As it stands right now, the Los Angeles Kings are currently 12th the Western Conference and last in their division, while in the midst of winning only 2 of their last 12 games. There are far more questions than answers when it comes to this slump and why the Kings have fallen so far, so fast. No sense in writing a nicer introduction. Let's get to it.
As I wrote in the off season I would also expect the kings to make more of a push to finish with a division title, but still are lacking in a few key spots to make it over the hump and be a true cup contender. So far this is ringing true, but the pieces seem to be larger than most of us expected this season. This team is missing a top line winger to play with Kopitar, and it seems that everyone on the roster has had a chance, but failed. Lombardi also failed to land anyone he attempted or was at least reported to be pursuing this off season, most notably Ilya Kovalchuk, and then Simon Gagne. Alexi Ponikarovsky wasn't a bad signing, but he's more of a depth signing if he plays like he's able and doesn't phone it in, like he seems to be doing this season.
The Kings are currently 15th in the league with 2.77 goals per game, and 8th in goals against per game at 2.53. So what's your pucking point you may be asking? Well I'll tell you, it means they're not scoring enough to win games, as is evident by their recent results. 41 goals against in their recent skid, while only scoring 28 goals for a -13 goal differential. Given the decrease in play from Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier's lack of consistency so far this season, this team is in trouble. One has to wonder what's going on with Quick who was one of the best goalies in the league at the start of the season, perhaps second only to Tim Thomas (who has been nothing short of spectacular this season). While he is still on pace for his best professional season, he will fall far short of those numbers if he continues to slide.
We can also take a look at the coaching. Terry Murray is a career winning coach, taking every team he has coached to the playoffs. Two of those teams made it to the conference finals (Capitals in 89-90 and the Flyers of 96-97), one of which advanced to the Stanley Cup finals (Flyers, who lost to Detroit). One has to ask though, have the players stopped buying into his scheme? With post game reports of the players saying their not showing up for 60 minutes, and looking a bit lost on the ice, is it time for a coaching change? The usual approach for this is to fire the existing head coach and promote the assistant to "interim head coach," but honestly I don't see John Stevens being a better choice at this point. While he is definitely a player's coach, Stevens has a documented history of both winning in both the AHL and NHL, but losing his players as he did in Philadelphia during their skid in 09-10 season. He was replaced by Peter Laviolette, a far more emotional coach than Stevens and the results showed as the Flyers turned their season around. Could the Kings benefit from a coach willing to bring their players to task? Looking at the coaching options out there right now, would Ken Hitchcock, Mike Keenan or Bob Hartley be a better choice than Murray or Stevens? Hell, what about Pat Quinn after being run out of Edmonton? That's a question for Dean Lombari, who also has to answer some questions of his own.
What else can Dean do to improve his roster? The Kings have the cap room (4.1m under with a max hit of 9.8 according to capgeek)to take on a larger contract in exchange for prospects/draft picks, but is he willing to do that? The leading candidate in terms of prospects to trade is Brayden Schenn, but he appears unwilling to do that, which makes sense given the talent and potential he has. With a team that is too good to strip apart to do a complete rebuild, but currently too far out to not make some roster shake ups, Lombardi has to assess his roster and decide who is expendable. That's something I won't even begin to dissect the roster like that because that can take all day, and frankly I don't watch the Kings enough to attempt something like that. Another prospect that he could conceivably move is Jonathan Bernier. It seems that Quick is coming into his own, despite this recent slide, so why not move Bernier? It is definitely risky, but with them being only 2 years apart it doesn't seem logical that they will both be the franchise goalie. I understand the fear of having either one of them coming back to beat the Kings down the road, but depending on the return for them it might be worth it. Obviously I think Bernier is the more expendable one, but that is a rather bold roster move, that up until this point Lombardi has been unwilling to make.
The Kings were one of the darling picks of the preseason and came out well enough to warrant those selections, but right now they are definitely causing a lot of people to rethink their predictions. Is their still enough time left to make a move? They are only 5 points out of a playoff spot, but in the very tight Western Conference, every point is critical. If the losing ways continue, they will soon find themselves with a gap too big to overcome. Los Angeles still has the pieces to be successful, but they definitely need help right now. The million dollar question is, where is the help going to come from?
As always, we're on twitter and facebook....but most of you know that already.
We can also take a look at the coaching. Terry Murray is a career winning coach, taking every team he has coached to the playoffs. Two of those teams made it to the conference finals (Capitals in 89-90 and the Flyers of 96-97), one of which advanced to the Stanley Cup finals (Flyers, who lost to Detroit). One has to ask though, have the players stopped buying into his scheme? With post game reports of the players saying their not showing up for 60 minutes, and looking a bit lost on the ice, is it time for a coaching change? The usual approach for this is to fire the existing head coach and promote the assistant to "interim head coach," but honestly I don't see John Stevens being a better choice at this point. While he is definitely a player's coach, Stevens has a documented history of both winning in both the AHL and NHL, but losing his players as he did in Philadelphia during their skid in 09-10 season. He was replaced by Peter Laviolette, a far more emotional coach than Stevens and the results showed as the Flyers turned their season around. Could the Kings benefit from a coach willing to bring their players to task? Looking at the coaching options out there right now, would Ken Hitchcock, Mike Keenan or Bob Hartley be a better choice than Murray or Stevens? Hell, what about Pat Quinn after being run out of Edmonton? That's a question for Dean Lombari, who also has to answer some questions of his own.
What else can Dean do to improve his roster? The Kings have the cap room (4.1m under with a max hit of 9.8 according to capgeek)to take on a larger contract in exchange for prospects/draft picks, but is he willing to do that? The leading candidate in terms of prospects to trade is Brayden Schenn, but he appears unwilling to do that, which makes sense given the talent and potential he has. With a team that is too good to strip apart to do a complete rebuild, but currently too far out to not make some roster shake ups, Lombardi has to assess his roster and decide who is expendable. That's something I won't even begin to dissect the roster like that because that can take all day, and frankly I don't watch the Kings enough to attempt something like that. Another prospect that he could conceivably move is Jonathan Bernier. It seems that Quick is coming into his own, despite this recent slide, so why not move Bernier? It is definitely risky, but with them being only 2 years apart it doesn't seem logical that they will both be the franchise goalie. I understand the fear of having either one of them coming back to beat the Kings down the road, but depending on the return for them it might be worth it. Obviously I think Bernier is the more expendable one, but that is a rather bold roster move, that up until this point Lombardi has been unwilling to make.
The Kings were one of the darling picks of the preseason and came out well enough to warrant those selections, but right now they are definitely causing a lot of people to rethink their predictions. Is their still enough time left to make a move? They are only 5 points out of a playoff spot, but in the very tight Western Conference, every point is critical. If the losing ways continue, they will soon find themselves with a gap too big to overcome. Los Angeles still has the pieces to be successful, but they definitely need help right now. The million dollar question is, where is the help going to come from?
As always, we're on twitter and facebook....but most of you know that already.
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