For a moment — well, a weekend — the Los Angeles Kings had two words associated with them that not many would have uttered after another playoff heartbreak and an uninspiring offseason: first place.
That happened on Saturday when the Kings shut out the Ottawa Senators. The 1-0 victory pushed Los Angeles to the top of the Pacific Division, ahead of the Anaheim Ducks and Seattle Kraken.
It wasn’t the Vegas Golden Knights, nor was it the Edmonton Oilers. Surprise, surprise, it was the Kings.
That stay atop the Pacific lasted until Monday, as the Kings’ 2-1 loss to the Washington Capitals, combined with Anaheim’s come-from-behind 3-2 overtime victory over the Utah Mammoth, nudged the Ducks into first. However, the standings reflect the widespread parity of this season’s NHL.
It is not so early anymore, and while separation is bound to occur over the next few months, the Pacific’s top five teams were split by just three points entering Tuesday’s action.
The Kings are in that mix because of a 9-2-2 road record built on the strength of two successful lengthy road trips, the second being a current six-game journey that wraps up Thursday against the San Jose Sharks. Monday’s defeat in Washington had them heading back to Los Angeles for a quick pitstop after a 4-1-0 jaunt through the Eastern Conference.
“You can’t win them all, but in the big picture, we can take very good things, very positive things with us,” winger Kevin Fiala said.
Added defenseman Brian Dumoulin: “I thought we started to get an identity. I think everyone is starting to feel their roles and know what they have to do … for us to win. Obviously, (we’ve) got to establish ourselves here on home ice now.”
With a 1-4-2 start at home, the Kings might be better off with another stop on their road-heavy first quarter of the season. The magic that was last season’s club-record 31 home wins has not carried over. They’re minus-1 in goal differential despite a 10-6-4 overall record. Improvement is necessary in areas such as the power play (24th), penalty killing (16th) and offense (26th) if they want to rise above the masses in this balanced league.
Twenty games is a good time to comb through the Kings’ roster and see who has risen above expectations, met their expectations or isn’t meeting them.
Stock way up
Brandt Clarke, Corey Perry
The ice time issue around Clarke has lingered this year after his limited usage in last season’s playoffs, but the 22-year-old defenseman is making the most of a measured push into top-four deployment. Clarke’s defensive improvement has been astounding. His expected goals against per 60 minutes (2.17) and actual GA/60 (1.50) are impressive, and his ice time has popped over 20 minutes lately. Will there be any penalty killing in his future with Doughty sidelined?
Say what you will about him being 40 years old, his lack of speed (less than 50th percentile), or the rivals he’s played for (Anaheim, the Dallas Stars, Edmonton), but Perry has been a major spark for L.A. since recovering from knee surgery. Five of his seven goals came in a five-game stretch. He had points in eight of his first 10 games. Perry has cooled over the last week, but that’s to be expected. The Kings are 9-3-2 with him in the lineup.
Stock up
Mikey Anderson, Quinton Byfield, Joel Edmundson, Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe, Darcy Kuemper, Alex Laferriere
Anderson doesn’t have quite the stellar metrics of last season, but he remains a consistent and stable shutdown cog on defense, particularly as he’s done so without Doughty as his constant partner. Byfield can still run into goal droughts as he’s had a 12-game spell, but he’s tied for the team lead in assists and is averaging nearly a point per game. He’s on a 73-point pace, which would be a sizable bump from 54 last season.
For all the talk about his signing in the summer of 2024, Edmundson has done some solid work, mostly playing second-pairing minutes. He did a decent job last season and has been even better so far with improved metrics across the board. Fiala leads the team with nine goals as he has become more of a shooter since teaming with Byfield midway through last season.
Kempe hasn’t been as sharp with his two-way game. His goals are down, partly due to playing the point on the power play, but the Kings’ leading scorer has had a point or more in 15 of 20 games.
Kuemper has saved 10.6 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck, and has been steady as their clear No. 1 in goal.
OH MY DARCE‼️ pic.twitter.com/PfudyPxuwY
— LA Kings (@LAKings) November 18, 2025
Laferriere started very slowly and was dropped in the lineup early, but has been one of their best players in the last three weeks. All 10 of his points have come in the last 14 games.
Stock flat
Joel Armia, Drew Doughty, Brian Dumoulin, Anze Kopitar, Jeff Malott, Trevor Moore
Armia has been as advertised in his first stretch with the Kings. The 32-year-old plays smart, no-frills hockey and has done it up and down the lineup while chipping in some offense. Until his apparent foot injury sidelined him, Doughty had been effective again on the defensive side of the puck. Now 35, Doughty isn’t having the offensive impact he’s had in the past. He could be hard-pressed to reach 30 points.
Dumoulin, 34, wasn’t signed to provide much offense from the blue line. The 13-year veteran has done a solid job on the penalty kill, but his 5-on-5 numbers are lagging. The area that Kopitar, 38, is slowing down in isn’t in the details like faceoffs (55.8 percent) or defensive work (57.14 GF%). It’s his offense. He got his third goal Monday, but he also hasn’t scored at even strength and is on a 51-point pace, a low for him over a full 82-game schedule.
Malott won a roster spot because of his terrific training camp. The 29-year-old is second on the Kings in hits, has chipped in his first two NHL goals and owns strong possession numbers in his limited fourth-line minutes.
Moore, 30, has one of the Kings’ three shorthanded goals. The winger isn’t playing poorly, but three goals and five points pace a third line that has contributed little offensively.
Stock down
Cody Ceci, Warren Foegele, Anton Forsberg, Alex Turcotte
Ceci, 31, got off to a miserable start as his struggles with Dumoulin led to the free-agent duo’s breakup. Playing with Anderson helped him find some footing, but he’s been a minus player in nine of his 20 games. He’s been on the ice for 14 goals against and just six for in his 5-on-5 play.
Foegele was fantastic in his first Kings season. The second has been a struggle as he lost five games to injury and had only one goal until scoring in back-to-back wins during the road trip.
Forsberg has been a mixed bag, but he has the capacity to improve his stock. Early on, he didn’t look like an upgrade over David Rittich in the backup role, but three of his last four starts have been promising. Shutting out his former Ottawa club on Saturday is a highlight.
Turcotte, 24, has been a possession powerhouse (60.50 CF percent) but is averaging under 10 minutes of playing time and all coming in 5-on-5 play. The 4C has been snakebitten with his scoring chances.
Stock way down
Phillip Danault, Andrei Kuzmenko, Samuel Helenius, Jacob Moverare
While Danault had a wonderful playoff series in a losing effort, he hasn’t been able to build on that this season. The 32-year-old 3C is a defensive specialist who still brings value there, but he has yet to score a goal and is on a 16-point pace even though he gets second-unit power-play time (granted, the first unit gets the boatload of it).
Kings fans saw the good Kuzmenko after his trade deadline acquisition. Now, they’re seeing the flip side. He has done little in 5-on-5 play and has been a healthy scratch for three straight games.
Helenius and Moverare are only part of this category because of how little they have played. Moverare, who has been an injury fill-in for the last few seasons, is now being called upon with Doughty out of the lineup. The good-natured Swede got his second game on Monday and was a minus-1 over 10:19. Helenius has drawn in only twice after playing in 50 games last season. The 22-year-old has been a casualty of the Kings’ fourth-line upgrade.