2026-27 NHL team preview: Los Angeles Kings
LAST SEASON
The Los Angeles Kings were stubbornly stuck in a loop of mediocrity, with no playoff series wins since they last captured the Stanley Cup in 2013-14, having lost to the Edmonton Oilers in Round 1 of the playoffs four consecutive years. The Kings were a consistently stingy defensive club under coach Jim Hiller, but goals were harder to come by. General manager Ken Holland’s solution was to…make his team bigger, older and slower, adding veteran defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci and veteran forwards Corey Perry and Joel Armia.
The results were more or less predictable. By February, the Kings were struggling to stay in the Western Conference playoff race, and Holland tried to save the season, mortgaging the Kings’ only high-end prospect, forward Liam Greentree, in a trade with the New York Rangers for star left winger Artemi Panarin just before the Olympic break. But Kevin Fiala broke his leg at the Milan Winter Games, removing a key piece from the lineup before Panarin had even debuted with the team, negating the gain of the trade. Still hoping for a spark, Holland fired Hiller and installed D.J. Smith as interim head coach for the final 23 games of the regular season, and the Kings went 11-6-6, finding just enough momentum to crawl into the playoffs.
They did so, however, with a hilarious 20 overtime and shootout losses, setting a new NHL single-season record for loser points, entering the postseason as a team that won 35 and lost 47 of its 82 games, matched up against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche. To the surprise of 0.0 human beings, the Kings suffered a fifth consecutive first-round elimination – in a sweep to boot. All they managed to accomplish was saying a proper farewell to their all-time games and points leader, Anze Kopitar, by getting him into the playoffs one last time.
So where do the Kings sit heading into 2026-27? At first glance, they’re stuck in the same time loop, minus their longtime captain. The Panarin trade signalled a no-turning-back moment for a team already badly lacking in prospects, and Holland tripled down on the creaky-vet devotion with his offseason additions, adding forwards Mats Zuccarello, 39 and Erik Haula, 35, while bringing back Perry, 41. Fittingly, L.A. walked away from Smith and pivoted to a turnkey head coach used to running veteran teams in Peter Laviolette.
The Kings are now the oldest team in the NHL by average age, with very little help ascending internally. So the question entering this season is: what’s the point of all this? Is this franchise content to limp into Round 1 of the playoffs as cannon fodder year after year?
Can the aging group deliver a surprisingly competitive result? Or will this season mark the last gasp of a franchise headed for oblivion and a scorched-earth rebuild?
KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES
Additions
Erik Haula, C
Mats Zuccarello, RW
Corey Perry, RW
Erik Gustafsson, D
Lane Pederson, D
Peter Laviolette, head coach
Departures
Anze Kopitar, C (retired)
Andrei Kuzmenko, LW (Pit)
Mathieu Joseph, LW (Edm)
Jeff Malott, LW (Ana)
Pheonix Copley, G (CBJ)
Jacob Moverare, D (Swi.)
D.J. Smith, interim head coach
OFFENSE
The Kings’ identity as a play-driving team that doesn’t finish was established in the Darryl Sutter era and has remained in place for a decade-plus. Last season at 5-on-5, they finished fourth in shot attempts and ninth in scoring chances and high-danger chances per 60, but they were 27th in shooting percentage, with an anemic 28th-ranked power play that converted at 17.0 percent. Same as it ever was, eh?
The Kings are at least hoping for slight scoring improvement in 2026-27, and we can see the potential if we squint hard enough. They were 20th in goals per game both pre- and post-Panarin trade, but his ability to power up his teammates was immediately apparent upon arrival in Tinseltown. After ‘The Bread Man’ joined the lineup Feb. 25, top-line right winger Adrian Kempe ripped off 16 goals in his final 25 games, scoring at a 52-goal pace, with Panarin assisting on 11 of those tallies. Kempe has never spent a season alongside a playmaker as natural as Panarin. If they stay together all year long, expect Kempe to challenge his career high of 41 goals.
The Kings could also become a more dangerous offensive club by giving their prime-year rising stars larger opportunities, which is likely to happen this season. They did not replace Kopitar as a No. 1 center, meaning Quinton Byfield’s time has finally come. He’s a gifted player, 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds yet one of the faster and more agile forwards in the league. He has teased with mini breakouts across three consecutive seasons functioning as an effective top-six forward, but he hasn’t hit the monster ceiling that was promised when L.A. took him second overall in the 2020 Draft. Slated to play between Panarin and Kempe, Byfield has by far the biggest break of his career.
