Inside look at Los Angeles Kings

NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Los Angeles Kings.

Getting to the Stanley Cup Playoffs hasn’t been a problem for the Los Angeles Kings lately. Getting past the first round has.

Now that they’ve made offseason changes and Jim Hiller enters his first full season as coach, the Kings are looking to improve their success rate, especially in the postseason where they’ve lost to the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference First Round for three straight years.

“To reach the ultimate goal, you have to play that (gritty) style. So where in other areas of the game with the puck can we try to create more offense? That’s really what it is,” Hiller said on May 23, the day after he was named coach. He had been interim coach since Feb. 2, when Todd McLellan was fired.

“There’s no magic formula but there are things that we can zero in on,” Hiller said. “We can watch video, we can count numbers, we can look at some areas and say, ‘This wasn’t good enough, why wasn’t it? What can we do here to make this better?’ So that’s the stamp.”

Last season, Los Angeles got the bulk of its offense from forwards Adrian Kempe, who led the team with 75 points (28 goals, 47 assists) in 77 games; Kevin Fiala, who was next with 73 points (29 goals, 44 assists) in 82 games; and longtime center Anze Kopitar, who was third on the Kings with 70 points (26 goals, 44 assists) in 81 games.

But they’ll need more.

General manager Rob Blake said in June that Los Angeles liked the progress Quinton Byfield made last season, when he had 55 points (20 goals, 35 assists) in 80 games while predominantly playing on the wing. The Kings want Byfield to move back to center, his natural position, after they traded center Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Washington Capitals for goaltender Darcy Kuemper on June 19.

With the confidence he’s gained, Byfield could build off a productive 2023-24 season.

“It’s almost like a new challenge, going back down the middle,” Byfield said on July 15, the day he signed a five-year, $31.25 million contract ($6.25 million average annual value) with Los Angeles. “I played there my whole life and playing with and alongside [Kopitar], played with [Phillip Danault] as well.

“Put me with [Fiala] hopefully. He’s such a dynamic player offensively, just the way that he can control the game with his speed, his vision, the plays that he makes, not many guys can do that. If I can be with him, we have some chemistry with him, we can be effective together and change the game quite a bit.”

The Kings will also look for offense from Warren Foegele, who they signed to a three-year, $10.5 million contract ($3.5 million AAV) on July 1. They’re already familiar with Foegele, who was with the Oilers the past three seasons. He had 41 points (20 goals, 21 assists) in 82 regular-season games and eight points (three goals, five assists) in 22 playoff games for Edmonton, which lost to the Florida Panthers in seven games in the Stanley Cup Final.

“They have a great work ethic, a lot of skilled guys and just seeing an environment that’s heading in the right direction, honestly, I just wanted to join that and see if I could help them go further in the playoffs,” Foegele told the Kings’ website on July 2.

Defensively there will be some tweaks, but the steady top pair of Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson should remain unchanged. Brandt Clarke, who played 16 games with the Kings last season, will get a bigger opportunity this season.

In goal, Kuemper will probably split time with David Rittich, who is in his second season with Los Angeles.

The Kings have made changes, but whether improvements come from new players or new systems, they want better results in the playoffs.

“It will be systems, it will be different things that we’ll talk about,” Blake said May 23. “Jim will put his stamp on the team furthermore than when he took over. We have a clear slate going forward. But our message (is) we’ve got to get uncomfortable with our group.

“We’ve got to do it. It starts right now, right here today with me, with Jim, right down to our players. If that’s where we want to get to (deep in the playoffs), that’s where we have to get to.”