Kings’ John Stevens is wholly behind split-squad idea

John Stevens, promoted to the position of associate head coach by the Kings over the summer, said he initially didn’t like the concept of playing split-squad games in training camp.

But as the man in charge of the squad that will face a Coyotes split squad Monday night at Staples Center, Stevens changed his mind about the usefulness of these exercises. In addition to playing some recognizable faces such as Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik on the top line and pairing Alec Martinez with Matt Greene, Stevens said he hopes to get a good look at some younger players in a game situation.

Jake Muzzin was also scheduled to play at Staples Center, as were Kyle Clifford and Trevor Lewis alongside offseason acquisition Adam Cracknell. Martin Jones and Jeff Deslauriers were scheduled to dress in goal.
The other Kings split squad was to face a Coyotes split squad Monday in Glendale, Ariz.

“Based on the two games in one day, pretty much everybody is going to play today,” Stevens said. “I think it’s a great idea. It affords everybody the opportunity to get in a game right away. And I know a lot of young guys want to play and get an opportunity to play at this level.”

Stevens said he doesn’t plan to play anyone 25 or 30 minutes. “You want to get everybody involved, you want a lot of players to play,” he said. “And I think as you work through training camp it’s important to get the minutes up of players like Kopitar and [Drew] Doughty and those kind of players up to the level they’re used to be playing at.”

Stevens said there was “a good chance” that Doughty, who sustained an upper-body injury before camp began and hasn’t practiced with the team, would skate Monday.

Stevens, whose name has often come up as a candidate for NHL head coaching vacancies, said as part of the decision that resulted in his promotion he agreed not to speak to other teams about head coaching jobs “in the near future,” though he wouldn’t specify for how long. He added, “We just thought if they were going to make a commitment to me, I was going to make a commitment to them….I made a commitment to stay. It kind of was an even exchange, I think.”

One final note: There are still so many players in camp that even General Manager Dean Lombardi didn’t recognize one who didn’t have a number on his helmet at Monday’s game-day skate. Lombardi—laughing at himself—tried to rack his brain to figure out who it was but had to ask for help from Jarret Stoll, who was standing nearby. Eureka! Stoll identified the player as David Van der Gulik, who will wear number 36 Monday night.