Spring Break!

The rate things are going currently, the Kings will not make the playoffs. Big shock, I know. I for one am okay with this current state of affairs. Los Angeles has already had a good amount of success recently, and having a few weeks off means less stress and less blogging. I know all 40 of you reading this may be disappointed by that.

The Kings went into this season pretty well cleared out in terms of prospects and having a reasonable offensive unit. Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik, Tyler Toffoli, and Tanner Pearson were the returning top guys. Nic Dowd and Nick Shore have been a decent surprise for bottom line centers, but it’s not exactly blowing away the opposition. Dwight King and Trevor Lewis are having to chip in far more in scoring roles than should be asked frankly. Devin Setoguchi is a decent depth plug, and Teddy Purcell has been banished for whatever reason.

The personnel on defense has played okay-ish, and the younger players have been moving on decently. Peter Budaj has done everything he can really. The Kings just don’t exactly play like a playoff team anymore lately. They’ve always played down to opponents, that much isn’t new. Instead of eeking out wins though, they are losing by one (sometimes two considering how their empty net play goes) and having to give out bonus points in any win they do get since they all seemingly occur at three-on-three.

Maybe it’s complacency. I don’t blame them. I don’t give a shit about hockey nearly as much following the 2014 Cup win.

That’s probably why I am less interested in why they are falling apart more and more. If they miss the playoffs, eh whatever. Basketball is on and baseball will be starting up soon. Soccer runs perpetually I think. Sure there have been bad trades that we can mock while we tear our hair out, like Sekera and Lucic and Versteeg. Dean Lombardi should just run on autopilot for a while and just not do anything for a few years. Let the team sit around in mediocrity for a bit and reload on prospects. We did it for 45 years before.

Drafting early isn’t exactly Lombardi’s strong point anyways, so forget tanking. The only top flight first round draft pick the Kings even have under him is Drew Doughty. All the other big names drafted, or prospects worth a damn, have been in later rounds or way late in the first. Though to be fair, the Kings don’t really draft in the first round anymore since they spend those picks on rentals or gorilla fucking corncobs like Milan Lucic.

I think it’s time to sit back and just let the Kings do their thing (lose) and watch halfheartedly . Maybe I will care more a few years down the road. Though I think they will still be paying Mike Richards for that fuck up and how they handled that.

Prediction: Kings lose 3-1, and the third goal comes via empty net yet again.