Will LA be a playoff team? .....24-25 edition

[LAKings88]

Just get a number 1 goalie for f***s sake.

Quick’s decline and subsequent trade really sucked.

I thought he was done and understood the move but it was still a tough pill.

Quick is the main reason LA has two cups.

Stood on his head against Vegas and even broken down took EDM to 7.

Wish that had played out differently. Also wish Cal wasn’t handed the keys before proving anything.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Big agree. That's why we got next season - For him to move back to center and score 1 million points

Hey, if he scores a million points, at least we won’t be worried about PLD anymore.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

Yeah goaltending would go a long way. At the same time it can be a crap shoot. Plenty of teams spend $5-10m on their goaltending and still have goaltending issues. Realistically I think the Kings will likely be looking at something like this:
PLD - Byfield - Kempe
Fiala - Kopitar - Thomas/Fagemo
Moore - Danault - Laferriere
Lee - Helenius - Lewis

Anderson - Doughty
Gavrikov - Spence
XX (Martinez?) - Clarke

XX (Saros/Ullmark please)
Portillo / Rittich

I'd say that's likely a playoff team but probably not a contender. In which case it probably doesn't make a ton of sense to go out and acquire/sign a true #1 goalie this offseason... If this is more/less your opening night lineup the smart move is probably to treat next year as a building year. You see how Byfield looks in a full season back at center (preferably on the 1st line). See how Fagemo or Thomas look with a prolonged trial in the top 6 / top 9. See how guys like Helenius and Lee look at the NHL level in a 4th line role. See how Clarke looks as a regular. See if you can't get PLD back to producing at a semi-respectable rate. Then focus on making the changes needed to build a contender based on what you've seen (or launch into a re-tool / rebuild if what you've seen sucks lol).

 

[dabeechman]

Black hole team.

 

[BigBrown]

A true #1 goalie would be a big help but I don't really know if it makes a difference. Just based on numbers last season Talbot and Rittich were very solid in the regular season. They put up the numbers you'd hope a #1 starter would do. So that's basically a wash. Now in the post season a good goalie would likely have performed better but would it have mattered in the end? I feel like the Oilers would have beaten us in 5 or 6 anyway.

 

[Sol]

A true #1 goalie would be a big help but I don't really know if it makes a difference. Just based on numbers last season Talbot and Rittich were very solid in the regular season. They put up the numbers you'd hope a #1 starter would do. So that's basically a wash. Now in the post season a good goalie would likely have performed better but would it have mattered in the end? I feel like the Oilers would have beaten us in 5 or 6 anyway.

Prime JQ isn’t stopping the Oilers if the Kings are so insistent on letting McDavid gain speed through the neutral zone and not attack.

Kings biggest issue is far from a roster problem

 

[Lt Dan]

Prime JQ isn’t stopping the Oilers if the Kings are so insistent on letting McDavid gain speed through the neutral zone and not attack.

Kings biggest issue is far from a roster problem

It's a fortitude problem. A specific type of fortitude...