LA Kings Preseason Game 1 Recap LA Kings Vs Utah Hockey Club

The 2024-25 NHL season is officially here as your LA Kings start off the preseason with road test in Utah. 

The newly formed Utah Hockey Club as they relocated from Arizona to Utah starting this season. The Kings will have most of their players from the main team not playing tonight, as they will have most of the prospects and AHL players playing in the first preseason tilt.

Both teams had chances early on in the first period as Kings forward Charles Hudon had the first grade A opportunity on a breakaway but could not find the back of the net. Utah started to gain more momentum midway through the period. 

Kings goalie Erik Portillo made two saves to keep the game scoreless, but it wasn’t enough as Lawson Crouse scored the first goal in Utah history on the power play with 5 minutes left in the period.

The Kings and Utah had a pair of fights right after one another late in the period. 

Utah grabbed its second goal of the game also on the power play as Alex Kerfoot slotted right past Erik Portillio.  

Utah took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. 

The Kings cut the Hockey Clubs lead in half as Jeff Malott tipped a shot from Caleb Jones to make it a 1-2 game. The Kings gained momentum right after scoring, but Utah’s goaltender Connor Ingram made a sprawling save on a Kings 2 on 0 rush in the 2nd period.

The Kings managed to get a five on three powerplay halfway through the period and with 2 seconds left on the powerplay Alex Turcotte put home the rebound to tie the game at 2-2.

Both teams headed into the 2nd intermission tied at 2-2.

To start the third period both starting goalies were swapped out for their backups. 

Utah goalie Matt Villalta robbed Kings forward Francesco Pinelli of a great goal scoring opportunity. 

Midway through the 3rd period Utah started to get more zone time and create some offensive chances. 

The Kings had a last ditch effort but couldn’t score as the game went into overtime. 

Clayton Keller picked up the puck off a LA turnover and scored to win the game 3-2 and earn Utahs first victory on home ice.

After the game there was an exhibition shootout which Utah won as well. 

Final from Utah. #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/pxp0gVrOwo

— LA Kings (@LAKings) September 24, 2024

LA Kings Free Agency Recap

The 2024 off-season for the Kings started off as an eventful one as the team was able to sign veteran forward Warren Foegele. Foegele recently finished his fifth season as he led the Edmonton Oilers to the Stanley Cup finals ultimently losing out to the Florida Panthers in seven games. Foegele heads into his eigth year in the NHL and looks to continue off of his scusess he had with the Oilers.

The Kings added some more veteran presence to the locker room as they picked up left shooting defenseman Joel Edmundson. Edmundson has perviously played with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, Montreal Canadiens and also won the Stanley Cup when he was a member of the St. Louis Blues in 2019. By the team adding Edmundson he will bring some leadership to the younger players on the Kings roster. 

LA also added players Caleb Jones, Jack Studnicka and Kyle Burroughs to the team as well. Both Studnicka and Burroughs were teammates last season when playing up in Northern California for the Sharks. Jones, Studnicka and Burroughs will most likely be playing in the AHL for the Ontario Reign for the up coming 2024-25 season. 

the most recent news for the Kings is that forward Quinton Byfield and defenseman Jordan Spence were re signed to the team. Byfield was signed to an eight year contract worth five years and will get an average salary of $6.25 million dollars, Spence was resigned to a two year deal worth $1.5 million. 

The Kings did end up losing forward Carl Grundstrom to the San Jose Sharks and also forward Viktor Arvidsson to the Edmonton Oilers. They also lost defenseman Matt Roy to the Washington Capitals 

The 202425 NHL season is right around the corner with training camps starting up in a few weeks time. 

LA Kings 2024 NHL Draft Recap

Your LA Kings made a total of four draft choices in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

The Kings picked forward Liam Greentree from the OHLs Windsor Spitfires with the teams first round selection, Greentree is a right winger and has a lot of upside to his game as one of his strong suits is his hard shot. Greentree is also known to play a physical brand of hockey, and is seen as a power forward.

With the Kings second selection the team picked goaltender Conor George from the Owen Sound Attack.  Last season George posted a total save percentage of .907 and had a 3.30:goals against average throughout his second season in Owen Sound. The style that George plays with is the butterfly style of net minding. despite him only being 6'1 George is a goalie that handles the puck well and was rated one of the best goalies across the OHL in the 2023-24 season. He also started for Team Canada and took home the gold medal at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

Not only did the Kings get draft prospects, the team also made a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning to get forward Tanner Jeannot as the team traded two picks to get Jeannot. Jeannot will enter his fith seeason in the NHL as played with Nashville before getting traded to Tampa in the 2022-23 season.

The Kings third selection in the draft led to them drafting defenseman Jared Wolley. Wolley is a left shooting defenseman and has played two years with the OHLs London Knights. He was drafted in the 6th round by LA. Wolley is a left shooting defenseman, despite playing 37 games this past season with London he only managed to get 3 goals, 5 assists and racked up a total of 21 penalty minutes. One of his strong suits to his game is shown with his size and physical brand of hockey.

