That’s what Dean Lombardi did. Marian Gaborik, who fit in so brilliantly after coming over at the trade deadline, was signed long-term at reasonable dollars. No. 6/7 defenceman Matt Greene got a four-year contract. Part-time NHL’er Adam Cracknell was the club’s big offseason addition. It was a summer of maintenance, not construction.
It’s hard to blame the Kings for their contentment with the status quo. Aside from the on-ice results, the depth chart shows a wonderfully deep and competent forward corps, a defence anchored by arguably the best rearguard in the game and a goalie who has come up big in the postseason.
What We Learned in 2013-14
Superficially, there wouldn’t seem to be much to learn about Los Angeles; this is the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and went to the Conference Final in 2013. Yet, there was a significant lesson buried in the club’s 2013-14 campaign.
It was simply that the team is such a possession monster that even really significant problems can’t stop it.
In the regular season, the Kings couldn’t shoot to save their lives. At five-on-five, the team’s shooting percentage was a brutal 7.0 percent. For the sake of comparison, the San Jose Sharks were below the league average and still a full percentage point better; the division-winning Anaheim Ducks were three full percentage points better.
Shooting at the Sharks’ sub-average number, L.A. would have been more than 25 goals better; at the Ducks shooting percentage it would have scored just u...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Kings
