Are the Kings or Capitals the bigger disappointment this season?

As the NHL approaches the three-week Olympic break, some teams are fighting for their postseason lives, and two of those teams are the Los Angeles Kings and Washington Capitals.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discuss which of the two teams has been a bigger disappointment in the 2025-26 NHL regular season, in the latest edition of “This or That?”

Tyler Yaremchuk: I wonder about the L.A. Kings, a little bit. They have 59 points on the year, they are tied for the final playoff spot in the West, and they came into the year with a lot of expectations. Ken Holland is now at the helm as their general manager, and it wasn’t just “playoffs or bust,” but instead, “we need to win some rounds in the playoffs.”

Then you look at the East, and another team that we might have thought would regress a little bit, but still have playoff expectations, and was facing the pressure of “can we get to the postseason in what’s potentially Alex Ovechkin’s final season?” That would be the Washington Capitals.

Which team missing the playoffs would be a bigger disappointment in your eyes, Huts? The Caps or the Kings?

Carter Hutton: I’m going to go with the Kings, because I just think that where they’re at, for a team that has so much presence at home and where they’re game was at. I feel like for the Capitals, I was personally prepared for ‘this regression. I thought they overshot the runway last year and they played with a lot of emotion.

I don’t think the Caps are done, by any means, but I think disappointment-wise, if the Kings miss the playoffs, then head coach Jim Hiller is done and there’s going to be a lot of moving parts. Especially in a season where this was Anze Kopitar’s last season in the NHL.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…