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 team is full of dead-weight contracts which have obliterated their depth and they have easily bumped in the first round of the playoffs.
Despite the negatives, you will be hard-pressed to locate 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: can the Kings’ low-scoring, defensive-minded play conceal their issues with depth and direct them to another deep playoff run?
Stanley Cup +1800
It appears 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 gloomy first-round ousting the year after.
The core 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 team fares is hard to predict. And heaven forbid the top players on the group hit a scoring slump in the playoffs since relying upon the bottom-six forward for offense is sure to doom LA.. That is not to say that they can not create a run based on incredible defense along with 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 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 be able to beat these three groups.
The Kings combined for a middling 5-4-2 record against the Blackhawks, Blues and Kings last season. In reality, among those 3 teams, LA’s only winning album was against the Blackhawks.
Pacific Division +225
Though the Kings have won two Stanley Cups in the previous five seasons, they’ve 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’s quite sensible that the Kings could end that drought this season — as they are co-faves with the Ducks — however they will need to prevent another crippling slump.
The Kings squandered a 10-point branch lead last year to the Ducks after the team imploded to shut the year out. LA has been 30-16-3 entering the all-star break last year and then faltered to a pedestrian 18-18-3 for the remainder of the season.
The biggest cause of this collapse was that their battles within the branch, as the Kings went just 10-7-0 against the Pacific after the all-star fracture in comparison with 8-4 before. When you factor in that six of those wins after the break came from Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton, you’ll be justifiably worried entering this season.
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 team has averaged 99 points each season. It’s honestly difficult to see that this team regressing too much after submitting 102 points last season, but a slight drop could be expected contemplating their Travels near last year.
In order to transcend the 97.5-point mark, a few younger players will likely should supply scoring. Goal scoring will especially be needed from the wings, as the only winger to complete with over 40 points every year was Milan Lucic, who signed with Edmonton this offseason.
Read more here: https://naurus-sundip.com/?p=2293
Copyright © 2013 - All Rights Reserved Naurus (PVT) Ltd.