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Los Angeles Kings desperately need a roster makeover

By Dave Stevenson

GLENDALE, AZ - MARCH 09: Carl Grundstrom #38 of the Los Angeles Kings skates off the ice after scoring his first career NHL goal in his first career NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes during the third period at Gila River Arena on March 9, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ - MARCH 09: Carl Grundstrom #38 of the Los Angeles Kings skates off the ice after scoring his first career NHL goal in his first career NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes during the third period at Gila River Arena on March 9, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Kings were once a quasi-dynasty, winning two Stanley Cups in three seasons. However, they’ve failed to update their roster to the modern, faster NHL.

The fall of the Los Angeles Kings has been swift and brutal. They won two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014 by suffocating teams defensively and getting just barely enough scoring to win games. Since winning their second title, the Kings have only made the Stanley Cup Playoffs twice in four seasons, and this one will make it two out of five. Moreover, they’ve only one a single postseason game during this span.

It’s not hard to see why the Kings are melting down. They’re an old team who doubled down on age last summer by signing Ilya Kovalchuk to a three-year deal. In today’s NHL, you need speed, youth, and as much skill as possible to survive. The Kings don’t have these ingredients.

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They’re stuck in the same era during which they won their titles. Most of this is due to terrible contracts given out by general manager Dean Lombardi. However, as proven by the Kovalchuk signing, it’s not like general manager Rob Blake has done much to dig himself out of the hole. Rather, he’s only dug himself deeper.

The Kings have scored the second-fewest goals in the NHL, averaging under three goals per game. More importantly, their defense is no longer the elite machine it was as recently as last season. That’s no way to win games in today’s NHL.

What has contributed most to the Kings’ decline is their inability to adapt. Instead of updating their roster to better fit a league that relies heavily on speed, they’ve stuck to making very few changes. Seeing as how the Kings are in last place in the Western Conference, perhaps some major changes are needed.

The only problem is, what changes do you make? Changing the coach wouldn’t do much. It would be like putting a band-aid over a huge gash instead of getting it stitched up as you should. No coach would be able to address the changes the Kings need. They need to purge their roster of their older players and start spending money on skill.

As painful as it might sound, two of those moves should be trading both Jonathan Quick and Dustin Brown. The former is surplus thanks to Jack Campbell and Cal Petersen. Between those two goalies, the Kings should have at worst a competent goaltending tandem for the next few years.

Meanwhile, Brown is still a fairly productive player. But he’s outdated and clearly on the decline (again). Most of Brown’s value comes from playing with Anze Kopitar, who, though he’s declining, is still a first-line caliber center.

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It will be a painful rebuild for the Kings. But it’s long overdue and if they play their cards right, they should be contenders again fairly soon.

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