Same goes for Brandt Clarke, who, after a couple years of jockeying with franchise legend Drew Doughty for alpha right-shot defensemen status, is firmly established as the Kings’ top offensive weapon on the point. The Kings committed to Clarke as their horse by extending him on a five-year, $7.4-million AAV contract over the summer. Over the past three seasons, only Cale Makar averages more primary assists per 60 at 5-on-5. Clarke is the real deal as an offensive dynamo. He’ll quarterback PP1 all season and should blow past his career high of 40 points pretty easily.
Also working in the Kings’ favor is the fact new bench boss Laviolette favors an attacking style; his teams have finished top-10 in goals 12 times, most recently in 2023-24, when his Rangers were seventh. Panarin, by the way, had a career-high 120 points playing for Laviolette on that team.
The return of Fiala alone will be a boon for L.A.’s top six; he’s expected to be ready for the start of the season. That said: while the Kings’ forward group has reasonable depth, its top-end output will be in question. Zuccarello produced consistently useful scoring in Minnesota, but he did so stapled to a superstar in Kirill Kaprizov. What does Zuccarello have left at 39? Haula is an ideal third-line center but is playing too high in the lineup as L.A.’s projected second-liner. Also factoring in that Panarin turns 35 in October: there’s a lot of pressure on Byfield and Clarke to drive the team’s offense as the only prime-aged players on the team with star-level ceilings. If they don’t take big steps forward, the Kings’ offense will stagnate again.
DEFENSE
On paper, the Kings seemed in danger of regressing defensively last season given the questionable additions they made to their back end and the loss of key shutdown D-man Vladislav Gavrikov in free agency, but it didn’t happen – at least not at 5-on-5. They held the fourth-lowest rate of expected goals against in the NHL, and they sat in the top third of the league at suppressing scoring chances and high-danger chances. The pairing of Mikey Anderson and Doughty was the stalwart, carrying a 53.75 percent expected goal share in more than 900 minutes of hockey together. They will continue to operate as L.A.’s shutdown duo while the Kings work to find the right partner for Clarke. It’s the rangy Joel Edmundson for now, though Clarke is way better as a play driver without Edmundson than with him. When Clarke saw brief looks with Anderson last season, for example, they caved in the competition for an xGF% north of 65. It will be interesting to see if the Kings continue to shelter Clarke or turn him loose and trust him in more challenging matchups. He has the makings of a modern-day two-way defenseman whose game is offense but who defends better than he gets credit for, a la Lane Hutson or Evan Bouchard.
At forward, the Kings will try to fill the void left by Kopitar, one of the best defensive forwards ever, a two-time Selke Trophy winner. There’s evidence to suggest Byfield is ready for that job. He graded out as an above average defensive play driver last season and wasn’t playing sheltered minutes; his most-faced opposing skater last season was literally Connor McDavid. The majority of the scoring chances go the Kings’ way when Byfield’s on the ice, and they’ll count on him to be an all-situations leader this season.
Despite L.A.’s strong overall team defense last season, they killed penalties at an atrocious 74.6 percent rate, their lowest since 1986-87. They’re hoping Haula can help there. He was one of the PK specialists on a Nashville Predators team that iced a top-five unit last season. They should also get continued defensive help from 2026 NHL Trade Deadline acquisition Scott Laughton, whom they re-signed over the summer. He’s one of the best faceoff men in the NHL.
Overall, there’s little to suggest the Kings will regress defensively this season based on their personnel. Whether they can be an elite group in their own end will depend on whether the penalty kill improves and whether their new coach will trade some defense for more offense.
GOALTENDING
The Kings signed Anton Forsberg in summer 2025 and appeared to be adding a quality backup to Darcy Kuemper, who was fresh off an outstanding 2024-25 campaign in which he finished third in the Vezina Trophy vote. Naturally, Forsberg was the Kings’ starter to open the playoffs. Wait, what?
Kuemper regressed badly in his second season manning L.A.’s crease. Among 59 goalies who played 25 or more games last season, he sat 38th in goals saved above expected per 60. As bad as the Kings’ results on the penalty kill last season were, Kuemper was the primary culprit; he faced one of the easier workloads in terms of expected goals against but posted one of the worst PK save percentages in the NHL.
