Top 50 Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings were part of the first wave of NHL expansion in 1967, but despite being in the second-largest market in the United States, Hockey took decades to gain traction in the area.
The Kings did have stars, such as Marcel Dionne, but the trade for Wayne Gretzky made the Kings the must-watch team of the late 80s and early 90s. The Kings made the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, losing to Montreal, but the sport was cemented in Southern California.
In the early 2010s, the Kings were a far more complete team, and they would win it all in 2012 and 2014, with squads full of future Hall of Famers and role players.
This list is up to the end of the 2022/23 season.
Note: Hockey lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.
Marcel Dionne played his first four seasons for Detroit, where he emerged as their brightest star, but the team itself was abysmal. His agent orchestrated a trade to Los Angeles, where in the bright lights, he became their first bona fide superstar. Dionne had 94 Points in his debut season as…
Drew Doughty was taken Second Overall in the 2008 Draft, and the Defenseman instantly went to work for the team that chose him, Los Angeles. An All-Rookie in 2008-09, Doughty was a Second Team All-Star as a sophomore and the second runner-up for the Norris. Doughty established himself as the lynchpin…
Anze Kopitar made history in 2006 as the first Slovenian to make the National Hockey League. As it looks now, it could be decades, if ever, before anyone supplants Kopitar as the best player from that nation. Despite there not being anyone at Kopitar's level in Slovenia, he was highly scouted…
In the late 80’s and early 90s, there was no question that Luc Robitaille was the top Left Wing in the National Hockey League, and it took him very little time to establish that title. What made it all the more impressive was that Robitaille turned out to be a steal…
Edmonton Oilers' owner, Peter Pocklington, had a dynasty, but he also had a problem; he was hemorrhaging money through his other failed projects. His biggest asset was Wayne Gretzky, the best player and most prominent name in the sport, and he engineered a trade, sending his superstar to Los Angeles, and…
Jonathan Quick played the first fifteen years plus of his career in the National Hockey League with the Los Angeles Kings, a team that he backstopped to two Stanley Cups (2012 & 2014). Quick won the starting job in 2008, and in five different seasons, he appeared in between the…
Dave Taylor played college hockey with Clarkson University, where he became the institution’s all-time leading scorer. As Clarkson is not known for their Hockey prowess, Taylor was a low pick (210th Overall in 1975) but continued to improve. Playing two more years at Clarkson, Taylor joined the Kings, which became the only NHL…
Dustin Brown is one of those players where the traditional stat line does not tell the story. A former First Round Pick (13th Overall), Brown made it to the Kings in his first year in pro hockey, and he has been praised for his grit, tenacity, and leadership ever since. A…
When the Los Angeles Kings drafted Rob Blake with the 70th Overall Pick in 1988, they likely did not say internally that they drafted a player who would be one of the best Defensemen and prolific leaders in the game's history, but that is what they acquired. Blake, who was playing at…
A two-time Stanley Cup Champion with Montreal, Rogie Vachon was traded to the Los Angeles Kings one Game into the 1971-72 Season, and it was a King where Vachon cemented his Hall of Fame resume. Vachon's first year in L.A. was not very good, but he was easily the best…
Bernie Nicholls might be one of the most potent scorers you forgot entirely about. There is ample reason for it. First off, Nicholls was overshadowed by Marcel Dionne and later Wayne Gretzky. As many Points as the Center scored for L.A. (758), he did most of this on the second line, an…
The Los Angeles Kings was the third team of Jeff Carter’s career, the first being Philadelphia where he was an All-Star in 2009. The second was Columbus, a team he didn’t play for long, as they traded him at the 2012 deadline to Los Angeles. Arguably, it was the trade that took…
Kelly Hrudey already had his share of playoff heroics before he became a Los Angeles King. He recorded 73 Saves in the quadruple overtime win over Washington in Game 7 of the 1987 Patrick Division Semi-Finals. He earned a chance to go deeper into the post-season when he was traded to L.A.…
Charlie Simmer began his career with the California Seals, and after a brief period with the Cleveland Barons, he found himself with Los Angeles. After playing most of the 1977-78 Season in the Minors, Simmer split the following year with Springfield (AHL) and L.A., but the Left Wing established himself with…
Bouncing between the minors and the Kings through his first two seasons, Goring showed a lot of potential in this period, and in 1971, his days in the secondary league were over. Goring scored 50 Points in 1971-72, increasing it to 59 and 61 the next two years with a…
You don’t expect an undrafted Canadian player to do much in the National Hockey League, but Steve Duchesne had other ideas. Duchesne signed with Los Angeles in 1984 and made the Kings two years later after two seasons in the Minors. In his first year in the NHL, the Defenseman surprised…
Ziggy Palffy played the first six years of his career with the New York Islanders, where he had a three-year run of at least 87 Points. The Isles dealt Palffy to the Kings in a large transaction in the summer of 2000, and Palffy achieved approximately the same level of success…
From Slovakia, Lubomir Visnovsky is one of the most successful players to come out of that country, and the Los Angeles Kings were the first North American beneficiary of his services. Visnovsky, a Fourth Round Pick in 2000, made the Kings roster the following year, where the Defenseman was fourth…
“Mr. Game 7”. If you are not going to be a Hall of Fame player, there is no better nickname to have than that. The man with that moniker, Justin Williams, earned that reputation, participating in nine final playoff contests, winning eight, with 15 Points, an all-time record. Williams, who won…
Bob Murdoch first signed with the Montreal Canadiens in 1970, and though he was traded to Minnesota, he was reclaimed by the Habs in the 1971 Intra-League Draft, the deep defensive corps that Montreal had, prevented Murdoch from being a potential star for that team. As Murdoch was expendable, Montreal traded…