The Los Angeles Kings are still in wait-and-see mode, but the clock is already ticking on which direction this season is going to take.
At 5-10-2 and sitting third last in the Western Conference, L.A. is in a spot that has forced some real questions about what comes next. Carter Hutton said the Kings have enough veteran pieces that could draw interest, but he also pointed out the bigger issue: there may not be enough runway for this group to become a true contender.
“And then you see L.A., and L.A. is just a team for me, like, where do they go from here? They have a bunch of guys that are, you know, have some value.
Look at Scott Laughton, (Trevor) Moore’s deal. (Erik) Haula’s got two years left on his deal.
They’re all getting older, but like, what does L.A. do in this run here? Because it seems like they’re just not going to have enough runway to be legit. But then there’s also a factor of there’s some pieces that maybe they could get some sort of return as veteran guys going to boost up a team with potential.”
For now, though, the message out of L.A. is patience. The thinking is that this was supposed to be a playoff team, a club in the wild-card mix, and that injuries have played a part in the slow start.
Pagnotta said he spoke with Kenny Holland over the weekend, and the Kings’ GM made it clear he doesn’t want to lean on injuries as a full excuse. Even so, the roster has been banged up.
Alex Turcotte has returned from injury, while Fiala missed the start of the season and Zuccarello played a few games before getting hurt. The hope is that both will be back in the lineup soon, along with Turcotte.
The idea is that a healthier roster could finally give the Kings some balance. Pagnotta said the team has been leaning too heavily on one line, and that getting Fiala back could help spread the offense around. He mentioned a setup that would include Fiala with Byfield and presumably Zuccarello, while Laferriere would be in the middle of Kempe and Panarin.
That would, in the Kings’ view, create more than one line capable of driving offense. On the back end, Brandt Clark has been performing well, Doughty is still doing his thing but with reduced minutes, and Kuemper has been much better in goal after a rough start. Pagnotta also suggested the improved goaltending may have been helped by the defense settling in.
L.A. remains one of those middle-of-the-pack teams that believes a healthy stretch and a couple of moves could still get it back into the playoff picture. The Kings and Washington have played the fewest games in the regular season so far, which leaves some room before any hard decisions have to be made.
Still, if the halfway point comes and the Kings are stuck in the same place, the conversation could shift fast. Pagnotta said that’s when the front office would start looking at players on expiring deals and asking whether it makes more sense to keep pushing or to move pieces like Corey Perry in hopes of another championship run elsewhere.
He also noted that many of those players do not have no-trade protection, but the Kings appear willing to wait until at least the middle of the season before deciding what the rest of the year should look like.
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Kevin Fiala was back in the Los Angeles lineup after nine months away because of injury, and he made an immediate impact with an assist in a 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Even with that boost, the Kings came away with their third straight defeat, a slide that has left them 5-10-2 and searching for answers as the early-season frustration keeps building.
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