The Los Angeles Kings will be competing in a slightly altered division for the season, with three new teams entering their division. Leading up to the start of the season, I’ll be looking at how the Kings’ roster compares to each team in the West Division.
We’ve already released five articles in this series, which you can read here:
In today’s article, we’ll focus on a comparison between the Kings and the St. Louis Blues.
FORWARDS
The Blues have a very solid forward group, headlined by Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron, Brayden Schenn, Jaden Schwartz, Robert Thomas and now, Mike Hoffman. Despite Vladimir Tarasenko’s injury, the Blues are set up front.
While the Kings have multiple key prospects who could join the team throughout the season, the core of the forward group isn’t strong enough right now. Anze Kopitar remains Los Angeles’ top forward but there aren’t enough pieces around him and as a result, the Blues still have an advantage up front.
Advantage: Blues
DEFENSE
Even with Alex Pietrangelo heading to Vegas, Torey Krug is a big addition for the Blues. Colton Parayko is ready for a larger role, while Justin Faulk should bounce back with a better opportunity as well. Marco Scandella has provided defensive stability since arriving in St. Louis, while Robert Bortuzzo, Vince Dunn and Carl Gunnarson make the Blues a deep team defensively. The Kings don’t have that experience and given the lack of experience within the team’s defense group, Drew Doughty will be relied upon to carry too much of the load again.
Advantage: Blues
GOALTENDING
Though the Blues traded Jake Allen, Jordan Binnington will remain a solid starter for the Blues. We can expect Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen to split time this season but neither is likely to be a solid starter for the Kings. Binnington may have had just a .912 save percentage last season but he’s still likely to provide St. Louis with better goaltending that what the Kings may get.
Advantage: Blues
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you think the Kings will finish ahead of the Blues in the standings this season?
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