Welcome to the 2022-23 season preview as brought to you by Betway Sports. We’ll be taking a dive into each team’s offseason and what their Stanley Cup odds are for next season from the worst odds to the best. All odds are current as of the time of writing.
LA Kings Stanley Cup Odds: +2800
A young team on the rise, the LA Kings could be a fun team to watch this year. The team spent the offseason retooling their roster bringing in a big name in Kevin Fiala, all the while losing long-time star Dustin Brown to retirement.
The Kings were already a surprise last season finishing with a 44-27-11 record and 99 points in the Pacific Division. They snuck into the playoffs facing off against the Edmonton Oilers in the first round — a team they narrowly lost to in seven games.
While scoring goals was an issue finishing 20th in the league, the Kings were surprisingly sharp defensively allowing the eighth fewest goals against in the whole league. This, mind you, with star defenceman Drew Doughty playing just 39 games all year long, and a group of 12 other defencemen playing varying amounts of games all year long. A young group, but they got it done.
The big splash was bringing in the aforementioned Fiala, who LA acquired from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for the 19th overall pick and prospect Brock Faber. Fiala earned a fresh deal right away with the Kings inking him to a seven-year deal with an AAV of $7.875-million.
The big question heading into this year for the Kings: can their goaltending hold up? Jonathan Quick played 46 games last year, but at age 36, he’s well into the back nine of his career. Cal Peterson returns on a three-year, $5-million deal, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him take over more games this year.
Are we betting on the Kings to win the cup? No. While I think the Kings are going to compete for a playoff spot, I don’t think this is yet a team ready for a deep run for the cup.