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

THUMBS DOWN FOR … (GULP) … MISSING THE PLAYOFFS AS DEFENDING STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS

Well it worked of course, until it didn’t. Remember when I talked about “Murphy’s Law? Well it ended up kicking some serious LA Kings’ ass with one unfortunate event after another, leading to the reigning Champions downfall by not making the playoffs at all, (also remember when many of us were hash tagging on Twitter, “Is it April yet?” Yeah me too so really … IT’S ALL OUR FAULTS! WE CURSED THE TEAM!!!)

<clears throat>

Sorry about that. As soon as Andrej Sekera was getting comfortable as an LA King, he was injured with a season ending injury (an injury so bad that it resulted in him looking visually different … LIKE AN EDMONTON OILER!!!).  From Tanner Pearson‘s season ending broken leg and Tyler Toffoli‘s mono (eww he has cooties) to the Voynov and Richards (and Stoll) situations to the King’s horrible overtime and shootout record of 3-15 (the worst in the NHL), this season of horrors was nothing but a messy and epic disaster.

It all came down to two games.  One against the Edmonton Oilers and the other against the Calgary Flames.  The LA Kings lost both.  If they LA Kings had one these 2 games, or at least received 3 out of 4 points, or did better in overtime and shootouts (like win 3 more of them), they would’ve made it.  3 points was all it took to advance.  The loss of those 3 points was enough to fail and be placed on that dreaded list of teams that missed the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup, (move over on that couch Carolina).

To add to the misery, Justin Williams wasn’t re-signed and is now playing beside Alexander Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals, signing a 2 year, $6.5 million contract that could’ve been (in theory anyway) matched by the Kings, (hopefully the Kings won’t be facing the “Caps” in a game 7 situation for the Stanley Cup in the near future! That could get ugly!)

Depressed yet? I know I am but before we give up and go back home to that faraway future of January 2016, let’s still give 2015 another chance.  As bad as things became, the year wasn’t over yet, and “A NEW HOPE” was emerging, (or as I like to say, eMERSCHing! Get it? GET IT???)

THUMBS UP (WAY UP) TO THE MANCHESTER MONARCHS WINNING THE CALDER CUP

There was no Stanley Cup for the Kingdom in 2015, but in a pleasant (and welcoming) surprise, the baby LA Kings went all the way and defeated the Utica Comets in 5 games to win the  Calder Cup in Manchester’s very last year as the Kings’ AHL affiliate (though they are still family but as now the ECHL affiliate). New heroes were born as Playoff MVP Jordan Weal, Michael Mersch (#MERSHMADNESS!), Nick Shore, Sean Backman, Nic Dowd, Derek Forbort and good ‘ole Jeff Schultz (okay fine, he’s not a new hero but you know what I mean!) banded together for head coach Mike Stothers and GM Rob Blake and made all of us proud.  Sure other contributing stars such as AHL MVP Brian O’Neill, phenom Colin Miller and steady goaltender J.F. Berube have moved on to other organizations, (goalie Patrik Bartosak gets no praise and an automatic “Thumbs Down” for his own domestic abuse incident) for various reasons but as Captain Dustin Brown likes to say, “At the end of the day,” the Monarchs brought home a Championship (and some smiles) to us when it was needed the most!

*Sidenote – The Monarchs weren’t the only players from the Kingdom that won a championship.  Tyler Toffoli, Jake Muzzin and Martin Jones also won the Gold Medal in Prague, Czech Republic for Team Canada at the 2015 IIHF World Championship. With the exception of Jones, who is obviously no longer with the team (but more on that later), the future of the LA Kings does indeed look bright!