How Turcotte has played this season is in some ways reflective of the team as a whole.
In the role Turcotte has been given, he has played really well, but there’s still a lot of discourse around him because of where he was drafted. Always has been. That discourse often times distracts from an honest evaluation of who he is as a player. Those conversations are fine but they don’t have any impact whatsoever on the team on the ice right now and how Turcotte fits into it, how he can help the Kings going forward.
Turcotte’s been really strong in the faceoff circle at 56.3 percent on the season, ranking only behind Anze Kopitar among Kings centers this season. A big step up from his 45.5 percent clip during the 2024-25 season. He said that the work he put in has him going into draws confident he’s going to win it, not just hoping. He feels a lot of faceoffs is about mentality and he’s got a good one there. He’s also made serious strides defensively and that part of his game has been excellent, better than it’s been in seasons past.
“Turc never cheats you on effort, he gives you everything he’s got, every single time,” Hiller said. “What I would say is that he’s been really strong on the defensive side of the puck, d-zone coverage, he’s been physical. Defensively, he’s been really strong.”
Ken Holland added that Turcotte “does all the things that a third line center can do defensively,” pointing to his competitiveness, willingness to backcheck and battle.
Those quotes to me are signs of trust, things that coaches typically reward with icetime. And it’s a good foundation to build on. The proof needs to be in the pudding, meaning the coaching staff needs to play him third-line minutes, but everything being said points to that being the case going forward.
What has to improve for Turcotte feels like a broken record when talking about LA Kings forwards. Like just about every forward on the Kings, he’s been below expectations at the offensive end of the ice, with just six points from 33 games played.
Now, some of that comes down to opportunity, as Holland also spoke about. Has Turcotte ever really been given a chance to play center in the Top-9, beyond a game here or a game there? He hasn’t. Turcotte has averaged under 10 minutes per game this season, most of those minutes coming on the fourth line. When you look at the chances Turcotte has generated in 5-on-5 situations, there’s some optimism that an increased role could lead to more production. On a per/60 basis, Turcotte is a Top-2 player on the Kings in high-danger chances, scoring chances and expected goals for. Why? Because he gets to the net.
“The thing I love about Turc is when we go through the game after, we look at who ends up at the netfront and 15 is always at the netfront, he’s there as much as Corey Perry is,” Hiller said. “He’s not the biggest guy, so he has an ability, a determination to some way, some how end up at the netfront. If you’re at the net front, you’re going to score goals.”
For his part, Turcotte has made getting to that area a priority.
The Kings certainly need to get more goals and Turcotte feels that for his game, getting to the net is one way he can help in that area.
“When it’s not going in the net, you’ve got to take it there and you’ve got to be more assertive,” he said. “In the Florida game, I had six shots on goal, I was just thinking ‘take it to the net’ and if you get more comfortable doing that, eventually you’re going to start scoring. It’s definitely a mentality thing more than anything and we’ve all got to have that. It’s not being selfish at this point, I think everyone’s just got to have that mentality. If there’s a play to be made, make it, but I think getting it to the net is important.”
During today’s practice, Turcotte skated on a line with Warren Foegele and Andrei Kuzmenko.
It’s a line that you can really talk yourself into on paper, with the way that the three of them play.
Turcotte and Foegele are aggressive players, forechecking players who win pucks back, work hard below the goal line and are among the best players on the team at getting to the net. Kuzmenko is among the best players at helping to create extended shifts in the offensive zone and perhaps the most creative player on the team at getting the puck into dangerous areas.
You can see why it could work. And you can see why the Kings need things to start working, especially offensively.
Turcotte is one guy who can potentially help in that area. He was a point producer at every level before the NHL and he has the speed and skill to score more than he has. While Danault had so many great intangibles, and raised his game in the playoffs, he had not scored a goal yet this season. So, if Turcotte can get just a bit of an uptick with more minutes, there’s potential here for this move to help the team offensively. The opportunity starts tomorrow against Columbus and hopefully Turcotte can do exactly what everyone around him feels he can in seizing it.