Cleverly Named Sports Blog: October 2014

One week from today, the 2014-15 NHL season will get under way. With that in mind, let's profile the team that's won two of the last three Stanley Cups: the Los Angeles Kings.

Starting Up: After nearly 25 years of being a six-team league, the NHL expanded to twelve teams before the 1967-68 season. Jack Kent Cooke, a businessman with a history of sports ownership (he also owned the Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Redskins at points in his life) paid the NHL two-million dollars to set up a team in L.A. The Kings' original colors were purple (dubbed "forum blue") and gold, the same colors of Cooke's Lakers.

Along with the Oakland Seals (later the California Golden Seals and Cleveland Barons before disbanding), the Kings were the first NHL team to be based in southern California, an atypical hockey market for sure, what with the whole warm temperatures and no snow thing. Cooke, who was Canadian and a big hockey fan, saw no problem with placing the team within spitting distance of most movie sets. He justified the placement with the fact that many people from big hockey areas like the northeast portion of the United States and Canada now lived in the area. Of course when the Kings ran into attendance problems a few years later, Cooke snarked that all those people moved to SoCal because "they hated hockey".

The Kings have followed the lead of the other Los Angeles based sports teams of the past. Their original colors matched the Lakers' and their later change to silver and black matched the Raiders, who were playing in Los Angeles at the time. The Kings have also shared the same arena as the Lakers for their entire history, playing at the Forum and then the Staples Center just like their basketball cousins. The two teams also shared the same owner for the Kings' first twenty years, first with Jack Kent Cooke, then with Jerry Buss, until Buss sold the Kings to Bruce McNall in 1988, breaking the cycle.

For those of you who are curious, here are the Kings' primary logos through the years:

Greatest Runs

A Perfectly Acceptable Team (1973-1982): Here's what you should know about most of the Kings' history- it's bad. They went years, even decades of not really amounting to much in the grand scheme of things. So the fact that they made the playoffs in nine straight years (a team record that still stands) from 1974 to 1982 should be commended, even if those teams weren't great and only advanced past their first series three times.

There were highlights though. The team accumulated 105 points (most points in Kings history) in 1974-75. The later teams in this window also featured the famed Triple Crown Line of Marcel Dione, Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer, one of the highest scoring and exciting lines in NHL history.

The 1982 team also made the biggest comeback in NHL playoff history in Game 3 of their first round series against the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers led 5-0 going into the third and final period, but the Kings miraculously scored five goals in the final period of regulation to force overtime. The Kings ended up winning the game 6-5 and won the series overall three games to two. Game 3 of that series has since been dubbed the Miracle on Manchester and is fully a part of NHL lore.

The Great One Goes Hollywood (1988-1993): Wayne Gretzky, probably the biggest star in hockey history, was traded from the Oilers to the Kings before the 1988-89 season (an act that no Canadian will ever be allowed to forget). To explain what a gigantic deal this was, it would have been like if Michael Jordan got traded to the Toronto Raptors. The single most popular athlete in the sport at the time going to a team that not only had a history of being mediocre or worse, but is in another country all together, taking him away from his home country's people in a way.

The Kings changed their uniforms from purple and gold to silver and black to mark the occasion of snagging the Great One and Gretzky immediately brought credibility and interest in a team that had sorely lacked it for most of its history. From the 1988 season to 1989, the Kings went from a fourth place team that accumulated 68 points to a second place team with 91 points. From 1989 to 1993, they failed to advance past their first series just once. The Kings also won the only division title in team history in 1991 and went to their first Stanley Cup Finals in 1993 (they lost to the Montreal Canadiens in five games).

Gretzky's presence did more than just make the Kings relevant- number 99 playing in Los Angeles is credited for adding renewed interest in hockey in California. A few years later, the NHL added two more California teams, the San Jose Sharks and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and today there are quite a few California-born players at the NHL level, something that would've been unthinkable 25 years ago.

Kings Get Crowned (2011-Present): After 45 years, the Kings finally won their first championship in 2012. But the road to that championship took many twists and turns. For one thing, the team fired coach Terry Murray after 29 games and searched for a replacement while John Stevens coached in the interim. The team finally hired Darryl Sutter and the team went 25-13-11 the rest of the way, good for 61 points. For comparison's sake, the team went 15-14-4 prior to Sutter's hire (34 points).

That performance managed to snag the Kings the eighth and final seed in the playoffs and a likely early exit from postseason play (eighth seeds don't generally do well against the best teams in the conference). Not only did the Kings NOT lose, they won in dominating fashion. They beat the President's Trophy-winning Vancouver Canucks in five games in the first round, swept the second-seeded St. Louis Blues in the second round and dispatched the Phoenix Coyotes in the conference finals in five games. The Kings made it to the Stanley Cup Finals while only losing TWO games.

