Hockey Royalty
A fresh perspective of LA Kings news, rumors, and analysis.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Though the LA Kings and Edmonton Oilers each saw plenty of roster turnover from last season, it all ends up in the same spot: a first-round meeting between the two teams for the fourth straight season.
The teams may have ended up in the same spot in terms of first-round opponents, but this year the series will start in a different place, sunny Los Angeles, California.
LA was simply dominant on home ice in Jim Hiller‘s first full season at the helm, compiling 31 wins at Crypto.com Arena en route to a league-best 31-6-4 home record. Could that finally change the Kings’ playoff fortunes, who have seen their season end at the hands of the Oilers three seasons in a row?
There certainly is a belief from the outside that this year could actually be different.
In their playoff preview, The Athletic has the series as a dead heat.
The oft-sited J-Fresh, in his updated site, gives LA a 51.7% edge to win the series.
And hey, maybe this poll was heavily populated with LA Kings fans, but a fan vote held by J-Fresh found plenty of optimism for the Kings.
All this to say, there are plenty of reasons for people to think this could be the year LA finally knocks off Edmonton. Pick your theory if you’re an LA fan: Edmonton’s top defenseman, Mattias Ekholm, is out due to injury. Stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have each missed time down the stretch of the regular season. Stuart Skinner‘s existence. Quinton Byfield is ready to take off. Darcy Kuemper is a possible Vezina finalist. The best home ice record. And that’s just to name a few.
But at the end of the day, the LA Kings will have to find a way through McDavid and Draisaitl. Forget everything else; that task in and of itself is tall.
So here we are, just hours away from Game 1. Let’s find out what the Hockey Royalty crew thinks, starting with our boots on the ground, Russell Morgan. As a reminder, you can find a full breakdown of the series on the Hockey Royalty podcast.
I believe this is the best team the Kings will ice and the worst that the Oilers will line up with over this four-year stretch.
The addition of Andrei Kuzmenko has solidified a quality top-nine for LA, and the loss of Mattias Ekholm is a massive one for Edmonton. On top of that, Darcy Kuemper gives the Kings a distinct advantage in net over Stuart Skinner.
Prediction: Kings in 5.
The LA Kings and Edmonton Oilers meet again – for the fourth straight postseason – and I think LA finally slays the dragon this season.
LA is not the same team as last year, with the additions of Warren Foegele, who has been one of the best free agent signings in the entire league. His point production reached a career-high, he is very sound defensively and on the penalty kill.
Darcy Kuemper has been a revelation in net and should be a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. He’s been consistent all year long and gave the Kings wins and points even in games where they didn’t deserve them.
The next wave of Kings has broken through and made an impact on the season. Alex Laferriere had a strong second year and is thriving as a two-way forward next to Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield. Alex Tucotte has had a wild season, but you can see the flashes of a second-line center who can be a very good playmaker. Samuel Helenius has been a great fourth-line center; he plays the game hard and has developed at taking faceoffs at a very promising rate. It’s been a great success story for the former second-round pick. On the back-end, Brandt Clarke and Jordan Spence have had very different seasons, but they still produced well and have both improved defensively.
The power play has gotten better with the addition of Andrei Kuzmenko, who’s fit in immediately and has been a fun player to watch – he’s my ‘X-Factor’ heading into the playoffs.
All in all, this is the most complete team Rob Blake has built heading into the playoffs.
Prediction: Kings in 5.
This is by far the deepest forward group of the Rob Blake era in LA. Edmonton has the superstar power (as always), but I think the Kings’ depth outweighs the top-heavy talent for the Oil. The Kings’ power play has vastly improved since the addition of Andrei Kuzmenko, and the penalty kill is still good. I think the special-teams battle will be much less lopsided in this series than it has been in the past three seasons. All this combined with Darcy Kuemper playing at a Vezina candidate level compared to a less-than-100% Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard? This weighs heavily in LA’s favor. Not to mention how great the Kings have been at home all year, and finally, this time around, having home ice.
Prediction: Kings in 5.
Perhaps a bit of levity, or could it be exhaustion of the same old matchup, Kyle’s first thought was simply for “both teams to have fun.” On a certain level, I’m right there with ya, Kyle.
But fear not, Hockey Royalty’s outstanding Ontario Reign writer comes with his prediction.
Prediction: Kings in 7.
This has been a very difficult series for me to predict. On the one hand, I agree with all of my Hockey Royalty colleagues who suggest that this is the best lineup the Kings will have in the four-year saga, including a significant edge in goal. Mattias Ekholm is a big loss for the Oilers as well, and they have a roster that is a bit banged up at the moment. Not to mention Quinton Byfield’s impressive second half of the season. If there’s ever a season the Kings will knock off the Oilers, it’s this one.
On the other hand, there’s Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. As much as we’ve all spoken glowingly of the LA Kings’ depth, what’s cast aside in that conversation is how much better Edmonton is at the top end of the roster. That gap is still there. Not once in the prior three series has LA proven they can even slow down McDavid or Draisaitl at 5-on-5 (I don’t think I need to mention the power play), and I don’t know why this year will be any different in that regard.
Where I do expect a distinct difference is that Quinton Byfield’s line can feast on any matchups they get that don’t include McDavid or Draisaitl, and frankly, they’re going to have to. Will this one line’s expected dominance be enough to counter the top end, where it should be expected that Edmonton will control? I don’t know.
And while the Oilers may be banged up, we’d be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that LA’s number one defenseman is clearly not operating at 100%. Drew Doughty (and his partner Mikey Anderson) have had a hard enough time the last three years stopping the two-headed monster. My question is, why will this year be different?
Ekholm’s loss and Skinner’s shakiness are concerns for Edmonton’s Stanley Cup run. But against an LA team that is not going to try to outscore the Oilers, I’m not sure those situations are as dire as they would be in another matchup.
Prediction: Oilers in 7.
Main Photo Credit: Perry Nelson, Imagn Images
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