Thursday, Dec. 20 marked exactly one year since Darryl Sutter was summoned to fill the coaching vacancy left by Terry Murray and interim coach John Stevens. Friday marks one year since Sutter started drawing up the drills in practice and Saturday will be the 366th day (this being a leap year) since his debut behind the bench.
The move L.A. management made in late 2011 soon amounted to the NHL’s top on-ice story of 2012.
For those who have been on an Antarctic expedition for the last 12 months, Sutter proceeded to brew a variety pack of historic milestones.
He went 25-13-11 in the regular season and 16-4 in the playoffs for a cumulative 69-game record of 41-17-11. The initially struggling Kings barely earned the last available Stanley Cup tournament passport, but proved they belonged by becoming the first eighth-seeded squad to win the title, the franchise’s first in its 45 years of existence.
As indebted as the Kings are to goaltender Jonathan Quick, a Vezina finalist and no-duh choice for the Conn Smythe Trophy, Sutter’s pivotal influence can be pinpointed further in the improved support from the strike force.
The Kings finished last year’s 82-game slate second-to-last on the NHL’s offensive leaderboard with 2.29 goals per game. The first 33 of those contests were conducted in the dusk of the pre-Sutter era, in which time L.A. amassed 72 goals for a nightly median of 2.18.
By spring, Sutter’s inherited pupils were third among the 16 playoff participants with 2.85 goals per night.
That output helped them take a 3-0 lead in every series despite lacking home-ice advantage in all four rounds. The longest it took them to attain the requisite fourt...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Kings
