THE KINGS DYNASTY

The Kings are a modern ( Cap era) NHL dynasty and are 1 Stanley Cup away from being a dynasty in any era. The Kings have won 2 Cups in 3 years and went to the semifinals the other year. There have been 5 great teams in the post lockout era. The Penguins, Bruins, Blackhawks, Red Wings and Kings, of those teams only the Blackhawks have equaled the Kings 2 Cups. The Penguins and bruins have owned the Eastern Conferences regular seasons but have only 1 Cup apiece. The Red Wings started the Cup era on top and have maintained a playoff presence for the last decade but are not in the same class as the other 4 teams I mentioned.

The Kings have the best goaltender in hockey and certainly the best goaltender of the elite teams. Jonathan Quick is an amazing big game performer. Lunqvist maybe just as good but the Rangers are only a better than average team. Rask and Crawford are steady but not spectacular and Fluery can be spectacular but not always steady. Quick’s back up Martin Jones is no slouch either letting Quick take a breather in the regular season.

The Kings Drew Doughty is the best defenseman in hockey. He’s Kris Letang with a brain and 40lbs. Both the Blackhawks and the Bruins have Norris trophy caliber D men at the top of their 6 ( Duncan Keith, Zdeno Chara) but fall off sharply at the bottom of their 6 ( ancient Michael Rosival, midget Tory Krug). Every King defensemen 1-6 is tough, fast enough and good enough with the puck. Some are better than other but with the exception of Greene , a heart and soul guy, they’re all top 4 on every other NHL team.

The Kings are the best 4 line team in hockey. The addition of Marian Gaborik at the deadline gave the Kings one of the 3 best lines in hockey and the purest best 1^st line in hockey. The Penguins with Sid and Geno and the Hawks with Kane and Toews have amazing 1^st lines but those lines come at the expense of the the 2^nd lines which get broken up to make them. The Kings first line Has a Selkie finalist and all around great player/ beast at center Anze Kopitar , pure sniper who gets his nose dirty Marian Gaborik and the best captain in hockey Dustin Brown.

The Kings 2^nd line is centered by long time NHL lamp lighter Jeff Carter and his wings Tyler Tiffoli and Tanner Pearson are young, fast ,big and both got nice hands.

What more do you want out of your 3^rd and 4^th lines. You got the NHL’s best face off man Jared Stoll and one of the clutchest guy of all time , this year’s Conn Smythe Justin Williams on the 3^rd line  and the win at all cost Mike Richards centering your 4^th line. Most of the Kings 3^rd and 4^th liners would have played on the Pens top 2 lines this year. Boston’s bottom 2 lines never recovered from trading Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverly to Dallas. The Blackhawks are the closest to the Kings in forward depth and may even be stronger up top. That is why they are the Kings biggest challenge to cementing an all time dynasty in Southern California because they’re working on one of their own next to a great lake.

Stanley Cup Final Prediction

The Los Angeles Kings are 4 wins away from being hockey’s salary cap era dynasty. They will have won 2 Stanley Cups in 3 years and the year they lost it was to the era’s other great team the Chicago Blackhawks and it was in Western Conference finals when the Kings were injured. I picked the Kings to beat the Blackhawks this year in what was maybe the greatest hockey ever played. Take that you bullshit Olympic purists. The Kings came from 3-0 down to beat a super talented but gutless San Jose Sharks and from 3-2 down to beat the super talented but BBQ Bruce led Anaheim Ducks. They trailed the defending Cup Champs Chicago in game 7. They won 3 game 7s on the road. Darryl Sutter’s men were undefeated when facing elimination. By contrast the Eastern Conference champs the New York Rangers took a much easier path to the Stanley Cup Finals. The beat the Flyers, maybe the toughest team they played, with their goalie Steve Mason injured. The Flyers had to play goalie Ray Emery, a gangsta thug who is lucky when the puck hits him. They beat the Penguins, a mess of an organization who let them off a 3-1 hook. The Rangers beat the Canadiens after they injured Montreal’s  Gold Medal winning goalie Carey Price in game 1. The Rangers road to the Stanley Cup was so easy it’s like they got a police escort.

So guess who I’m picking in this series….. Not yet. Let’s break it down.

The best player in hockey lately has been a choice of either Crosby, Toews, Getzlaf and Malkin. Well now you can put Anze Kopitar at the top of the list. I used to call Kopitar west coast Malkin but now that is an insult to Anze. Kopitar is superior. A Selke finalist ( defensive award)  who can flat out score. His linemates Dustin Brown (best captain in hockey) and Marian Gaborik ( best deadline deal in a generation) gives LA the best line in hockey. They ate up the Toews line when it mattered. The Kings second line, that 70’s line is as fast a line as you will ever see. The Kings are so loaded Mike Richards is their 4^th line center. The Rangers have some nice players ( St. Louis, Richards, Stephan) but they are tiny compared to the Kings. Rick Nash has size but he plays like Eric Lindros after all the concussions. soft.

The Kings have the best defenseman in hockey Drew Doughty and every other King’s top 6 defensemen would be in the Rangers top four defensemen after Mc Donagh, Girardi and Staal.

The Rangers do have an incredible goaltender in Henrik Lundvist. He may very well steal a couple games but he can’t steal a series. Jonathan Quick is also an incredible goaltender who always rises to the occasion. Even if the Rangers injure Quick I think they can beat the Rangers with back up Martin Jones in net.

KINGS in 5, let dynasty talk begin.