Let us look at the positives: the Los Angeles Kings had one of the greatest defenses in the NHL last year and made the playoffs. The poor? The group is full of 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 heart 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: will the Kings’ low-scoring, defensive-minded play conceal their problems with depth and lead them to the next deep playoff run?
Stanley Cup +1800
It seems almost like a distant memory, but LA hoisted the cup in the 2013-14 season. The group then followed up that performance by not making the playoffs the next season and a miserable first-round ousting the year after.
The crux of the Kings is battle-tested and more than able to hold its own in a Stanley Cup series, however, how the rest of the team fares is difficult to predict. And heaven forbid the very best players on the team hit a scoring slump at the playoffs since relying on the bottom-six forwards for crime is sure to doom LA.. That’s not to say that they can’t create a run based on phenomenal defense and also a red-hot goalie in Quick.
Western Conference +750
The Conference is filled with teams. The perennially contending Chicago Blackhawks still seem 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 months, they need to have the ability to beat these three groups.
The Kings combined for a middling 5-4-2 record from the Blackhawks, Blues and Kings last season. In fact, among those 3 groups, LA’s only winning album was contrary to the Blackhawks.
Pacific Division +225
Though the Kings have won two Stanley Cups in the previous five seasons, they have never won a Pacific Division title. In fact, the only time that the Kings finished the regular season atop their division was in 1990-91 when they topped the Smythe Division. It is very sensible that the Kings can end that drought this season — as they are co-faves together with the Ducks — however they need to prevent another crippling slump.
The Kings squandered a 10-point branch lead last year to the Ducks following the team imploded to shut the year out. LA has been 30-16-3 entering the all-star break last year and then faltered into a pedestrian 18-18-3 to the rest of the season.
The biggest cause of this collapse was that their battles within the division, as the Kings went just 10-7-0 against the Pacific after the all-star fracture in comparison with 8-4 before. And when you factor in that six of those wins following the break came from Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton, you’ll be justifiably concerned entering this season.
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 per season. It’s honestly difficult to see that this team regressing too much after submitting 102 points last season, but a small drop could be expected considering their ice-cold near last year.
In order to surpass the 97.5-point mark, some younger gamers will likely should 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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