48-25-9, 105
points (2nd Pacific, 6th overall)
3.04 GF/GP, 14th; 2.48 GA/GP, 2nd
17.9 PP%, 27th; 81.4 PK%, 8th
Key losses: LW/RW Tanner Jeannot, D Jordan Spence, D Vladislav Gavrikov, G David Rittich
Key additions: RW Corey Perry, RW Joel Armia, D Cody Ceci, D Brian Dumoulin, G Anton Forsberg
Expected lineup:
Andrei
Kuzmenko – Anze Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Kevin Fiala – Quinton Byfield – Alex Laferriere
Warren Foegele – Philipp Danault – Trevor Moore
Joel Armia – Riku Helenius – Corey Perry
Mikey
Anderson – Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson – Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin – Cody Ceci
Darcy Kuemper – Anton Forsberg
PP1: Fiala –
Kopitar – Kuzmenko – Byfield – Kempe
PP2: Foegele – Danault – Moore – Clarke – Doughty
5-on-5:
The Kings were dominant at even strength last season largely due to their defense. They were the fifth-best possession team in percentage share of shot attempts at 5-on-5, limited their opponents to the second-fewest shots per game, deployed a top-10 penalty kill and allowed the second-fewest total goals despite missing Drew Doughty for 52 games. Their 48 wins matched a cap-era high and it was one of their most dominant defensive seasons ever.
Running Anze Kopitar, who finished top-10 in Selke Trophy voting for the 12th time (!) in 19 seasons, the emerging Quinton Byfield and the dependable Philipp Danault down the middle arguably gives the Kings the best 1-2-3 center depth in the league; it may not be an issue if they have a rotating 4C all season.
That depth at center, along with quality wingers, and an underrated top defensive pairing with Doughty and Mikey Anderson, are good enough reasons to believe the Kings will be a strong 5-on-5 team yet again.
But we should take everything they accomplished last season with a grain of salt because it’ll be very hard to replicate. While the forward depth improved with the additions of Joel Armia and Corey Perry – they lumber on the ice, but the Kings are not known for their speed, and they provide size and experience – the big question marks will be on defense and in net.
Defensively, it’s hard to understate the loss of Vladislav Gavrikov. He was simply outstanding; he ranked 19th in CF% (min. 1000 TOI) and third in total shorthanded ice time among defensemen, and led the Kings in blocked shots as the key cog for an excellent shot-suppressing team featuring a top-10 penalty kill.
Gavrikov formed an excellent pair with Jordan Spence, at times even better than Anderson-Doughty, and gave the Kings a very dependable, consistent top four. While I do think the Rangers overpaid for Gavrikov – the contract is too long and too rich and defensive defensemen typically don’t age well – the Kings defense is noticeably worse without them. Though Gavrikov may not have ever intended to re-sign with the Kings, replacing Gavrikov-Spence with a declining 34-year-old Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci, who’s on his fourth team in three seasons, for the exact same price tag ($8.5 million) is a very curious piece of roster construction.
The Kings defense was also a big reason why Darcy Kuemper had an excellent season. We can’t take much away from him – he’s done this before, just rather infrequently – and we’ll discuss him more at length in the outlook.
We can also take some hints from the Kings’ poor playoff showing. Despite a spectacular regular season, the Kings lost to the Oilers for the fourth straight season. Never mind the compounding failures; the normally stalwart Kings defense allowed 20 goals (!) in four straight games and blew a 2-0 series lead despite having home-ice advantage for the first time.
Was that playoff series an early sign of regression for 2025-26, and or were the Oilers simply that unstoppable? The answer is, obviously, somewhere in between. But if the offense doesn’t improve dramatically and the defense regresses, the Kings are bound to take a step back.
The Kings have a bunch of solid players, but no elite offensive talent to target in fantasy. THN Yearbook & Fantasy Guide projects Adrian Kempe to lead the team in scoring with just 74 points, followed by Kopitar, Byfield and Kevin Fiala in the 60’s.
Power Play:
The Kings were absolutely dreadful on the power play, finishing 17th in efficiency and scored just 37 goals. They drew very few penalties (266, 24th) and had the 10th-worst differential with 17 more penalties taken than drawn. That’s just not a good recipe for success.
What did work, however, was the Kings stacking their top five forwards on one unit by combining all three members of their AK3 top line with Byfield and Fiala. They did this in spurts, and it’ll be interesting if they will stick to it for a full season. I have put all five of them on their projected top PP unit, but I have very low conviction in this projection. I think NHL coaches are still too conservative to try this, but I also think the Kings need results right away or it could cost Jim Hiller his job.
The downside of having a five-forward unit is obvious; they lack a player who’s comfortable walking the line, which is typically a defenseman’s skill, and defending an odd-man rush in an era where penalty killers are more aggressive than ever in hunting for shorthanded goals.
It also puts Brandt Clarke on the bench, and a developing offensive defenseman won’t develop if he’s not getting the reps in situations where he’s expected to excel. Giving Clarke the requisite ice time for him to develop, after all, was one of the reasons GM Ken Holland cited for trading Spence. I think the Kings will take the conservative approach and play Doughty on the top unit until they feel Clarke is ready, and only go with five forwards if they really need to jumpstart a struggling power play.
Should Doughty (or Clarke) join PP1, however, that means one of Fiala, Byfield or Kuzmenko gets bumped off. This is not ideal. Kuzmenko is arguably the craftiest of the three and most dangerous when there’s extra room on the ice, Byfield will likely be their best player in the coming seasons and Fiala is arguably their most talented goal scorer. Kuzmenko, in particular, derives much of his fantasy value from the power play.
The Kings’ power play configuration is something fantasy managers must pay attention to when deciding if Byfield (or Clarke) will take another leap in their development.
All stats courtesy of naturalstattrick.com, moneypuck.com, hockeyviz.com, allthreezones.com, hockey-reference.com, eliteprospects.com unless otherwise noted.