The moves this offseason by the Los Angeles Kings didn't give fans a lot of confidence that they could finally end their run of first-round exits. The focus was on depth and adding veterans like Corey Perry and Brian Dumoulin but it was lacking on that big-time move.
However, even with that missing piece, the Kings are still considered one of the top teams in the NHL, as evidenced by the latest power rankings on ESPN. The Kings would finish 11th, which was only a drop of three spots from their pre-playoff ranking of eight.
LA Kings face tough competition atop the Pacific Division
This past season, it was mostly a three-team race atop the Pacific Division and that might appear to be the case once again for this season. The Edmonton Oilers, coming off a second straight trip to the Stanley Cup, was second and behind only the Florida Panthers.
Meanwhile, the Vegas Golden Knights were fifth which feels a little low for them, behind the Dallas Stars and Carolina Hurricanes. The Golden Knights got better with the addition of Mitch Marner to make their offense even better and take some pressure off Jack Eichel.
However, these power rankings show just how top heavy the division is as after the Kings the next highest ranked team is the Calgary Flames at 18th followed by the Vancouver Canucks at 21st.
The Pacific Division also has two teams in the bottom five with the Seattle Kraken at 28th overall, down one spot from the pre-playoff rankings, and the San Jose Sharks at 31st overall, which actually moves them up one spot and ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks.
It seems that even without the big addition, the staff at ESPN believes in the core the Kings have with players like Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield, Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, and Darcy Kuemper to propel this team hopefully into another playoff spot.