4. LA Kings
Last season the Kings finished third in the Pacific with 99 points.
The Kings made a couple of notable trades this offseason. They sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to Washington and in return, they got goaltender Darcy Kuemper. The other notable deal was acquiring Tanner Jeannot from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a 2024 fourth-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick. Aside from those two trades they also added Warren Foegele and Joel Edmundson.
As I already mentioned the Kings lost Dubois but they also lost Matt Roy, Viktor Arvidsson, Carl Grundstrom, Cam Talbot and Blake Lizotte.
I think we will see the Kings take a step back this season. The Edmundson signing is a disaster. As I wrote in one of my other articles it reminds me a lot of the terrible Erik Gudbranson deal in Columbus. The Kings blue line played well last year which was headlined by a great season from Drew Doughty. We're going to see an increased role for Brandt Clarke who only played 16 games in the NHL last year but played 50 games in the AHL scoring 10 goals and 36 assists for 46 points.
In terms of the forward core, I like some of the pieces they have. I think we see yet another step from Byfield after having a good year last year, both Kempe and Fiala are great and Kopitar continues to put up respectable point totals on top of his solid defensive game at the age of 36. Dubois was disappointed with what we all think he is capable of doing so they moved him out and brought in Foegele and Jeannot.
Foegele is a solid player and I like that addition for the Kings. I'm not a fan of Jeannot. I loved him the year he was traded from Nashville to Tampa Bay but ever since then he hasn't impressed me when I watch him and the stats back my eye test. He put up seven goals and seven assists for 14 points in 55 games last year while not being very good defensively. He lost his minutes with a goals against per 60 minutes of 2.53 and a goals for per 60 minutes of 1.75.
Their newly acquired goalie, Darcy Kuemper struggled last year in Washington where he posted a .890 save percentage, -10.76 goals saved above average and -1.73 goals saved above expected in 33 games. Kuemper makes 5.25 million a year for two more years after this season.
I think there is a chance he will perform better with LA as they play a very tight defensive system and limit the high-danger chances he will see. Rittich is their backup after a fantastic season last year. He only played 24 games but in those 24 games, he posted a .921 save percentage, 11.33 GSAA, and 18.34 GSAx. I doubt he will perform like that again, especially if he has to play more games but if he can hover around a .905 save percentage that would still be very solid for the Kings.
I think LA got worse over the offseason which is why they will drop a spot in the standings. This is a weak division so they don't fall past four but I could see them battling for a wild card spot but ending up on the outside looking in.