2019-20 Los Angeles Kings review

[yave1964]

And now... the Kings

 

PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS: Not much. The Kings have fallen on hard times after a couple of Cups over the last decade. A combination of signing veterans to long term deals and watching them get old,, poor drafting and a couple of bad trades along the way has left the Kings on a serious downswing and not much if anything was expected.

 

FINAL RECORD 29-35-6 64 points. Second worst record in the West. Hey, at least they were a point better than the rival Sharks.

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR The Kings lost early, they lost often, never getting above .500 never getting close. They were pretty lousy all year. THEN late in the year they caught fire, winning the final seven games outscoring their opponents by a  total of 22-9. A lot of times when a team finishes strong it gives them momentum for the following year.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR From the first of the year thru a loss to the Rangers by a score of 4-1 the Kings lost a lot, the team lost 13 out of 15 the offense was non existent during the stretch as they scored more than 3 goals only once in the 15 game stretch.

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR the offense was inept, they had twenty games with 1 or less goals including shut out five times. So here is the thing, 15 goals in 20 games or 0.75 per in the games the team failed to launhc but in the other 50 they scored 163 or 3.16 per game which would have ranked them fifth in the game if they could have just maintained that average all year. They went 1-19 in the games in which they forgot to score and were 28-16-6 when they scored 2 or more.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Kopitar was a man among boys leading the team in nearly all offensive categories and was plus six on a team among the worst in goal differential, and among the best in the game in faceoffs. Iafello had a solid season establishing himself as a top six winger.Doughty was pretty damn good, Hutton came over on the cheap and was a solid blueliner. Gabe Vilardi had 7 points including 3 goals in his first ten games down the stretch and showed he is here to stay. Blake Lizotte showed promise as a middle six center.Overall the goaltending was solid, Quick overcame a slow start to have decent numbers, Campbell was a solid backup and rookie Cal Peterson went 5-3 with a 2.65 goals against better than either of the two vets. Sean Walker was very solid on the back end moving the puck and 4th on the team in shifts.

WHAT WENT WRONG Adrian Kempe cannot quite be labelled a bust but he looks more like a mediocre 3rd liner than anything else. Kovalchuk was a disaster and a distraction then had a hell of a run with the Canadiens after the Kings gave up on him. Nobody else on the team did much of anything, too much was expected from too few and young vets such as Kempe and Amadio and Matt Roy didnt step up.

 

FREE AGENTS Long time Trevor Lewis is moving on, They will attempt to resign Ben hutton. None of the other free agents are worth mentioning.

 

OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS Really, they seem to be turning it around a bit, Peterson, Vilardi, lizotte and Iafello all established themselves. More kids are on the way this year in Durzi, Bjornfot, Kaliyev and Clague are all looking to make the team this year and push for regular ice time. They still owe too much for too long to Doughty, Kopitar, Brown, Quick and Carter but the kids look promising and the future looks decently bright. They also have eight picks in the first four rounds so more help is on the way. 

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Dustin Brown and Jeff Carter continue to slip off the cracker, neither is aging well. 

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT 

[LegionOfDoom]

They should of gotten the first overall pick...it sucks they didn't.

Having two Stanley Cups, though....two Stanley Cups....(leans back on rocking chair and takes a puff)