New environments were just what the Kings needed, but a familiar face was awaiting them back home in the form of former bench boss Todd McLellan and his Detroit Red Wings.

It’ll be McLellan’s first visit to Southern California since he was fired by the Kings in February 2024 amid the Pierre-Luc Dubois debacle and a month spent in quicksand for the Kings. His Wings beat the Kings 5-2 in Detroit last season, but their games in Los Angeles and Anaheim had already been played by the time McLellan and his longtime assistant Trent Yawney came aboard in Detroit.

For the Kings, they’ll be another in a series of challenges coming off a smashingly successful albeit less-than-scenic road trip.

While the trends of sinewy games and extra sessions continued, the tide of losses, five of them in th

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