from Helene Elliott of the LA Times,

Todd McLellan had a good first day of training camp. The Kings’ new coach found his way to the rink, for starters, and while that’s a low bar it put him ahead of his predecessor. Willie Desjardins got lost on his way to Toyota Sports Performance Center for his first day as interim coach last season, and players quickly followed his lead by trudging through a lost season.

McLellan arrives at a strange and uncertain moment in the Kings’ history. The memories of their 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup triumphs are fading and they haven’t found the right mix to climb back to prominence. Management’s mistaken belief that the core players of the championship teams had two more kicks at the Cup left in them delayed the necessary rebuilding process. It all cratered last season with a 30th-place finish and league-worst goal differential of -61 that showed how far they’d strayed from their identity as defensive demons.

“We need to be a winning team this year. We were embarrassed with the last four seasons, if you ask me,” defenseman Drew Doughty said on Friday, honest as always. “Since we won the last Cup it’s been ----. We’re ready to go, and we need to get on each other and expect more out of each other.”

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