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Trending Upward: LA Kings Bound to Rebound in 2018-2019

By Vincent D'Angelo

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 11: Jeff Carter #77 and Tyler Toffoli #73 of the Los Angeles Kings laugh during warm up before the game against the Calgary Flames at Staples Center on October 11, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 11: Jeff Carter #77 and Tyler Toffoli #73 of the Los Angeles Kings laugh during warm up before the game against the Calgary Flames at Staples Center on October 11, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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DENVER, CO – MARCH 22: Los Angeles Kings center Alex Iafallo (19) skates with the puck during a regular season game between the Colorado Avalanche and the visiting Los Angeles Kings on March 22, 2018 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. (Photo by Russell Lansford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – MARCH 22: Los Angeles Kings center Alex Iafallo (19) skates with the puck during a regular season game between the Colorado Avalanche and the visiting Los Angeles Kings on March 22, 2018 at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. (Photo by Russell Lansford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Alex Iafallo – Iaffalo had an outstanding rookie campaign with the LA Kings. Logging top line minutes, his takeaway game was strong, he’s strong on the forecheck and backcheck.

One glaring issue people noticed was his point output. In 75 games played Iafallo notched 9 goals and 25 points which aren’t bad for a rookie.

I hear you telling me “But he was on the top line with two high producing players.” Yes, that’s true Iafallo spent most of his season with Kopitar and Brown, something that the acquisition of Ilya Kovalchuk is surely going to change.

In the same breath, though, you can appreciate that in his rookie season the undrafted LA Kings forward played against the best defencemen in the world who were trying to stop the same Kopitar and Brown.

Iafallo will find himself on the third line wing this season unless the Kovi Kopi duo doesn’t pan out (see Lucic 15-16) and will have opportunities to move up into the top 6 if not this year, then the next.

We don’t exactly know what Alex Iafallo is capable of yet so it’s difficult to project what kind of stats he will produce. Let’s do it anyway!

He will score more than he did last season maybe somewhere around 15 goals and 35-40 points. Like Toffoli, Iafallo has strong potential and could find himself in seasons future scoring 25 or 30 goals and have Kopitar-esque point totals.

However, we do still have to learn what kind of player he is before we can even think about that. Iafallo has a high ceiling and he’ll draw closer to it this year.

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