With each loss over the past three seasons, the chorus of Kings fans grew louder: Why aren’t they playing the kids?

The answer, at least in one case, was “tonight.”

Winger Arthur Kaliyev, whom the Kings selected with the No. 33 overall pick in the 2019 draft, made his NHL debut on Tuesday when the Kings hosted the Ducks. He wasted no time making an impact, scoring his first goal in the second period when he trailed the rush, crashed the net and scored on a rebound.

Kaliyev, 19, helped his junior club to an Ontario Hockey League championship in 2018. In 2019 he finished the season with 51 goals, becoming the fifth player under 18 to score 50 or more goals in the OHL since 2000 (two of the other four were No. 1 overall picks in Steven Stamkos and John Tavares). He was a significant contributor to the U.S. team’s gold medal run at this year’s World Junior Championships, notching eight points in seven tournament games.

“He is probably always going to be known for his shot, but he does have good vision, nice hands and gets the puck off quick,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.

Kaliyev captivated scouts with his hair-trigger release, his shot placement and how they combined to create a lethal one-timer from anywhere near the slot. But his play without the puck has been a work in progress – McLellan said recently that it was coming along – and his skating likely also diminished his stock in his draft year.

“His play with the puck, his creativity, his offensive ability, will be an asset that he’ll always have. We’ll need to take advantage of it as the years go on,” McLellan said. “His play away from the puck … is something that we’ll continually work on; it will improve over time and he’ll become a complete player.”

Kaliyev immigrated from Uzbekistan to the United States at age 2 and has competed internationally for Team USA. He also recently got his first taste of pro hockey playing preseason games for the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League.

CONTROL, ALT, DELETE?

Defenseman Mark Alt has not dressed for the Kings since their season-opening overtime loss to Minnesota, but drew back into the lineup on Tuesday. So did defenseman Olli Maatta, who started the season on the top pairing but soon found himself scratched for four consecutive games.

In their previous game, the Kings lost two right-handed defensemen in Sean Walker, who took a slap shot to the face in a grisly incident, and Matt Roy, who went head-first into the dasher boards and required help from the ice. Both players appear to be week-to-week.

That opened the door for Alt, who spent last season in the Colorado Avalanche system. He played a total of 18 NHL games between 2014-15 and last season, split between the Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado.

While his role remains somewhat undefined at the top level, the 6-foot-4 Alt throws his 200 pounds around effectively. He showed leadership and some scoring prowess at the University of Minnesota and later with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. Alt was also an outstanding high school quarterback who could have played college football. His father Jon was an offensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs.

POWER-PLAY SURGE

The Kings had eight power-play goals in eight games going into Tuesday night, after scoring just 33 in 70 games last year, which made theirs one of the least effective units in the league.

Their power play has demonstrated more movement as well as a broader array of formations and plays. McLellan had some outstanding power-play units in Detroit as an assistant as well as San Jose and Edmonton as a head coach. But he also had the likes of Pavel Datsyuk, Joe Thornton and Connor McDavid, and he changed the Kings’ system drastically from its previous four coaches.

“Last year really helped lay our foundation. Now we’re just adding more elements to it that give us more options given our personnel,” winger Dustin Brown said.

Part of their success on the power play has been drawing more penalties, and minor penalties have been up league-wide this season, which began without any exhibition games. The Kings averaged 2.76 power-play opportunities per game last season, but have earned 4.5 chances a night so far in 2021.

Arthur Kaliyev (19 years, 221 days) is the second @LAKings teenager to score a goal in his NHL debut, joining teammate Anze Kopitar (19 years, 43 days) on Oct. 6, 2006. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/URY5LU4zba

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 3, 2021

This post first appeared on ocregister.com

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