Different year, same failure for the Kings
Where do they go after their fourth straight opening-round playoff loss to Edmonton? To Cabo? To the golf course? It's time for unflinching self-evaluation. And some retrenching on the ice and off.
Where exactly did the Kings lose their six-game playoff series to the Oilers?
Was it during this generation’s Marty McSorley moment in Game 3, when a flailing Jim Hiller invoked his coach’s challenge on Evander Kane’s apparent tying goal, predictably lost his case, and gave the Oilers a power play that they converted to launch them to their first victory of the series and start a reverse sweep? Hiller’s decision instantly earned him a place among the most dubious moments in Kings history alongside McSorley being caught with an illegal stick during the second game of the 1993 Stanley Cup final, a momentum-shifting gaffe that still gives longtime Kings fans the shakes.
Or did they lose this series in Game 4, when center Quinton Byfield, with the Kings clinging to a one-goal lead, chose to try to skate the puck out of danger instead of safely chipping it out of the zone and was burned when Evan Bouchard tied the game with 29 seconds left in the third period of a game Edmonton went on to win in overtime?
“You can pinpoint Game 3. We didn’t close out. Definitely Game 4,” Kings captain Anze Kopitar said when asked to identify the turning point of the series. “It’s a completely different series if we go home up 3-1 versus 2-2. But coulda, woulda, shoulda.”
Couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t.
Maybe it was lost in Game 5, when the Oilers discovered their defensive muscles and played a dominant two-way game in a 3-1 win in Los Angeles that took away the home-ice advantage the Kings had earned for the first time in these four straight matchups. The Oilers’ defense was banged up and their goaltending looked to be vulnerable before the series began—and those were weak spots in the first two games. But the Oilers turned them into strengths in Game 5, turning the tide.
Or was the Kings’ ultimate defeat sealed every time Hiller insisted on playing his top nine forwards and four defensemen too much and didn’t balance the minutes better until they faced elimination on Thursday? Defensemen Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke and fourth-line winger Sami Helenius played well enough in the Kings’ season-ending 6-4 loss on Thursday at Rogers Place to show they should have played more throughout the series instead of being limited to scattered shifts. If the organization can’t develop players that can be trusted in playoff games and in crucial situations, what are Blake and his staff doing?
Or were the seeds of yet another playoff elimination by the Oilers planted every time Hiller had his players sit back to protect leads and they became passive, which the Oilers gleefully exploited by using their speed?
So many possibilities, but no acceptable excuses.
Eight years (and four coaches) after Rob Blake became the Kings’ general manager, after they had deluded themselves into believing they could still win with the core of their 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup championship teams before realizing the NHL had become younger and faster, after they embarked on a rebuilding process that had finally produced their most accomplished roster of Blake’s tenure, after they matched their franchise record for wins (48) and points (105) and set a record with 31 home victories this season, they still haven’t won a playoff series.
Their fourth consecutive loss to Edmonton is their worst by far. Not because of the length of the series—they were eliminated in five games in 2024—but because they appeared to have accumulated enough skill, depth, and solid goaltending to give themselves a chance to win at least one playoff round this spring. Maybe two if everything went well.
But after a fortunate win in Game 1 and a formidable win in Game 2 to take a 2-0 series lead with them from Los Angeles to Edmonton, everything fell apart, for reasons self-inflicted and otherwise.
“This one’s tough to swallow,” said Kopitar, who struggled in part because Hiller relied on him for much more than he’s capable of doing in fast-paced games at age 37. “Having the season that we had, the group of guys in this locker room, and to come up short again, it’s frustrating. This one hurts a little more.”
Hiller was an assistant to Todd McLellan during the Kings’ 2023 playoff loss to the Oilers and the interim coach last season after replacing McLellan. Hiller said this was the most difficult elimination of the three in which he has been involved.
“They’re all hard, I will tell you that,” he said. “But yeah, based on how we started the series, how we had played the last couple months of the season, how we started the series, how we failed to close a couple out, how we had a real tough game Game 5 for our team, played so uncharacteristic of our team and then came in here tonight. I thought we probably deserved more than four tonight myself.