Even though it took them six games to beat the New Jersey Devils, the series really wasn't all that close. The Kings had a 3-0 series record before the Devils won the next two games. The Kings outscored the Devils 16-8 in the series and only one of their loses was by more than one goal. They also destroyed the Devils in the sixth game, beating them on home ice 6-1 to win the cup.

The The Kings won the cup in just 20 games, tied with several other teams for second fewest ever since the NHL went with seven-game series through all four rounds of the playoffs in 1987. The team also made the conference finals the next year before losing to the eventual-champions the Chicago Blackhawks. The 2014 Kings won the cup for the second time in three years in 26 games, the most ever for a cup winning team, effectively making them the exact opposite of the 2012 team (they were also the first team in NHL history to get to the finals after playing in three consecutive Game 7s).

In case you need it spelled out further, this current period is the best in Kings history.

Leanest Years

Troubled Beginnings (1967-1973): The Kings followed the usual role of an expansion team in any sport by being terrible when they started out. But their terribleness was masked somewhat thanks to the way the NHL was set up at the time.

Starting with the 1967-68 season, the NHL was split into two divisions- the East and West. The East Division was made up of the Original Six teams (the Bruins, Black Hawks, Red Wings, Canadiens, Rangers and Maple Leafs). Okay, that doesn't sound too strange. Those teams are all eastern-based teams anyway.

The "West" Division on the other hand was made up of the NHL's expansion franchises. The Kings were part of the West Division along with other "western" based teams like the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. The playoffs were also separated by division as well, so for the first three years from 1968 to 1970, the winner of the eastern playoffs would face off against the winner of the western playoffs in the Stanley Cup Finals. Or in other words, the eastern playoff winner would win the Stanley Cup since, you know, they'd excised for more than a couple years at that point.

Despite being placed in a division with five other teams also starting from square one, the Kings still struggled mightily to make the playoffs after their first two seasons (it should be noted that the Kings made it within a series of the 1969 Stanley Cup Finals, but reread the above paragraph to understand how not a big deal that really was). The Kings ranked in the bottom half of the West-Expansion Division in four straight seasons from 1970 to 1973, including finishing dead last twice. The 1969-70 team only accumulated 38 points in 76 games (!), making them the worst Kings team in history by a pretty significant margin.

All told, the bottom ten teams in Kings history in terms of points percentage (or winning percentage) features four (!!!) teams from this period. No wonder no one went to the games.

Money, They Don't Have Any (1993-1997): Even though the team had the best player in the world in Wayne Gretzky, the rest of the team wasn't doing so hot, thanks in no large part to the fiasco then-owner Bruce McNall put them in.

A few months after their appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, McNall defaulted on a loan and was forced to sell the team. As it turned out, McNall, who had been committing fraud on an almost comical scale for the better part of the previous decade, had put the Kings in dire financial straits with his big spending. The team was very near bankrupt even after they were sold, and had to get rid of most of their best players because they couldn't pay them.

With that rosy picture in mind, it's no surprise that the Kings bottomed out, raking up just 66 points in 84 games in the 1993-94 season. The team would miss the playoffs in four straight seasons and failed to crack 70 points in any of those years (the 1994-95 season was reduced to 48 games after a lockout, but the Kings were still bad in the context of the short year, accumulating only 41 points).

As a final cherry on top of the shit sundae, Gretzky was traded away to the St. Louis Blues near the end of the 1995-96 season for a ton of picks and players when he pretty much asked out of the team. When you've lost Gretzky, you've lost hockey.

Remarkably Bad (2002-2009): The Kings managed to find new ways to be bad in the new millennium. The team missed the playoffs in six straight seasons from 2003 to 2009 (the 2005 season was cancelled due to the lockout), the longest playoff drought in team history.

The Kings never finished higher than third in the Pacific Division and finished dead last two years in a row from 2008 to 2009. 2007 was particularly bad, with the team accumulating just 68 points. For reference, since the league resumed play after the 2004-05 season was canceled, only sixteen teams have failed to crack 70 points in an 82 game season. Only the Phoenix Coyotes and the Philadelphia Flyers (who were historically bad that year) finished with worse records.

Names You Should Know

Butch Goring: A good player for the Kings in their early years. Goring played for the Kings all through the 70s and scored at least 50 points nine times, including his career high of 87 in 1979. He still ranks in the top ten in team history in goals, assists and points. Goring also won both the Byng and Masterton Trophies in 1978 (both of which have to do with a player's character, sportsmanship and perseverance, so if ever there was an NHL player worthy of a top hat, it's Goring).

