The Los Angeles Kings were not going to get confused with being one of the top offensive teams in the NHL last season. In fact, it was the defense and goaltending that really helped carry them to their fourth straight playoff appearance.
However, it wasn't all bad from the offense, and the Kings did something better than every other team in the league when it comes to their forward group. They would lead the league with eight forwards registering 40 or more points.
The Kings haven't had that elite offensive playmaker for a while now, and Anze Kopitar was the last player to have at least 90 points in a season, which he did all the way back in the 2017-18 season. The closest they had was Adrian Kempe, who finished the season with 73 points.
How they were able to get by is that they had production up and down their lines, as evidenced by the eight forwards who surpassed that 40-point mark. After Kempe, there was Anze Kopitar at 67 and Kevin Fiala at 60.
Quinton Byfield came up one point short of tying his career-high but the fact that he was as close as he was after the way the season started showed how good he was down the stretch.
The next four players are much closer grouped together with two players setting career highs in Warren Foegele at 46 and Alex Laferriere at 42. While Phillip Danault was one spot ahead of Laferriere at 43 and Trevor Moore being that eighth forward with 40 points exactly.
Depth wasn't the issue for the forwards last season for the LA Kings
The moves made by the LA Kings this offseason with Joel Armia and Corey Perry helped solidify the fourth line but the depth really wasn't the issue when considering this doesn't even include Andrei Kuzmenko, who if played a full 82 game season with the Kings with his point per game average of 0.77 would have finished with 63 points.
What the Kings really need is someone at the top of the position to help, or even surpass, Adrian Kempe's production and be a 90+ point producer. However, those types of players are harder to come by, and Ken Holland will need to find them on the trade market if he wants to add it to the roster this season.