2020-21
Record: 21-28-7, 49 pts; 6th in Honda West Division
Playoffs: Did Not Qualify
Key Losses
D Kurtis MacDermid
Key Additions
F Phillip Danault
F Viktor Arvidsson
D Alexander Edler
Jerseys
2021-22 Preview
For the Kings, the only key loss being MacDermid to Seattle in the Expansion draft should not hurt Los Angeles that much. However, the Kings do need to is get younger at defence. The Kings have a lot of depth when it comes to prospects but that does not do much in terms of the 23 man roster as this preview is being written. Quinten Byfield and Alex Turcotte may very well have a huge impact on the roster as rookies but only time will tell during the season.
What the Kings need to do during the season is find their scoring. Los Angeles ranked near the bottom of the League when it came down to scoring ranking 27th in goals with 2.54 goals per game last season. The additions of Danault and Arvidsson can help take some pressure off of Kings captain Anze Kopitar as well as Dustin Brown, who turns 39 in November. As every year goes by, the risk of regression increases when it comes to the play of Kopitar and Brown, but as noted earlier, look for Danault and Arvidsson to help Brown and Kopitar.
With an older defence, Edler is a good stopgap and Drew Doughty has been the team leader in on-ice time every season since 2008-09, and this is also including last season where he had an average of 26:23 at the age of 31. With two young defenceman, Tobias Bjornfot, 20, and Mikey Anderson, 22, those two should be roleplayers and can hope that their first round pick, Brandt Clarke, taken with the eighth overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, will be a member of the roster at some point during the season.
Look for longtime starting goaltender Jonathan Quick to take more of a backseat role to Calvin Petersen in net. Petersen has been challenging Quick for playing time over the last three seasons with a save percentage of .916 in 54 games since the 2018-19, which are far better numbers than what Quick has had in the last three years (.896 save percentage in 110 games).
2021-22 Prediction: 5th place in Pacific Division
Projected Lineup (as of August 31st):
Alex Iafallo — Anze Kopitar — Viktor Arvidsson
Adrian Kempe — Phillip Danault — Dustin Brown
Trevor Moore — Quinton Byfield — Andreas Athanasiou
Jaret Anderson-Dolan — Blake Lizotte — Gabriel Vilardi
Mikey Anderson — Drew Doughty
Alexander Edler — Sean Walker
Tobias Bjornfot — Matt Roy
Calvin Petersen
Jonathan Quick
