The 2013 season didn’t end quite the same as the year prior for the Los Angeles Kings. No team since the 1998 Detroit Red Wings have repeated as Stanley Cup champions, though the Kings looked like they were ready to make a run after impressively dispatching St. Louis and San Jose.
It certainly isn’t time to panic in Lipstick City, especially considering the core of the 2012 champs are still in place. Jonathan Quick makes any team a contender with his elastic spine and ninja like reflexes. Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Dustin Brown and Justin Williams are all in their prime and make up the top two lines.
Drew Doughty, Slava Voynov and Jake Muzzin are all under age 25 and are as good as any top three defensemen in the NHL. With perennial Vezina Trophy candidate Quick in between the pipes supporting that defense, the Kings look every bit as dangerous as the 2013 defending champs in Chicago.
As expected the Kings stood pat in free agency. They re-signed Robyn Regehr and added depth with former Washington Capitals blueliner Jeff Schultz. With no glaring weaknesses in their roster, what should Los Angeles do?
The answer is simple. Score more goals and keep improving on special teams. With the youth and Stanley Cup rings in the locker room, Los Angeles will get better simply by spending more time together. With such a young and impressive nucleus on the roster, general manager Dean Lombardi need not tinker with the Kings to make them into contenders.
No one can plan for injuries, but the depth that Lombardi has built into the team was a key to the 2012 Cup success and will greatly benefit the team moving forward. Players like Muzzin and Dwight King were able to merge seamlessly with the rest of the crew as the Kings were able to overcome bumps and bruises along the way.
In a nutshell the key to the Los Angeles Kings 2013 offseason is to stay healthy. Oh, and not resign Dustin Penner. While they were rumored to be in the running for a big name free agent like Jarome Iginla or David Clarkson the Kings were wise to sit on their $5 million plus in cap space and worry about keeping the “band” together for many years to come.
It might be boring folks, but it works, and it is the reason you’ll see the Los Angeles Kings at, or near the top of the Western Conference in 2014.