How much success will it take for the Kings to be considered contenders?

[Chruceg]

Obviously everybody is thrilled with how the Kings have come out of the gate. With that said the Kings are not being taken seriously as contenders in the Pacific right now (nor should they be). The question I am posing to the group is the title of the thread: How much success will it take for the Kings to be considered contenders? For some clarity, this can be considered two ways. How long will it take Kings fans to believe ... and how long will it take the national media to believe (if ever). Also, your definition of contender may be different from others. For the purposes of this discussion I am thinking significant playoff run.

Some of you may think the Kings are already contenders, some may be waiting for the results of the first road trip, others may think it will take longer. Personally, I think we need to wait until the Chicago game on December third. This covers a full third of the season, a significant road trip, and playing several contenders. If the Kings are continuing to play strong hockey at that point I will have faith in a playoff spot and a significant Stanley Cup run.

What say you?

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[Maynard]

This franchise has had so many horrible collapses over the years. I won't even start thinking about it until the all star break.

 

[lumbergh]

If the Kings make the playoffs, there's no reason they wouldn't be thought of has having a legitimate chance to go on a long run. They have as much experience in the playoffs as anyone. I don't put a lot of weight on where they finish in the regular season standings so long as they're in the top three in the Pacific.

Of course, we're a long six months away from the end of the regular season. A lot can change between now and then.

The number one thing is that the Kings have to stay healthy as a whole. You'll always have injuries here and there, but the core players have to avoid anything major. This goes for the regular season and the playoffs.

 

[Kings4thecup]

I have already heard on NHL Radio contributors/hosts say "well LA has that great core, so their start in not unexpected" or something along those lines. Media loves to talk about the hot teams and ride it. Won't take long for them to put their hooks in.

As far as us fans, most will hop on board if they can keep it up throughout the road trip, but there is always a vocal group that will short sell them until they win the cup again. It's all perspective.

 

[kingsholygrail]

20-game mark is usually when you start talking about what teams look like they're going somewhere in the season. Then half-way mark and so on.

 

[driller1]

As a fan, my heart tells me we're contenders now (and every year)!! Unfortunately, my head tells me otherwise. Sigh...

I believe in the Kings D and goalie. I think we're a few guys short on the F ranks. I'll believe we're contenders when/if we trade for another forward or two.

 

[CTKingsFan]

If you make the playoffs you're a cup contender. I think they can make the playoffs. So they're cup contenders. That's the reality of new salary cap area. There's 16 cup contenders. I think after 10 plus years of the salary cap area, with numerous 5-8 seeded teams in both conferences either making the finals or winning the cup. That's it's not an anomaly, but a reality.

 

[cyclones22]

If the Kings stay healthy and there isn't a player revolt against the coaching staff, they'll be contenders. That's been the case since 2012 until the big fall-off last season. The spine of the team is still elite. Forward depth could be a problem, but if some of these young pups develop, who knows what can happen?

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Success on the road against good teams would be a good start

 

[chesed]

I want them to fly under the radar like 2011/2012. Come out of nowhere. I feel safest then. We can cups now, so that options limited. But I feel best when nobody talks about them. They'll be contenders this year as long as everyone stays relatively healthy.

I can't honestly say, tho, until we see what they do on this road trip.

 

[DoktorJeep]

If it weren’t for the off ice drama, star players falling apart and forgetting how to play hockey, and a head coach who wasn’t able to adapt to new challenges, the Kings could have been talked about as contenders for the past few seasons. They are the last team to win a cup not named Penguins or Blackhawks.

Doughty and Quick are the best Goalie / Dman pair on any team in the league. They give this team a favorable chance to get at least one point every night against most teams. They’ve talked about adapting their style of play to attack the net more and so far, they’ve done it.

As for my personal expectations for whether they are a contender, well, I just want them to make the playoffs and continue to get younger on the roster at forward. As a fan, I would rather watch a game where the team ices skilled forwards over those who are better at taking space up on the ice and slowing the play down.

 

[BallPointHammer]

Making the playoffs is the only thing that will convince the hockey world at large that the Kings are a good team, as in the pieces are there to justify continuing to build rather than considering tear down mode.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I'd prefer to 2012 it. Let's not draw any attention. Let Milbury et. al. have their aneurysms and when we fall back to 2nd-3rd place they can talk shit about how we blew the division and are phonies.

