Let’s look at the advantages: the Los Angeles Kings had one of the best defenses in the NHL last season and made the playoffs. The bad? The group is filled with dead-weight contracts that 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 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 issues with depth and lead them to another deep playoff run?
Stanley Cup +1800
It appears almost like a distant memory, but LA hoisted the cup in 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 season afterwards.
The crux of the Kings is battle-tested and more than able to hold its own in a Stanley Cup series, but how the rest of the group fares is hard to predict. And heaven forbid the very best players on the group hit a scoring slump at the playoffs because relying on the bottom-six forwards for crime is sure to doom LA.. That is 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 filled with teams. The perennially contending Chicago Blackhawks still look like the course 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 seasons, they need to have the ability to beat those three teams.
The Kings combined for a middling 5-4-2 record from the Blackhawks, Blues and Kings last year. In reality, one of those three groups, LA’s only winning record was contrary to the Blackhawks.
Pacific Division +225
Though the Kings have won two Stanley Cups in the past five seasons, they’ve never won a Pacific Division title. In fact, the only time the Kings ended the regular season atop their division was in 1990-91 when they topped the Smythe Division. It is quite sensible that the Kings can end that drought this year — as they are co-faves with the Ducks — but they will need to avoid another crippling slump.
The Kings wasted a 10-point branch lead last year to the Ducks following the team imploded to close the year out. LA was 30-16-3 entering the all-star break last year and then faltered to a pedestrian 18-18-3 to the remainder of the season.
The largest reason for this collapse was their struggles within the division, as the Kings went only 10-7-0 contrary to the Pacific after the all-star break 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 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 year — that the group has averaged 99 points per season. It’s honestly hard to see this team regressing too much after posting 102 points last season, however a slight drop could be expected considering their ice-cold close to last year.
In order to transcend the 97.5-point mark, a few older gamers will probably should supply scoring. Goal scoring will especially be needed in the wings, as the sole winger to complete with over 40 points last season was Milan Lucic, who signed with Edmonton this offseason.
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