ARE THESE MUST WIN GAMES?
The question may seem overly dramatic and I don’t believe it has an answer. I’m simply here to ask questions as they occur to me and Jesse has been kind enough to give me a space to do just that.
Do the Kings “need” to defeat the Penguins and Hurricanes at home?
The LA Kings 2025-26 schedule has them playing 8 of their first 11 on the road. In the 2024-25 season the Kings were 31-6-4 at home. That was the second best Home Point % and most Home Wins in franchise history.
Based on their Home Point % of .805 they would be a President’s Trophy contender.
Unfortunately for the Kings, their record on the road was sub .500 (17-19-5) and had they played like that over the full 82 game season their .476 Point % would have seen them qualify for the Draft lottery.
The Kings have started the 2025-26 season 1-2-1 with their only win coming on the road against the Golden Knights in a shootout on October 8th.
The Kings are 0-1-0 at home so far and after this two game home stand they go back on the road for five games. If the Kings lose either one or both of the next two games at home they could be looking at a sub .500 record before departing on the second longest road trip of the season.
THE ROAD AHEAD
The Kings will play St. Louis, Dallas, Nashville, Chicago and San Jose on the upcoming road trip. Three of those teams failed to make the playoffs last season (Nashville, Chicago and San Jose) and the Kings record against those teams was 5-3-2. The Kings record against the Stars and Blues was 3-2-1.
However on the road the Kings records against those five teams was 2-5-1 with the wins coming against Nashville and Chicago.
So far this season the combined home record of those five teams is 9-6-4.
THE GOALIE SITUATION
Darcy Kuemper was mentioned as being out day-to-day by Head Coach Jim Hiller.
The Kings traded “future considerations” to Tampa Bay to reacquire goaltender Pheonix Copley.
There’s no official indication for how long Kuemper will be unavailable to play but if he doesn’t travel with the team that leaves the Kings with their 2nd and 3rd options in net. If Kuemper does return the Kings could be relying on a 35 year old goalie recovering from a mystery ailment that has been placed on Injured Reserve or been listed as Day to Day multiple times since rejoining the franchise in the summer of 2024.
Anton Forsberg was 4-1-2 last season against the five teams the Kings will be playing on the upcoming road trip.
Pheonix Copley only appeared in one game with the Kings during the 2024-25 season, a 6-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs where he replaced David Rittich halfway throught the game.
THE IMPLICATIONS
As of 2023, 76.7% of teams in a playoff spot at American Thanksgiving go on to make the playoffs.
Thanksgiving falls on November 27th, 2025 and the Kings have another long road trip between now and then. They will go on the road in November for six games against Pittsburgh, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Washington and San Jose before returning home to face the Bruins and Senators at home on November 21st and 24th.
That means their schedule from opening night to Thanksgiving is nine games at home and fourteen games on the road.
Currently the Kings find themself in 7th place in the Wild Card race and well out of a playoff spot but it’s only been four games. If they replicate their road record from last season to start this season they would reach Thanksgiving with about 13 points from a possible 28 on the road. That would mean that the Kings would have to perform well at home to make up the difference.
At Thanksgiving 2024, the Kings were 12-8-3 and were in 6th place in the Western Conference and third in the Pacific Division. To reach a similar record the Kings would need to go 11-6-2 over the next 19 games. With just eight games left at home and eleven games left on the road between now and November 27th the Kings will need to bank points when they get the opportunity and that begins at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
