ATKM: TOP 10 QUESTIONS FOR THE 2025-26 SEASON
The LA Kings have announced their Season Opening roster and with that announcement we have released the All The Kings Men episode discussing the Top 10 Questions facing the LA Kings for the 2025-26 season.
10 – WILL ANY OF THE PENDING FA SIGN EXTENSIONS?
Adrian Kempe, Andrei Kuzmenko, Anze Kopitar, Corey Perry and Brandt Clarke are all Free Agents at the end of the 2025-26 season. Kopitar has announced his intention to retire and Brandt Clarke is a Restricted Free Agent so we don’t have to worry about contract negotiations during the season.
Kempe is obviously the biggest story here and his contract status will undoubtedly hang over the season until he signs an extension.
9 – WILL THE KINGS GET A REPEAT OF LAST YEARS GOALTENDING?
The Kings finished the 2024-25 season second overall in goals against with 2.48 and Darcy Kuemper finished third in the Vezina Trophy vote. With the arrival of Anton Forsberg, the Kings will rely on strong goaltending to return to the playoffs.
8 – WILL DREW DOUGHTY RETURN FROM INJURY AND HAVE A STRONG SEASON?
Drew Doughty revealed during training camp that he had a second procedure on his ankle at the end of the season.
Last season Doughty appeared in just 30 regular season games for the LA Kings and with Vladislav Gavrikov no longer on the roster the Kings will need him to be at the top of his game again.
7 – HOW WILL THE REST OF THE DEFENSE BE DEPLOYED?
Brandt Clarke is entering his D+5 season (fifth season after being drafted) and is an RFA (restricted free agent) at the end of the season. The Kings have repeatedly stated their faith in his abilities and their expectations that he will become an offensive weapon but have yet to give him the kind of ice time that other young defenseman have received in other markets and used to earn large contract extensions.
Clakre played 16:16 (all strengths) last season (6th on the team) despite his regular partner Joel Edmundson getting 20:35 minutes per game (4th on the team). That disparity only grew in the playoffs as Clarke saw his ice time shrink to just 12:47 per game (5th on the team) while Edmundson’s rose to 23:23 (3rd on the team).
The free agent signings of Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin (repacing Gavrikov and Spence) have led to concern that Clarke will continue to not be played in a consistent second pairing role.
So far in training camp it appears the Clarke will play on the second power play unit with Ceci and Dumoulin pairing together as a shot blocking third pair that kills penalties but there are 82 games to see how it all plays out.
The one thing that seems clear is that Doughty and Anderson will return as the effective top pair that they’ve been for a few seasons.
6 – WILL THE TOP 9 CHEMISTRY CONTINUE FROM THE END OF LAST SEASON?
From the trade deadline (March 7th, 2024) to the end of the season, the LA Kings had the second highest goals per game (3.68) and the lowest goals against (2.00) in the NHL.
This was in no small part because they achieved an entertaining balance across their top 3 lines with the addition of Andrei Kuzmenko. If the Kings want to get off to a hot start, build momentum and bank points early in the season then they will need that balance across the forward lines. If there are any hiccups in that chemistry they will need to find new combinations quickly.
5 – WILL THE 4TH LINE BE TRUSTED AND PLAY SIGNIFICANT MINUTES?
The addition of Joel Armia and Corey Perry were lauded as adding additional depth and veteran presence to a 4th line lacking in both. The Kings had a 2-0 lead over the Edmonton Oilers in the playoffs with a third period lead in games 3 and 4 before ultimately losing to the Oilers in 6 games.
The prevailing opinion is that the Kings could have, should have and would have won the series if they had a fourth line and third defensive pair that the coaching staff trusted enough to play during those games.
As it was, the “4th line” of Malott-Helenius-Turcotte only played 12:30 seconds together as a line and none of them played more than 30 minutes in the series.
4 – HOW WILL THE SPECIAL TEAMS PERFORM?
After the trade deadline, the Kings Power Play went from 15% (30th overall) to 23.9% (14th overall).
The Penalty Kill went from 81.2% (9th overall) to 82.1% (11th overall)
Strong play from both teams will be required. The Kings have boasted an effective penalty kill for years but the power play will need to consistently produce.
3 – WILL ANYONE BESIDES ANZE KOPITAR WEAR THE “C” THIS SEASON?
The answer is likely no, but with the announcement of his plans to retire at the end of the season it occurred to me that the organization may be thinking about the line of succession.
It’s not as if anything bad ever happened with a Kings player who didn’t want his contract status to be a distraction to the team…
Too soon?
2 – HOW WILL THE REST OF THE PACIFIC DIVISION PERFORM?
The Pacific Division is full of mystery and confusion.
The Kings went 14-10 against the Pacific Division last year but, MoneyPuck.com has the Oilers listed as their favorite to win The Stanley Cup.
Gross.
1 – WHAT DO THE KINGS NEED TO DO TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS?
This question is way too big to be answered in October but I think it’s safe to say that if the Kings remain healthy and pick up where they left off last season they SHOULD be in the Top 3 in the division.
Then it’s just a question of what happens in the playoffs.
I mean hell… They can’t lose to Edmonton five years in a row can they?
CAN THEY???
