What's Next for the Los Angeles Kings?
By any objective measure, the Los Angeles Kings had a very good regular season. They tied a franchise record with 48 wins and set a new record for home wins at 31. LA's .640% points percentage is the second-best mark in team history and goalie Darcy Kuemper posted a stellar campaign, culminating in a Vezina Trophy nomination.
But let's face it. Nobody cares about any of that because the Kings failed to make it past the Edmonton Oilers for the fourth straight year. Regular season accomplishments are quickly forgotten once the battle for Lord Stanley's Cup begins and LA's loyal fan base is certainly within its rights to want change after yet another playoff fiasco.
On the Blake/Hiller returning rumors:Hiller did a great job during the regular season until bad decisions cost him dearly in the playoffs. It's unclear whether another coach would be an improvement.What is clear is Rob Blake's team-building philosophy doesn't work. It hasn't…
— Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) May 3, 2025
However, based on some early off-season rumblings, it doesn't appear that change is on the horizon. In fact, it sounds like management is already circling the wagons and Kings fans may be hearing soundbites of "it's hard to make the playoffs four years in a row" and "we were right there" sooner rather than later.
REPORT: Blake and Hiller Likely to Remain with Kings for 2025-26 Season#GoKingsGo https://t.co/8Z39qRBAhV pic.twitter.com/vCCLVSLBj4
— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) May 3, 2025
Since being hired as general manager in 2017, Rob Blake has failed to deliver a playoff series win. Only the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres have longer playoff series wins droughts. Head coach Jim Hiller, who sports the franchise's highest points percentage (.638) in the regular season, has a meager .273 winning percentage in the playoffs. After replacing Todd McLellan late last season, Hiller has already lost to Edmonton twice in the playoffs, matching McLellan's two series loses from 2022 and 2023.
With a valuation of over 2 billion dollars, the Los Angeles Kings are among the top five wealthiest teams in the league. It begs the question of how much longer the fans will continue streaming into Crypto.com Arena should they decide to "run it back" without any significant roster or managerial moves. As of this year, attendance at Crypto was averaging at 17,196 or 94.9% of capacity. At first glance, those numbers appear fairly solid but it actually places the Kings in the bottom third of the league, just above Seattle and Pittsburgh. Two teams that didn't even make the playoffs.
Will there be incremental moves or a big shake up this off-season? We should be getting some answers to that question in the coming days, but if past is precedent, fans in the Kingdom shouldn't hold their breath.
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