In a little over one month, the Los Angeles Kings and head coach Jim Hiller will kick off the 2025-26 regular season. The Kings have high expectations going into the upcoming 2025-26 regular season, with the preseason starting right around the corner against the Anaheim Ducks on Sep. 21.
Tyler Toffoli among the prominent former Los Angeles Kings players playing for other Pacific Division teams this upcoming season for the 2025-26 campaign
Hiller and the Kings have a talented roster and have added depth and grit to the forward core and the blue line for this upcoming season in the Pacific Division. LA has too much talent on the projected roster for this upcoming 2025-26 regular season in the West to fall completely out of the playoff picture in the Pacific Division.
The Kings made the playoffs in the postseason for the fourth year in a row last spring, after finishing with a franchise-high 105 regular season points in the 2024-25 regular season. Finally beating the Edmonton Oilers and getting over the hump in the postseason in the West is the priority goal for the Kings coaching staff going into training camp and the preseason this fall.
This upcoming season, the Kings will battle some familiar faces in the Pacific Division from in-state rival teams from the division and a rival in the postseason from the Oilers.
Carl Grundstrom, W (San Jose Sharks)
Right-winger Carl Grundstrom played at least 50 regular season games for the Kings and former bench boss Todd McClellan in three seasons in the early 2020s decade. He scored double-digit goals for the Kings and a career-high 19 points for a 100-point LA team in the Pacific Division a couple of years ago (2022-23 season).
Last offseason in the summer of 2024, the Kings dealt Grundstrom to the Sharks for defenseman Kyle Burroughs. Grundstrom registered one point for the Sharks against the Kings on Oct. 29 and averaged double-digit minutes in average time on the ice for San Jose in four games this past regular season.
Tyler Toffoli, C (San Jose Sharks)
Multi-time 30-goal scorer and Stanley Cup Champion with the Kings in the 2014 postseason in the NHL, center Tyler Toffoli is going into his second season playing for the Sharks in the Pacific Division. Toffoli is a veteran steward of the Pacific Division for the last decade and a half in the NHL. He's played double-digit seasons with Pacific Division teams (since the 2012-13 season with the Kings in LA).
Toffoli has three straight 30-goal seasons for Pacific Division teams, including the Calgary Flames (2022-23 season) and the Sharks this last regular season (2024-25). After the Sharks finished at the bottom of the Pacific Division with 20 wins and 52 points last regular season, Toffoli will be a crucial goal scorer and veteran mentor for a young San Jose team in the West this upcoming season.
Troy Stetcher, D (Edmonton Oilers)
Journeyman defenseman Troy Stetcher is a depth blue-line player for the Oilers on a value cheap contract worth around $775K in average annual value in the Pacific Division. Stetcher played just over a dozen games for the Kings and McClellan in the 2021-22 regular season down the stretch for the blue line.
Stetcher scored two goals and four total points for the Kings' blue line in the 2022 postseason in the first round against the Oilers. He's battling for a seventh defenseman spot on the Oilers' defensive unit going into the training camp and the preseason this year.