32 in (roughly) 32 Season Preview: Los Angeles Kings

Los Angeles make very few changes and look to improve upon last year's performance

Team: Los Angeles Kings

GM: JL Wolf

Power Ranking Placement: 3/32 in league, 3/8 in division, 3/16 in conference

Significant Additions:

Lars Eller, C/W - 82 OV

Toronto’s Best Regards

Significant Subtractions:

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, C/W - 82 OV

Dmitri Kulikov, D - 80 OV

Jonathan Bernier, G - 79 OV

Tyler Ennis, C/W - 79 OV

Offseason grade: B+

Essentially nothing has changed for the Los Angeles Kings this off-season. They lose a few players who were ultimately disposable anyways and add on Eller to add to their bottom 6 to replace the only player they lost this off-season that would have made the roster to begin with in Bellemare. They didn’t need to do anything because they were already an amazing team and a lot of their players like Kadri, Thompson, Fiala, Fox, Miller, Husso, etc. got even better and everyone else that was already good stayed around the same level, so they didn’t actually have to do anything this season. It’s hard to grade a team that doesn’t do anything when not doing anything is exactly what they needed to do, but B+ seems apt since I am grading the off-season on paper and not the team itself. They entered the off-season as a force to be reckoned with, trimmed the fat, and came out even better.

Projected Lineup: 

Ehlers - Crosby - Pacioretty

Fiala - Kadri - Schennà

Thompson - Dubois - Caufield

Goodrow - Eller - Aston-Reese

-

Fox - Hamilton

Martinez - Miller

Jensen - Roy

-

Ullmark

Husso

Quote from the GM:

We spoke with JL Wolf earlier today regarding his off-season, and he said, “S’yeah so, wasn’t too upset with the finish we had last year, so didn’t feel like much roster turnover would be warranted. Historically, the Kings have been more active in trading than free agency. We did grab a few depth guys, but it’s not likely that many of them will see active duty. Last year, we brought in players we expect to keep around long-term, so there weren’t many roster spots to fill this summer. Luckily, our bets seemed to have paid off with the rerates to Husso, Fiala, Ullmark, Thompson, and Miller, who we have signed for multiple years.” He then spoke about the upcoming season, “The plan this year, and for the foreseeable future, is deep playoff runs with aims at the holy grail. We took a year to retool in 2019 and have been improving steadily year over year since. We’ll have our eyes on the Sharks and the Flames as usual. Hopefully, with the roster shakeup to the sharks, it’ll be a more favourable outcome.”

Season Expectations: Cup Favourite

It’s still kind of funny that they are, to me, the 3rd best team in the league and the 3rd best team in their division. Though, I doubt GM JL Wolf finds it very funny at all. Speaks to the amount of competition in that division/conference. Regardless, I don’t think there’s a world where a team of this caliber doesn’t make the playoffs, nor a world where the Kings aren’t among the teams with the best odds at winning the cup. There are teams whose top line isn’t even as good as this team’s 3rd line. Truly incredible. That’s not to say they’re without competition, I predict Anaheim will be fighting tooth and nail to try and get ahead of them, and should the Kings so happen to fall into the wildcard battle, there are 3 Central division teams who will also be fighting for that spot as well. That being said, I’d say the Kings are significantly better than those teams to the point where they won’t have any worries and should be guaranteed a playoff spot.

In the next entry, we’ll be covering the Minnesota Wild. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful night!

Previous entries:

Anaheim Ducks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-anaheim-ducks

Arizona Coyotes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-sesaon-preview-arizona-coyotes

Boston Bruins: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-boston-bruins

Buffalo Sabres: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-buffalo-sabres

Calgary Flames: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-calgary-flames

Carolina Hurricanes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-carolina-hurricanes

Chicago Blackhawks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-chicago-blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-colorado-avalanche

Columbus Blue Jackets: 

https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-columbus-blue-jackets

Dallas Stars: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-dallas-stars

Detroit Red Wings: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-detroit-red-wings

Edmonton Oilers: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-edmonton-oilers

Florida Panthers: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-florida-panthers