Kings Duos, Part II: The Wing

SAN DIEGO, CA — Part II of the Kings Duos series arrives at the most optimistic stop of the four. If the crease in Part I presented a calculated risk worth taking, the wing presents something rarer for this organization heading into 2026-27: a genuine strength, with real depth behind it. The catch, and there is always a catch with these Kings, is that the organization is actively pulling from that strength to patch a different hole.

Artemi Panarin was acquired last season to signal an all-in endeavor just before the Olympic break in a mostly one-sided trade with the New York Rangers. Despite an untimely injury to Kevin Fiala, Panarin came as advertised, becoming the only true offensive threat in their four-game trouncing from the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs. The 34-year-old is not getting any younger, but is still playing like the premier winger that he is.

There are only four players over the last three seasons that have outproduced Panarin at even strength (EVs): Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, and David Pastrnak. In fact, Panarin is sitting pretty at fifth on that list, sitting a full 10 points above Sidney Crosby. His 77 goals place him third best amongst the league, under MacKinnon and Tage Thompson in that same span. Much like the energy the franchise had when Fiala was acquired back in 2022, there has not been a player of this stature or production in decades.

If a duo is the top two players per position, then the Kings can go at it with a wry grin. Just a small step down from Panarin is Adrian Kempe. Kempe has the 13th most EVs goals across the last three seasons and is the 31st most productive player in total EVs production across that same span. These are the Kings' top two wingers on paper, and it’s not particularly close with respect to the organization’s depth. Those two are top-flight wingers across the league and are a legitimate bright spot on a franchise with blatant gaps in its roster.

As we come back down to Earth, in practice, the honest duo to evaluate heading into 2026-27 is Panarin and Fiala. Understanding why requires engaging with a pair of organizational decisions that are quietly reshaping the entire forward group.

Ken Holland has openly discussed moving Kempe back to center, a position he played earlier in his career but has not occupied meaningfully in years. That conversion, if it holds, removes Kempe from the wing picture entirely and hands him the burden of filling the void left by Anze Kopitar's departure. 

Holland recouped some of his losses by resigning Scott Laughton and picking up Erik Haula. Those are two adequate players, but not ones to anchor and complement a top-six wing group (we will get into this next week). But from Holland’s point of view, the potential for Kempe to drive play down the middle is undeniable, despite more than half a decade plus without playing the position at the NHL level. 

And Kempe is not the only winger the Kings have been eyeing for a positional shift. Alex Laferriere has also been experimented with at center, giving the organization ascending forwards whose developmental trajectories may be redirected away from the wing group they would otherwise anchor, becoming one of the better wing corps in the entire league.

The net effect is worth naming plainly. The Kings' strongest positional group is being cannibalized to address their weakest one. Whether that arithmetic ultimately works in their favor is the subject of a later installment in this series. For now, what it means for the wing is that the depth argument changes shape. It is still the strongest positional hand on this roster. It is just a slightly thinner hand than the raw talent suggests.

Start where every honest evaluation of this roster has to start: Panarin. His presence on this team is the single most significant contextual shift the Kings have made in the post-Kopitar era. In his prime, there was a legitimate argument placing him in the top five wingers in the league. His offensive instincts, edge work, and playmaking ability at even strength were among the most distinctive skill sets the position has seen in the last decade. He arrived in Los Angeles with two years remaining on his contract, and the honest version of this piece acknowledges that he is at risk of operating past that ceiling. He is not the Panarin of four seasons ago, even though he has the same coach again. 

If that creeps into his game, ala Father Time, that version of Panarin changes this article entirely, and probably the Kings' Playoff, not Stanley Cup odds, dip alongside it.

What he still is, though, is a premium offensive presence on the left wing. His ability to generate in the offensive zone, create in transition, and find secondary options against tight defensive structures remains well above average for the position. For a Kings forward group that spent much of last season starved for offensive generation at even strength, that floor is not incidental. It is the difference between a functional top line and one that asks its center to carry the entire creative burden.

Fiala, then, becomes the more honest second half of this duo. He is a legitimate top-six winger and has been for the better part of five seasons, a player capable of producing at a rate that moves the needle on most rosters in this league. His offensive production, skating, and ability to generate offense in tight spaces make him a credible duo partner for Panarin at the top of the lineup, rather than a consolation prize for losing Kempe to center. 

The argument for this wing group does not require Kempe to stay on the wing to hold it together, despite the risk and the roster-thinning effect. It requires Fiala to be consistent and a higher point producer at EVs, which he has shown he can be, and there is no strong reason to believe he will not, given a healthy return and ice time to follow.

Kempe himself is worth addressing directly, even if he ends up at center, because the quality of what the Kings are converting speaks to the overall strength of this group. He is a top-six forward by every reasonable measure: speed off the rush, finishing ability, and a physical dimension that makes him difficult to neutralize over sixty minutes. The fact that Holland is considering him for a harder positional responsibility is, in an odd way, a compliment. And Laferriere's center experiments carry the same undercurrent of organizational belief that may flirt with desperation rather than a well-thought-out plan. 

Beneath Panarin and Fiala, the picture gets thinner but not empty. Mats Zuccarello, when healthy, brings veteran intelligence and offensive craftiness that have aged more gracefully than his legs might suggest. His availability is never a given at this stage of his career, but his impact per minute when deployed correctly remains real. Trevor Moore and Joel Armia provide the responsible, detail-oriented play that holds a forward group together when the top six is carrying the offensive load. Corey Perry on the fourth line, if that is indeed where he lands again, brings the net-front compete and edge that coaching staffs tend to value in playoff series regardless of counting stats.

The Peter Laviolette factor lands more positively on the wing than it did in the crease piece. An up-tempo system built around quicker puck movement and offensive engagement benefits elite wingers more than almost any other positional group. Panarin's game has always thrived in space and transition. Kempe is always dangerous off the rush, and Fiala's best hockey comes in open ice. The same systemic shift that raised a wary eye between the pipes raises genuine optimism on the wing.

The uncertainty here is not talent, but rather organizational arithmetic. Kempe and Laferriere being redirected toward center is a net positive for the roster as a whole, in theory, but it asks Fiala to carry a heavier wing burden and asks the depth behind him to hold without two of the roster's more capable forwards available to supplement it. Panarin's two-year window is a real ticking time bomb, and his ceiling now is not what it was.

Take the talent at face value, though, and the wing is still the Kings' strongest positional hand of the four this series will examine. Panarin and Fiala are a credible top-line top-six winger duo. The organizational decisions pulling Kempe and Laferriere toward center are, as much as anything else, a reflection of how much talent the Kings have accumulated in this group but also a reflection of a long-term plan laid waste. The interim will have to do for now.

This series will find more troubling duos. The wing, for now, is where the Kings are allowed to feel good about themselves, even after accounting for what they have given away to fill the position that comes next.