Preseason Preview: Los Angeles Kings

It's time for another Preseason Preview. This is where we check out the teams going into the season.

Now, the Los Angeles Kings.

Team M.O.: Young and scrappy, the L.A. Kings have been trying to find a direction for a few seasons now since they've been playoff-less since the 2001-02 season. They had the misfortune of acquiring the wrong players to try and carry the load (like Dan Cloutier) but with their top-end prospects becoming solid NHL players and many surprise revelations with their depth prospects, these guys might make some serious noise this season.

Last Season: Last in the division and second last in the conference, a lot of their young offensive players took something of a step back last season. Yet with Jonathan Quick showing the ability to lead a goaltending platoon with Erik Ersberg, the Kings have something to hope for.

Offense: As I alluded to earlier, Anze Kopitar, Alexander Frolov, and Dustin Brown all took a productive step in the wrong direction last season, so they'll need to prove that it was merely a setback due to maturing at the NHL level. Ryan Smyth was brought in through trade and should provide a solid second-line presense along with Jarret Stoll and Michal Hanzus. Wayne Simmonds emerged as a solid checking option while Ratis Ivanans will continue to police the team while getting into as many games as possible. The team could do well from a top-six perspective, so they may wish to add some checking presence before the team so they don't have to lean so much on their emerging forwards to handle that.

Defense: This group of defenders may be some of the youngest playing at the NHL level. Drew Doughty compiled 21 points in his rookie season while Jack Johnson scored 11 points in 46 games (the same total he had in 71 games the prior season) showing promise of maturing despite missing close to half the season with a shoulder surgery. The team acquired Rob Scuderi through free agency so expect he and Sean O'Donnell to provide a solid defensive presence on the blue line. Now O'Donnell might not be as aggressive as he was last season, but that's not a problem with Matt Greene around. The team could use another NHL defender (maybe two) to tack onto their squad, especially now that Kyle Quincey is gone and that everyone else on the depth chart still has rookie eligibility. Marc-Andre Bergeron still needs a job, but Mathieu Schneider might take a discount to play at home. We'll see.

Goaltending: While all the hockey analysts were swooning over Kings prospect Jonathan Bernier, Jonathan Quick and Erik Ersberg have come out of almost no where to provide the team with goaltending so solid that they waived veteran Jason Labarbara to keep that tandem together. They're efficient, young, and dangerous. L.A. fans need to hope that they can continue to evolve and cooperate in a tandem to provide the team with the optimum result.

Expectations: The team needs at least another NHL defender to even be considered a threat in the division, let alone the conference. If they manage to grab one though, these guys need to see the situation of Dallas and San Jose (who's stock could be falling) and the Coyotes' situation and capitalize on it each and every game so they can make it to the playoffs. Otherwise, they're going to have another early season, leaving the fans in L.A. further disenfranchised.