The Kings got Wolley from the pick they traded with Anaheim during the draft.

The final draft pick the Kings had was in the final round where they drafted forward James Reeder from the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints. Reeder is a right winger who plays with a lot of speed and skill to his game, he recently finished his only year in the USHL and will now be taking his talents to Denver University next season.

Kings Unveiled New Rebrand For The Club

The Kings new logos launched for the franchise today, the team has gone back to their 90s era Chevy logo with a modern touch. 

The team wore a crown on its jerseys from their first ever game up until the 1988 season when the Kings launched the first iteration of the Chevy logo. 

The new Chevy logo will have thicker Los Angeles word mark on the top and also a new Kings word mark across the logo. A new crown based on what the team used on their jerseys from their inauguration season will be used as an alternate logo for the club. 

Along with the new updated look the Kings home and away jerseys are very identical to the ones they wore before, the difference being bigger waist and arm striping. For the home jerseys the team will be the first NHL team to wear matte black helmets. The away helmets will stay the same as they have been in previous seasons. 

Can’t wait to rock these at @cryptocomarena 🔥

📲 https://t.co/0vaApVA21I pic.twitter.com/jasXa5zxRx

— LA Kings (@LAKings) June 26, 2024

 

Coming soon to a city near you 🔥

📲 https://t.co/0vaApVA21I pic.twitter.com/afxjHvBap2

— LA Kings (@LAKings) June 26, 2024

LA Kings Get Kuemper in Trade With Caps

The LA Kings announced recently that team has made a trade to acquire a goaltender as the Kings needed a goaltender due to Cam Talbot becoming an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. 

The Kings traded forward Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Washington Capitals for goaltender Darcy Kuemper. 

Kuemper has played for the Kings orginazation before, as he backed up former Kings goalie Jonathan Quick in the 2017-18 season. As he only played 19 games with the Kings before he was traded to the Arizona Coyotes.

He is entering his 11th season in the NHL. Kuemper started out with Minnesota in the 2013 season. In the 2021-22 season he won his first Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche. 

He signed a five year deal with Washington in 2022. Coming off his second season with Washington Kuemper put up good numbers for the Caps as he 30 games and went 13-14-3 and had a save percentage of  .940 

He brings a veteran role to the team and will probably be the starting goalie for the 2024-25 season and will be backed up be David Rittch. 

Darcy’s 🔙

Full Media 📲 https://t.co/3WOR5n748R pic.twitter.com/uJ9caBpbIe

— LA Kings (@LAKings) June 21, 2024

2023-24 Regular Season Game 72 LA Kings Vs Edmonton Oilers

1st Period Analysis: The first period was a tough one for the Kings as they gave up a goal early on to Oilers forward Connor McDavid as he picked up the puck on a tipped shot from a faceoff in the Los Angeles zone. Despite out shooting Edmonton.


2nd Period Analysis: The Kings started out the 2nd period with some good chances in the offensive zone but couldn’t not find chances early on. LA also had some breakout opportunities but ended up being called for multiple offside calls. The Oilers maintained a lot of offensive zone time through the midway frame of the period and had some good quality scoring chances on net. The Oilers struck once more as Adam Henrique scored with only 17 seconds remaining in the period.


3rd Period Analysis: The Oilers continued to sustain pressure in the offensive zone throughout the period has the Kings had trouble throughout the game getting the puck out of its own zone. LA finally was able to get the scoreboard late as Arthur Kaliyev fired a snap shot on the glove side of Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner. Despite the Kings getting a goal it was not enough as it fell by a score of 3-1 as the Kings now have a 1-1-0 record on this western Canadian road trip.

Final from Edmonton. #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/R9jy4KJmuq

— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 29, 2024

2023-24 Regular Season Game 63 Dallas Stars Vs LA Kings

1st Period Goals: LA KINGS GOAL! Scored on the powerplay by number 21 Kevin Fiala (1st of the game and 21st of the season), assisted by number 8 Drew Doughty. Time of the goal 26 seconds.

1st Period Penalties: Stars penalty to number 11 Logan Stankoven, 2 minute minor for Tripping at 11:07. Stars penalty to number 18 Sam Steel, 2 minute minor for Cross Checking at 15:32. Kings penalty to number 55 Quinton Byfield, 2 minute minor for Roughing at 18:37. Stars penalty to number 14 Jamie Benn, 2 minute minor for high-sticking at 19:20

2nd Period Goals: Stars goal scored by number 12 Radek Faska (1st of the game and 6th of the season), assisted by number 15 Craig Smith. Time of the goal 10:34. Stars goal scored by number 21 Jason Robertson (1st of the game and 22nd of the season), assisted by number 16 Joe Pavelski and number 33 Esa Lindell. Time of the goal 10:52.