Forsberg, meanwhile, was excellent when called upon last year. His goals saved above expected per 60 graded out 14th in the NHL, between Jet Greaves and Dan Vladar, and Forsberg was much better than Kuemper on the penalty kill. Forsberg earned the playoff starting job on merit, and he didn’t play badly against the mighty Avalanche.
If we judge the Kings’ puckstoppers on what they’ve accomplished of late, Forsberg deserves the net to open 2026-27, and he’s two and a half years younger than Kuemper. But we should expect both goalies to play a lot; this crease will have a 1A/1B setup rather than a bellcow starter and true backup.
COACHING
Laviolette is the quintessential retread hire for a win-now team seeking a spark. He has coached six other NHL franchises over the past 25 years, racking up five division titles, three Stanley Cup Final berths with three different teams and, of course, a 2005-06 championship with the Carolina Hurricanes. He preaches aggressive, up-tempo hockey and represents a potential identity shift for the Kings. The question is whether the offensive gains will bring defensive regression. Across two seasons at his previous stop with the Rangers, his club ranked in the bottom third of the NHL in scoring-chance prevention at 5-on-5. His two stints before that, with the Washington Capitals and Predators, were closer to mid-pack in that stat, however. It’s not like Laviolette doesn’t care about defense. It’s more that he prefers to play in the other team’s end.
Laviolette will hope to ignite L.A.’s offense in particular, but what about remedying the special teams problems? The Kings will turn to new assistant coach Ray Whitney to fix the power play. He always had tremendous vision as a playmaker during his 1,330 games as a player, but he’s unproven as a coach at the pro level, most recently working as Canada’s Spengler Cup assistant GM three years ago. Chris Hajt will be tasked with overhauling the penalty kill; it was a major strength during his time with Kings’ AHL affiliate, and he has experience working with Kings associate coach Phil Housley from their time with the Buffalo Sabres.
ROOKIES
This might come as a shock, but the NHL’s oldest team, which also has the 21st-best prospect pool according to Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis, doesn’t have a depth chart swimming with can’t-miss future stars. Our opening-night roster projection doesn’t have a single rookie on it. The prospects most likely to see NHL action in 2026-27: forward Jared Wright, who actually suited up for all four Kings playoff games last spring, and stay-at-home defenseman Angus Booth. Neither rates even as a top-10 prospect in the system. Left winger Kenny Connors bears watching as a potential bottom-sixer who got a brief taste of the NHL last season. The Kings’ best players in the AHL are blocked, because they’re both goalies. Hampton Slukynsky and Carter George will share the Reign net for now.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. Is Quinton Byfield ready to be a No. 1 center? It might feel like the hype has exceeded the output so far in his career. But big-bodied forwards tend to mature slower, and he’s still just 24. If he can break through as a star-caliber pivot, he could change the Kings’ trajectory.
2. Are we sure Drew Doughty will be a King for life? Doughty is one of the all-time great Kings and a future Hall Famer, likely on the first ballot. He was a beast on their two Stanley Cup teams. He has made it clear he wants to play his entire career in L.A. But it’s pretty telling that (a) the Kings haven’t yet named him the obvious captain pick to replace Kopitar and (b) Ken Holland told reporters in late June that the team would not sign Doughty to an extension before the season. It feels like they’re leaving the door open to trade Doughty, 36 and a 2027 UFA, if they aren’t contenders this coming winter.
3. Are the Kings merely treading water until oblivion? The Kings have lost five consecutive first-round playoff series and papered over their roster holes with aging veterans. Even Panarin’s extension, signed when they acquired him, only keeps him a King through next season. Are the Kings actually serious about icing a sustainable contender, or are they just halfheartedly playing for another Wildcard berth? If it’s the latter, they could be the furthest franchise from a Stanley Cup right now. Nothing kills a team’s long-term future like denial. The Kings are starting to resemble the end-of-Holland-era Detroit Red Wings teams that were obsessed with maintaining a multi-decade playoff berth streak and dug themselves into a hole from which they still haven’t emerged.
PREDICTION
The Kings are not a great hockey team, nor are they a bad one. We can expect them to hang around the playoff periphery again – with a slight surge thanks to the New Coach Bump, a full season of Panarin, a healthy Fiala and removing the restrictor plates from Byfield and Clarke. Maybe they’re more like a 95-100-point team this time around instead of a low-90s outfit, but that’s still probably only good for another first-round exit.
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