Darryl Sutter’s New Lines Will Give an Early Assessment of Lombardi’s Hire

Darryl Sutter brings a ton experience to the Los Angeles Kings, and while he’s only seen the club’s last five games live on TV, he sure knows to kick things up a notch for his debut tonight against the rival Anaheim Ducks. Sutter is throwing out the old forward lines from the Murray and Stevens regimes, and going with a speed-first attack, by throwing Brad Richardson and Trevor Lewis on the first and second lines respectively.

Sutter is clearly playing the hot hands, as both Richardson and Lewis have had success of late after both have come back from stints as healthy scratches. Richardson will play left wing on the Kopitar line along with Dustin Brown, while Lewis gets Mike Richards. Richards returns to the fray for the Kings for the first time in 21 days, and won’t be dishing the puck to Jarret Stoll like he did on December 1st against Florida, as Stoll now centers a third line with Dustin Penner and Justin Williams.

By going small and quick, Sutter hopes to capitalize on the energy that Richardson and Lewis can bring, while lessening the pressure to score goals on a player like Justin Williams. Also, it levels the playing field a bit, as the Kings’ best player of late, Dustin Penner is on the third line with one of the Kings mostly struggling wingers, the aforementioned Williams.

Will it work? Perhaps. Richardson’s been paired with Kopitar and Brown before and he’s been quickly removed from the top line every time. He’s a solid player in terms of a shorthanded attack, while Trevor Lewis is one of the Kings’ best penalty killers. So while the two forwards may be the most versatile on the club, their success in the limelight has been limited. Richardson centered the Kings’ makeshift top line in the playoffs on what became one of the most enjoyable Kings lines in recent memory, along with Kyle Clifford and Wayne Simmonds. He had success and nearly averaged a point a game. Also in the absence of Anze Kopitar, Trevor Lewis had brief snip-its of face time last season including two beautiful assists to Dustin Brown up in Edmonton. So there’s a history there for both players, even if it’s brief and short lived.

It’s just different from what the Kings are used to with Kopitar and Richards in the lineup. Sutter is changing things up and going to do this his way, and rightfully so. We should find out early if it leads to scoring, and judging by the heroic 4-point returns of Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux this season, there’s hope for Mike Richards to capitalize in his first game back from a concussion.

Sutter stressed the importance not to weigh down the struggles of the offense yesterday in his presser, but that won’t change the expectations of the fans at Staples Center tonight who hope for a sudden change and a barrage of goals. And while Darryl Sutter isn’t the Mike Leach of hockey and the Kings won’t score six goals tonight, a new voice could be what it takes to get a third goal tonight for the first time in a calendar month.

If the Kings are able to turn it on quickly under Sutter with a trio of Pacific Division rivals on the docket before and after Christmas, the seat under GM Dean Lombardi will start to cool. But should the Kings continue to falter, there’s no telling how much pressure Lombardi will be in as the season progresses.

Remember, Crosby and Giroux played well in their first games back from a concussion, so perhaps Mike Richards can his name to that list. The Kings sure hope so.

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