“So we had a lot of chances, especially in the third. pushed pretty good, huh? happens sometimes when you’re trailing. It’s easier. Just generally, that’s the way hockey goes.”
That’s not the way it was supposed to go this season.
One of the NHL’s best defensive teams during the regular season, the Kings gave up 20 goals in the last four games against Edmonton. Defenseman Drew Doughty struggled, too, also called upon to play too many minutes when Hiller shortened his bench. Even in their series-opening win the Kings gave up five goals and prevailed only due to a lucky bounce on a shot by Phillip Danault.
This was a failure from top to bottom. It must be judged that way for anything to change for the better. They can’t proceed on the premise that they were a deflection away in one game, a post away in another, a minute away from winning in yet another. They didn’t win. They lost in the first round again. That can’t continue.
“I think this year, you know, previous two seasons, two playoff series, I felt like we were not maybe close enough to be as good as they were. This series felt like, besides the last home game we had, it felt like we were the better team,” winger Adrian Kempe said, referring to Game 5. “We couldn’t close the games out that we should have, so that came back and bit us.”
They led or were tied after the second period in five games yet won only one of those. They had a 2-1 lead in the first period on Thursday on goals by Byfield and Clarke before the Oilers punched back to score four straight goals, two in the first period and two in the second. And they did it despite getting no points from regular-season goalscoring leader Leon Draisaitl and only one assist from Connor McDavid during a first-period power play. According to Canada’s Sportsnet, the Oilers’ six goals represented the most they had ever scored in any game (regular season or playoffs) in which McDavid and Draisaitl recorded no points at even strength.
The depth that was supposed to be the Kings’ edge was eclipsed by the Oilers, who had responded well to coach Kris Knoblauch’s adjustments—including his decision to replace starting goaltender Stuart Skinner with Calvin Pickard in the last four games. The Kings constantly looked tired and passive, unable to consistently plunge a dagger into the heart of Edmonton’s defense.
With defeat still fresh Thursday, Hiller agreed with a suggestion that this series was a missed opportunity for his team. “Especially since we had great buy-in from our players,” he said. “We believe we could have won the series. We believe we should have won the series. We didn’t, so that’s the bottom line….
“They outplayed us, in my mind, one game. And the overtime [in Game 4]. I’ll give them the overtime, too, there’s no question. We lose the series. That part doesn’t really matter.”
Absolutely true. What matters now is what Blake and the organization do about it.
While Kopitar and Doughty struggled, it’s only fair to note that Blake and the development system haven’t supplied potential replacements for either of them, leaving the team to rely on them too much. They were exceptional players at their peak, no question, but the Kings haven’t come up with anyone who has any semblance of their skills and can move into similarly big, team-leading roles. Young players such as Clarke, Spence, Byfield, Alex Turcotte (too little used against Edmonton), and Alex Laferriere are supposed to be their future. They must be, or Blake’s rebuild will need a rebuild.
Blake is in the final year of his contract and it’s possible he won’t get to make the decision on the future of Hiller, who replaced Todd McLellan on an interim basis last season and was elevated to head coach in May of 2024 with a three-year contract that has option or trigger clause for a fourth season. A new general manager usually gets to hire his own coach, rather than inherit one. Hiller didn’t respond well under pressure. His distribution of minutes was ghastly. It will be on Blake (or Blake’s successor) to decide if Hiller deserves another chance.
Kopitar said he didn’t address the team immediately after the defeat, adding that players would come together in the next few days. “We’ll talk about stuff,” he said. They’ll have plenty to discuss after falling flat to end a season that had shown promising signs of producing a much better outcome.
For me, it comes down to unforced errors. I want to be very careful here because some of what I say may seem like a paradox. (If you don't like long reads, just move on)
I believe Robitaille is an excellent steward of the Kings brand, yet I blame Luc more than the players for the failure.
