| Scott Essman. 25th January, 2008 - 1:04 pm
 What is a Kings' fan, player, or supporter to do? The Los Angeles Kings, who came so very close to getting the keys to the city, have become about as marginalized as a franchise can be. That this would happen to such a once proud franchise is nearly unthinkable.
It wasn't always this way although the Kings have regularly struggled for attention. From the time that they arrived in the NHL until The Great One landed in LA, the Los Angeles Kings were the third option in a city already dominated by the Dodgers and Lakers for top billing in the United States' second largest city.
From their 1967-68 debut through 1987-88, which was 1 B.G. (one season before Wayne Gretzky arrived), the Kings suffered through 20 seasons as also-rans. In the playoffs, they never made it past the quarterfinals despite the presence of such formidable offensive players as Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer, and Dave Taylor, and such goalies as Rogie Vachon. This did nothing to prevent the nearly total eclipse of the team in Los Angeles, who shared the LA Forum with the Lakers in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and most of the 1990s.
Then came Gretzky on that memorable day in late summer 1988, arriving in a lopsided trade and with him, a whole rash of attention and expectations. Three straight trips to the division finals ensued, but the refreshed Kings could never get over the hump and lost twice to Gretzky's old team the rival Edmonton Oilers. After losing for the third year in a row to the Oilers, a funny thing happened to the Kings on the way to their Forum: they had a mediocre season in 1992-93, their lowest finish since 1990. Alas, it didn't matter as the Kings went on an unprecedented playoff roll, straight into the finals.
That legendary 1993 matchup with Montreal, a brutal series in which the Kings lost the middle three games in overtime, ending in a 4-1 series loss, was as close as the team would come to a Stanley Cup.
By 1996, the Kings traded Gretzky for a bunch of nobodies in the midst of four straight post-Cup finals seasons without a playoff berth. With Gretzky gone, so was most of the hope surrounding the Kings and the limelight quickly disappeared from home ice, ironically, just as Shaquille O'Neal became a Laker with Kobe Bryant emerging as an 18-year-old rookie that same year.
In the post Gretzky-era, arguably compounded by 1990s owner Bruce McNall's many financial and legal troubles, the Kings foundered. In the ten full seasons since Gretzky left, the Kings have missed the playoffs six times and made it as far as the conference semifinals only once. In the three remaining seasons, they exited in the conference quarterfinals somewhat quietly with two sweeps. In 2002, their last postseason appearance, they did take the Colorado Avalanche to the maximum seven games - impressive as Colorado was in the throes of nine straight division titles - an NHL record.
Of course, that was six years ago, and Kings' fans have had little to cheer about since. Charges of mismanagement are hard to dispute, and when Dave Taylor was fired in 2006 after ten years as the general manager, it left the team in some chaos. Unquestionably, the 2006-2007 season was dismal for all involved as the team only won 27 games.
If it is possible to believe, this season things are even worse for the Kings. They currently have the fewest points in the NHL at 40 and with a 19-29-2 record at the bottom of the Western Conference; they are almost certain to miss the playoffs again. Barring a miracle, the Kings need a major roster and management overhaul to get back into contention in the near future.
To make matters even more bitter for the Kings and their fans, their crosstown rival, the Anaheim Ducks, who began life as a near joke of Disney-esque proportions, are the reigning Stanley Cup champions and, with a stellar roster and solid base of operations in Orange County, have claimed what little ink the Kings have left.
As such, it remains wholly unclear what these near-royals must due to reclaim their place in the NHL and their stake in Los Angeles. |
