The Current Conundrum Of The Los Angeles Kings

“What’s Wrong With The Kings?”

That’s a question most Los Angeles Kings fans have been asking since the 2011-12 regular season. A regular season where the King’s struggled to score on a consistent basis and just hung on to a playoff spot (8th seed) on the last day of the season. A season where there was a serious goal scoring drought and it seemed that all of the King’s players were experiencing career lows in points production. The only exception being star goaltender Jonathan Quick, who didn’t suffer any career lows but did quite the opposite by keeping the team competitive (and alive) by carrying the team on his back. There seemed to be no chance that these Los Angeles Kings had any hope to pass the first round of the playoffs (against the Stanley Cup finalists and President’s trophy winning Vancouver Canucks no less) let alone go all the way and win the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history. The only thing is the Kings defied all odds and did exactly that. They went on, not only to win the Stanley Cup, but to do it in a dominant fashion, becoming the first team in NHL history to win the Cup as an 8th seeded team, finishing with a record of 16-4. Another impressive fact is they were also the first team in NHL history to defeat the first, second and third seeded teams (plus the winner of the Eastern Conference) to go on to win the Stanley Cup. I believe it’s safe to say that none of us saw that coming.

When analyzing the differences between that season’s regular season version of the Kings and the playoff version of the Kings, one would think that they were actually two separate entities from two separate seasons or even from two separate dimensions. One, slow with almost no passion and frustrating to follow, the other hungry, mean and an over abundance of passion! In reality they are one and the same. A Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team of sorts.