Unlike 29 other teams, the Los Angeles Kings didn’t have to spend the summer of 2014 engrossed in how to be better. With two championships in three seasons, L.A. is one of the premier teams in the league (only Chicago stands on near-equal footing), and the primary concern was just keeping the machine together.
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.
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
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