- Team Outlook from McKeen’s Hockey Guide:After winning the Stanley Cup in 2012, the Los Angeles Kings didn’t exactly dominate in the regular season in 2013. They had to deal with the absence of defenseman Willie Mitchell and, for most of the campaign, Matt Greene. On top of that, Jonathan Quick wasn’t his usual dominant self, however that changed – along with the Kings as a team – once the playoffs started.
Los Angeles didn’t make it look pretty, but they ousted the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks in the postseason before finally falling to the eventual Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks.
Although they were unable to successfully defend the Cup, the Kings remain a serious threat to reclaim it and this time, they likely won’t have to go through a messy regular season first. If Mitchell can return from his knee injury then he’ll join a stacked defense that includes Drew Doughty, Robyn Regehr, and Slava Voynov.
Their offense also remains balanced if not overwhelming. Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown, and Justin Williams are all capable of chipping in 20 or more goals in 2013-14. Throw in the usually elite goaltending of Quick and an underrated backup in Ben Scrivens and this is a team without many weaknesses.
The main question is how much some of their younger, less-established members will be able to contribute this season. Defenseman Jake Muzzin and forward Matt Frattin are expected to spend the entire campaign with the Kings, but they might struggle to work their way up the depth charts. At the same time, it also remains to be seen how veteran Daniel Carcillo will fit in.
Still, those are more matters of curiosity as none of those players are likely to define the Kings in a season where they should capture the Pacific Division.
- Team Fantasy Outlook from Dobber Hockey’s 2013-14 Fantasy Guide – Over a 150 pages of fantasy goodness:Dobber’s lowdown on: Jake Muzzin – Muzzin was a fringe roster player until late February, just a few days after his 24th birthday, when he started putting up points. He went on a run of 13 games with 11 points and a plus-11 rating, not to mention 27 penalty minutes. But then points were harder to come by and he managed just four in his last 20 games (and only two PIM). In the postseason he was ineffective and could only watch helplessly as Voynov seized control of the power play, likely for good. He showed 35-point ability at the AHL level. But because Doughty and Voynov have the PP locked up, Muzzin’s points will be hard to come by.
Amazingly, nine players played in all 48 games for the Kings last season. And Kopitar played 47, missing the first one with a bit of a knee injury…and Brown played 46 because he was suspended for two games. Pretty much 11 players played all the games last year. It has been hard for L.A. prospects to crack the lineup, but harder still if nobody gets hurt. It makes Toffoli’s accomplishment even more impressive.
Since his 59-point season, Doughty’s points-per-game average has slowly eased downwards, going from 0.72 to 0.53 to 0.47 and then 0.46 last year. I’d be shocked if it slipped even more. I think he’s hit his ‘downside’, though I couldn’t say when he’ll get back to that treasured ‘upside’.
Voynov led the Kings in postseason scoring with 13 points and plus-9 in 18 games. He was also third in ice time in the playoffs behind Doughty and Rob Scuderi. He’s arrived and I think he takes a real good run at 15 goals and 180 shots.
Frattin got 10 of his 13 points last year (77%) playing with Nazem Kadri, but he lined up with Kadri for only 57% of his even-strength shifts. He didn’t earn a power-play point. With a skilled player on his line along with a bit of power-play time, there is some upside here.
Follow link for more info and stats
Additions: LW Daniel Carcillo, RW Matt Frattin, LW Daniel Carcillo, D Jeff Schultz, G Ben Scrivens
Subtractions: G Jonathan Bernier, F Marc-Andre Cliche, G Christopher Gibson, D David Kolomatis, F Stefan Legein, F David Meckler, F Dustin Penner, F Brad Richardson, D Rob Scuderi, F Anthony Stewart-F
Promotion candidates: RW Tyler Toffoli, C Linden Vey, LW Tanner Pearson
Player salaries: $68,810,000 (24)
Cap Number: $64,386,894
Bonuses: $0
Cap Space: -$86,894
Forwards: $33,885,227 (13)
Defensemen: $24,151,667 (9)
Goalies: $6,350,000 (2)
Source: CapGeek
Forwards
Dustin Brown – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Matt Frattin – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter
Daniel Carcillo – Jarret Stoll – Tyler Toffoli
Dwight King – Colin Fraser – Trevor Lewis
Kyle Clifford – Jordan Nolan
Defensemen
Robyn Regehr – Drew Doughty
Willie Mitchell – Slava Voynov
Jake Muzzin – Matt Greene
Alec Martinez
