Pool Outlook for Los Angeles

The reigning Stanley Cup champions were not without their high expectations in the 2015 season, but having played a whole lot of hockey in the last five years likely caught up to the core group of players and they were not able to even qualify for the Spring Dance to defend their title, ensuring that someone new would be taking the Cup home for the Summer.

There was definitely an argument for a tired group of players in the season, as the Kings were not showing their killer instinct on a regular basis and they found themselves behind in a lot of games where they may have been up by a goal or at least tied in those same situations.  That clutch scoring to force extra time?  Not really there either.

With two championships in the last three tournaments, no one is really going to look down on the Kings and say how much better they should have been, as they have been great in recent memory and with a good portion of their core playing in most of that hockey in those 3+ seasons, they don't need to argue why they are not in the playoffs this year.

The champions always seem to bring the interest to the hockey pool and in the 2015 draft pool, they were popular again.  At the draft itself, 13 Kings were taken in the first 322 players, while a few more were taken through the Waiver Draft, while a couple were dropped for various reasons.  With a little bit more rest in this off-season, I would imagine that the Kings will be popular once again.

Despite missing the playoffs by a thread, goaltender Jonathan Quick still had a pretty good year, finishing 10th overall in pool scoring, thanks to 36 wins and 85 points.  It's hard to imagine that a goalie, who finished 8th among goalies in points, missed the playoffs, but there were 6 shutouts to his credit, so he did pick up some extra points that way as well.  It also helped that he played the bulk of the minutes in the Kings' crease as well, finishing 2nd in minutes played by a goalie, so that was a lot of responsibility on him and you could argue that he was also quite tired down the stretch... or at least, he should have been.

It was a lot of the usual suspects, as for pool-worthy forwards in Los Angeles, led by Anze Kopitar, who may have had a bit of a down year, ranking 52nd overall in scoring with 64 points, but keeping his game to a Selke Trophy nomination level.  Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli and Marian Gaborik rounded out the forwards that finished in the top 100 of the position, while Justin Williams pulled up the rear, ranking 119th among forwards, the last worthy player in the position.  After Williams, there was quite the gap in scoring, which may have also led to the drop off in performance from this team.

There was absolutely no let down on the blueline from the Kings, as five defenders on the Los Angeles roster finished as pool worthy players.  Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin, Brayden McNabb, Andrej Sekera and Alec Martinez all picked up enough points to be worthy of a selection and surprise, surprise... they all were.  When you also take into consideration, Slava Voynov's personal problems, which cost him the better part of this season, they could have easily had another, if he was ever allowed to come back late in the year.

In behind Quick, Martin Jones only had about 12 games worth of minutes to his name, where he picked up 15 points, but behind the minute hog, he was deemed not pool-worthy and his worthiness next season will depend solely on the health of Quick and how much he ends up playing.  There's no question that Jones has the potential for points, he just needs the minutes.

2016 Pool Outlook

From the back end out, the Kings are still one of the more dominating teams on paper, between their goaltending and their blueline, as illustrated by the players that were noted as pool worthy in the paragraphs above.  From what is already signed on for the 2016 season, it is safe to say that the Kings will continue to be a good team to pick from and they will more than likely be a popular team for poolies at next year's draft because of that.

Rookies in Los Angeles... they run few and far between through their system and it takes a pretty good run through the AHL to make it into the NHL roster, it would seem.  The Kings seem to have a lot of signed stock in the cupboards, but only two players with rookie status next season, that are former 1st round picks, defenseman Derek Forbort, and that blueline is going to be exceptionally difficult to crack and 2014 pick, Adrian Kempe, who is only 18 years old.  Don't think there is going to be any great push from the Kings prospects for rookie points, at this time.

Free Agency and the Salary Cap

Unrestricted free agency will be an interesting element to the Kings' Summer, as a number of players will draw some interest, including pool worthy players Justin Williams and Andrej Sekera, each looking for new deals.  Maybe even more interesting will be the restricted free agents, where Martin Jones and Tyler Toffoli headline.

This all boils down to the salary cap number, which has very little wiggle room for the Kings this year, as the early projection of $71.7 million has already been surpassed by the 32 players signed on and have their cap hits made public, not mentioning the three players without disclosed numbers yet.  Of course, the Kings will be cutting some players from that signed collection to form their final 23-man roster, but they may need to get creative with their budgeting, which may affect the contracts of some of their potential free agents this Summer.

Needs at the 2015 Entry Draft

With the system that they have in place, the management team buying into the coaching staff, I would be very inclined to think that the Kings would still consider looking for players who are possibly more physically mature and quicker to bring along, just to make sure that they can continue to compete for that playoff spot, when they have to.  The Kings cupboard is barren of top end 1st round talent that could make the jump and maybe someone like Timo Meier can inject the team with the life it needs to regain their moxie.

What I Said Last Year, At This Time...

Barring major injury to key players, I think the Kings will be tough to knock off. I think the Kings stay the course, which may not mean they are as strong in the regular season as they are in the playoffs, but if they win when it matters, then the regular season is somewhat of a moot point. The Kings will be in the conversation for the Pacific Division title, they may fall short to some teams, but all they have to do is make it to the dance again and they're set. If the Kings can re-sign a scorer like Marian Gaborik, I think there is a real shot of repeating for their championship.

The loss of Slava Voynov after six games in the regular season left the Kings with a salary cap conundrum, which really wasn't taken into consideration for last year's prediction.  The Kings are not a strong regular season team, but it was said many times in conversation, all they had to do was make it and they would be an immediate contender.  They re-signed Marian Gaborik, which was good for the team, but he wasn't the regular season scorer that propelled them into the playoffs, rather he sat in the weeds with the other stars.  Not only did the Kings fall short of the division, they fell short of the wild card as well.

The Kings have an interesting Summer ahead of them, which makes for an even more interesting bout of consideration for my prediction for next season.  The core group of Kopitar, Doughty, Quick, Carter, Muzzin and Brown should all stick around for the 2016 season, which should immediately keep them in the playoff conversation and given that a lot of these guys will be rested, it makes it even better.   The team will likely be looking to off-load Mike Richards and his whale of a contract, which could be tough, but will weigh on their cap hit if they don't.  I like the Kings to move back into a wild card (or slightly better) playoff spot again next season, but with their constraints, they may suffer along the way again.  The only way I can see the Kings jetting out of the gates next season will be through a blockbuster deal, maybe something at the Entry Draft, to help give the core a lift.