A year ago, the Kings looked like a team on the rise. They had 105 points, finished second in the Pacific Division, and scored 249 goals while allowing 203. Twelve months later, the picture was much uglier: 35-27-20, fourth in the division, 220 goals scored, 238 allowed, and another first-round exit, this time against Colorado.
That’s the backdrop for the real offseason question in Los Angeles: did the Kings actually get better, or just busier?
The most obvious place to start is the forward group, because that’s where the drop-off showed up most clearly. General Manager Ken Holland made offense the priority, bringing in Mats Zuccarello, Erik Haula, Corey Perry, and Scott Laughton.
Zuccarello, who had 54 points in just 59 games with Minnesota last season, is the headliner. Even at 38, he still gives LA a real playmaking element, and NHL EDGE data put him among the league’s better forwards in offensive-zone time percentage last season.
Haula, coming off 38 points in 81 games with Nashville, adds center depth and versatility. Perry, who split last season between LA and Tampa Bay, brings his usual mix of net-front presence, experience and bite. Laughton’s return on a three-year deal gives the Kings another veteran piece after what the source described as a touch-and-go contract negotiation period.
But there’s a built-in warning label here. Zuccarello is 38.
Haula is 35. Perry is 41.
The Kings added more experience to a roster that already had plenty of it. That can help.
It can also just mean more names without a meaningful jump in production.
The coaching change may matter even more. Peter Laviolette was hired in June after a season that started with Jim Hiller and ended with D.J.
Smith serving as interim coach. Laviolette brings 846 career regular-season wins and a Stanley Cup championship, but the bigger issue is what he can squeeze out of this group.
LA needs better offensive structure, stronger special teams, and a setup that lets younger skill players take on more responsibility.
That’s where the players already in place become so important. Adrian Kempe led the Kings with 36 goals and 73 points in 81 games, and the local media voted him team MVP.
Quinton Byfield remains the swing factor. He finished with 24 goals and 49 points in 79 games, his third straight 20-goal season, but consistency still hasn’t fully arrived.
His play improved after the midseason coaching change, which only adds to the intrigue.
Brandt Clarke is another major piece of the puzzle on the blue line. He posted career highs with eight goals, 32 assists and 40 points in 82 games, added 185 blocked shots, and earned a five-year extension worth $7.4 million annually. If Clarke and Byfield keep climbing, the ceiling for this team changes fast.
And then there’s the absence that changes everything. Anze Kopitar retired after 20 seasons, leaving as the franchise leader with 1,316 points in 1,521 games.
He finished his final season with 38 points, but his impact went far beyond the score sheet. For years, he handled the heavy lifting down the middle - tough matchups, faceoffs, special teams, and the late-game assignments that don’t always show up in a box score.
That kind of void doesn’t get filled by one signing or one coach. It has to be absorbed by the whole group.
So are the Kings better? On paper, maybe.
They’re deeper, and there’s more flexibility with Zuccarello, Haula and Laughton in the mix, plus Laviolette behind the bench. But the caution signs are real too: the biggest additions are older, Kopitar is gone, and last season’s offensive slide was too steep to assume a quick fix.
The Kings have more answers now than they did at the end of last season. Whether any of them solves the offense is the part that still has to be proven.
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Kings Prospect Now Has A Clearer Development Path After Latest Move
After spending another year in Slovakia, Adam Goljer is set to take the next step in his development by joining OHL Kingston, giving the Kings a clearer sense of how his game will be tested closer to North American hockey. For a Los Angeles organization that has leaned on patient prospect development, the move matters because it shifts Goljer into a league where the pace, schedule and physical demands should tell the team a lot more about where he fits long term.
The timing also gives the Kings a useful marker in a system that has been built around finding upside without rushing it. Goljer was one of the younger players in Los Angeles recent draft class, and his arrival in Kingston should make him far easier to track over the coming season. If he adapts quickly, it will only strengthen the case that his path is moving in the right direction, even if the real payoff remains a ways off. [Read more 🡒]
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Ken Holland has already put his stamp on the organization since taking over as general manager in May 2025, from hiring Peter Laviolette behind the bench to bringing in Artemi Panarin. Even with those moves, the bigger questions have only grown louder around the Kings, with concerns about an aging core, depth, contract clutter and a prospect pool that does not look ready to rescue the future anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]
Trevor Moore Faces A Big Kings Question Entering 2026-27
Trevor Moores 2025-26 season ended up looking like a little bit of everything the Kings have come to expect from him: useful offense, steady two-way work and, at times, a lineup that had to cope without him. He appeared in 69 games, dealt with injury absences along the way and found a better rhythm after the coaching change in March, which helped settle his game down as the year went on.
Now the bigger question is how that translates into 2026-27, when the Kings are trying to sort out where Moore fits in a forward group that needs reliable depth scoring and some defensive bite. His versatility has long made him an easy player to trust in different situations, and the way he responded late last season only adds to the sense that he could have an important role again if the pieces around him fall into place. [Read more 🡒]