Coming off three straight first round exits at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings have found themselves in a bit of a stagnant spot.
They’re probably not in the upper echelon of Western Conference teams, like the Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche and others. At the same time, they’ll also place well above the likes of the rebuilding groups in the Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks.
Their offseason didn’t yield any huge upgrades, and it’s left the Kings treading water a little bit. So ahead of tonight's season opener, we take a look at their current group, whether it’s stronger in any area than last season, and what we can probably expect from Los Angeles this season.
Forward Group
The two main losses at the top of the forward group came with Viktor Arvidsson’s departure in free agency, followed by the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade. Meanwhile, Carl Grundstrom was also shipped out, and Blake Lizotte wasn't re-signed.
Arvidsson did miss the majority of last season, so Los Angeles didn’t necessarily have his offense at their disposal. Still, he had scored at an 82-game pace of 26 goals and 62 points over his three seasons with the Kings, so when he was in the lineup, he was a pretty consistent producer.
With Dubois, of course, his year with the Kings couldn’t have gone worse, and shedding his contract was the driving force behind the trade. But contract aside, shipping him out did mean losing someone who could potentially recover to score up to 60-70 points per season.
In terms of the players brought into replace them, the two notable forward upgrades were Warren Foegele and Tanner Jeannot. While Foegele is a fine player who can slot into the middle-six, and Jeannot can add a bit of toughness, both players have a much lower ceiling than either of Arvidsson of Dubois.
Then even though Grundstrom and Lizotte were bottom-six forwards, they were fairly good at their role. Both were effective forecheckers, and could add some depth offense. At the same time, getting Alex Turcotte, Akil Thomas and Andre Lee into the lineup is the right call, and they should hopefully be able to fill the gaps left by Grundstrom and Lizotte.
Perhaps you could make the argument the group is more well-rounded, but even that’s up for debate. What probably isn’t in question though is that the group, on paper, is likely less capable of scoring goals than a healthy version of last year's team. Basically, the Kings are counting on none of their top forwards missing prolonged time, and Quinton Byfield in particular taking a step as well. Still, it’s difficult to look at the Kings’ forward group and say that it’s better than last year.
Defense Group and Goaltending
On the blue line, the major loss came from Matt Roy departing in free agency. While Brandt Clarke was the natural solution to step in and take a job on the right side as a result, it meant there was likely to be even more pressure put on Drew Doughty to take on the toughest matchups, given the two right-shot defenders behind him in Clarke and Jordan Spence are still really just adjusting to the NHL. It was a fine plan, but one that really depended on Doughty being able to take on a large role once again.
But now with Doughty out long-term, the Kings’ blue line seems very exposed. The left side remains fine, with Mikey Anderson, Vladislav Gavrikov and Joel Edmundson. But the right side is going to feature two defenseman who, despite having very high ceilings, are relatively unproven in a large role, along with Kyle Burroughs stepping into action.
Once again, there’s probably just no argument that the Kings’ defense group without Roy, and now Doughty, is as strong as last year, let alone improved. Both Clarke and Spence have the potential to be key building blocks for the team, but expectations should be kept in check for them this season.
Then in net, the Kings took a bit of a gamble on Darcy Kuemper (in exchange for Washington taking their own gamble with Dubois). Kuemper struggled last season with the Capitals, posting just an .890 save percentage across 33 games.
Still, I think this pickup made sense for the Kings. It’s a similar situation last year to the team signing Cam Talbot, who had a track record of being a pretty decent year-to-year goalie, but was coming off a tough season. Talbot ended up being good enough in Los Angeles overall, and while Kuemper likely won’t be wildly more dependable than Talbot was, he should be able to provide a similar, or slightly improved impact. David Rittich was very good in his limited action last season as well, and though the Kings probably didn’t improve a ton in goal, I’d also argue goaltending wasn’t usually the issue last season.
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The Kings made some changes this summer, but it’s difficult to say they actually improved. As a result, it’s tough to be hugely optimistic about their season outlook.
A lot of teams are improving around them: some to compete right now, while others are building for future success. However, Los Angeles is in the odd middle ground, where they aren’t necessarily poised for either. The deep prospect pool that created so much excitement a few years ago has been depleted to an extent, so it’s basically a matter of the current group finding a way to succeed.
If you’re to make a prediction right now, it’s probably another year where the Kings are kind of treading water, where they reach the playoffs, but aren’t strong enough to go on a deep run once again. Still, there are some things that could go right to possibly propel the team forward. It’s likely a combination of 1) Quinton Byfield taking another big step, 2) both Brandt Clarke and Jordan Spence proving they’re ready for a large role right from the get-go, and 3) Darcy Kuemper seeing a resurgence to really stabilize the crease.
I think expectations are fairly tempered for this season, and probably with good reason. After three straight first round playoff exits though, the story of the season is whether the Kings can still somehow defy expectations to finally take that next step.
The Kings open their season tonight on the road against the Buffalo Sabres.
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