I believe the players were good enough to beat the Oilers, and yet I believe Rob Blake is more to blame than the players for the failure.
I believe Hiller showed signs of being a winner all season with some of his decisions, yet I blame Hiller more than the players for the failure.
A organization takes on the characteristics of its leaders.
Robitaille had a limited set of skills as a player and overcame them when surrounded by strong, decisive, versatile and highly skilled legends. Don't get me wrong, I understand that Luc is in the HOF and deservedly so, but he was neither mastermind nor grit, neither hitter nor speed threat. He was reliable in a limited role in an entirely different era of hockey.
Robitaille did not drive the Kings to ultimate victory as a player, and in his Cup win at Detroit he was a depth player behind Brett Hull, Yzerman, Federov, Shanahan, Larionov, Datsyuk. His deficiencies defensively were covered by the likes of Lidstrom, Chelios, Draper, Olausson, Jiri Fischer, Maltby, McCarty and a goalie named Hasek.
Robitaille was the 7th highest scoring Red Wing forward in the playoffs and the 8th forward in minutes played. He was a contributor, he was a teammate, but he was not a leader and not a star player among that group. He was successful in limited deployment among one of the best teams ever assembled, a team that was great before him and after his time there.
As a Kings executive, Robitaille has surrounded himself with sycophants; players from his playing era and not people that were successful elsewhere and brought into the organization. He hires friends and hopes they fit into roles, he does not hire experts with proven track records. Perpetuating "culture" has been an excuse for filling crucial roles from among the limited talent pool of former Kings. Every former player hired has been a "learn on the job" type, not an independent thinker with a successful method allowed to run their own shop.
Blake is an example; promoted from within, next in line, a big name player whose only independent executive experience was guiding a 2014 Canadian National Team that failed to medal for only the 2nd time since 1981. Would Rob Blake be in demand from other teams as a GM if his tenure ended today?
Hiller is an example, too. Next in line, hired from within, a new head coach with no track record who was then surrounded by D.J. Smith and Newell Brown. Smith has never won a playoff series as either an assistant coach or as a head coach. Newell Brown was in charge of the 27th best Power Play this season, down from 12th. Most of the season, the Kings were 30th.
Blake put together a better team than last year. So what? Blake has had 8 years and zero playoff series wins.
Hiller ran his guys into the ground, failed to build trust in the depth players, and destroyed the recipe by leaving out key ingredients and overcooking it. He played 11/7, then 12/6, and in what is known as the toughest grind among all sports playoffs he abandoned the guys he was supposed to have spent the season getting ready and played 9/5.
Fatigue breeds mistakes and injuries; we saw a series where the Kings were rarely physical (who can blame them?) and where mental mistakes (Byfield's non-clear, Fiala shooting early at the empty net and missing) cost us games.
Back that up with a preposterous challenge on Kane's goal but not on an earlier goal that same game where there was actual contact from Corey Perry as Kuemper tried to play the puck. Neither call was going to go the Kings' way in Edmonton in a million years; as evidence I give you the Edmundson trip which would have negated any Byfield misplay.
Luc hired these people; the organization has become inbred, is guided by group-think, and harbors mediocrity in the name of culture and loyalty. It is guided by former players and coaches, most of whom never won, but all of whom were Luc's friends.
There is no team of independent, expert rivals to examine decisions; there is entitlement based on social status. There is no accountability based on merit and results; there is perpetuation of a per diem crowd vicariously "staying in the game."
It is one thing to preserve legacy, and reward significant members from team history. It is a sad thing to hire from among them only, to the exclusion of outside ability, fresh thinking, past success and independent vision.
The Kings players played their guts out, I love those guys, every one of them. Ultimately they lost a mental game being let down at crucial moments by bewildering decision making and over-use. Even our valiant lions of the ice could not overcome the extra weight of organizational baggage forced upon them, needlessly.
The players did exactly what they were told to do, and that is why they lost.
You crushed it, Helene. You had me at “Marty McSorley moment”