No one wants to play against Kopitar-Doughty-Quick in the playoffs. I see a brand new personality in this team. They're relentless again. We'll see how they react when they get punched in the mouth--will they still fearlessly trade chances?--but I have no reason not to have faith in this team right now. Everyone is playing up again, and even the guys having 'bad' performances are better than they were last year (except Andreoff, f*** him).

 

[fsanford]

0 regulation wins in Oct 2016. 5 in 2017.

Maybe schedule a little softer.

But thing is successful teams beat the teams they should beat.

We have yet to play Yotes, Nucks, and yes the Knights.

October wins count the same as March ones

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

0 regulation wins in Oct 2016. 5 in 2017.

Maybe schedule a little softer.

But thing is successful teams beat the teams they should beat.

We have yet to play Yotes, Nucks, and yes the Knights.

October wins count the same as March ones

That's one BIG positive for me. Even if we just beat the teams we're 'supposed' to, how frustrating was it the last few years that we could nearly accurately predict losses repeatedly to lottery teams?

It's obviously going to look different vs. heavy hitters--no one wants to trade chances with McDavid--but I find it encouraging that we're using our talent to out-talent teams we 'should.'

 

[damacles1156]

Ebbs and flows of the season. I wouldn't worry till game 25-30.

 

[Butch 19]

6 games.

We're in.

 

[lumbergh]

Kings currently have the best goal differential in the league at +13 in 7 games. Basically outscoring opponents by nearly two goals a game right now.

Fun stat, after 59 games played by the eight teams in the Pacific division, the Pacific is collectively -11 in goal differential. Good thing our divisions sucks.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

If we win in TO tonight, we're real. If we lose, we're back to "SEE KINGS ARE PHONY" etc.

 

[Cappuccino]

Obviously everybody is thrilled with how the Kings have come out of the gate. With that said the Kings are not being taken seriously as contenders in the Pacific right now (nor should they be). The question I am posing to the group is the title of the thread: How much success will it take for the Kings to be considered contenders? For some clarity, this can be considered two ways. How long will it take Kings fans to believe ... and how long will it take the national media to believe (if ever). Also, your definition of contender may be different from others. For the purposes of this discussion I am thinking significant playoff run.

Some of you may think the Kings are already contenders, some may be waiting for the results of the first road trip, others may think it will take longer. Personally, I think we need to wait until the Chicago game on December third. This covers a full third of the season, a significant road trip, and playing several contenders. If the Kings are continuing to play strong hockey at that point I will have faith in a playoff spot and a significant Stanley Cup run.

What say you?

To be honest, I think the difference between barely missing the playoffs, an early round exit or winning it all is really not that big anymore. Especially for established teams like the Kings, hawks, pens, lightning, caps..

I wouldn't care too much whether the Kings are seen as contenders... once the Kings make the playoffs they can really beat anyone..

 

[Ollie Weeks]

Particularly themselves.

 

[Sol]

As happy as I am, I can never forget 2006??i don't remember what year that the team seemed to die around new years, from like the top of the league to around dead last by end of the season.

I never forgave, and I never forgot.

 

[Chruceg]

As happy as I am, I can never forget 2006??i don't remember what year that the team seemed to die around new years, from like the top of the league to around dead last by end of the season.

I never forgave, and I never forgot.

You make a really good point. I think you are talking about the 05-06 season ... the Jeremy Roenick year. Through the first half they were 25-14-2. Then they proceeded to go 17-21-3 to finish the season. They ended up in 10 place.

Winning two cups in three years may have spoiled us ... let us always remember that this is the Kings we are talking about.

 

[Cappuccino]

As happy as I am, I can never forget 2006??i don't remember what year that the team seemed to die around new years, from like the top of the league to around dead last by end of the season.

I never forgave, and I never forgot.

You should also remember the year they beat every team in California (and also Chicago) in game 7, even after trailing 0-3 sometimes. An earlier round exit could also happen that year...

Did they still not make up for 06?

 

[AlphaBravo]

For me, I have seen enough games to know we are contenders. However, this all depends on if we stay healthy and ultimately get Gaborik back. Even before the season started, I believed that our defense and goaltending are one of the best in the league and good enough to win a cup. My main concern was scoring, and I have seen enough to know that this new style works. Ultimately, if everybody is healthy and back, we could role 3 lethal scoring lines:

Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown
Gaborik-Carter-Cammy
Pearson-Kempe-Toffoli
Andreoff-Shore-Lewis

That will be sick and can go toe-to-toe with any other team's top 3 lines.