2020 Projected Lineups: Los Angeles Kings
In 2020, the Los Angeles Kings finished under .500 for the second straight season and have not won a playoff series since 2014, when they hoisted the Stanley Cup.
The last couple of seasons have been a struggle for the Kings but the future is looking awfully bright. They got the No.2 overall pick in the NHL Draft this fall and added @Quinton Byfield to bolster one of the best (if not the best) prospect pools in the NHL. Los Angeles’ farm system is loaded with future NHLers, especially at forward.
The Kings are likely going to have a few of those prospects make the full-time jump to the NHL in 2021, @Gabriel Vilardi, @Samuel Fagemo and @Rasmus Kupari being the most likely. They certainly aren’t going to contend for a Stanley Cup in 2021 but with the prospect quality and depth, the Kings could be a team to be reckoned with in a few years.
General Manager Rob Blake was very quiet in free agency and remains so even with roughly $10.55 million in cap space according to PuckPedia.com. His two big moves of the offseason were adding top-4 defenseman @Olli Maatta in a trade with the @Chicago Blackhawks, and acquiring disgruntled prospect @Lias Andersson from the @New York Rangers. Maatta could be an instant fit on the top-pairing with @Drew Doughty and Andersson will likely carve out a role in the bottom-6 to open the season. His time in New York did not go as expected, but the 2017 No.7 overall pick has picked up 20 points (10G / 10A) in his last 29 games with HV71 in the SHL. This looks like a very under the radar and savvy pickup for Blake, who adds another quality, young centre to the pot.
Projected Forward Lines
@Alex Iafallo – @Anze Kopitar – @Dustin Brown emerged as the Kings top-line last season, playing 652.4 5v5 TOI together, the most among any trio in the NHL a season ago. Of the 16 lines that played at least 400 TOI together, they were ninth in GoalsFor% (50.9). They weren’t great offensively, but as you might expect from a Kopitar-led line, they were outstanding defensively. Kings’ head coach Todd McLellan is obviously comfortable with this trio and there’s no reason to expect him to break them up to start next season.
Last year, the duo of @Blake Lizotte and @Adrian Kempe settled in on the second line for L.A. @Ausstin Wagner was the most used winger to complete the line but they struggled to get anything going offensively–ranking dead last (out of 37 lines) in GF/60 (1.03) among lines who played min.275 5v5 TOI. There’s a chance that Lizotte-Kempe stick as their second line but those numbers are better suited for a third line, shutdown role. It’s easier to put Lizotte in a third-line role when you have Gabriel Vilardi. The former No.11 overall pick (2017) had 25 points (9G / 16A) in 32 AHL games last year before being promoted to the NHL. Upon his arrival in Los Angeles, Vilardi scored three goals with four assists in 10 games. He should add some much-needed scoring punch on the second-line regardless of who is wingers are.
The Kings have four wingers who will likely make up their second and third lines. The aforementioned Kempe, the veteran @Jeff Carter, the AHL sniper @MartinFrk, and the tantalizing prospect @Samuel Fagemo. Carter is in the twilight of his career and is probably a better fit for the third line at this point. Frk has an elite shot and will help their power-play at the very least. I would expect them to look at Frk on Vilardi’s wing, likely with Kempe on the other side because they were great together in a small sample size last year. If that becomes the case, that would leave Fagemo to play with Lizotte and Carter. That would give Lizotte two players with great shots on his wings and help bolster his line’s offensive production. This setup gives the Kings three lines that can score while also playing defensively responsible.
As for the fourth line, Andersson will likely slot in there to start. His addition should push @Jaret Anderson-Dolan to the wing to start his career. Andersson certainly has the ability to climb this depth chart but he’ll need to prove it first. He has just nine points (3G / 6A) in 66 career NHL games, after all. Wagner is a much better fit in the bottom-6 than he was on the second line a year ago. There should be plenty of competition for spots on the bottom of this roster. Kupari will likely make the jump at some point next season, Byfield should be in the mix and @Arthur Kaliyev is coming off of another electric OHL season.
Projected Defensive Pairings
As I previously mentioned, Maatta-Doughty will likely be the minute eaters on the Kings’ blueline in 2021. Doughty had a bunch of different D-partners last year but Maatta should solidify that spot. He was able to elevate @Slater Koekkoek to excellent numbers last year, so playing with Doughty should be easy. Koekkoek haha 28.0 GF% without Maatta but that jumped to 56.76 in over 360 5v5 TOI with the 6-foot-2 Finnish defenseman.
Tobias Bjornfot, the 2019 No.22 overall pick, is another prospect who should be a full-time NHL player in 2021. The 6-foot, 205 lbs. Swedish defenseman had 19 points (6G / 13A) in 44 games with Ontario (AHL) last year and had a three-game dup of coffee with the Kings. Bjornfot is a smooth-skating, positionally sound defenseman whose game should translate well to the NHL. He won’t put up big numbers but he should solidify the Kings’ second pairing. The rookie should pair well with @Matt Roy, who also an outstanding skater. Neither will be asked to put up big offensive totals but they can play a defensive role that will take some weight off of the top-pair.
The third-pairing could be a different story. Both @Mikey Anderson and @Sean Walker are your modern-day NHL defenseman. They are on the smaller side but are good athletes, terrific puck movers and can put up solid numbers from the back-end. Anderson, who represented the United States at the World Juniors twice, had 15 points (3G / 12A) in 53 games in his first AHL season. Meanwhile, Walker built off of a solid rookie campaign to score five goals with 19 assists (24 points) in 70 games with the Kings. Neither is going to set the scoresheet ablaze but can put up 25-to-30 points across a full season.
Advanced Stats via MoneyPuck.com and HockeyReference.com
Salary Cap Figures via PuckPedia.com