LA Kings 2015 Year in Review : Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down Edition

THUMBS UP TO THE 8 GAME WINNING STREAK

Finally some positives.  Just as people (Shark and Duck fans and … I was just gonna say Coyote fans but I thankfully caught myself just in time. Whew! Like we all know that Bigfoot and the lost city of Atlantis are more realistic than saying that the Coyotes actually have fans! Like that’s just straight up science fiction or something! Silly me! … Okay where was I? Oh right … ) were starting to count the LA Kings out, the defending Stanley Cup Champions roared back with an 8 game winning streak beating the likes of the Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning (twice), Detroit Red Wings (with Mike Babcock as coach) and the San Jose Sharks in the Stadium Series outdoor game (but more on that soon).  This got the struggling Kings back in a playoff position and gave the Kingdom hope that whatever had been ailing the LA Kings for most of the season (*cough* exhaustion *cough* burn out *cough* Voynov and Richards *cough*) had finally been cured and now the LA Kings were well on their way at securing a playoff berth to defend their crown!

THUMBS UP TO THE STADIUM SERIES OUTDOOR GAME

As part of the previously mentioned 8 game winning streak, the LA Kings defeated the Sharks in a close game in front of 70,205 fans at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.  This made up for the embarrassing shutout loss the LA Kings suffered against the Anaheim Ducks the year before at Dodger Stadium.  The whole build up to the game (and the game itself) was marvelously documented on the behind the scenes reality show, “EPIX presents Road to the NHL Stadium Series,” which can still be found on YouTube if anyone is interested.  Honestly, if you haven’t watched it already, I highly recommend that you search for it and check it out.  It’s must see TV!

THUMBS UP TO THE ANDREJ SEKERA TRADE (AT THE TIME)

Okay, we all know in hindsight this ends badly but bear with me here.  Remember that defenseman Slava Voynov was suspended by the NHL (and eventually the Kings) for his domestic abuse incident back in October 2014.  This messed up the Kings’ defensive depth and pairings.  In a desperate move that was applauded at the time, Lombardi pulled the trigger and found Voynov’s replacement by trading Roland McKeown and a conditional first round draft pick to the Carolina Hurricanes for the soon to be unrestricted free agent Andrej Sekera on February 25th (coincidently, the same day I met and briefly talked with Lombardi at the Toyota Sports Center, though he sadly didn’t tell me about the trade … or did he??? <cue organ music>).  Giving up a first round pick for a possible rental player was a gamble but with Sekera now on the roster (and after an adjustment period), the LA Kings finally found some stability on their blue line, along with the added hope that the overworked Drew Doughty (who in Voynov’s absence was clocking in around 30 minutes a game!) could now be reigned back in to his normal 22-25 minute pace.  That was the plan anyway and for awhile, it was working.