Peter Laviolette Has Inherited A Major Problem In Los Angeles

For all the questions surrounding the Los Angeles Kings entering the 2026-27 season, perhaps none is more consequential than the one that will unfold whenever the game moves away from five-on-five.

Los Angeles was a respectable team at even strength last season. The Kings finished 12th in five-on-five goal differential and seventh in high-danger chances against per 60 minutes, evidence that the foundation of their defensive structure was hardly broken. Yet those strengths were repeatedly undermined by a special teams operation that ranked among the NHL’s worst.

The power play finished 28th in the league.

The penalty kill was even worse, ranking 30th.

Taken together, the Kings’ special teams finished 23 goals below break-even, a staggering figure for a team that spent much of the season playing tight games decided by a single goal, overtime or the shootout.

If Los Angeles intends to return to the postseason, fixing that imbalance cannot be treated as a secondary objective. It may be the difference between another season spent on the outside and a legitimate playoff push.

The Kings established an NHL record for non-regulation losses last season, and their special teams were a significant contributor to that frustrating pattern.

A team can survive an ordinary power play if it dominates at five-on-five. It can survive a mediocre penalty kill if its offense consistently compensates. Los Angeles, however, rarely received enough from either side of the equation.

The Kings’ five-on-five performance suggested they were capable of being a difficult team to play against. Their defensive numbers were particularly encouraging, with the club ranking seventh in high-danger chances against per 60 minutes.

But special teams repeatedly erased that advantage.

The power play lacked consistency, while the penalty kill became a persistent liability. The result was a team that frequently found itself in games it could have won, only to leave the ice with an overtime or shootout loss.

That is where the frustration becomes particularly acute.

Los Angeles did not necessarily need to transform itself into one of the NHL’s most explosive teams. It simply needed its special teams to stop turning manageable games into uphill battles.

The arrival of Artemi Panarin provided an immediate jolt to a power play that had spent much of the season searching for answers.

After joining the Kings, Panarin helped the club convert at a 20 percent rate over 26 games. That figure ranked 20th in the NHL during that span — hardly dominant, but a substantial improvement from where Los Angeles had been for much of the year.

The Kings occasionally deployed Panarin on both power-play units, maximizing one of the most dangerous offensive players on the roster.

Whether that approach continues under Peter Laviolette remains one of the more intriguing questions surrounding the team’s special teams structure.

Panarin gives Los Angeles something it desperately lacked: an elite offensive catalyst capable of creating opportunities when a power play becomes stagnant. But one player cannot solve a structural problem by himself.

The Kings will need more movement, better puck distribution and greater consistency from the players surrounding him.

The arrival of Panarin gives the power play a centerpiece.

Now the coaching staff has to build an effective system around him.

If the power play represents an opportunity, the penalty kill represents an emergency.

Los Angeles’ penalty kill struggled throughout the season, and the problem became even more pronounced after DJ Smith assumed control following Jim Hiller’s firing.

From March 2 onward, the Kings killed penalties at just a 70.6 percent rate, which ranked 31st in the NHL during that stretch.

That is not a minor weakness.

It is the kind of deficiency capable of fundamentally changing the outcome of close games.

The Kings already played an enormous number of one-goal contests. Giving opponents additional opportunities to score with the man advantage only amplified the margin for error.

Assistant coaches Chris Hajt and Derik Johnson will oversee changes to the penalty kill entering the new season. Hajt arrives with relevant experience from the Ontario Reign, Los Angeles’ AHL affiliate, where he was part of a highly effective penalty-killing unit.

That experience could prove valuable as the Kings attempt to rebuild a penalty kill that became increasingly unreliable as the previous season progressed.

There is reason for optimism, particularly behind the bench.

Peter Laviolette’s most recent tenure with the New York Rangers offered a compelling example of just how dramatically special teams can influence a team’s fortunes.

The Rangers were ranked third on the powerplay and third on the penalty kill in 2023-24. They went on to win the Presidents’ Trophy and reached the Eastern Conference Final.

One season later, however, the power play was one of the worst in the entire NHL. The penalty kill, though, remained considerably healthier, finishing 11th.

The contrast is difficult to ignore.

Laviolette has already demonstrated that his teams can operate elite special teams. He has also experienced firsthand how quickly those units can deteriorate and drag an otherwise talented roster down with them.

Now he has another intriguing advantage in Los Angeles.

Panarin, an older version, is once again part of his team.

Laviolette, Panarin and associate coach Phil Housley are reunited, while assistant Ray Whitney joins the group tasked with shaping the Kings’ power play. That collection of coaching experience and offensive talent gives Los Angeles a legitimate opportunity to overhaul a unit that simply was not good enough last season.

The question is whether the Kings can turn that potential into consistency.

Special teams are not the only area where Los Angeles is facing a philosophical transition.

Laviolette is known for demanding an up-tempo style, something that could present a challenge for a roster that has not exactly been constructed around speed.

The Kings also lost the stabilizing presence of Anze Kopitar to retirement, yet somehow emerged from the offseason with an older roster rather than a younger one.

That creates an interesting contradiction.

Los Angeles wants to play faster, but the personnel may not naturally lend itself to that identity.

The same tension could ultimately influence the team’s special teams. Successful power plays thrive on pace, puck movement and players who can attack seams before the penalty-killing structure has time to settle. Penalty kills, meanwhile, require quick reads, coordinated pressure and the ability to recover when the first defensive action fails.

The Kings cannot simply change the numbers on the scoreboard. They need the underlying habits to change with them.

The Kings do not need to become the NHL’s best special teams team to make meaningful progress.

They simply need to stop being one of its worst.

If the power play climbs from the bottom five into the middle of the league and the penalty kill becomes merely competent, Los Angeles could gain several wins without dramatically changing its five-on-five identity.

That is what makes last season so frustrating.

The Kings were not a disaster at even strength. They were competitive enough to remain within striking distance of their opponents on a nightly basis. But their inability to capitalize on power-play opportunities — combined with their tendency to surrender goals while shorthanded — repeatedly turned narrow margins against them.

Those margins matter even more now.

The Western Conference offers little room for teams that consistently give away opportunities. Los Angeles will enter the season with major questions surrounding its age, its speed, its post-Kopitar identity and its ability to adapt to Laviolette’s preferred style.

Special teams, however, are the one area where improvement could arrive without requiring a complete roster transformation.

The Kings already have Panarin.

They have a head coach with a history of producing elite special teams.

They have new personnel overseeing the penalty kill.

What they need now is execution.

If Los Angeles can finally make its special teams an asset rather than an obstacle, those countless one-goal games from last season may begin ending differently.

And that could be enough to change the entire trajectory of the Kings’ 2026-27 season.