Practice Day 1, Insiders!

I would consider this to be the first practice of the 2026-27 regular season. I think that today is a swing day in some ways, but for the Kings, it was basically their roster for opening night and the practice seemed to be held as such.

I don’t know how best to describe it, but today was one of the liveliest Kings practices I’ve seen maybe ever. The energy, the talking, the competition was just different.

“Most of that’s coming from the coaches, they’re creating a lot of white versus gray games that we’re playing every single day in practice, which brings up the energy,” Drew Doughty said. “Both teams want to win and then there’s a consequence for the losing team at the end, whether it’s an extra bag skate or whatever it is. When you can have that in practice, it just brings up the life in practice. It’s a lot more fun than just going through the motions and drills, right? So I love the way they’re setting it.”

Some of that comes from an encouraging ending to the preseason with the win over Anaheim. Some of it was put in place well before that. But it was extremely noticeable today.

Here’s the alignment we saw during today’s practice –

Panarin – Byfield – Kempe
Zuccarello – Turcotte – Laferriere
Moore – Haula – Laughton
Lee – Helenius – Armia

Dumoulin – Doughty
Gustafsson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci
Edmundson – Kirsanov

Kuemper / Forsberg

In terms of updates, let’s start with defenseman Joel Edmundson.

He missed Saturday’s preseason finale versus Anaheim, with Peter Laviolette labelling him “day-to-day” but he was on the ice for practice today. Defenseman Kirill Kirsanov, who was recalled from the AHL to fill Edmundson’s place in that game, was with the main group today, giving the Kings eight defensemen on the ice. Edmundson was out on the ice and wasn’t in a red jersey, but didn’t participate in every single drill, though he took part in the bulk of practice. I guess you could say limited participant, but it was very close to full participation from my observations, which seemed to be what Peter Laviolette felt as well.

“It’s still day-to-day, we’re wrapping up coming off the ice right now and it was great to have him out there and pretty much a full participant,” Laviolette said of Edmundson. “We’ll see where he is post practice today, we’ve got another practice tomorrow and then we travel. We’ll just see how he’s trending. It was positive to get him out there and involved the way he was today.”

Kings forward Corey Perry was not on the ice today, as has been the case since early last week. Perry has been away from the group for personal reasons and it is unclear at this time whether or not Perry is an option or not for the season opener versus Colorado. Still another practice and a morning skate to go until that determination needs to be made.

With Edmundson’s status in a bit of limbo, step on up Erik Gustafsson.

If you ask his teammate – both past and present – Gustafsson is a player.

“People don’t understand how good he is,” forward Artemi Panarin said. “His hockey IQ is pretty high, his attack, his skating level is so good and he’s a good guy. He brings good energy in the locker room. It’s nice to see him again on my team.”

Panarin and Gustafsson were both on the 2023-24 New York Rangers, a team which reached the Eastern Conference Final. They were also teammates several years earlier in Chicago. So, Panarin has seen Gustafsson as much as anyone.

Gustafsson was signed to a one-year contract over the summer with the Kings, moving back to a familiar system. In his two seasons under Laviolette, Gustafsson has averaged 0.5 points-per-game across the two campaigns in Washington and New York. Over 84 games, that’s over 40 points, though he hasn’t hit 80 games in either campaign.

Gustafsson is interesting in my opinion. On paper, he is a really good stylistic fit for the way it seems like the Kings want to play the game. There’s a reason he signed with the Kings and I’ve always felt he wasn’t signed to simply sit in the press box. He might not play every night, but it feels like a larger role is seen for Gustafsson than was seen last year for Jacob Moverare. However, Gustafsson also spent the bulk of last season playing in the AHL, in a Detroit organization that didn’t qualify for the playoffs. I don’t want to say we should expect a savior, because there’s no reason to set unnecessary expectations, but it seems like he’s a player who could help in the right role.

For Gustafsson, he likes the fit in playing under Laviolette and Associate Coach Phil Housley. It’s a comfortable fit for him and in his mind, he feels that it allows him to play the best version of his game.

“I’ve played for him for two or three years and I like how he plays, systems wise, with the D joining the rush and being a part of the 5-on-5 plays too,” he said. “He likes everyone to be up in the play, move the puck and play a fast game. That’s what I try to do out there.”

For Laviolette’s side of things, he certainly appreciates what Gustafsson brings to the table.

Having a familiar veteran coming into the fold certainly makes some sense, especially I think on the blueline with this team. There are certainly changes for the forwards but with the blueliners, it’s felt like the changes are a little bit more noticeable, in the direction of the way that Gustafsson plays the game.

Here is Laviolette’s full answer on Gustafsson from earlier today –

“Gus moves the puck really well. He skates really well. He’s somebody that when I’ve coached him and worked with Gus, he’s been able to get the puck out of our end. He’s helped in offensive situations, like a power play or extra attacker at times, or it could be overtime or 4-on-4, maybe where there’s a little bit more ice. This is a guy that can take the ice, find the ice and make the plays. He’s put up some decent numbers in his career. I think he’s put up 30 [points] a couple times in the years that I’ve coached him. He put up maybe 60 [points] in Chicago at one point in his career. He has the offensive instincts, the skating, the skill to bring that to a team and I found it when he was on our team that he was a successful, offensive player. He was a dangerous player. It also gives you depth too, if there’s a lot of times where maybe he’s not on the number one power play, or maybe not on a power play, but he’s somebody who’s done that his whole career, so he can step up into roles if you need him to.”

In today’s practice, Gustafsson was on a pairing with Brandt Clarke, which pairs two puck-moving defensemen together. I’m not sure exactly how to feel about it. It’s different and it’s certainly interesting. If the Kings went that route, it could open up a ton of options in the offensive zone, but there could also be some defensive liabilities with that pairing.

I don’t know. Laviolette and Housley have, in the past, been willing to pair like-skillsets together and deploy those players accordingly. Offensive-zone starts for players like Clarke and Gustafsson, together. Maybe defensive-zone starts for say and Edmundson/Ceci pairing, for example. It’s not necessarily conventional, but it’s also not permanent. I don’t mind it at all. With Edmundson potentially able to play anyways, it would change the equation if that is something he’s able to do.

“He’s a great player, a young player with a lot of skill,” Gustafsson added. “It’s always fun to play [with him]. Today was just today and we’ll see what happens, but it was fun today.”

Two more sleeps until Opening Night in Colorado on Wednesday, Insiders! Kings will practice in the morning before they travel to Denver later in the day. Game 1 against the Avalanche in Denver and then we’re off and skating!