Arizona Coyotes

L.A Kings Still One of the Best Teams, Despite Elimination
April 3, 2017, 12:39 PM ET [107 Comments]
James Tanner
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It was a sunny and/or rainy day in Phoenix. The birds were presumably chirping. Howler was a howling and the Coyotes were getting ready to Coyote.


It was a game against the L.A Kings. Also, it was in Los Angeles, so forget all that stuff I said before about the whether in Phoenix. The Kings were hosting the Coyotes and they had recently come to grips with their not making the Playoffs.


All they needed was a loss to the Coyotes and it would be officially over.

The Kings are a weird study.

Two years ago, they missed the Playoffs, even though if you looked at their peripheral stats, you'd have thought they were one of the best teams in the NHL.

And, considering that they had won two of the three previous Stanley Cups, you'd have been right. Bad luck is a real thing, and in a professional league with a salary cap, there just isn't much difference between teams to start with. That means that a little bad luck goes along way.



The L.A Kings, legitimately one of the best teams in the NHL, and the defending Champs, missed the Playoffs.

Last year, they got back in. They faced the eventual Cup Finalists the Sharks and got a taste of their own medicine - i.e they were knocked out by a division rival who was also a heavy contender for the crown.

They lost three one goal games. Despite it all, they were one of the best teams in the NHL.

Now, the year is 2017, we're basically post-apocalyptic here, the only guy who's a bigger loser than Dog the Bounty hunter, is in charge of the free world, so you should be prepared for crazy things happening.

And here's a crazy thing: Even though the last three years has seen them miss the Playoff twice and go out in the first round, the L.A Kings are still one of the best teams in the NHL.

It's unlikely, but bad luck can befall the same franchise multiple times. Hell, they needed good luck to win those two Cups, so this is just a balancing out.

Make no mistake, with Muzzin, Doughty, Kopitar, Carter and Daryl Suter behind the bench, the Kings are an awesome team. They should be in the playoffs.

Kopitar remains one of the absolute best players in the NHL. Doughty and Muzzin are among the best D. Carter is one of the NHL's best goalscorers. (Oh, and if he doesn't go ice-cold, they make it despite the luck thing).

I'm sorry, but if you lead the league in shots-against and are the fifth best in shots-taken, while being the NHL's best possession team, you are a good team.

And just because it happened twice isn't an argument against it being true.



The LA Kings have a team 5v5 shooting percentage of 6.05%.

That is the lowest in the NHL. They have fourth lowest PDO.

PDO measures luck, and the teams with the hightest PDO: WSH, CLBS, MN, NYR, EDM, PGH.

The LA Kings should not only be in the Playoffs, but, as the best team in their division, they should have home-ice advantage and be one of the main threats to represent the West in the Finals.

Instead they'll be at home and their owner will probably do the dumbest thing possible and fire the coach and maybe even the GM.

OH, the final score was Coyotes 2 Kings 1..........Go 'Yotes!!