Why the Los Angeles Kings May Bring Playoff Success Back to California

The Sharks and Ducks are undergoing rebuilds, but the Los Angeles Kings look to be back as a playoff team. Adam Proteau thinks they can do some damage as well.

NHL hockey in California has thrived for most of the past 15 years. 

The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks combined to win three Stanley Cups in seven years (2007 to 2014), and the San Jose Sharks were a perennial threat to go on deep playoff runs. 

But in more recent seasons, the three California teams have not been nearly as successful. The Kings have missed the playoffs in five of the past eight years, and haven’t made it out of the first round. The Ducks have completely cratered in the past four seasons, missing the playoffs each year and finishing near or at the bottom of their division. And the Sharks have also been terrible, missing the post-season in each of the past three seasons.

Certainly, this recent spell of misery for the three California teams is the product of the competitive cycle that every franchise has to battle through eventually. But there’s only one Cali team this season that’s primed to regain a prominent place in the battle for the Cup. That would be the Kings, who, very quietly, have been a serious menace in the past two months.

The Kings are 12-3-2 in their past 17 games and now sit tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division (with Vegas holding one game in hand on the Kings). Barring a total collapse in their final 17 regular-season games, Los Angeles is going to qualify for the playoffs and, quite possibly, secure home-ice advantage for the first round. 

That likely means they’re destined for a playoff showdown against the upstart Seattle Kraken, the Winnipeg Jets or the Edmonton Oilers. Taking on Edmonton would be a rematch of last season’s first-round series between the Kings and the Oilers, which Edmonton won in seven games. But this writer believes the Kings are an improved group this season, and they probably should be favored to beat whichever team they take on in Round 1.

And it’s not just Kings GM Rob Blake’s trade deadline acquisition of former Columbus defenseman Vladislav Gavirkov and former Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo that has us feeling optimistic about L.A.’s Cup chances this year. It’s the businesslike manner in which the Kings have operated of late that’s especially positive.

Indeed, when you look at the aforementioned 17-game stretch, the Kings didn’t have the toughest schedule, but they did beat all the teams they should’ve beaten, including Chicago, Philly, Anaheim, Arizona and Montreal. But taking care of business against lesser teams is harder than it looks – just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs – and it’s important that L.A. excelled against inferior opponents because their remaining games are, more often than not, going to come against playoff-caliber teams. If they’re to lock up home-ice advantage, the Kings have to be as consistently solid as they’ve been since early January.

The Kings don’t have the NHL’s best group of forwards. They also don’t have the best defense corps in the league, and their goaltending, while improved with the addition of Korpisalo, hardly is the most intimidating of Cup contenders. 

L.A.’s core talents are fairly young, but they’re talented enough to win at least a round or two, and there’s something about how this team plays under coach Todd McLellan that gives you the hunch they’re going to be very difficult to beat in a seven-game series.

Anaheim and San Jose are in the midst of drastic rebuilds, and it won’t be long before all three of California’s NHL teams are at or near the top of the Pacific – especially if the Sharks or Ducks win the Connor Bedard sweepstakes this spring. But at this moment, the Kings are the only California team to project as a Cup front-runner, and it’s likely going to stay that way for a couple more seasons.