The Panther
Registered User
In 1993-94, the L.A. Kings crapped out and missed the playoffs for the first time in the Gretzky-era. Coach Barry Melrose wanted the club to be tougher, it seems. The (post-Work Stoppage) 1995 L.A. Kings' club, in that short 48-team season, was a bit odd:
CENTERS
-- Gretzky (getting old; had worst season of career)
-- Quinn (recently acquired and hadn't been relevant for years at this point)
-- Lang (seemingly under-used by Kings)
-- Shuchuk (seemingly considered an NHL player by no one but Barry Melrose)
-- Todd (unestablished journeyman)
WINGERS
-- Kurri (getting washed-up)
-- Tocchet (acquired in preceding off-season, for Robitaille)
-- Granato (dressed for only 33 games)
-- Burridge (acquired early in the short season for Rychel, scored 4 times in 38 games)
-- Lacroix (seemingly acquired because size-fetish era / Melrose)
-- Conacher (career seemingly extended because Melrose)
-- Druce (second and final season with Kings)
-- Crowder (winger somehow managed only 4 shots on goal in 29 games)
DEFENSE
-- Blake (dressed in only 24 games)
-- McSorley (bizarrely re-acquired the previous season, with Kings losing Sandstrom as a result)
-- Petit (signed as free agent before season)
-- Sydor
-- Cowie (who?)
-- Snell (who?)
-- Tsygurov (who?)
GOAL
-- Hrudey (veteran seemed to do fairly well, statistically at least)
-- Fuhr (bizarrely acquired early in season at the cost of Zhitnik, a great, young puck-moving Dman with Cup Finals' experience)
-- Storr (rookie)
_____________________________
So, while hardly a great looking line-up (esp. on defence, and moreso when Blake was out), the team doesn't seem all that awful. There are a lot of slowing-down veterans, but they do look bigger and 'tougher' than before. (Petit would seem to be a good add on defence, too.)
Considering that (a) the Kings had just lost two 40-goal scorers (Robitaille and Sandstrom) and (b) Gretzky (and Kurri) had easily the worst season of his career, the club did okay offensively, finishing 11th in goals, and boasting an unspectacular but reasonable depth with six forwards in double-digit goals in this short season. Although Rick Tocchet's stint in L.A. is easily forgotten, he seems to have done rather well: he led the club in goals and was 2nd in points -- and this in only 36 games played! John Druce somehow banged in 15 goals in only 43 games, and Dan Quinn (briefly) revived his career a bit with a solid 31 points in 44 games.
But Granato kind of underwhelmed statistically, Kurri was increasingly looking done... and what the heck happened to Randy Burridge with 4 goals in 38 games?Losing Zhitnik must also have hurt them offensively, as he'd previously been a power-play stand out.
Anyway, the club's problem -- as usual -- was defence, despite the 'tough guy' additions. They finished 23rd of 26 clubs in defence.
Speaking of defence, what I particularly do not understand (among many odd moves Kings' management made in this era) is the Zhitnik trade. They sent him to Buffalo for Fuhr, basically. So... they already had a veteran goalie (Hrudey) -- who was doing rather well that season, it seems. But they traded an already strong 22-year-old Dman (possibly the rarest commodity in the League) for Fuhr, who'd had disastrous stats for three seasons in Buffalo. (Zhitnik went on to play the next 9.5 seasons for Buffalo, scoring over 300 points for them in RS and playoffs). You'd have to think the "Gretzky's buddy" thing came into effect here, as the trade just doesn't make any sense otherwise. Fuhr was a disaster, winning 1 of 11 decisions (and 14 appearances), and posting a horrendous .876 (in a low-scoring season). Meanwhile, Hrudey actually had a winning record of 14-13-5, and a solid enough .910.
Anyway, despite all these changes and disappointments, the club should have been able to make the playoffs, needing to finish top three in the quite-weak Pacific division (where only one club finished over .500). The Kings, however, finished 1 point behind San Jose, which took the final playoff spot in the West.
After 23 games (remember, that's about halfway through the short season), the Kings managed to win three in a row on the road, and so the standings were this:
27 - Calgary
23 - Vancouver
20 - Edmonton / San Jose / L.A.
14 - Anaheim
So, it was very much up in the air at that point. After L.A.'s consecutive wins over Edmonton and Dallas in early April, this was the standings:
39 - Calgary
33 - L.A. / Vancouver
27 - Edmonton
26 - San Jose
26 - Anaheim
And this, with only 13 games left in the season! How'd they blow it, I wonder? Well, starting on April 7th, the Kings lost six games in a row. Here's how it looked after the six straight losses:
49 - Calgary
40 - Vancouver
35 - San Jose
33 - Edmonton
33 - L.A.
