings this year, while averaging over 18 minutes a night as the Kings' second-line center.
Considering he didn't score a single goal over his first 13 games, it's an impressive tear for the youngster.
“I think my game is in a good spot,” Byfield told Myers.
Along with outstanding goaltending from Darcy Kuemper and a stingy defensive unit led by a now fully healthy Drew Doughty, the Kings are 40-21-9 and just five points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for tops in the Pacific Division — with a game in hand.
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Quinton Byfield, Kings surging at perfect time
The Kings haven't advanced past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since winning their second championship in three years back in 2014. But the roster is hungry to make some noise when the highly-anticipated tournament commences next month.
“There were a lot of doubters at the beginning of the year for whatever reason, but I think at the beginning of the year we knew what we had, and we know how good of a team we are,” Byfield told Myers.
“We’re really happy where we are as a team, but I think our home record says it all (26-3-4). We want to get better on the road so we have to figure that out, but other than that, we’re in a really good spot and excited for the playoffs.”
With 12 games left in their regular-season, there's still a chance the Kings can leapfrog the Knights and win the division. If that doesn't happen, it'll be a fourth consecutive Round 1 date with the Edmonton Oilers.
And for the first time in years, they might actually be the favorites.
