Projecting every NHL team’s chances of hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2019
17. Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are running out of time. Their core is aging and they have no way to get out of it if things go south. This could be a year they load up and go for it all, because this could be their last chance
Last season, the Kings landed the first wildcard spot in the Western Conference and 12th overall in the league with 98 points.
Why they could win
The Kings’ top six is loaded with talent, and might be one of the best top six cores in the league right now with the addition of Ilya Kovalchuk despite its age. Anze Kopitar was a nominee for the Hart last year and won the Selke in an incredible bounce back season, Dustin Brown doubled his point production from the prior season and recorded a career high 61 points, and the addition of Kovalchuk who was a over a point per game over in the KHL makes it that much better.
The Kings are also getting a fully healthy Jeff Carter for next season after only getting 27 games out of him last season. Carter scored 60-plus points in consecutive seasons prior to last year’s injury, but even last year he was around a point per game.
The Kings also got Drew Doughty locked up for the next eight years this offseason, locking down their spectacular blue line. Doughty beside Jake Muzzin and backed up by a second pairing of Dion Phanuef and Alec Martinez is not the most appealing when it comes to offense, but they all play solid lockdown defense that can lock down almost any offense.
Even if the entire Kings roster get injured, Jonathan Quick can carry a lineup well past any spot they deserve when he’s at his best. Never forget when Quick posted one of the greatest plaoff performances of all time in 2012 to lead the Kings to the Stanley Cup when they snuck in as a No. 8 seed in the West.
Why they won’t win
The Kings got swept in the first round by the Vegas Golden Knight last year, and that by itself would be bad enough, but they scored only three goals the entire series. Just the addition of Ilya Kovalchuck alone isn’t get them much farther than that.
The Kings do have a good top six core, but after that it drops off pretty drastically. Nobody in the bottom six beside Adrian Kempe is really much of threat to take the load off of the top six. To really make a run at the Stanley Cup, you need at least three dangerous lines and a fourth line that at the very least won’t be a liability. Los Angeles badly needs some more talent before the season starts to really compete.
Los Angeles also hasn’t adapted to the evolution of today’s NHL, and is a relatively slow team. The number of aging veterans on the team are going to have a lot of trouble keeping up with the younger, faster teams around the league, which was ultimately their demise against the Golden Knights in the playoffs.
Conclusion
The Kings are entirely top heavy, and they’re going to rely heavily on their aging core to carry the workload. If they want to have a better chance to taking home the Stanley Cup this season, they’re going to need make some moves to get some more depth. But since they have only a little more than $2 million in cap space, there’s not much they can do on that front.
If the Kings do lose any of Kopitar, Doughty, Quick or even Carter again, they might be dead in the water. But this core has won two Stanley Cups this decade, so don’t write them off if they make it into the playoffs.