The Kings gave their fans a 4-3 victory Saturday over the best team in hockey, the San Jose Sharks. Then they gave them the shirts off their back, handing their jerseys to a select few from the crowd after the season finale.
Nice gestures, both, but for the sixth consecutive season, the Kings won't be able to deliver something more meaningful: a playoff berth.
The Kings, who began the season with few expectations, ended it with many. They have found a goaltender with a future in Jonathan Quick, developed up-and-comers such as defenseman Drew Doughty and winger Wayne Simmonds, and bought in first-year Coach Terry Murray's defense-first approach while improving their point total by eight.
But the slow-growth approach of General Manager Dean Lombardi will be harder to justify if the Kings' only late-season run continues to be the 5-kilometer race they sponsor each April.
"The playoffs need to be a legitimate goal," defenseman Sean O'Donnell said. "Playoffs need to be at the front of our mind, in every conversation, in everything we do. For San Jose, they came in to the season [Stanley] Cup or bust. We need to come in playoffs or bust."
The question that looms heading into the summer is how their often impotent offense will be addressed. The Kings managed two goals or fewer in 42 games, and have used Dustin Brown, a natural right winger, and Michael Handzus, a natural center, on the left.
"The one thing that stands out personnel-wise is the left wing," said Brown, who will undergo an MRI exam early next week to determine the extent of the back problems that have hampered his play of late. He finished the season pointless in his last 12 games.
The Kings were a league-high $13 million under the salary cap and are sitting on 13 draft picks, putting them in position to make a play for Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk, a left winger who has scored 186 goals over the last four seasons and is entering the final year of his contract next season at $7.5 million.
Another option could be Minnesota's free agent right winger Marian Gaborik.
"Guys are excited," defenseman Matt Greene said of the possibilities. "You do have a lot of cap room, you do have the ability to spend some money and address some needs, which is scoring. Guys are looking forward to seeing what's going to happen, but at the same time you're not a GM. It doesn't matter if I'm scanning the free agent list on July 1."
