Here is the start of the season previews with the Los Angeles Kings.
Last Year's Recap
The Kings finished last year as the worst team in the league with a total of 71 points. Their leading scorer was Anze Kopitar who had a total of 77 points. Kopitar has been with the Kings for the past two years and is basically the face of the franchise. Most of the issue with the Kings came in the form of the rotating goaltenders who was led by Jason LaBarbera. LaBarbera played 45 games followed by Aubin who played 19, Ersberg played 14 and Cloutier with 9. Those names dont scare anyone in the Western Conference.
Cap Space
For now, according to nhlnumbers.com, the Kings have a cap hit of $31 million. This puts the team around the salary floor of $40 million which they need to be at before the season starts. There are a few names that are being tossed around in the trade market due to some teams needing to dump cap space.
This Years Team
The Kings have not made any real changes in the roster to make them seem any more competitive this season rather than last. The Kings fired head coach Marc Crawford this summer and replaced him with former NHL head coach Terry Murray. Moves that occured in the roster was the trade of Lubomir Visnovsky to the Oilers for Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene. Along with Stoll and Kopitar, the Kings thrive on youth with Cammillari and Jonathan Bernier in goal.
Prediction
While this years team probably will not scare the major teams in the Western Conference, they are poised to make a run probably in the future. With the amount of young talent that this team has, there really is no reason to not believe that this team will meld together and play championship winning hockey within the next five years.
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