As occurs each year, after teams are eliminated from the postseason, players start to disclose the injuries they were managing during the final stretch of the regular season and the playoffs. According to Zach Dooley of the Los Angeles Kings, Kings forward Quinton Byfield tore his right oblique just after the Olympic break, and tore his left oblique after the other healed.
Fortunately, it doesn’t appear that Byfield will need surgery to repair either muscle. He’ll take the first few weeks of the offseason to rest and recover before beginning his summer training.
Although it should never be a formal expectation that a player should perform through injuries, it is typically how most hockey players operate, especially at this time of year. Typically, you can tell if a player is playing through something, as they typically aren’t as good as they usually are. However, in Byfield’s case, you’d never know he was dealing with anything.
The former second overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft was arguably playing the best hockey of his NHL career after the league returned from the Olympics. Finishing out the regular season, Byfield scored 13 goals and 19 points in 24 games with a +4 rating, averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per game. Additionally, he performed well in the faceoff dot, winning 53.3% of draws over that stretch.
Byfield will want to build on that success entering next season. Unless Los Angeles makes a significant splash, Byfield should assume the center role on the Kings’ first line, replacing Anze Kopitar after his retirement. Over the last three years, Byfield has averaged between 50 and 55 points a season, though the Kings will need much more offense than that. If he can continue the same pace he had after the Olympic break, Los Angeles would be far more comfortable having a 65-70 point center leading the pack.