The Los Angeles Kings will be competing in a slightly altered division for the season, with three new teams entering their division. Leading up to the start of the season, I’ll be looking at how the Kings’ roster compares to each team in the West Division.
We’ve already released four articles in this series, which you can read here:
In today’s article, we’ll focus on a comparison between the Kings and the Minnesota Wild.
FORWARDS
The Wild have holes up front and with Mats Zuccarello injured, they don’t have a ton of key forwards. Kevin Fiala will be important again for the Wild and Zach Parise can still add offense but the team did trade Eric Staal and their return, Marcus Johansson, won’t provide a ton of offense. Like the Kings, the Wild lack high-end forwards and I’d imagine they won't provide much more offense than what Anze Kopitar, Alex Iafallo and others will be able to produce for the Kings.
Advantage: N/A
DEFENSE
With uncertainty in their lineup, the one thing the Wild can be sure about is their defense group. Jonas Brodin, Matt Dumba, Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter make for a solid top-four that is both reliable defensively and can add offense as well.
The Kings are working on integrating younger players into their lineup to build something just as strong but it’ll likely still be a few years before their young talent fully develops. Right now, the Wild have the edge defensively.
Advantage: Wild
GOALTENDING
Each team has a veteran goalie who they may not necessarily be able to count on. Cam Talbot is coming off a strong season but can he repeat it? I wouldn’t necessarily bet on him having more success than Jonathan Quick. Then with Alex Stalock injured, the Wild will likely be running with Kaapo Kahkonen as their backup goalie, while Cal Petersen, who also has a lack of NHL experience, will be a backup for Quick. As a result, this is a fairly even goaltending matchup.
Advantage: N/A
Minnesota’s defense does give them an edge over the Kings but the Wild certainly aren't a lock for the playoffs in the West Division either.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Do you think the Kings will finish ahead of the Wild in the standings this season?
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