By Jamie Harkins
LOS ANGELES—The 2014 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings roster remains virtually intact for the 2014-2015 campaign with the only new plate above a dressing room stall bearing the name Brayden McNabb.
As of press time, the Davidson-born defenceman has appeared in all six Kings games this season where he has recorded zero points, two penalty minutes, 16 hits and a plus-one rating in 17:21 of average ice time each game. Due to an early season injury to Jake Muzzin, McNabb has spent this time on ice playing alongside all-star defenceman Drew Doughty.
“He’s a great player,” said McNabb, 23, who beat out fellow Manchester Monarchs rearguard Jeff Schultz for the sole vacant roster spot in camp. “He’s one of the best if not the best defenceman out there, so it’s pretty fun. He’s an easy player to play with and when you give him the puck you know he’s going to do something good with it. It’s just a good experience to learn from him.”
McNabb said playing with Doughty presents a good challenge for him because the duo are facing the opposing team’s best line each shift. He said lining up with Doughty for one game in the pre-season and black acing with the team during the Cup run has helped him transition to this spot, but there are still areas of the game he needs to get better at and the coaching staff is helping him in this regard.
“I do video with (defensive coach) John Stevens almost after every game,” he said. “We watch over my shifts and he’s really good at analyzing the game and helping me on what I need to work on. But that basically is just playing within the dots and having good angles on players and just being a hard guy to play against.”
The current edition of the Kings is proving to be just as hard to play against as they were during last spring’s Cup run. Los Angeles has a 4-1-1 record through the first six games and sits in second place in the Pacific Division.
McNabb said the veteran laden team is a confident group and should be considering everyone on the roster except himself has at least one or two Cup rings. He said the players in the room are really tight and it is easy for him to see why they win so much with the great chemistry they have.
“It’s good to be around the older guys,” said McNabb. “You get to watch and learn from them and use it for now and for the future of my career.”