Kings face unfamiliar offseason after familiar playoff exit

Throughout the season, both the players and now-former head coach Jim Hiller insisted that the team was playing well and would eventually go on a run. Perhaps that was an attempt to control the narrative, or some sort of self-confidence booster. Either way, they did offer some evidence that it could be true, most notably in the form of all those overtime losses — if just six of the 20 had gone the other way, the Kings would have won the Pacific Division.

They did get hotter at the end of the season, but not enough to avoid playing the Presidents’ Trophy winners in the first round, leading to a sweep. While the first three games were competitive, the difference between the two teams was clear, as the Avalanche did more on the margins to win all of them.

“I liked our game plan, where we had to play behind them, but ultimately they didn’t make the mistakes that a lot of teams make,” interim head coach D.J. Smith said. “And we stayed with it. Especially in our building, we stayed with it, we stayed with it. And a lot of times, teams will crack. When they don’t get the offense, they’ll crack, and they’ll start to cheat, and [the Avalanche] didn’t.”

The Kings now face their most uncertain offseason in years, with multiple huge questions, mostly about their coaching and centers. They certainly played better under Smith than under Hiller, and he will presumably be a candidate for the full-time head coaching position, but general manager Ken Holland could see an opportunity for the team to reset and bring in someone entirely new.

“Ken’s been around a long time,” Smith said. “He’s won Stanley Cups. He’s one of the best in the business. He’s a Hall-of-Fame general manager. He’s going to make that decision. So that’s not up to me to decide. I know I did my absolute best.”

As for those who actually take the ice, Kopitar’s retirement leaves a significant void down the middle of the lineup and only three true centers currently under contract for next season. They could re-sign Scott Laughton, who proved to be a good fit after joining the team at the trade deadline, but their overall depth would still be uncertain as they’d be asking a number of players to have much larger roles.

“[Brandt] Clarke’s now showing he can take a major step,” Smith said. “[Quinton Byfield] is taking a major step. [Alex Laferriere], taking a major step. There’s a lot of guys that are coming. [Jared] Wright looks like he’s going to be on the come. There’s guys in the minors. So how quick can you do it? What I liked about this group in particular is a lot of those guys were the reason we got in.”

Many of those players did indeed improve this season, but now the Kings will rely on them to take even bigger leaps. Between players like Adrian Kempe, Artemi Panarin, Clarke, and goalies Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg, they likely have too much talent to truly collapse next season, but they may not be in position to improve on recent seasons either.

The Los Angeles Kings have been in a vicious cycle, both this season and in recent seasons. Some things will have to change to avoid getting stuck even further, and that begins with this offseason.