Are the Kings built for the future? If so, how did they retool so fast?

[CashMash]

I got my main questions in the thread title. Kopitar is aging gracefully, obviously, and they've had Doughty (though not after the preseason this year), but--one would think--with an aging core, that the kings were on the decline like the Pens are now despite their superstars. Looking at their records for seasons in the recent past, however, only the covid years and the year before that were noticeable downswings.

So, what are the Kings doing right? What factors have contributed to their success? Seeing as Kopitar is still a great player, are they in trouble once he retires, or have they managed to scratch together enough prospects to fill the pipeline?

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[TheDoldrums]

Blake has made a ton of shrewd trades by bringing in talent like Kevin Fiala

 

[Voight]

A few years of being bad allowed them to draft guys like Byfield and Clarke. (there's others like Vilardi but he was traded so)

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Honestly I think it's a half baked retool/rebuild. Yea they might not be in the cellar, but their best players are still old man Kopitar and Doughty. Respectable in the standings, but aren't going to win a cup.

 

[CashMash]

Honestly I think it's a half baked retool/rebuild. Yea they might not be in the cellar, but their best players are still old man Kopitar and Doughty. Respectable in the standings, but aren't going to win a cup.

Doughty is great, but they seem to be doing fine so far without him this year. That's one of the reasons I made the thread. I am a little puzzled as to what has allowed them to transition to the next phase and whether they will fall off eventually.

 

[Fripp]

They threw away too many of the assets gained while they were bad in order to accelerate out of the rebuild prematurely, and now they're the definition of a black hole team.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Obviously not. Soon as Kopitar falls off they're going to be in the basement again. Byfield hasn't taken the next step. Clarke is the only exciting thing about that team and he's not even as good as I thought he would be.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

so fast?

 

[kings11]

The Kings, My Kings are not built for the future. They pissed that away by trading Brock Faber, Gabriel Vilardi and multiple 1st rounders and lesser role players..
they sold out and are now too good for the lottery but not good enough to be a contender sadly..
Blakes signings have been much better than his trades and he’ll likely continue to spend capital and assets to chase a mirage!

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

I actually think they are one of the least teams that are future ready and will be caught in purgatory until they go full rebuild. Looking solid this year though, but still think they're a first round out.

 

[Lt Dan]

Blake has made a ton of shrewd trades by bringing in talent like Kevin Fiala

The Kings badly lost that trade. I would much rather have Faber and the 1st

 

[Lt Dan]

Honestly I think it's a half baked retool/rebuild. Yea they might not be in the cellar, but their best players are still old man Kopitar and Doughty. Respectable in the standings, but aren't going to win a cup.

Now please don't be honest and give us your revised thoughts

 

[VivaLasVegas]

IMHO the Kings have done a good job retooling to be competitive within the Pacific division without being a realistic Cup contender, i.e., within the 12-16 band at the end of every season that gets them into the playoffs but onto the golf course early.

That's not necessarily a bad thing -- many other teams would like to make the playoffs regularly -- but it also means perpetual playoff frustration unless they make more substantial structural changes.

 

[Raistlin]

they drafted really well for a period, and built up a critical mass of good prospects, but their development was not as well executed. plus they bled assets in recent years, I don't believe they have a championship calliber roster, they are still buoyed by 37 year old Kopitar which, kudos to him, is still as relevant as ever.

 

[The Nuge]

Their best forward is 37, and their best dman is 35. Sure, they have some young pieces in place, but Kopitar is going to be an absolutely massive hole to try and fill when he’s gone

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

They have been trying to find Kopitar's replacement for over 5 years, and have failed. Kopitar refusing to fall off has kept them relevant, but they are FAR from being built for the future

 

[AfroThunder396]

They tried to cut corners on their rebuild by trading away too much stuff. Reminds me of the Ray Shero Devils - thought they could get by with Botox, but it turns out they needed liposuction and a facelift.

They're largely kept up by a few aging Hall of Famers and a good overall team identity, but they really lack talent at critical positions. Their success the past two years is a bit of a mirage IMO. They will need to either blow it up and do a full tear-down-the-studs rebuild, or be stuck in wildcard hell like the Islanders and Predators are.

 

[olli]

Blake owes kopitar and doughty so much for keeping the kings good enough in the regular season for him to keep his job. I guess their D has been far better than expected despite doughty being out but that doesn’t change that they could have Faber back there as a legit number 1 replacement for doughty. They’ve done a good job drafting outside of their top picks but theyve fumbled top picks such as drafting Byfield over Stutzle who would’ve been a 1C replacement for kopitar.

 

[chris kontos]

1st round playoff elimination
No good future draft picks
This is the future of the LA kings re tool mess
We have a toxic front office where a consultant and an idiot president collude to manipulate a hapless gm into making trades like pierre luc dubois and faber for fiala.
If the goal of this retool mess was winning in the playoffs, the retool is a farce.

 

[BaileyFan]

It never fails to amaze me how little attention people outside of California pay to the Kings. Blake and Robitaille can blow up a rebuild and make several trades that would get them put into witness protection if they were in a Canadian market, yet one midseason win streak and they have outsiders going “whoa, LA is good, how’d they pull it off?”

Meanwhile in Toronto you have Keefe getting clowned for making postseason comments that aren’t half as ridiculous as stuff that comes out of the Kings front office on the regular. I really think LA, with its combination of being able to print money yet stay completely anonymous, is the only market in the league where Rob and Luc could survive and thrive for this long.

 

[chris kontos]

My favorite marketing slogan gem from the kings front office:
"Tradition moves us forward"
Could be a good motto for a museum- but for a hockey team?

 

[BKarchitect]

The interesting thing is they are doing it with a crap year from Fiala and QB being mostly a non-factor. Along with Doughty being out.

Most of their new guys have seemingly thrived. Kuemper has really heated up and behind that Kings system, his increase in SV% was predictable. Less so is that Joel Edmundson would turn back the clock and be a 21 minute per night, positive physical defensive top four guy. Foegele also super solid. Of course you’ve got Laferriere breaking out. And just some quality depth. On defense, Gavrikov and Anderson are just so sound and Clarke has really added some juice.

I don’t believe in them like I do the Caps, but considering they’ve done this without DD and Fiala and QB struggling - clearly this is at minimum a playoff team. They are too competent and play too well defensively (3rd in GA/GP and by far #1 in lowest shots against) to fall past the 7/8 seed. This is a high baseline team.