NHL Power Rankings: Pre-Training Camp Edition

Apr 6, 2015; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar (11) awaits the start of play against the Vancouver Canucks during the first period at Rogers Arena. The Vancouver Canucks won 2-1 in a shoot out. Mandatory Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports

13. Los Angeles Kings

The 2014 champions are a tough team to project after falling flat and missing the postseason entirely last year. It was clear the Kings had run out of gas after playing deep into the postseason the last few seasons.

There were a few offseason incidents that might have served as a major distraction for the Kings. The Mike Richards and Slava Voynov situations may have been enough to derail a season. Plus, there were rumors that the team wasn’t meshing well with head coach Darryl Sutter.

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The Kings return stars in Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick and made a big trade by dealing for Milan Lucic. The Kings also parted ways with Mr. Game 7 Justin Williams, and Andrej Sekera.

Los Angeles should get back to the postseason with the brunt of last season’s distractions behind it. However, Lucic could be regressing and the Kings didn’t do much else to improve the roster.

Next: Next: No. 12

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