Bobby Kittleberger: Predicting Stats for the LA Kings First Forward Line & Defensive Pairing In the first of three articles, I predict statistics for the LA Kings top line and top defensive pairing for the 2018-2019 season.

Looks reasonable

Looks good except for Brown. He had 1 good season out of the last 4 and those seasons he was bad in, he was really bad. He is a huge ? compared to Kovy. If the Brown from last year shows up then I agree with your prediction but if the Brown from the 3 years before last season shows up then the he will be on the 3rd or 4th line.

It's nice to have someone who understands that having more offensive options tends to spread the points around, not contribute to career years. A lot of people would look at Carter being healthy and Kovalchuk replacing Iafallo on the top line and assume that Kopitar would have another career year to match or even exceed last year, but it doesn't usually work like that. He'll likely regress toward the mean this year, which probably means Kopitar returning to his just-shy-of-a-PPG average, so your 76-point prediction seems perfect to me.

I'm a little confused by your Brown prediction, though. You suggested that you don't see him having another career year, but you've predicted him to increase his point total by 3 points. You evidently meant in terms of goals, but 64 points would be the most for him in his entire NHL career, so that would have to be a career year, even if it's largely from assists. Like Kopitar, I see him regressing toward his mean and ending up with something more like 50 points, give or take... assuming that he spends the whole year on the top line again. You could argue that it'll be unavoidable for him to rack up the assists while playing with Kopitar and Kovalchuk, but Iafallo sure proved that points aren't a given.

Muzzin will not be posting his average!
He will put up 46 - 50 if he’s along side Doughty! They should of never separated them a couple years back. They balance each other out!

Muzzin will not be posting his average!
He will put up 46 - 50 if he’s along side Doughty! They should of never separated them a couple years back. They balance each other out!
- bpaton4

Why do you think that Muzzin will put up a career year of 46-50 points alongside Doughty when he's played with him several times before and not put up more than 41? That was also while getting #1 PP unit time and there's a chance that he'll be dropped to the #2 unit this year so that Doughty can feed Kovalchuk for one timers at the top of the circles, instead. If that happens, Muzzin will lose a large chunk of his points, making Bobby's prediction of 36 points look pretty realistic.

I do agree that they balance each other out, though. In fact, once Doughty stopped having to balance out Muzzin, he won the Norris

Jake was 25 years old the last time he was with Doughty full time and had just over 40 points. He’s now 29, more mature, and LA is probably the best team on paper (if healthy) since the season jake put those points up. If this team stays healthy and Jake is with Doughty full time you will e his best season yet. Call me crazy, but jake also had the best Corsi the years he was full time with Doughty... The year they won it and a couple others.

It's nice to have someone who understands that having more offensive options tends to spread the points around, not contribute to career years. A lot of people would look at Carter being healthy and Kovalchuk replacing Iafallo on the top line and assume that Kopitar would have another career year to match or even exceed last year, but it doesn't usually work like that. He'll likely regress toward the mean this year, which probably means Kopitar returning to his just-shy-of-a-PPG average, so your 76-point prediction seems perfect to me.

I'm a little confused by your Brown prediction, though. You suggested that you don't see him having another career year, but you've predicted him to increase his point total by 3 points. You evidently meant in terms of goals, but 64 points would be the most for him in his entire NHL career, so that would have to be a career year, even if it's largely from assists. Like Kopitar, I see him regressing toward his mean and ending up with something more like 50 points, give or take... assuming that he spends the whole year on the top line again. You could argue that it'll be unavoidable for him to rack up the assists while playing with Kopitar and Kovalchuk, but Iafallo sure proved that points aren't a given.
- Osprey

Hey man, thanks for pointing this out. I went ahead and changed it. I can see him coming close to those numbers again, but he should be under 60 pts.

Muzzin will not be posting his average!
He will put up 46 - 50 if he’s along side Doughty! They should of never separated them a couple years back. They balance each other out!
- bpaton4