Kyle Garcia 
It’s over.
The abysmal 2025-26 season is officially over after the Colorado Avalanche made quick work of the LA Kings yesterday afternoon. For the fifth straight year, and sixth time in nine years, the Kings bowed out in the first round.
It’s been 12 years since the Kings won a playoff round. The last series they won was the 2014 Stanley Cup Final when Alec Martinez‘s rebound goal in double overtime clinched the Kings’ second Stanley Cup title in three seasons.
Since then, it’s been nothing but shortcomings. Outside of the Kings, only two other teams (Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings) haven’t won a playoff round in that time frame. An early offseason awaits the Kings, and more questions than answers loom over the organization.
To see a handful of those questions, let’s dive into them below:
Are they really right there?
The most dreaded words for Kings fans: we were right there. The infamous four words uttered by team president Luc Robitaille during a season-ending media availability after the 2023-24 season weren’t well received by Kings fans.
Two years later, and the question remains, are the Kings indeed ‘right there?’ With five consecutive first-round exits, that is far away from right there. An 8-24 playoff record in six appearances shouldn’t be considered right there; it’s not even close. We’ve seen their style of play be good enough for the regular season, but get exposed against top-notch talent come playoff time.
To make matters worse, over in Anaheim, the Ducks are one win away from eliminating the Edmonton Oilers in the first round after the Kings failed to do so the last four years.
How much longer does ownership let this slide?
Who will be the 1C?
The Kings are about to experience life without Anže Kopitar. The greatest King of all time is officially retired, leaving a glaring hole at the first-line center spot. After 20 years of occupying that spot, someone else will have to fill in those skates left behind by Kopitar.
It’ll be big skates to fill, but somebody will have to fill them. An internal option, and the most logical one, is Quinton Byfield (the option I think they should go with). The Kings drafted him to be Kopitar’s heir apparent, but he hasn’t popped offensively yet. We’ve seen streaks here and there, but now is the time to put up more offensive numbers with Artemi Panarin and Adrian Kempe flanking him on the wings.
But what if they go a different route? The free agent class isn’t glamoring, so the Kings would have to go the trade route, with limited assets to trade, if they want to get a 1C (hello, Auston Matthews and Robert Thomas if they are available) and don’t believe Byfield can take the reins. This is the biggest thing to watch for this offseason.
What to do with an aging and ineffective defensive core?
The Kings haven’t doubled, tripled, or quadrupled down on the idea of signing big, physical defenseman with limited upside and mobility, especially on the left side. In fact, they have quintupled (five) down on it.
The philosophy of not having many puck-movers on the backend to initiate breakouts to offense has been one of Los Angeles’ Achilles heels. With that mindset, they have the trio of Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin, and Joel Edmundson making a combined $12,350,00 for the next two seasons with a modified 10-team no-trade list (according to Puckpedia) on the wrong side of their 30s.
Ken Holland was brought in to make this team closer to a contender, and the Kings have moved away from that threshold rather than closer. Can he get out of a situation he helped make worse?
What will the goaltending situation look like?
If you want to look on the bright side, the value of the Kings’ prospect pool comes in the net. Carter George, Erik Portillo, and Hampton Slukynsky are waiting in the wings, but one problem persists: a logjam.
The Kings have Anton Forsberg and Darcy Kuemper under contract for next season. Forsberg played solidly down the stretch of the season and in the playoffs, while Kuemper’s numbers took a hit.
For the last four seasons, the Kings have had Pheonix Copley, David Rittich, and Kuemper play extremely well in net, but come back down to earth the following season. Forsberg is on a team-friendly deal, but expecting Kuemper to bounce back at age 36 with his history of injury isn’t realistic.
Running it back in net shouldn’t be an option, so I’m curious to see what Holland does there.
New head coach?
The Kings fired Jim Hiller and appointed DJ Smith as the interim coach to keep afloat a sinking ship and guide them to the playoffs. Although Smith did a good job of reaching the goal of making the playoffs, the Kings should look outside the organization for their new bench boss (or perhaps give Ontario Reign Head Coach Andrew Lord some consideration).
Bruce Cassidy, recently fired by the Vegas Golden Knights, is a name Kings fans will have at the top of their wishlist, but who will be for the Kings?
Featured image credit: AP/Scott Strazzante
Great article !!!! If ownership had any spine whatsoever, the news we would have gotten Monday morning is “The Kings have released Luc Robataille from his duties as President”. No where in hockey, or even sports as a whole does a team make lose in the 1st round 5 times in a row and still have a job. I am perplexed after 2 seasons, let alone 5 that Robataille still had a job. We need new leaders in the organization almost from top to bottom with young, forward thinking executives with a clear understanding of how teams win in the new NHL. Seriously, what is wrong with our ownership group ??????