2010-11 NHL Season Preview: Los Angeles Kings

The 2009-10 NHL Season saw one of the best Los Angeles Kings teams in franchise history take to the ice. Led by upstarts Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick, the Kings certainly made themselves look like a team to be reckoned with. It does not look likely at this point that the Los Angeles Kings can replicate their success from last season.

Same Team
The good news is that the Los Angeles Kings have not seen many of their players leave. Their biggest loss was Alexander Frolov, but he was not the same player in the 2009-10 NHL season that he had been in previous years. In his place will be Alexei Ponikarovsky. Ponikarovsky has shown he can consistently score 20 goals, though he has yet to show he can play the well rounded game that was demanded of Los Angeles Kings players last season.

The defense will also look a little different, as Randy Jones and Sean O'Donnell both left for greener pastures. The Los Angeles Kings plan on relying on prospects to fill at least one of those holes, with Davis Drewiske being the most likely candidate.

Concussion-riddled Willie Mitchell was also brought in. If Mitchell can star healthy then it should provide some additional support. That is probably wishful thinking, though, as Willie Mitchell has only played over 72 games twice in his 9 season NHL career.

Time for Injuries?

Part of the reason the Los Angeles Kings found success in the 2009-10 NHL season was a relative lack of injuries. Division rivals like the Anaheim Ducks, Phoenix Coyotes and Dallas Stars had to go extended periods without star players. The Kings did not have to worry about that as their key personnel all remained healthy. Los Angeles has one of the most injury-free teams in the NHL, so something is bound to happen sooner or later.

Competition
The biggest issue facing the Los Angeles Kings is an increase in competition. The Pacific Division has become one of the NHL's most competitive divisions since the lockout, with former bottom feeders like Los Angeles and the Phoenix Coyotes crawling out of the bottom.

The talent in the division is downright scary, though. Olympians Dan Boyle, Ryan Getzlaf, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau, Brenden Morrow, Corey Perry, Joe Thornton, Jonas Hiller, Joe Pavelski, Bobby Ryan, Karlis Skrastins, Ilya Bryzgalov, Evgeni Nabokov, Lubomir Visnovsky, Antero Niittymaki, Toni Lydman, Sami Lepisto, Saku Koivu, Teemu Selanne, Thomas Greiss, Douglas Murray, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick, Jack Johnson, Dustin Brown and Michal Handzus all compete in the Pacific Division.

This year, however, the Los Angeles Kings will not have the benefit of a team like the Anaheim Ducks having eight or nine of their top players playing big minutes at the Olympics. In fact, an Anaheim Ducks resurgence could threaten both the Los Angeles Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes improved standings from 2009-10.

Log Jam
The Los Angeles Kings remain a very good team. Unfortunately, it looks as though the Kings will be a victim of the ultra-competitive NHL Western Conference. They will remain in the playoff hunt until the final weeks of the season, but there is a good chance a hungrier team will come around to steal the final spot in the post season.

Predicted Standings
Pacific Division: 4^th
Western Conference: 9^th
NHL: 14^th

Depth Chart

Forwards
Ryan Smyth - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Michal Handzus - Dustin Brown
Brad Richardson - Jarret Stoll - Wayne Simmonds
Richard Clune - Brayden Schenn - Scott Parse
Andrei Loktionov

Defense
Drew Doughty - Jack Johnson
Willie Mitchell - Rob Scuderi
Matt Greene - Davis Drewiske
Peter Harrold - Alec Martinez

Goaltenders
Jonathan Quick
Erik Ersberg
Jonathan Bernier

Sources

http://www.nhl.com
http://www.tsn.ca
http://www.espn.com
http://www.hockeydb.com
http://www.nhlnumbers.com