Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
Well most teams WILL fail at their re-build, this is true.
But for the Kings they have started to move past their optimal contention window, without having won a single playoff round.
And the reason why their teams have been 100+ point teams have been less about their young players and more about Kopitar and Doughty still leading the way.
The Athletic already had them moving from "win now" to "time to rebuild" in their contention cycle piece.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/659...tiers-2025-26/
Their contention window closed before it opened.
Panarin maybe props it slightly ajar for a few years, but does anyone see them as a real contender? |
The key high draft picks they got when they were at the bottom were:
Turcotte - 24
Byfield - 23
Clarke - 22
Turcotte is looking like he will be depth at best, but it's still early to say Byfield and Clarke aren't impact players.
During that time, they have developed or brought in some very good young pieces in Kempe, Fiala, and Anderson. They also did this while keeping very good veteran players they have continued to be good into their late 30s.
Now they added one of the best wingers in the league for next to nothing. Are they a threat? Time will tell but adding a player like Panarin and keeping everyone else and you are a 100-point team that has made the playoffs 4 years in a row, and you also have growth potential from a few young players, time will tell if they are a contender, but I also bet they are not done.