Let’s look at the advantages: the Los Angeles Kings had among the best defenses in the NHL last season and made the playoffs. The bad? The team is filled with dead-weight contracts which have obliterated their thickness and they got easily bumped in the first round of the playoffs.
Regardless of the negatives, you will be hard-pressed to find a better core nucleus on a team 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: will the Kings’ low-scoring, defensive-minded play conceal their problems with depth and lead them to another deep playoff series?
Stanley Cup +1800
It seems 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 next season and a miserable first-round ousting the season after.
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 group fares is hard to predict. And heaven forbid the top players on the team hit a scoring slump in the playoffs because relying on the bottom-six forwards for offense is sure to doom LA.. That’s not to say they can not create a run based on phenomenal defense along with a red-hot goalie in Quick.
Western Conference +750
The Conference is filled with teams that were dangerous. The perennially contending Chicago Blackhawks still look like the course of the conference 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 months, they need to have the ability to beat those 3 groups.
The Kings combined to get a middling 5-4-2 record from the Blackhawks, Blues and Kings last year. In fact, among those 3 teams, LA’s only winning record was against the Blackhawks.
Pacific Division +225
Though the Kings have won two Stanley Cups in the previous five seasons, they’ve not won a Pacific Division title. In reality, the only time the Kings ended the regular season atop their division was in 1990-91 when they topped the Smythe Division. It’s very sensible that the Kings can end that drought this season — since they are co-faves together with the Ducks — however they will need to avoid another crippling slump.
The Kings squandered a 10-point division lead last year to the Ducks following the group imploded to shut out the year. LA was 30-16-3 entering the all-star break last season and then faltered to a pedestrian 18-18-3 to the remainder of the season.
The largest reason for this collapse was their battles within the branch, as the Kings went only 10-7-0 against the Pacific after the all-star fracture compared with 8-4 before. And when you factor in that six of these wins after the break came from Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton, you’ll be justifiably concerned 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 such as the shortened 2012-13 season — the team has averaged 99 points each season. It’s honestly difficult to see that this team regressing a lot after posting 102 points last year, but a slight drop could be expected contemplating their Travels close to last season.
In order to transcend the 97.5-point mark, some younger gamers will likely need to provide added scoring. Goal scoring will notably be required in the wings, as the only winger to complete with over 40 points every year was Milan Lucic, who signed with Edmonton this offseason.
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