Over the franchise history, the Los Angeles Kings have put together some excellent draft classes and the 1980 draft class is one that immediately comes to mind. They would draft five players who would play over 500 NHL regular season games, including Hall of Famer Larry Murphy.
However, in terms of impact on the franchise, there is no better draft class than what the Kings were able to do in 2005. They would draft eight players that year, but only two would make it to the NHL level.
Those two players would end up being Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Quick, two players who will go down in the record books as some of the greatest LA Kings players.
Entering the 2025-26 season, which reportedly could be Anze Kopitar's final season, he has played in 1,454 games with 440 goals and 838 assists. He already has the franchise record for games played, assists and should surpass Marcel Dionne for most career points with the Kings.
Meanwhile, Quick has almost every record as it pertains to the position, including wins, saves, save percentage, shutouts and minutes.
LA Kings drafting during this time set the foundation for their Stanley Cup victories
While the 2005 NHL Draft is the best class in franchise history, the Kings drafted some players who played big roles during their playoff runs to the Stanley Cups. This included the selection of Dustin Brown in 2003 and Drew Doughty in 2008.
Kopitar, Brown and Doughty would tie for the team lead in assists with 12 each while Brown and Kopitar had 20 points with Doughty not far behind at 16. In the second Stanley Cup season, Kopitar would lead the team in points with 26.
As for Jonathan Quick, he would be the starting goalie for every game in both playoff runs, including five shutout wins.
The 2005 NHL Draft might not be a deep class for the Los Angeles Kings but it undoubtedly had a huge impact on their success.