For neat little trivia note, Goring later won four Stanley Cups with the New York Islanders dynasty of the early 80s (he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy, the playoff MVP award, after the 1981 Finals) and according to his teammate Mike Bossy, Goring apparently invented the concept of the playoff beard in sports during those runs. So you can blame Goring for the 2013 Red Sox.

Rogie Vachon: Another early star of the Kings and until recently, the premier goalie in team history. Vachon raked up 32 shutouts over his six complete seasons in Los Angeles (still a team record as of this writing, although Jonathan Quick has 31), including a career high eight in 1977. Vachon made two NHL All-Star Lists on the second team (the Lists are different from the All-Star Game, they're essentially the All-NHL teams) and went to three All-Star Games with the Kings. He was also the first player in Kings history to have his number retired (no King will ever again where the number 30). All in all, pretty great career.

Marcel Dionne: One of the most potent scorers in NHL history. Dionne is the career leader in Kings history in both points and assists, and second in goals scored. He also ranks fifth all-time in points, tenth in assists and fourth in goals scored across hockey. Um, holy shit.

To further explain Dionne's scoring ability, here's some context. There are 105 players in NHL history to have scored 100 points in a season. There are only 18 who have done it at least five times. Dionne did it eight times, good for third most in history behind Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Hot damn!

Dionne was a legitimate superstar on the Kings. Aside from being the centerpiece for the Triple Crown Line, Dionne went to seven of his eight All-Star Games while on the Kings and made four All-Star Lists. He was the first Kings player to win a major award, taking home the Byng Trophy twice in 1975 and 1977, the Lindsay Award (the NHLPA's award for best player) in 1979 and the Art Ross Trophy (goes to the top point scorer that year) in 1980.

Dionne was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992 as a player, becoming the first member of the hall of fame to be inducted while spending a significant portion of his career as a King. His number 16 jersey was also retired by the team.

Dave Taylor: Another member of the Triple Crown Line. Taylor went to four All-Star Games and made one All-Star List in his 17 year career. Taylor is also the only member of the Triple Crown Line who spent his entire career with the Kings, lasting from the late 70s to the mid 90s (he's also the only member of the Triple Crown Line to have made it to the Stanley Cup Finals). Taylor is currently locked at third in Kings history in goals, assists and points. His number 18 jersey was retired by the team.

Bernie Nicholls: A good scorer in Kings history. Nicholls has the distinction of scoring the most goals in a single season in Kings history with 70 in 1988-89, his last full season with the team. Considering this team once had Marcel Dione AND Wayne Gretzky on it at one time and they each never scored that many for the team, that's a pretty great feather in the cap for Nicholls. Nicholls went to three All-Star Games in his career, two with the Kings and is one of the few players in Kings history to be in the top ten scoring lists in team history not named Dionne or Gretzky.

Luc Robitaille: The best goal scorer in Kings history. Robitaille had three stints on the team across 14 of his 19 seasons, scoring 557 goals as a King, seven more than Marcel Dionne. Only Dionne scored more points overall in Kings history. Robitaille is also twelfth on the all-time goals scored list with 668.

Robitaille was on the All-Rookie Team (1st Team) in 1986-87 and made seven straight All-Star Lists to begin his career (he made it on eight total). He is the only Kings player in history to win the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year). He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player in 2009 and his number 20 jersey was retired by the team.

Wayne Gretzky: The Great One! Simply put, the greatest scorer in NHL history. Gretzky is not only the all-time leader in points, goals and assists, he's the leader by significant margins. He had 894 goals (93 more than second place Gordie Howe), 1,963 assists (714 more than second place Ron Francis) and he is the only player in history to score more than 2,000 points with an ungodly 2,857 (nearly 1,000 more than second place Mark Messier). Jesus Christ, holy shit and everything in between!

Listing all of Gretzky's accomplishments would take way, way too long, so let's just focus on what he did as a King and if I ever get to looking at the Oilers, I'll go over the rest then. He spent nearly eight seasons with the Kings and is in the top six all-time in team history in goals, assists and points. Of his 18 All-Star Game appearances (in 21 seasons- once again, Jesus...), seven were as a King. He made four All-Star Lists as a King (one quarter of his total, across the NHL and WHA). He won three Art Ross Trophies (of ten) and one of nine Hart Memorial Trophies (League MVP) in Los Angeles. And as mentioned above, he was instrumental in bringing renewed interest to hockey in California and the United States in general.

As a last batch of honors, Gretzky was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player immediately following his retirement in 1999. He is one of just ten players in history to have the waiting period for induction waved and he will be the last. The Hall said they're no longer doing that. Fitting considering Gretzky's records and accomplishments probably won't be matched for decades, perhaps centuries.

