Are the Kings ready for another crown?
Are the Kings ready for another crown?
The NHL season starts Thursday for the Kings, who must make significant progress after three straight first-round playoff exits or face front office changes.
And so it begins in Buffalo on Thursday for the Kings: their eighth season under general manager Rob Blake and indisputably their most crucial season since Blake succeeded Dean Lombardi and Luc Robitaille was elevated to the role of club president in April of 2017.
Yes, eighth. Hard to believe it has been that long, isn’t it?
But time flies, it seems, when you wait too long to tear an aging roster down to the studs and then lurch through rebuilds and retrenchments and make some solid free-agency moves (in addition to a couple of colossal mistakes named Ilya Kovalchuk and Pierre-Luc Dubois). The Kings haven’t won a playoff series last postseason since they won the 2014 Stanley Cup Final. They’ve arguably regressed over the past three seasons, losing to Edmonton in seven games in 2022, in six games in 2023, and most recently in five games. There’s no way a first-round loss this season could be seen as any kind of progress.
Blake has had enough time to rebuild a depleted farm system and capitalize on the prime draft draft picks the Kings earned while missing the playoffs three straight seasons. He’s had time to develop and stockpile those young players and to shape his roster into a team that can be a force in the West. It’s difficult to say he has succeeded after analyzing their roster, which was announced on Monday and updated on Wednesday, when defenseman Drew Doughty (ankle surgery) was placed on long-term injured reserve and winger Andre Lee was recalled from Ontario of the American Hockey League:
Because they’re opening the season with a seven-game trip, it makes sense for them to start with eight defensemen while they work out how to compensate for the minutes they will lose because of Doughty’s months-long absence. Moving Doughty to long term injured reserve opened salary cap space to recall Lee, who had a strong training camp, and allow them to have a full 23-man roster. Forward Arthur Kaliyev (fractured clavicle) also could be moved to long-term injured reserve later.
Losing Doughty will hurt not only on the ice—he ranked second in the NHL last season with an average ice time of 25 minutes and 48 seconds per game—but in the locker room, too. He has long been blunt and is willing to deliver wakeup calls to teammates when he sees things going wrong, as he memorably did on this occasion last season.
The Kings’ off-season moves were a mixed bag. They let steady defenseman Matt Roy walk as a free agent and tried to address a lack of physicality on the back line by trading for Kyle Burroughs and signing free agent Joel Edmundson. Those moves should make the Kings beefier but at the expense of mobility. They’ll need big contributions from youngsters Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke to stay competitive.
Up front, they “lost” Dubois and the oft-injured Viktor Arvidsson but added winger Warren Foegele, who scored a career-best 20 goals last season for Edmonton (plus three goals and eight points in the Oilers’ run to the Stanley Cup Final). He has some speed and is considered a hard worker, though he’s not likely to stand out on a nightly basis. The Kings also acquired winger Tanner Jeannot, who scored 24 goals in 2021-22 but hasn’t hit double figures in goals since then.
Team captain Anze Kopitar will return for his 19th season (yikes!) and remains the No. 1 center because of his two-way ability and leadership. Phillip Danault and Quinton Byfield—who’s coming off career-bests with 20 goals and 55 points and is poised for even better this season—will provide depth up the middle. Alex Turcotte figures to be the fourth-line center, though that’s probably not the best fit for his creative game.
Winger Akil Thomas, coming off a 22-goal, 64-point season with minor-league Ontario, figures to get a good look on that fourth line. Samuel Fagemo came to training camp as a depth candidate on the wing but didn’t excel in training camp and was sent to Ontario. He should have been able to push hard enough for a spot to displace veteran Trevor Lewis, but being demoted to Ontario should light a fire under Fagemo. In the meantime, Lewis is a safe choice and known commodity.
The goaltending should be adequate, though not likely inspiring. The Kings have had a different playoff starter in each of the last three seasons (Jonathan Quick in 2022, Joonas Korpisalo in 2023, and Cam Talbot in 2024), and it’s time for someone to claim the job and provide some stability until projected goalie of the future Erik Portillo is ready for the Show.