32 - Anaheim
After the sixth loss in a row, coach Melrose was fired and Rogie Vachon took over behind the bench. Vachon went 3-2-2 to close out the season... but they ended up 1 point shy of San Jose, and 2 points from a playoff spot.
They managed only consecutive ties vs. Edmonton and Anaheim, then predictably lost to Detroit in game 44. Game 45, though, is perplexing and is the one that cost them the playoffs: They lost 4-0 to San Jose, at the Shark tank. If they win that game, or even tie, they'd likely have made the playoffs. The Kings had two full days (almost three, total) between games, so fatigue shouldn't have been the issue.
The Kings did the smart thing by starting Hrudey, who faced 30 shots and let in three. L.A. put 29 on Artūrs Irbe, who pitched the shut-out. This must have been a really demoralizing loss for a veteran-team. What happened here?
Anyway, they still almost made it in, with back-to-back wins coming next over Anaheim and Winnipeg. Unfortunately, they had to play the season's final game on the road -- at Chicago stadium. If they'd won it, they'd have jumped San Jose and made the playoffs.
They lost 5-1, after starting Grant Fuhr because... why? All he'd done was lose for two months. Ex-King Bernie Nicholls scored 2 points just to rub some salt in Rogie Vachon's wound.
All told, a strange mini-season and a strange club. They would, on paper, have seemed to have a strong enough team (well, if they'd kept Zhitnik) to at least make third place in their weak division. Additions like Tocchet and Quinn and Petit seemed to have done reasonably well (quite well, in Tocchet's case), and Kelly Hrudey in net seemed okay. But usually dependable players like Gretzky, Kurri, Granato, and Blake (even when healthy) under-produced, and the additions of Burridge and Fuhr were disasters. The Kings never seemed to realize Robert Lang's potential, and I suspect they underplayed him (with more ice-time at center going to Gretzky and Quinn). The bottom half of the line-up was pretty awful, with guys like Conacher (aged 35) and Shuchuk barely being NHL players.
I realize the club had off-ice issues after McNall's prison sentence and bankruptcy (they apparently had issues playing players' salaries), but I wonder... if they'd gotten those 2 extra points and made the playoffs, might the Gretzky/Kings era have ended quite differently?
Anyway, please share any memories of this era or further analyze why the '95 Kings club could not even catch San Jose for that last playoff spot...
CENTERS
-- Gretzky (getting old; had worst season of career)
-- Quinn (recently acquired and hadn't been relevant for years at this point)
-- Lang (seemingly under-used by Kings)
-- Shuchuk (seemingly considered an NHL player by no one but Barry Melrose)
-- Todd (unestablished journeyman)
WINGERS
-- Kurri (getting washed-up)
-- Tocchet (acquired in preceding off-season, for Robitaille)
-- Granato (dressed for only 33 games)
-- Burridge (acquired early in the short season for Rychel, scored 4 times in 38 games)
-- Lacroix (seemingly acquired because size-fetish era / Melrose)
-- Conacher (career seemingly extended because Melrose)
-- Druce (second and final season with Kings)
-- Crowder (winger somehow managed only 4 shots on goal in 29 games)
DEFENSE
-- Blake (dressed in only 24 games)
-- McSorley (bizarrely re-acquired the previous season, with Kings losing Sandstrom as a result)
-- Petit (signed as free agent before season)
-- Sydor
-- Cowie (who?)
-- Snell (who?)
-- Tsygurov (who?)
GOAL
-- Hrudey (veteran seemed to do fairly well, statistically at least)
-- Fuhr (bizarrely acquired early in season at the cost of Zhitnik, a great, young puck-moving Dman with Cup Finals' experience)
-- Storr (rookie)
_____________________________
So, while hardly a great looking line-up (esp. on defence, and moreso when Blake was out), the team doesn't seem all that awful. There are a lot of slowing-down veterans, but they do look bigger and 'tougher' than before. (Petit would seem to be a good add on defence, too.)
Considering that (a) the Kings had just lost two 40-goal scorers (Robitaille and Sandstrom) and (b) Gretzky (and Kurri) had easily the worst season of his career, the club did okay offensively, finishing 11th in goals, and boasting an unspectacular but reasonable depth with six forwards in double-digit goals in this short season. Although Rick Tocchet's stint in L.A. is easily forgotten, he seems to have done rather well: he led the club in goals and was 2nd in points -- and this in only 36 games played! John Druce somehow banged in 15 goals in only 43 games, and Dan Quinn (briefly) revived his career a bit with a solid 31 points in 44 games.
