Enough silverware, the Kings wants the big one!

Offense

From Day 1, one of the Kings motto was : "We are here to win" and it shows right away with our 1st ever pick in captain Jonathan Toews, a serious winner.  The Winnipeg native has been great for the Kings in the first 2 EHE seasons collecting one Hart, one Selke and Rocket Richard trophy.  In his shadow, Patrice Bergeron has also being great and the organization believe its once again this season the best 1-2 punch in the middle in the EHE.  Faceoffs percentage and two-way game are their forte.  They should be a threat again this year.  Although they dont seems as well equipped up front, the signing of Darren Helm will help a bit the departure of Jaromir Jagr.  On that note, the Kings will retire no. 68 next Monday morning at practice but will strap the jersey onto a garbage can in the locker room with a big X on his number. GM Lemyre didn't particularly appreciated the fact the high profile free agent did signed away on the 1st day after 2 great seasons in LA and great chemistry on the 1st line.  The fans will also be able to show up their anger on Game 158 when the Devils will be in town. Actually, the Kings wanted to make it an outdoor game so Jagr could freeze his old ass on the bench but the nights are not very cold in February in California and there is no real rivalry against the East Coast Devils.  Other returnees are Valtteri Filppula and Gustav Nyquist.  The Kings expect 10 to 15 goals this year from them.  Being one of the best goals scoring team allowed the Kings to make the playoffs but they never reach the Stanley Cup finals. Stronger defense and goaltending is the key this year and GM Lemyre took care of that this summer.

Defense

The Kings were always big on Andrei Markov and they were sad not being able to presign him this summer. It was clear that they want him back.  The real truth thought is they thought that he would retire after his EHE contract ends but thats wasn't the case.  Marki is still one of the best rated d-man in the league with still great vision and hockey sense, thats why the Kings decided to give him that big fat contract and his alternate captaincy back. Now that this has been taking care of, the Kings needs to start putting some money aside because their new number 1 defenseman, Brent Burns, is becoming unrestricted free agent after the end of the season. The caveman is definitely the new face of the franchise.  Lucky for them, him and Nyquist were tagged as a "Franchise Player" as early as Season 1.  Burns teammates are really happy to have him in the locker room because he gets a lot of attention and takes away a lot of pressure off the leaders like Bergeron and Toews.  Having Markov back allow Klein and Tanev to be slotted down the depth chart where they will be more effective on the second pairing. Lovejoy and Ericsson complete the squad. Both players will probably be on the 3rd pairing but they were told to be ready as they will also get some top lines duties some nights giving the old Markov a break to make sure he is ready for the playoffs.  The Kings feels comfortable with Dumoulin and Pateryn as their 7-8 defenseman.

Goaltending

The Kings were part of one of the biggest trade in the offseason.  Acquiring Martin Jones for offensive defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was whats needed for the future in goals.  Jones is coming off a great season and the Kings lost twice in the last 2 season to superior and hotter goaltender. Jonathan Bernier, LAs goaltender from the beginning was great but it wasn't enough.  At 26, Jones was rewarded with a 2 year deal in the summer but will still be restricted free agent at the end of his contract so while the Kings lost on offense from the backend with the Gost gone, they gained on youth and talent in net. Bernier is still a very capable backup and the Kings still believe he got game in him but right now, its Jones time!

In the system

Pushing every year after year for the Stanley Cup sometimes makes you lose on important draft picks but the Kings really insisted on getting defenseman Mike Matheson included in the Jones vs Gostisbehere deal.  The Kings are hoping that he could be at best a top 4 dman maybe top line material because of his offensive game right next year.  Same to say about Zach Werenski that the Kings drafted 27th in the 2015 Super Draft.  Brian Dumoulin is the 1st King product that is graduating this year. The organization is really proud of the 25 years old progression along with 26 years old Greg Pateryn.  They project Dumoulin to could become a solid second pairing material.  And Pateryn a 4-5 defenseman.  Upfront, Brock McGinn is showing some stride but he is not ready to play a full EHE season. He will be brought in slowy so are goalies Korpisalo and Visentin.  Adam Erne is slowly getting accustomed to the big boys game in the AHL and prospect Brayden Point is already been given some NHL duties early in the season.

Right now, the team is not putting much emphasis on winning the division or even the conference.  Coach of the year last year Bruce Boudreau knows that they will make the playoffs.  Its up to the character players like Bergeron, Toews, Helm, Filppula, Burns and Markov to carry the team and make sure that they raise the big legendary cup real high above their shoulders comes June.

Good luck to everyone this season.