Throughout the month of August, PHT will be dedicating a day to all 30 NHL clubs. Today’s team? The Los Angeles Kings.
After stunning people with their dominant play in the 2012 playoffs after finishing the regular season with the eighth seed, the Los Angeles Kings went into 2013 with the goal of becoming the first team since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997-98 to successfully defend the Stanley Cup.
In the salary cap era, repeating is an extraordinarily difficult task and their quest was further complicated by the loss of defensemen Willie Mitchell and, for most of the season, Matt Greene.
Those injuries left a serious hole in their blueline, but it also created an opportunity for 24-year-old Jake Muzzin and he largely took advantage of that. The Kings provided themselves with further relief at the trade deadline by acquiring Robyn Regehr from the Buffalo Sabres.
Los Angeles finished with the fifth seed and Jonathan Quick posted an unimpressive 2.45 GAA and .902 save percentage in 37 games. However, Quick was able to step up in the playoffs and led the Kings all the way to the Western Conference Final before they were eliminated by the Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks.
Offseason recap
The Los Angeles Kings went into the summer in a difficult cap situation, which made trading restricted free agent goaltender Jonathan Bernier arguably a necessity.
They found a willing partner in the Toronto Maple Leafs, who provided them with a capable replacement backup goaltender in Ben Scrivens and a promising forward in Matt Frattin. Just as importantly, Toronto was willing to retain $500,000 of the players cap hit, which means Scrivens and Frattin come with a combined hit of roughly $1 million for the Kings.
They were also able to retain the services of defensemen Robyn Regehr and Keaton Ellerby as well as forward Kyle Clifford. However, they ultimately let free agent blueliner Rob Scuderi return to Pittsburgh.
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