A strong offseason for the Kings so far!
The Los Angeles Kings entered the offseason looking to make some big moves after the team was knocked out of the postseason in the first round for the second consecutive season. LA was eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers again, as they couldn’t compete with the Oilers' high-powered offense on a game-by-game basis. But
General Manager Rob Blake was determined to get the team a true offensive power, and as the offseason starts to get into the dog days of summer, Blake has done his job.
LA traded for star Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets and quickly signed him to an eight-year contract. He is a game-changer for this Kings team, as gives them a star offensive player that opposing defenses must address at all times.
The team also fixed some of their biggest holes, namely between the pipes, by signing veteran Cam Talbot and David Rittich to deals. LA now has three solid options in net to use as they struggled to find any sort of consistency last season.
The NHL staff over at The Athletic wrote what every team needs and if they had any holes left o fill this offseason. Writer Eric Stephens did the Kings and said that the team really has no hole left to fill.
-"There really isn’t one now: The goaltending hole was filled with Cam Talbot, and the addition of David Rittich to go along with the returning Pheonix Copley leaves the Kings with three experienced netminders, so they shouldn’t be in dire straits if an injury pops up. Two-time Stanley Cup champion Trevor Lewis will be welcomed back with open arms and can fill a fourth-line role and kill penalties. There is some question as to how their third pairing on defense will shake out, but Andreas Englund can be a safety valve..."
It has been an extremely successful offseason for the Kings, and the organization is confident that this group can win in the postseason. LA has been one of the better teams in the Western Conference over the last two years but has failed to do anything when it mattered. Their rebuild came sooner than expected, but now the Kings are looking to add more Stanley Cups to their collection.
2023 will be a season with major expectations, and the Kings need to at least win a playoff series otherwise, it will be seen as a lost season. They haven't won a playoff series since 2014, and maybe this could be the season to break that.