But Granato kind of underwhelmed statistically, Kurri was increasingly looking done... and what the heck happened to Randy Burridge with 4 goals in 38 games?Losing Zhitnik must also have hurt them offensively, as he'd previously been a power-play stand out.
Anyway, the club's problem -- as usual -- was defence, despite the 'tough guy' additions. They finished 23rd of 26 clubs in defence.
Speaking of defence, what I particularly do not understand (among many odd moves Kings' management made in this era) is the Zhitnik trade. They sent him to Buffalo for Fuhr, basically. So... they already had a veteran goalie (Hrudey) -- who was doing rather well that season, it seems. But they traded an already strong 22-year-old Dman (possibly the rarest commodity in the League) for Fuhr, who'd had disastrous stats for three seasons in Buffalo. (Zhitnik went on to play the next 9.5 seasons for Buffalo, scoring over 300 points for them in RS and playoffs). You'd have to think the "Gretzky's buddy" thing came into effect here, as the trade just doesn't make any sense otherwise. Fuhr was a disaster, winning 1 of 11 decisions (and 14 appearances), and posting a horrendous .876 (in a low-scoring season). Meanwhile, Hrudey actually had a winning record of 14-13-5, and a solid enough .910.
Anyway, despite all these changes and disappointments, the club should have been able to make the playoffs, needing to finish top three in the quite-weak Pacific division (where only one club finished over .500). The Kings, however, finished 1 point behind San Jose, which took the final playoff spot in the West.
After 23 games (remember, that's about halfway through the short season), the Kings managed to win three in a row on the road, and so the standings were this:
27 - Calgary
23 - Vancouver
20 - Edmonton / San Jose / L.A.
14 - Anaheim
So, it was very much up in the air at that point. After L.A.'s consecutive wins over Edmonton and Dallas in early April, this was the standings:
39 - Calgary
33 - L.A. / Vancouver
27 - Edmonton
26 - San Jose
26 - Anaheim
And this, with only 13 games left in the season! How'd they blow it, I wonder? Well, starting on April 7th, the Kings lost six games in a row. Here's how it looked after the six straight losses:
49 - Calgary
40 - Vancouver
35 - San Jose
33 - Edmonton
33 - L.A.
32 - Anaheim
After the sixth loss in a row, coach Melrose was fired and Rogie Vachon took over behind the bench. Vachon went 3-2-2 to close out the season... but they ended up 1 point shy of San Jose, and 2 points from a playoff spot.
They managed only consecutive ties vs. Edmonton and Anaheim, then predictably lost to Detroit in game 44. Game 45, though, is perplexing and is the one that cost them the playoffs: They lost 4-0 to San Jose, at the Shark tank. If they win that game, or even tie, they'd likely have made the playoffs. The Kings had two full days (almost three, total) between games, so fatigue shouldn't have been the issue.
The Kings did the smart thing by starting Hrudey, who faced 30 shots and let in three. L.A. put 29 on Artūrs Irbe, who pitched the shut-out. This must have been a really demoralizing loss for a veteran-team. What happened here?
Anyway, they still almost made it in, with back-to-back wins coming next over Anaheim and Winnipeg. Unfortunately, they had to play the season's final game on the road -- at Chicago stadium. If they'd won it, they'd have jumped San Jose and made the playoffs.
They lost 5-1, after starting Grant Fuhr because... why? All he'd done was lose for two months. Ex-King Bernie Nicholls scored 2 points just to rub some salt in Rogie Vachon's wound.
All told, a strange mini-season and a strange club. They would, on paper, have seemed to have a strong enough team (well, if they'd kept Zhitnik) to at least make third place in their weak division. Additions like Tocchet and Quinn and Petit seemed to have done reasonably well (quite well, in Tocchet's case), and Kelly Hrudey in net seemed okay. But usually dependable players like Gretzky, Kurri, Granato, and Blake (even when healthy) under-produced, and the additions of Burridge and Fuhr were disasters. The Kings never seemed to realize Robert Lang's potential, and I suspect they underplayed him (with more ice-time at center going to Gretzky and Quinn). The bottom half of the line-up was pretty awful, with guys like Conacher (aged 35) and Shuchuk barely being NHL players.
I realize the club had off-ice issues after McNall's prison sentence and bankruptcy (they apparently had issues playing players' salaries), but I wonder... if they'd gotten those 2 extra points and made the playoffs, might the Gretzky/Kings era have ended quite differently?
Anyway, please share any memories of this era or further analyze why the '95 Kings club could not even catch San Jose for that last playoff spot...