Navigate the post-Kopitar era with confidence. Discover if Artemi Panarin’s arrival sparks a Drew Doughty resurgence or if aging veterans will derail your fantasy hockey championship pursuit.
Camps are opening around the league and puck drop is nearly here, which means fantasy hockey draft season has officially arrived. It's been a busy summer of blockbuster trades, marquee signings and roster overhauls that are still settling into place.
To help you prepare, we're going team by team, flagging a sleeper worth stashing, a breakout candidate ready to take off, and a bust that might not be worth the price you'll pay to draft him. Next up: the Los Angeles Kings.
Los Angeles finished last season 35-27-20, fourth in the Pacific Division, clinching a playoff spot for a fifth straight year before being swept in four games by Colorado in the first round, extending the franchise's playoff series drought back to their 2014 Stanley Cup win. It marked the Kings' fourth straight first-round exit, three of which came at the hands of the rival Oilers.
The bigger offseason storyline in Los Angeles has been life after Anze Kopitar, with the franchise centerpiece no longer on the roster and the Kings now needing to fill the void down the middle. To help offset that loss, Los Angeles made a splash in free agency, signing star winger Artemi Panarin. The Kings are hoping their issue isn't a lack of talent but rather finally finding a way to get over the playoff hump that's eluded them for over a decade.
Sleepers: Drew Doughty & Darcy Kuemper
A pair of aging veterans are looking to secure their next NHL contracts, and both are going at favorable price ranges given their potential upside.
Doughty enters the season at 36 years old, yet he was still one of Team Canada's first choices for the Olympics this past February. He retains elite defensive instincts, but a decline in offensive output has dropped him to around 122nd overall by average draft position.
Some may view that as too rich, but it looks like a fair price given that, up until last season, Doughty had consistently been a 50-plus point defenseman, including as recently as 2024-25, when he was on pace for just short of 50 points before being sidelined by injury. Last season was his worst statistically in some time, with just 23 points in 72 games, but with added incentive to prove he's still elite and a bona fide offensive superstar in Panarin now on the roster, Doughty should have plenty of chances to set him up over a full season and rebound in a big way.
Kuemper should follow a similar path. Playing behind a defensively minded Kings system, the 36-year-old has consistently posted solid numbers, going 50-25-22 with a 2.40 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage over the last two seasons in Los Angeles. He also earned a spot on Canada's Olympic roster alongside Doughty, though he didn't see game action as the third goaltender.
With the Kings' defense corps largely unchanged and still built around stay-at-home options like Mikey Anderson, Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci, Kuemper should remain a reliable starting goaltender. He's going as late as 145th overall on average, toward the back half of most drafts.
Breakout: Alex Laferriere
Despite being a third-round pick, the 24-year-old Chatham, New Jersey, native has proven to be a tremendous value player for the Kings, recording 86 points in 159 games over the last two seasons. Playing alongside elite talents like Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar helped Laferriere become an impact player, but it was the Panarin trade that may have benefited him most.
Before the deal, Laferriere had 26 points in 55 games for a 0.47 points-per-game average. After it, he caught fire, posting 18 points in 27 games and seeing his pace jump to 0.67 points per game down the stretch, putting him on a 56-point pace over a full season. Laferriere is going as late as 145th overall on average, making him worth a flier to see if he can sustain that closing pace.
Bust: Mats Zuccarello
As a perennial fan favorite, it's not easy labeling Zuccarello as a potential letdown this season, but the case for a strong follow-up campaign isn't there for the soon-to-be 40-year-old winger. Zuccarello put up near point-per-game numbers last season at 38, but that production came largely alongside one of the best players in the league.
Quinton Byfield is an exciting young talent for the Kings, but expecting a 50-point player like Byfield to help Zuccarello produce at anywhere near the rate he did with a near-100-point running mate isn't realistic. Despite that, people are drafting Zuccarello as high as 127th overall on average.
There are far better sleeper picks and safer bets for value in that range than a player who has slowly started to show his age, missing 49 games over the last three seasons.
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