In what qualifies as a minor miracle, Blake reacquired Darcy Kuemper when he foisted Dubois off on Washington. Getting anything more for Dubois than a bag of used pucks made the trade a win. Kuemper, a King in 2017-18, got his name on the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2021-22 but played for a bad, non-playoff Washington Capitals team last season. He should benefit from playing behind a better defensive team. David Rittich (13-6-3, 2.15 goals-against average and .921 save percentage with the Kings last season) should be a solid backup again.
This will be the first full season for coach Jim Hiller, who replaced Todd McLellan in February. He has said he will transition away from the 1-3-1 season that made them too predictable to opponents, and now he has the chance to put his own stamp on a team that needs to change its recent postseason history.
Last, but certainly not least: a stick tap and standing ovation to Kings play by play announcer Nick Nickson, who said this week that this season—his 44th with the team—will be his final season. (This was taken in February, before my last Kings game).
Gifted with a rich and clear voice, Nickson is the ultimate pro at the microphone. He was recognized by his peers in 2015 when they voted him the winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Foster Hewitt award for excellence in hockey broadcasting, allowing him to follow in the footsteps of longtime Kings broadcaster and 2000 Foster Hewitt winner Bob Miller, who retired in 2017. (And happy 86th birthday on Saturday to Bob!)
Nickson’s radio calls created vibrant mental pictures that were steeped in his vast knowledge of the game, and he never fell into the trap of being a homer. Last season, he was asked to return to handling simulcasts, which are tough to carry off and satisfy both radio and TV audiences. He did it as well as it could be done.
Nickson will be missed. But it’s wonderful that he’s able to leave on his own terms, while he’s healthy and can look forward to spending more time with his wife, Carolyn.
An era will end when Nickson steps aside. Whether the Kings will send him off with something more than another first-round playoff loss is up for debate.
Fantastic content, thanks for being straight about the Blake era. Turns out Luc's group of friends aren't necessarily the best candidates for the jobs they hold. Needing an injection of toughness from the waiver wire is damning, as is the lack of presence from what was just 4ish years ago considered the best prospect pool in the league. Saying we are making progress when the Playoffs were 4-3, 4-2, then 4-1 (as you said) against the same team IS NOT PROGRESS. Saying, "We were right there" is flatly delusional. The games were not close, and if that were true we wouldn't have needed a new coach.
It's an old saying that the leaders can fire the followers, but not the other way around. There has been no accountability except to fire McLellan, the one guy they "group-thinked" into compliance and mediocrity. There could be no greater measure of failure, in my mind, than to give up on so many high draft picks, lose players and watch them win Cups with Vegas (Vegas had our entire Left Side Defense and won a Cup with it after we jettisoned those players; Hutton, Martinez, McNabb plus Amadio and Quick). To lose those players and have them proven elsewhere, to fade so many draft picks into nowhereville, and then to end up having Trevor Lewis as the best option available is a confession of ineptitude. Lewis is indeed a known commodity and can be relied on to be a decent-at-best PK man (you can't really be called good if you suck at faceoffs on PK) while notching single digit goals and riding pine most of the 3rd period. For me, the organ-eye-zation is more loyal to Luc era players now filling jobs than the players they have on the ice or on the Reign. Kopi deserved better than a year with Willie Desjardins and the rest of the buffoonery from the front office. Luc is a legend, Blake is a legend, but that was as players. I can not believe that if Blake was looking for work he would be in any great demand. Yet, like Trevor Lewis and dozens more, it's just a nepotism scam from the good ole boys per diem crowd masquerading as loyalty to culture. How about loyalty to the players whose careers are entrusted to these guys instead of the players that don't play anymore?
How about loyalty to the future instead of the past?
And here we go with another season. Hope it’s a fun one to watch. I do enjoy having Nick call the games. Thanks for writing about the team. It keeps me informed since I don’t always pay attention as I’m used to!