Goalies
Jonathan Quick
Ben Scrivens
2013 Los Angeles Kings Draft Results
| Rd. | Draft # | Player | Team | Pos. |
| 2 | 37 | Valentin Zykov | Baie-Comeau (QMJHL) | LW |
| 4 | 103 | Justin Auger | Guelph (OHL ) | RW |
| 4 | 118 | Hudson Fasching | US-NTDP | C/RW |
| 5 | 146 | Patrik Bartosak | Red Deer (WHL ) | G |
| 5 | 148 | Jonny Brodzinski | St. Cloud State (WCHA ) | C |
| 6 | 178 | Zachary Leslie | Guelph (OHL ) | D |
| 7 | 191 | Dominik Kubalik | Sudbury (OHL ) | LW |
Los Angeles Kings Top Prospects
| NHL.com | Hockey Prospectus | Dobber Prospects | Hockeys Future | The Hockey News | |
| 1 | Tyler Toffoli | Tyler Toffoli | Tyler Toffoli | Tyler Toffoli | Tyler Toffoli |
| 2 | Linden Vey | Valentin Zykov | Jake Muzzin | Tanner Pearson | Valentin Zykov |
| 3 | Tanner Pearson | Tanner Pearson | Tanner Pearson | Valentin Zykov | Derek Forbort |
| 4 | Andy Andreoff | Linden Vey | Linden Vey | Linden Vey | Tanner Pearson |
| 5 | Derek Forbort | Nick Shore | Nick Shore | Derek Forbort | Kevin Gravel |
| 6 | Nicolas Deslauriers | Derek Forbort | Nikolay Prokhorkin | Kevin Gravel | Nick Shore |
| 7 | Kevin Gravel | Nicolas Deslauriers | Valentin Zykov | Martin Jones | Linden Vey |
| 8 | Nick Shore | Hudson Fasching | Martin Jones | Maxim Kitsyn | Andy Andreoff |
| 9 | Nic Dowd | Michael Mersch | Derek Forbort | Andy Andreoff | Martin Jones |
| 10 | Michael Mersch | Kevin Gravel | Colin Miller | Michael Mersch | Colin Miller |
2012-13 Los Angeles Kings Player Stats
| Player |
Pos
|
GP
|
G
|
A
|
P
|
+/-
|
PIM
|
PP
|
SH
|
GW
|
OT
|
S
|
S%
|
| Anze Kopitar |
C
|
47
|
10
|
32
|
42
|
14
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
98
|
10.2
|
| Jeff Carter |
C
|
48
|
26
|
7
|
33
|
0
|
16
|
8
|
0
|
8
|
1
|
133
|
19.5
|
| Justin Williams |
R
|
48
|
11
|
22
|
33
|
15
|
22
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
142
|
7.7
|
| Mike Richards |
C
|
48
|
12
|
20
|
32
|
-8
|
42
|
6
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
82
|
14.6
|
| Dustin Brown |
L
|
46
|
18
|
11
|
29
|
6
|
22
|
8
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
142
|
12.7
|
| Slava Voynov |
D
|
48
|
6
|
19
|
25
|
5
|
14
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
79
|
7.6
|
| Drew Doughty |
D
|
48
|
6
|
16
|
22
|
4
|
36
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
114
|
5.3
|
| Jarret Stoll |
C
|
48
|
7
|
11
|
18
|
1
|
28
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
73
|
9.6
|
| Jake Muzzin |
D
|
45
|
7
|
9
|
16
|
16
|
35
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
77
|
9.1
|
| Kyle Clifford |
L
|
48
|
7
|
7
|
14
|
1
|
51
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
56
|
12.5
|
| Trevor Lewis |
C
|
48
|
5
|
9
|
14
|
5
|
19
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
92
|
5.4
|
| Dustin Penner |
R
|
33
|
2
|
12
|
14
|
-2
|
18
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
61
|
3.3
|
| Rob Scuderi |
D
|
48
|
1
|
11
|
12
|
-6
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
33
|
3
|
| Dwight King |
L
|
47
|
4
|
6
|
10
|
-3
|
11
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
60
|
6.7
|
| Colin Fraser |
C
|
34
|
2
|
5
|
7
|
-4
|
25
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
19
|
10.5
|
| Jordan Nolan |
C
|
44
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
-5
|
46
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
23
|
8.7
|
| Brad Richardson |
R
|
16
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
2
|
10
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
27
|
3.7
|
| Tyler Toffoli |
C
|
10
|
2
|
3
|
5
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
20
|
10
|
| Alec Martinez |
D
|
27
|
1
|
4
|
5
|
-2
|
10
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
30
|
3.3
|
| Simon Gagne |
L
|
11
|
0
|
5
|
5
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
20
|
0
|
| Davis Drewiske |
D
|
20
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
3
|
14
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
20
|
5
|
| Keaton Ellerby |
D
|
35
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
5
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
15
|
0
|
| Robyn Regehr |
D
|
12
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
0
|
| Matt Greene |
D
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
-1
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
| Player |
GP
|
GS
|
W
|
L
|
OT
|
SA
|
GA
|
GAA
|
Sv
|
Sv%
|
SO
|
G
|
A
|
| Jonathan Quick |
37
|
36
|
18
|
13
|
4
|
889
|
87
|
2.45
|
802
|
0.902
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
| Jonathan Bernier |
14
|
12
|
9
|
3
|
1
|
306
|
24
|
1.88
|
282
|
0.922
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Some info, stats and video taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30 series.