LA Kings Keys to Success
- Updated: January 19, 2016
*Some of the statistics in this article were written before 1/13*
The LA Kings are currently leading the Pacific Division with a record of 28-13-3. A record which is 10 points over the second place team, the Arizona Coyotes, who are at 22-18-5.
This is an enormous bounce-back from the Kings missing the playoffs by two points last season. At this point last year, the Kings were 19-13-11 with the major difference being able to finish in OT this year. There are many things that are causing the Kings success this year other than their ability to finish in OT, and I’ve asked a few colleagues to help me break down the reasons of the Kings keys to success.
This season, the Kings have turned around their play, but not a whole lot has changed in their roster up to this point. Since the beginning of the off-season, the Kings have only made two trades that have made a significant impact on their team. The acquisitions of Milan Lucic, Vincent Lecavalier, and Luke Schenn are some key players that the Los Angeles Kings have acquired. As noted previously, I asked a few colleagues about the Kings’ keys to success and they had some great responses. Lori Hultin, another writer for Calisportsnews.com, had this to say on Lecavalier’s impact to date:
“With the recent acquisition of Vincent Lecavalier from the Philadelphia Flyers, the Kings have ensured continued power down the middle while also having minimal impact to the salary cap, given Lecavalier has already announced he’ll retire after this season. While the veteran has only played three games with the Kings so far, he already has an assist, and a plus rating, and in the last game against the Detroit Red Wings proved to be clutch in the face-off circle, winning 13 of 16 faceoffs.”–Lori Hultin.
Lecavalier is a motivated player. As stated above, he is retiring after this season and from interviews conducted by Jon Rosen, he is heavily determined to make a push for the cup this year. In our experience with signing older players for a year, doesn’t he seem like a better fitting Simon Gagne? Both of those players had great success in Philadelphia, and signed to make a final push towards the cup.
Another one of my co-writers discussed the Kings success. I asked Emily Redenbach to give me her perspective on the King’s success and she weighed in on the King’s strong defensive core.
“The only other team with a positive goal differential is San Jose and their goaltender is an ex-LA King. Even with Jones at their helm it’s only +5, while the Kings are at +20. Edmonton, Anaheim and Calgary have a -23, -21, and -20 respectively. Edmonton has 131 goals against, Calgary is next with 129, then Arizona with 128. Comparatively the Kings have 92. It doesn’t matter if you have an offense who can score 3 or 4 goals a game if your defense can’t stop pucks going into their net. The Kings have always been focused on a defensive system; does anyone else in the Pacific have a Norris trophy nominee? Or anyone who’d come close to being nominated?” –Emily Redenbach.
I totally agree with Emily’s thoughts. Other than Drew Doughty, the only other defensemen I think has a chance of being nominated in our division is Brent Burns. When it comes to goaltenders, the only goaltender who can even slightly compare to Quick, would be Ryan Miller of the Vancouver Canucks. He has had an amazing career with the Buffalo Sabres, but has been slowly declining in Vancouver.
The Kings’ strong defensive depth has been one of their main keys to success this season. I asked on my Twitter and many people also talked about the similarities. @ItWas3to0 mentioned how the Kings style of play has taken a European shift and their defensive play has been solid.
For me, I think one of the King’s major advantages is that they aren’t having rebuild their goaltending or defensive depth. Look at the other teams in the Pacific Division. San Jose has Jones (who is good but too young to be a starter) Calgary has 3 backups, Anaheim has Jon Gibson, Vancouver has Ryan Miller (who is declining,) and Arizona has Mike Smith. None of those goalies are even close to Jonathan Quick’s abilities. When you look at the defensive depth, you don’t see other players like Drew Doughty, or two-way centers like Kopitar.
Other than the Kings, each Pacific team has to rebuild their depth in some way, shape, or form. The Kings have offensive defenders, and defensive forwards and it is making their team “murderous” in their division.
Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time!
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