BT's 2009/10 NHL Season Preview: Los Angeles Kings

(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

While we've gotten a bit out of order here in the Pacific (the week started with the Phoenix Coyotes, followed up by the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks) we're finally getting back on track now with the L.A. Kings.

With the way the Pacific shapes up at the top, along with a very unpredictable Dallas Stars team, the Los Angeles Kings are going to be in for a wild ride.

The trick will be finding that stable ground to stand on and just continuing to play their game.

Los Angeles Kings

2008/09 Record: 34-37-11, 79 points, 14 in West

Additions: Ryan Smyth—F (Trade w/Colorado), Rob Scuderi—D (4 years/$13.6 mil)

Subtractions: Kyle Quincey—D (Trade w/Colorado), Tom Preissing—D (Trade w/Colorado), Derek Armstrong—F (FA), Denis Gauthier—D (FA), Kyle Calder—F (FA)

Despite being a very young team, the Los Angeles Kings weren’t about to give in this offseason in more ways than one.

Being matched up with a tough Western Conference, the Kings continue to remain sold on their youth, as they should.Getting caught up in the high-priced world of free agency and abandoning that plan isn’t worth it (As indicated by the lack of action this offseason). The recent drafting of Brayden Schenn only serves to make this team stronger and tougher to play against,

Then, while those around the team clamored for a big-time scorer, Dean Lombardi put to rest any hope anywhere that Dany Heatley would be coming to Los Angeles.

The way that Heatley has presented himself and acted over the past few months has Lombardi wary of adding such a personality to his dressing room, to avoid spoiling his youth.

Good for Lombardi and the Kings.

“Er” on the side of Quickness…

While Jonathan Bernier is still the apple of Los Angeles’ eye, there are two men who proved last year his path to the starting job will be no cake walk.

Both Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Quick started games for the Kings and each saw some success.

Early on in the season, that success belonged to Ersberg. The Swedish League veteran proved to be a fundamentally sound option over the first few months of the year, only allowing more than three goals once in the 18 games he played before the New Year.

After that, Ersberg seemed to slow, and the toll of a longer, more aggressive season started to show as Ersberg missed ten combined games with a groin injury in the second half, and he started to struggle with consistency.

While the injury played a part in those struggles, the other issue was that Ersberg wasn’t playing enough to get into a groove (like he did in the first half) because of Jonathan Quick’s play.

Quick was outstanding for the Kings, winning 21 games for them and posting a .914 save percentage and a 2.44 goals-against.

Although Quick battled a few consistency issues which saw him go through streaks where his goals-against would be a bit higher (5 or 6 in a game), Quick always seemed to be able to steady himself and bounce-back with a week-or-two’s worth of solid efforts.

The fact that Quick and Ersberg emerged (Quick with the slight edge in the battle for number one) at around the same time bodes well for Bernier. The Kings were a franchise that may have been faced with rushing the Quebec native to the NHL at one point. Now however, with two solid goalies manning the crease, if Bernier still needs time to develop the Kings can afford to give it to him.

The one problem for Bernier, is that it gives Quick the opportunity to solidify his hold in the NHL.

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