Let us look at the positives: the Los Angeles Kings had among the greatest defenses in the NHL last year and made the playoffs. The poor? The team is full of dead-weight contracts which have obliterated their depth and they have easily bumped in the first round of the playoffs.
Despite the negatives, you’ll be hard-pressed to locate a better core nucleus on a group with Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick. Kopitar is the reigning Selke Trophy winner and Doughty is coming off a great 2015-16 season that saw him win the Norris Trophy.
The question remains: can the Kings’ low-scoring, defensive-minded play conceal their issues with depth and lead them to the next deep playoff series?
Stanley Cup +1800
It seems almost like a distant memory, but LA hoisted the cup in the 2013-14 season. The team then followed that performance up by not making the playoffs the following season and a gloomy first-round ousting the season afterwards.
The core of the Kings is battle-tested and more than able to hold its own at a Stanley Cup series, but how the rest of the team fares is hard to predict. And heaven forbid the very best players on the group struck a scoring slump in the playoffs because relying upon the bottom-six forward for offense is guaranteed to doom LA.. That is not to say that they can’t create a run based on incredible defense and also a red-hot goalie in Quick.
Western Conference +750
The Western Conference is loaded with teams. The perennially contending Chicago Blackhawks still look like the class of the summit but there are still emerging powerhouses in St. Louis and Anaheim. In order for the Kings to win the Western Conference for the third time in six seasons, they will need to be able to beat those three groups.
The Kings combined for a middling 5-4-2 record against the Blackhawks, Blues and Kings last season. In fact, one of those 3 groups, LA’s only winning record was contrary to the Blackhawks.
Pacific Division +225
Though the Kings have won two Stanley Cups in the past five seasons, they have not won a Pacific Division title. In fact, the only time the Kings ended the regular season atop their division was in 1990-91 when they topped the Smythe Division. It’s quite realistic that the Kings could end that drought this year — as they’re co-faves together with the Ducks — however they will need to prevent another crippling slump.
The Kings wasted a 10-point division lead last year to the Ducks following the group imploded to shut the year out. LA was 30-16-3 entering the all-star break last year and then faltered into a pedestrian 18-18-3 for the rest of the season.
The largest cause of this collapse was their battles within the branch, as the Kings went only 10-7-0 contrary to the Pacific following the all-star break in comparison with 8-4 before. When you factor in that six of these wins after the break came from Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton, you’ll be justifiably worried entering this year.
Point Total OVER/UNDER 97.5
In Darryl Sutter’s three full seasons as head coach of the Kings — we are not including the shortened 2012-13 season — the group has averaged 99 points each season. It is honestly hard to see that this team regressing a lot after posting 102 points last season, but a small drop may be expected considering their ice-cold near last season.
In order to surpass the 97.5-point mark, a few older gamers will probably should provide added scoring. Goal scoring will notably be needed in the wings, as the only winger to complete with more than 40 points every year was Milan Lucic, who signed with Edmonton this offseason.
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