Let us look at the advantages: the Los Angeles Kings had one of the best defenses in the NHL last season and made the playoffs. The poor? The team is full of dead-weight contracts which have obliterated their depth and they have easily bumped from the first round of the playoffs.
Despite the negatives, you will be hard-pressed to locate a better heart nucleus on a team with Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick. Kopitar is the reigning Selke Trophy winner and Doughty is coming from an excellent 2015-16 season that saw him win the Norris Trophy.
The question remains: can the Kings’ low-scoring, defensive-minded play hide their problems with depth and direct them to another deep playoff series?
Stanley Cup +1800
It seems almost like a distant memory, but LA hoisted the cup at the 2013-14 season. The team then followed up that performance by not making the playoffs the next season and a miserable first-round ousting the year afterwards.
The crux of the Kings is battle-tested and more than able to hold its own at a Stanley Cup series, however, how the rest of the group fares is hard to predict. And heaven forbid the very best players on the group struck a scoring slump at the playoffs because relying on the bottom-six forward for crime is guaranteed to doom LA.. That’s not to say that they can’t make a run based on phenomenal defense and a red-hot goalie in Quick.
Western Conference +750
The Western Conference is loaded with hazardous teams. The perennially contending Chicago Blackhawks still look like the course of the conference but there are still emerging powerhouses in St. Louis and Anaheim. For the Kings to win the Western Conference for the third time in six months, they will need to have the ability to beat those three teams.
The Kings combined for a middling 5-4-2 record against 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
Even though the Kings have won two Stanley Cups in the past five seasons, they have not won a Pacific Division title. In reality, the only time that the Kings finished the regular season atop their division was in 1990-91 when they awakened the Smythe Division. It’s very realistic that the Kings can end that drought this season — since they are co-faves with the Ducks — however they need to prevent another crippling slump.
The Kings squandered a 10-point branch lead last season to the Ducks after the group imploded to shut the year out. LA has been 30-16-3 entering the all-star break last season and then faltered into a pedestrian 18-18-3 for the rest of the season.
The largest cause of this collapse was their struggles within the division, as the Kings went just 10-7-0 against the Pacific after the all-star break compared with 8-4 before. When you factor in that six of those wins following the break came from Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton, you can 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 aren’t including the shortened 2012-13 year — the group has averaged 99 points each season. It is really difficult to see this team regressing a lot after submitting 102 points last season, however a slight drop may be expected contemplating their Travels near last season.
To be able to transcend the 97.5-point mark, some younger players will likely need to supply added scoring. Goal scoring will notably be required from the wings, as the only winger to finish with more than 40 points every year was Milan Lucic, who signed with Edmonton this offseason.
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