Last Word on Hockey’s Puck Drop Previews are back for the 2024-25 season! As the regular season approaches, Last Word will preview each team’s current outlook and stories to watch for the upcoming year. We’ll also do our best to project how things will go for each team throughout the campaign. Today, we’re previewing the 2024-25 Los Angeles Kings.
2024-25 Los Angeles Kings
2023-24 Season
The 2023-24 season was a year of firsts for the Kings. It was the first full season the team did not have two-time Stanley Cup Champion, Jonathan Quick, on the roster. In addition, it was the first time since the 2016-17 season that forward Anze Kopitar did not lead the Kings in goals or points. Trevor Moore led the team with 31 goals while veteran goaltender Cam Talbot recorded 27 wins. While some things changed, others remained the same. The Kings made the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third year in a row.
Unfortunately, history repeated itself in the playoffs. Despite a 99-point regular season, the Kings fell in the first-round of the playoffs for the third straight year. Furthermore, the loss came once again at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.
2024 Offseason
It was a busy offseason for the Kings. The team did lose wins leader Cam Talbot. However, they replaced him by trading for veteran goaltender Darcy Kuemper. Furthermore, the Kings added to their forward depth by trading for forward Tanner Jeannot. The defence also saw a boost by bringing in Kyle Burroughs and Joel Edmundson. These offseason transactions show the Kings are looking to shake things up to try to generate more success in the playoffs. There is no doubt the Kings have been a great regular season team. However, regular season success only goes so far. The Kings are looking to make some noise in the playoffs. They may have lost some players, but seeing as the team has failed to make it out of the first round, a roster change was necessary.
Projected Lineup
Forwards
Laferriere-Kopitar-Kempe
Fiala-Byfield-Kaliyev
Moore-Danault-Foegele
Jeannot-Turcotte-Thomas
Top Six
Despite not leading the team, Anze Kopitar recorded 70 points. Kopitar has consistently recorded 60-70 points the last three seasons. The Slovenia native may be 37-years old, but he has shown no signs of slowing down. Alex Laferriere will look to build off a successful rookie season where he scored 12 goals in 81 games. The New Jersey native has offensive potential. Playing alongside Kopitar and another scorer in Adrian Kempe (led the team with 75 points last year), Laferriere will have an opportunity to breakout this year.
On the second line, Quinton Byfield is coming off a breakout season where he scored 20 goals and recorded 55 points. Byfield is joined by veteran Kevin Fiala, who has recorded no less than 72 points each of the last three seasons. What is interesting about Fiala is it seems like he has been around for a long time. However, he is only 28-years old. He is definitely in the prime of his career. The final member of the second line is Arthur Kaliyev, who will be looking to settle into a full-time role this season after just 51 games last season. Kaliyev will benefit from playing alongside Fiala. Fiala’s playmaking ability will help create additional scoring chances. Needless to say, Fiala is the X-factor on the second line.
Bottom Six
Its is weird to see a team leader in goals play on a team’s third line. That is where Trevor Moore finds himself. However, despite a 31-goal season last year, it is important to note that prior to last season, Moore’s career high in goals has been 17. Whether or not Moore can repeat last year’s success will be discovered. Warren Foegele is in a similar boat. The Ontario native set a career high with 20 goals last season but has normally averaged around 13 goals. Meanwhile, Phillip Danault has hovered around 15 goals most of his career. It seems the worse case scenario for the third line is what many teams would love to see in a third line. Best case scenario is the third line plays to a level that they would be a second line on other NHL teams.
Newcomer Tanner Jeannot will play one of the wings on the fourth line. He will be joined by Alex Turcotte and Akil Thomas. Both Turcotte and Thomas are settling into their NHL careers and have some growing to do. This does create a possible weakness on the fourth line. Even Jeannot has only played four seasons. It will be interesting to see how this line performs. There is limited experience. Will that hinder the Kings? Or will it be a non-issue?
Defence
Anderson-Doughty
Gavrikov-Clarke
Edmundson-Spence
Top Four
Drew Doughty will lead the Kings defence once again. The 34-year old continues to produce at a high level on both ends of the ice. Mikey Anderson will join him on the top pairing. Anderson has been a positive player on the ice in his short career. He may lack the offensive capability that Doughty has, but he still a good defender. The duo have the capabilities to be a quality top pairing for the Kings.
On the second pairing, Vladislav Gavrikov enters his third season with Los Angeles. While he has not repeated his career season of 2022 (33 points), last year was the closest he has gotten (23 points). On the other side, Brandt Clarke has only played in 25 NHL games. This season should the year for Clarke to get a full-time role. Will he take advantage of it is the question at hand. Clarke is someone who can be a reliable offensive defenceman, with some even mentioning him in the Norris Trophy conversation. There is a lot of potential in the second pairing for the Kings.
Bottom Pair
The Kings signed defenceman Joel Edmundson over the summer. The former Stanley Cup champion brings a physical and defensive prescence to the lineup. Joining Edmundson is Jordan Spence, who is coming off his first full-time role last season. This pairing should be a solid one for the Kings. They will be play very well defensively but will also hold their own in the offensive zone.
Goalies
Kuemper has finished in the top-ten of the Vezina Trophy voting twice in his career. He is coming off a season where he split time as the starter, but the 12-year veteran has experience as a starter. Furthermore, he has led a team to the Stanley Cup, doing so in 2022. When thinking of goaltenders who can help a team contend for the Cup, Kuemper is not a name that will come to mind right away. However, he is capable of doing so. He may not be Johnathan Quick, but he is someone the Kings should trust between the pipes.
Backing up Kuemper will be David Rittich. The 8-year veteran had his career-best season last year. However, Rittich’ s career goals against average is 2.78. Rittich nearly gives up three goals a game. While Riitch does not need to match last season’s 2.15 GAA to be effective, the Kings would like to see less goals from the 32-year old. Why is this important? Well, those goals could be the difference between having home-ice advantage in a first-round series. Does this mean the season falls on the shoulders of the backup goalie? No, but for team looking to get over the hump, everything needs to be considered.
Players to Watch
Brandt Clarke
Drew Doughty has shown no signs of slowing down. Imagine if Clarke becomes the Norris-caliber defenceman he is projected to be. That would be two elite defenceman in the Kings lineup. Even when the Kings were winning the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, they did not have that level of defence. He has only played in 25 games. We should not be preparing Clarke’s acceptance speech to the Hall of Fame, but that does not mean can be like Chancellor Sheev Palpatine and watch Clarke’s career “with great interest.”
Kevin Fiala
The Kings have a few young players looking to come into their own at the NHL level. Fiala has the experience to help them learn on and off the ice. Fiala’s role in on the second line, but he is someone who may be asked to fill in on the top line when needed. Simply put, Fiala is not Patrick Mahomes. However, he is Rashee Rice. A reliable star who you can can rely on in big moments. It can be argued Fiala is the biggest X-factor on the team heading into the new season.
2024-25 Prediction
The Kings shook up the roster to try and get over the hump in the playoffs. Will this roster get them back in the playoffs? Yes. In fact, the Kings should finish no worse than the third spot in their division, which is there have been the last few seasons. However, there is potential for this roster to do more. There is talent on the forward and defensive position. The goaltending is reliable and will at the very least keep them in games.
With so much focus on other teams in their division, do not be surprised to see the Kings exceed expectations this year. Furthermore, if you want to place a big but reasonable bet, put some money on the Kings taking the top spot in the Western Conference. It is by no means something that the majority will be picking to happen, but it also is not impossible by any stretch. New season. New team. Perhaps a new reign is to come.
Main Photo: Yannick Peterhans-Imagn Images
