Will The LA Kings Finally Wear The Crown?

If you asked me that question a few years ago, I roll on the floor killing myself laughing but the LA Kings have actually built a Stanley Cup contender. All those miserable seasons are finally starting to pay off. 2 years ago the Kings were one of the young dark horse teams that only the hockey nerds thought would make the playoffs, and sure enough they did finishing 6th in the Western Conference with 101pt and a first round date with the Vancouver Canucks. It was a very entertaining series but in the end the Canucks were too strong for the Kings and finished them off in 6 games. Then came the offseason. Ilya Kovalchuk, one of the leagues best goal scorers, was on the free agent market and the Kings were one of the major suitors for his services. It was widely accepted that he would be getting paid upwards of $100M in total and the Kings had the money to spend. It was also widely accepted that it was a 2 horse race for Kovalchuk, the Kings, and the team he was traded to during that season, the New Jersey Devils. Some speculated that Devils GM, Lou Lamoriello wouldn't pay Kovalchuk that kind of money because he is known for not throwing money at any free agents. There were reports all throughout the first week of free agency that Kovalchuk signed in LA, that he signed in New Jersey, even him signing in the Russian pro-league the KHL but nothing had actually happened (except visiting LA) then came reports that Kings GM, Dean Lombardi had pulled out of the Kovalchuk sweepstakes leaving the Devils the clear-cut front runner but the roller coaster ride was far from over. The Devils had reportedly signed Kovalchuk to a contract worth $102M over 17 years but the league didn't like that so they rejected it because it "circumvented the salary cap" (Yes, they actually said that...) So Kovalchuk was a free agent again and the Kings were (reportedly) back in the race. It wouldn't matter as the Devils eventually signed Kovalchuk to a (non-circumventing) $100M 15-year deal. So Dean Lombardi needed an insurance policy so he went out and signed former Maple Leaf and Penguin forward Alexei Ponikarovsky. Going into the 2010-2011 season the Kings were expected to make the leap into Cup contender status and they sure started off that way going 14-3 in their first 17 games including a win over the New Jersey Kovalchuks Devils. Then they started to round off before going on a bit of a slump. The roller coaster season continued when the Kings traded for Edmonton Oiler (and eating king) Dustin Penner. Finally giving the Kings a first line left winger for star center Anze Kopitar. At first it looked like it was working out but when Kopitar got hurt and lost the rest of his season and 2nd line winger Justin Williams got hurt as well and it looked like all hope was lost on a Kings deep playoff run. They made the playoffs finishing 7th with 97pts. But Kings fans were given hope in the fact that their 1st round match-up was vs the perennial playoff choking San Jose Sharks but even that wasn't enough as the Kings went out in 6 games again including 3 OT losses with one of them coming on an epic collapse in which they had a 4-0 lead and lost 6-5. Many speculate that if Kopitar was there the Kings win that series, but lets not get into a game of "what if's". So going into the offseason the Kings' main priorities were signing young star defenseman Drew Doughty and getting a real 2nd line center. Well they addressed that in a BIG way trading for great 2way center Mike Richards from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for top prospect Brayden Schenn, young power forward Wayne Simmonds and a pick. Then the Kings were aggressive to sign coveted free agent Brad Richards bringing out all of the top brass in the organization and a presentation that included video messages from Wayne Gretzky and Kobe Bryant. In the end B. Richards signed with the New York Rangers. the team everyone expected him to sign with. There were even rumours that they would trade for New Jersey star forward Zach Parise but that hasn't happened... yet. And after trading veteran forward Ryan Smyth to Edmonton for Colin Fraser and a pick they signed another veteran, Simon Gagne, to replace him. So as of right now here are my line predictions for the LA Kings.
1st Line:
Dustin Penner - Anze Kopitar - Justin Williams
2nd Line:
Simon Gagne - Mike Richards - Dustin Brown
3rd Line:
Kyle Clifford - Jarret Stoll - Scott Parse
4th Line:
Brad Richardson - Trevor Lewis - Kevin Westgarth

BUBBLE FORWARDS: Colin Fraser and Andrei Loktionov

This looks like a tremendous forward group if Penner can regain his form and the new pieces can gel with the returning forwards and they should be fine. My favorite line is the Gagne/Richards/Brown line simply because Richards and Brown will end worlds with how well they hit. Teams must keep their heads up when those 2 are on the ice.
Now on to the defense.

1st defensive pairing:
Drew Doughty - Rob Scuderi
2nd defensive pairing:
Jack Johnson - Matt Greene
3rd defensive pairing:
Willie Mitchell - Alec Martinez

BUBBLE DEFENSEMEN: Davis Drewiske and many defensive prospects in AHL.
I fully expect Drew Doughty to re-sign and turn it around from last year. He plays well with Rob Scuderi and they should be paired together. The Kings are set if any of these guys get hurt for a long period of time as they have insane defensive prospect depth in the AHL.
Goaltenders on the way:

Starter:
Jonathan Quick
Back-up:
Jonathan Bernier
This is one of the best young goalie tandems in the NHL. Quick nearly stole games in the playoffs vs San Jose last year while Bernier has the potential to be a very, very good goalie. This is a very good problem to have for the Kings organization.

Season/Playoff Prediction: 2nd in the Western Conference and Conference Finals loss.
Thanks for reading!