Jonathan Quick and Jonathan Bernier have held their own in net and are right up there when it comes to goalie combos in the entire NHL.
It also helps that they are both in their early 20s.
The Kings should be set there for some time barring any major injuries. They made instant upgrades offensively with the acquisitions of Simon Gagne and Mike Richards.
Terry Murray and Dean Lombardi envisioned a Kings team with two very strong scoring lines, complete with powerhouse centers and four good wingmen.
They now have that, but lack a couple key role players on the power-play and penalty-killing units.
The loss of Ryan Smyth to Edmonton may have been big a couple years ago, but he never meshed in this system.
Although he came to life in last year’s playoffs, his spark wasn’t enough to get the Kings past San Jose.
Wayne Simmonds and highly-touted prospect Brayden Schenn went via trade to Philadelphia and the acquisition of Colin Fraser may have been useless due to Fraser’s declining health.
Michal Handzus went to division and conference rival San Jose, who appear to be going for it more than ever this year.
Alexei Ponikarovsky left via free agency to Carolina.
There are legitimate inexpensive options to replace some of the losses out there and here are seven of them in order of attainability.
These names don’t exactly shout Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille or Jari Kurri, but every contender needs role players who will go out there, eat ice time, protect the puck or block some shots.
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Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Kings
