The Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and handed the NHL their highest season revenue to date. Since then they have been to the playoffs twice, in 2015 and 2018. They lost in the first round in both instances to the San Jose Sharks and the San Jose Sharks and the Vegas Golden Knights.
Key Additions: Quinton Byfield (Sudbury Wolves- draft)
Byfield was selected second overall behind Alexis Lafreniere (Byfield should have gone first but, who am I to argue?). He’s 6’4, 215 pounds and he’s going to learn a lot playing under Anze Kopitar. I really think he could turn out to be a franchise player and spend his whole career with the Kings.
Olli Maatta (Chicago Blackhawks)
Maata is one of their only “older” players at a whole 26 years old. He came from Chicago and also played with the Penguins. The Kings defense is still a little short-handed. There’s a lot of younger players back there and I think Maatta is really going to have his work cut out for him.
Losses: Paul Ladue
Ladue was drafted 181at overall by LA in 2012 and he’s been with them ever since. In the off-season, he signed with the Washington Capitals in free agency. Was he an absolute superstar in Los Angeles? No. But he was a solid defenseman who had multiple seasons of experience and I think their defense is going to struggle without him.
Forward Line Predictions:
| LW | C | RW |
| Alex Lafallo | Anze Kopitar | Dustin Brown |
| Adrain Kempe | Gabriel Vilardi | Martin Frk |
| Samuel Fagemo | Blake Lizotte/Quinton Byfeild | Jeff Carter |
| Jaret Anderson-Dolan | Lias Andersson/Alex Turcotte | Austin Wagner |
Defensive Pairing Predictions:
| Olli Maatta | Drew Doughty |
| Mikey Anderson/Tobias Bjortfot | Matt Roy |
| Kurtis MacDermid/Mikey Anderson | Sean Walker |
Goalies:
Beyond Jonathan Quick, no one really knows what’s going on in the net. Cal Peterson and Dustin Grosenick are on the roster for goaltender but…coaching/management is leaving that for a surprise???
This year is going to be really important for the Los Angeles Kings. They’ve had really high draft picks in recent years like Alex Turcotte and Tobias Bjornfot. It will be interesting to see if those guys make the roster this year. They’ll have a lot to learn from Kopitar and Vilarti and such. A very developmental season is in the works for the Kings and the future is looking bright.
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