by Peter Ruzzo

Created on: September 01, 2010

The future looks bright for the Los Angeles Kings. Coming off one of their best point totals, 101 points, since 1991-1992 when they had 102 points, the Kings are poised to take the next step. The question for the 2010-2011 season will be; how far will the kings go and what exactly is the next step?

After years of rebuilding under the helm of Dave Taylor and now 4 year G.M. Dean Lombardi, the Kings made the playoffs last year for the first time in eight years. It was no surprise; many preseason pundits in North America and Canada picked the Kings to make the post-season. Finishing 5th in the very tight Western Conference amidst surprising teams like Colorado and Phoenix the Kings headed into the playoffs with a quiet optimism. After losing to the very talented and physical Vancouver Canucks in 6 hard fought games, the young Kings gained playoff experience and more importantly many in the Kings’ organization felt they could have won the series.  That being said 2010-2011 expectations will be much higher.

Dean Lombardi is the current architect of this young and exciting team. Building through the draft and picking up veteran role players is finally starting to pay off. Lombardi, when he assumed the position as G.M., was adamant about building through the draft and not trading away prospects or signing high-end players at the expense of locking in future core players. As a sign Lombardi felt the Kings were ready to take the net step Lombardi went after the much coveted winger IIlya Kovalchuk. The Kings offered Kovalchuk a lengthy deal at a $7.5 million salary cap hit that would not hamstring Lombardi when it came to signing other core players. Kovalchuk declined the Kings’ offer and signed with the Devils; Kovalchuk’s contract with the New Jersey Devils has since been nullified by the NHL. With a wealth of talent currently on the roster and in the system don’t expect the Kings to play this game anymore. Lesson learned? Absolutely.

Because of dismal outings the last eight years the Kings have compiled several first round and second round draft picks. Besides the incomparable Drew Doughty, picked #2 overall in 2008, the Kings have yet to feature one of their recent first round draft picks. This could be the year when the highly touted and solid puck moving defencemen Thomas Hickey, picked 4th overall in 2007, makes the team. He’ll certainly have competition with Jake Muzzin, who had an outstanding playoffs with the Monarchs,

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