Frozen Royalty: LA Kings Center Anze Kopitar Leads The NHL In Scoring

LOS ANGELES — Going into the 2009-10 season, one of the keys to the success for the Los Angeles Kings was that their core players must be better than last season, especially center Anze Kopitar.

Although the Kings are just eleven games into the season, to say that Kopitar has shown improvement would be like saying ice is cold.

To coin a phrase, oh what a difference a year makes.

Kopitar has melted the ice to start the season, scoring eight goals while contributing eleven assists for nineteen points in the team’s first eleven games.

To say that is a far cry from how he started the 2008-09 season would be, once again, stating the obvious.

Last season, Kopitar got off to a slow start, scoring a goal and adding six assists for seven points in the Kings’ first eleven games. He did not record his nineteenth point until December 5, 2008, in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers. Six days later, he finally scored his eighth goal of the season, in a 6-2 win over the St. Louis Blues.

Not only has Kopitar totally eclipsed his start to the 2008-09 season, through games played on October 25, 2009, Kopitar leads the National Hockey League in scoring.

Yes, you read that correctly. There is no need to rub your eyes, clean your eyeglasses or get your vision checked.

Kopitar’s early scoring tear has him ranked ahead of the likes of Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin (nine goals, eight assists for seventeen points) and San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton (three goals, thirteen assists for sixteen points).

Kopitar is also tied for second in goal scoring and is all alone in second place in assists.

Read the rest at Gann Matsuda’s Frozen Royalty