Finally, Gretzky is the only player to have his number retired league wide in NHL history. He's just the second player to have that honor bestowed in American professional sports history after Jackie Robinson in baseball. So yeah, there will never be another number 99 in the NHL again (for a wide variety of reasons). Best hockey player ever? Best hockey player ever.

Rob Blake: One of the best defensemen in Kings history. Blake played more games for the Kings than any other D-man (805) and is the only D-man to win the Norris Trophy (given to the best defenseman that season) as a King. He was 1st Team All-Rookie in 1991 and three of his four All-Star List appearances came as a King. Four of his seven All-Star Game appearances came as a King, too. Blake was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame this year as a player in the class of 2014 and his number 4 jersey will be retired this January.

Andy Murray: The winningest coach in Kings history. Murray coached the Kings for a record 480 games from 1999 to 2006 and won 215 games in that time. There's really not a whole lot to add to that unfortunately. The Kings made the playoffs in his first three seasons at the helm and made it out of the first round once. The rest of his tenure pointed the Kings closer to the shit team they became for much of the decade, a fate they didn't escape until they finally won the cup in 2012. And to make matters worse, he won fewer playoff games (10) than Barry Melrose (13), and Melrose won all of his in 1993 whereas Murray had three chances. More than likely, Murray won't be the winningest coach for too many more seasons.

Lubomir Visnovsky: One of the better players for the Kings during the dog days of the 2000s. Visnovsky made the All-Rookie team (1st Team) in 2001 and went to his only All-Star Game as a King in 2007. There's really not much more to add. He was a solid player during a squishy time for the Kings.

Five Current Guys You Should Know

Anze Kopitar: Definitely one of the most underrated members of the current Kings. Kopitar has thus far been a good player (he's scored 70 or more points in a full 82 game season five times in his seven chances) and has gone to two All-Star Games. However, it's the playoffs where he's truly left his mark.

In both of the Kings' Stanley Cup runs in 2012 and 2014, Kopitar led or tied all players in goals once and assists and points twice. In fact, he's currently third on the Kings' all-time playoff assists and points list. While he hasn't been awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to this point in his career, he's put up numbers in two playoff runs that are certainly worthy of the award.

Jonathan Quick: A great goalie that will likely, or already has surpassed Rogie Vachon as best in team history. Quick had a fantastic 2012 postseason which ended with him earning the Conn Smythe Trophy. He had a 94.6 save percentage, leading all playoff goalies and is a record for goalies in a single postseason with at least 500 shots against. Quick has also amassed nine shutouts in the playoffs so far, tied for first with Henrik Lundqvist since the 2005 lockout.

While he hasn't played as well consistently since 2012, he was still good in the other playoff runs. The 705 shots he faced in the 2014 postseason was the third most in playoff history since they started keeping tabs on the stat in 1983-84 and he still managed a good, but impressive considering the context 91.1 save percentage. Quick has so far been selected to one All-Star Game during 2012 (his best season overall so far), but who knows, he could go to many more in the future.

Drew Doughty: The anchor of the stellar Kings defense. The Kings have been in the top ten in goals against every year of Doughty's career except for his first (they were first this past year and second in 2012 when they won their first championship). He was selected 1st Team All-Rookie in 2009 and made an All-Star List in 2010. He also tied teammate Anze Kopitar in assists in the 2012 postseason. This coming season will be his age 25 season and several reports say that Doughty will only get better over time. Considering what he's done so far in his career, that's a pretty scary proposition.

Jeff Carter: Coming to the team in a trade during the 2012 season, Carter gave the Kings an offensive shot in the arm upon his arrival in SoCal. He was tied for the playoff lead in goals in 2012 and was tied for second in points scored in the playoffs in 2014. While he hasn't shown up as much in the regular season (Drew Doughty, a defensemen mind you, has led the team in scoring twice since Carter's arrival), Carter still has shown that his offense will awaken at the right moments.

Darryl Sutter: The most successful coach in the history of the franchise. Sutter became the Kings' all-time leader in playoff wins when they won the Cup in 2012 and has kept padding that stat since. He currently has 41 wins, trouncing Berry Melrose at second with 13. The Kings have gotten to at least the Western Conference Finals since he assumed his place behind the glass and, obviously, won two Stanley Cups in three seasons, two more than any other Kings coach before him. That kind of good will leads to some good job security, so even though Sutter's 98 regular season wins are quite behind Andy Murray's 215, two Cups in three years means he'll likely break that record in the next few seasons or so.

***

That'll do it. Will the Kings reclaim their throne atop the NHL for the third time in four years? I dunno. Maybe. They could. It's realistic is what I'm saying. Okay, article over.

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