L.A. Kings and Anaheim Ducks Heat Up Hockey in California

Just because the San Jose Sharks are struggling mightily doesn't mean California is an easy road trip right now. The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks have a bright future, writes Adam Proteau.

There once was a time, not all that long ago, when NHL teams dreaded going through California. 

The Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks were all legitimate Stanley Cup threats, and between 2006-07 and 2013-14, the Cup was awarded three times to a California team – the Ducks once, and the Kings twice.

That all changed in recent years, with the Kings, Sharks and Ducks all missing out on playoff hockey for a handful of seasons. The competitive cycle of the three teams all pushed them into rebuilds, and the Ducks and Sharks remain in the early stages of recapturing their competitiveness and moving up through the Pacific Division standings. 

As we’ve seen this season, San Jose still has a long way to go before they can be a regular winner of more games than they lose, but the Ducks and the Kings are another story altogether.

Indeed, the Kings are leading the way for the California teams, putting up four straight wins to bump up their record to an impressive 8-2-2 mark. The Ducks are even hotter, winning six of their past seven games to improve their record to 7-5-0. And both teams are winning via their dynamic offenses: Anaheim has scored four goals or more in five of their past six wins, while L.A. has scored at least four goals in seven of their eight wins – and the Kings have generated at least five goals in five of their wins this year.

That said, Los Angeles also has demonstrated it can play solid defense as well: the Kings have allowed two goals or fewer in five of their wins. The Ducks haven’t been as successful in preventing goals from their opponents, but we have to remember they’re still a very young group – younger than the Kings and still finding their feet in their own zone.

Anaheim may come back down to earth at some point this year, but we don’t see the same trajectory for L.A. The Kings were one of our favorites in our pre-season prognostications, and we’ve seen nothing to disabuse us of that notion. The Kings don’t have one of the top five players in the league at any position, but what they do have is excellent depth and balance up front between younger players (Quinton Byfield, Pierre-Luc Dubois) and veterans (Anze Kopitar, Phillip Danault).

The Kings also have an underrated defense corps that contributes on offense – all of their top six blueliners have at least four points in 12 games, while three of their D-men have five points or more – and GM Rob Blake’s signing of veteran Cam Talbot in net has been a smashing success, with Talbot putting up a 7-2-1 record, 2.02 goals-against average and .930 save percentage. The Kings couldn’t have asked for more from Talbot, who is working on a one-year contract at the bargain rate of $1 million this season.

The Ducks have youngsters with higher upside than the Kings – up-and-comers for Anaheim include Trevor Zegras, Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Jamie Drysdale and Pavel Mintyukov – but the Kings have a slew of experienced talent in their prime, including Kevin Fiala, Trevor Moore, Adrian Kempe and Vladislav Gavrikov. L.A. is primed to do major damage this season, and the Ducks are giving their fans a taste of what’s to come in the years ahead.

The Sharks are at least a few years away from returning to being a perennial Cup contender, but overall in California, the wheel has turned in favor of the Kings and Ducks, and once again, opposing teams can’t let off the pedal when they come into that state. 

The Cup may not be returning to Cali this season, but teams now are on notice – there’s no longer a “gimme” game for them when taking on the Ducks and Kings, and it’s going to get even more competitive from here on.