Kings: Predicting next year’s surprising turnaround team

Could the Los Angeles Kings be the Cinderella story of this season?

The bold analogy for predicting the season is often misplaced in many aspects of hockey due to the outlook of the team or club making changes.

However, most teams seem to bounce back from those types of arrays and make a name for themselves, carrying them into next season for the battle to officially begin.

With that said, my first choice for a team to make a drastic comeback would be the Los Angeles Kings in a miraculous Cinderella run.

Stemming from the offseason we have experienced, which was quite busy to say, at the end of this past June to mid-July. It was an entertaining beginning of summer with all the moves being made and selections being taken for each team to improve their respective rosters.

Will the Kings be next year’s Cinderella team?

But only one will be that underrated competitor during the season, and for that, I will explain which team that will be, and it will be the Los Angeles Kings.

In this predicting article, the reason I chose the Los Angeles Kings is because of the nature of how the team is built, solely focusing on the offensive game.

The structure of the lineup, in general, gives the team ample speed up front, focusing on a solid forward selection with captain Anze Kopitar, who will likely be paired with a surging Adrian Kempe and newly acquired Kevin Fiala.

But there is not enough defensive game to back up the traffic in the end that they will face, especially with all-star goaltender Jonathan Quick backing the Kings group up from time to time.

The skill level, however, is most present in the team’s core and is built to teach the youngsters, such as Arthur Kaliyev and profound defenseman Sean Durzi.

Depending on the formation of the lineups, the juggling that needs to take place, and the way the players are fit to play with each other from the chemistry they produce, it will take time to see how they come about during the season.

Hence, perhaps, making a turnaround run during the season before working out the tweaks within the team itself.

Given the amount of leadership on the team, the fourth member of this core group, Phillip Danault, will be the stand-out leader on this team in one’s opinion, and being present in the moment, he is that offensive-defensive player that will produce plays.

He can even take on roles such as playing on the special teams units and working with the younger players and core players as well to help make this a special Cinderella run, to say the least.