2nd Period: Kings penalty to number 21 Kevin Fiala 2 minute minor for Tripping, time of the penalty 7:48. Kings penalty to number 46 Blake Lizotte 2 minute minor for Cross Checking and a 2 minute minor for Roughing. Time of the penalties 13:31. Stars penalty to number 10 Ty Dellandrea 2 minute minor for Roughing at 13:31. Kings penalty to number 21 Kevin Fiala 2 minute minor for Tripping, at 17:09.

3rd Period Goals: Stars goal scored by number 53 Wayatt Johnston (1st goal of the game and 23 of the season), assisted by 95 Matt Duchene and number 27 Mason Marchment. Time of the goal 6:47. Stars goal scored by number 16 Joe Pavelski (1st goal of the game and 23 of the season), assisted by number 21 Jason Robertson. Time of the goal 16:41.

3rd Period Penalties: Kings penalty to number 24 Phillip Danault 2 minute minor for Tripping, at 4:48. Stars penalty to number 14 Jamie Benn, 2 minute minor for Tripping at 8:48.

Final from LA. #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/v3kVd4Uqvd

— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 10, 2024

2023-24 Regular Season Game 57 LA Kings Vs Edmonton Oilers

1st Period Goals: LA KINGS GOAL! Scored by number 12 Trevor Moore (1st of the game and 2nd of the season), assisted by number 55 Quinton Byfield. Time of the goal 6:45. Oilers goal scored by number 18 Zach Hyman (1st goal of the game and 38th of the season) assisted by number 97 Connor McDavid. Time of the goal 19:36.

1st Period Penalties: None

Shots on goal in the 1st period

Kings 11

Oilers 7

2nd Period Goals:. LA KINGS GOAL! Scored by number 72 Alex Laferriere (1st of the game and 8th of the season), assisted by number 11Anze Kopitar and number 3 Matt Roy. Time of the goal 7:34. Oilers goal scored on the powerplay by number 29 Leon Draisaitl (1st of the game and 29th of the season) assisted by number 2 Evan Bouchard and number 93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Time of the goal 15:46.


2nd Period Penalties: Oilers penalty to number 2 Evan Bouchard 2 minute minor for Holding the stick, time of the penalty 8:16. Oilers penalty to number 16 Vincent Desharnais 2 minute minor for High-sticking, time of the penalty 9:52. Kings penalty to number 84 Vladislav Gavrikov 2 minute minor for Tripping, time of the penalty 15:48.


Shots on goal in the 2nd period

Kings 17

Oilers 12

3rd Period Goals: Oilers goal scored by number 2 Evan Bouchard (1st of the game and 15th of the season), assisted by number 29 Leon Draisaitl and 97 Connor McDavid. Time of the goal 1:25. Oilers goal scored by number 93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1st of the game and 16th of the season), assisted by number 28 Connor Brown and number 13 Matthias Janmark. Time of the goal 16:31.

3rd Period Penalties: Kings penalty to number 3 Matt Roy 2 minute minor for Hooking. Time of the penalty 11:43. Kings penalty to number 61 Trevor Lewis 2 minute minor for Roughing. Time of the penalty 13:53

Shots on goal in the 3rd period

Kings 14

Oilers 12

2023-24 Regular Season Pregame Game 57 LA Kings Vs Edmonton Oilers

Good Evening Hockey Fans! Your Los Angeles Kings start up on a three game Pacific Division Canadian road trip tonight as they take on the Edmonton Oilers.

This will be the third meeting of the season between the two clubs, as they faced off in Los Angeles earlier this season with both teams splitting the series.

Both teams head into tonight’s game after playing against a pair of rivals over the weekend. The Kings head into tonight’s game off of a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks, while the Oilers are coming off a 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames.

Both teams are tied on points with 68 each as the playoff race begins to tighten towards the end of the regular season.

Tonight’s game will be a 6:30 PST/7:30 MST from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Nick Nickson, Jim Fox and Daryl Evans will have the call simulcasted on Bally Sports West and the Kings IHeartRadio Network. For the Edmonton TV broadcast call you can tune into Sportsnet as Jack Micheals on play-by-play, and Louie DeBrusk on color commentary. For the Oilers radio broadcast you can tune into 630 CHED as Cam Moon will provide play-by-play and Bob Stauffer will do color commentary.

Kings Record Before The Game

(29-17-10)

Oilers Record Before The Game
(33-20-2)

2023-24 Regular Season Postgame Game 56 Anaheim Ducks Vs LA Kings

Ducks Record After The Game

(20-34-3)

Kings Record After The Game

(29-17-10)

Advanced Stats


Ducks Shots On Goal 24

Kings Shots On Goal 50


Ducks Power Play 1 for 2

Kings Power Play 2 for 4


Ducks Faceoff Percentage 32%

Kings Faceoff Percentage 68%


Ducks Hits 20

Kings Hits 21

Ducks Blocked Shots 13

Kings Blocked Shots 15

Enjoy the drive down the 405 👋#GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/D1FfxoWzmu

— LA Kings (@LAKings) February 25, 2024