Never before in their 42 years of existence in the National Hockey League have the Los Angeles Kings been better positioned for sustained success. In their previous 41 completed seasons, the Kings have reached the playoffs only 24 times, half of which (12) they failed to get past the first round. They have only ever won their division once (1990-91) and made one Stanley Cup Final (1992-93 ? a loss to the Montreal Canadiens) ? both largely attributed to two individuals some fans may have heard of: Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille. Life in L.A. has not been kind to hockey fans since that Finals loss, as the team would go on to miss the playoffs five of the next six seasons. The Kings are currently in the longest playoff drought in their history, missing the playoffs in six straight seasons. However, that could change as soon as now. The franchise?s turnaround began in April of 2006 when they named Dean Lombardi as their President and General Manager. This would be Lombardi?s second general manager position in the NHL, his first being with the San Jose Sharks from 1996-2003. It was there that he established a reputation as one of the top strategists around the league. He succeeded in signing and trading for established veterans (Owen Nolan, Teemu Selanne, Adam Graves, Vincent Damphousse, Mike Ricci, Mike Vernon), a lot of whom made great contributions to the team both in the dressing room and on the ice. He combined that with very good drafting (Patrick Marleau, Evgeni Nabokov, Vesa Toskala, Brad Stuart, Scott Hannan, Ryan Clowe, Christian Ehrhoff, Jonathon Cheechoo, Marco Sturm) to keep the Sharks competitive during his entire tenure, becoming only the second GM in NHL history to increase his team?s point total in six consecutive years. He is using the same method to mold the Kings. In the 2007-08 offseason he signed six free agents, including Michal Handzus, Brad Stuart and Ladislav Nagy. However the team finished second from the bottom in the league, and he responded by firing head coach Marc Crawford. At the 2008 draft, with the team already holding onto the 2nd overall pick, he traded sniper Mike Cammalleri in the 3-team trade that yielded him the 13th overall pick. In his four drafts with the team, he has made six first round picks to help revamp the franchise?s lackluster farm system. Lombardi continued his busy 2008 offseason with the hiring of Terry Murray as coach. At the time of his hiring, Murray had a 360 wins, 277 losses, 89 ties and 11 overtime losses in his career; a very respectable record. In his first ever head coaching stint, he led the 1989-90 Washington Capitals to the Conference Finals ? the deepest the team had ever gone in the playoffs. He spent parts of five years coaching there, and got his next gig with the Philadelphia Flyers in the mid-90?s. He was the creator of the famed Legion of Doom line with Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg. The line, and team, wreaked havoc on the league during Murray?s three years behind the bench, and he was abruptly dismissed following back-to-back 103 point seasons and a Stanley Cup Finals loss to the Red Wings. He closed out the decade coaching the Florida Panthers to a team-record 43 wins and 98 points. In between coaching stints, he spent parts of four seasons as a pro scout, so he knows young talent when he sees it. Thankfully for him, Lombardi has given him a lot to work with. That same summer saw Lombardi trade defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky to the Oilers for Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene (now a Kings alternate captain). Shortly after the trade, both players were signed to multi-year contract extensions to remain with the Kings as part of the current core Lombardi was building. Their names would be added to existing ?core? members: Drew Doughty (2nd overall pick by Lombardi in 2008), Anze Kopitar (11th overall selection in 2005), Jonathan Quick (72nd overall in 2005), team captain Dustin Brown (13th overall in 2003), Alexander Frolov (20th overall in 2000), and promising young stay at home defenseman Jack Johnson (3rd overall pick by the Hurricanes in 2005). Doughty is in his second season, and at only age 19, is fifth among NHL defensemen in scoring (16 points in 21 games) and could potentially crack Team Canada?s roster in the 2010 Olympics. Kopitar (22 years old) has 235 points in 257 career games, including leading the league in scoring so far this season with 14 goals and 31 points in 21 games, well on pace to beat his personal best season of 77 points. Brown, 25, was named captain before the 2008-09 season, and has 17 points in 20 games this year. Quick signed a 3 year extension a couple of weeks into the season, cashing in on his hot 11-6-2 start with a 2.66 goals against average. Johnson has yet to live up to his draft slot, but is still raw at 22 years of age and was injured most of last season. Though not playing very much, they also signed European free agent goaltender Erik Ersberg (27) in 2007. In 45 career games he is 15-17-8 with a promising 2.68 goals against average. In addition to these fine young pieces on their NHL roster, the team has a slew of solid prospects in their farm system. In 2006 the Kings drafted United States Hockey League Player Of The Year Trevor Lewis 17th overall (a center), and goaltender Jonathan Bernier 11th overall ? who is lighting the AHL on fire this year with a 1.65GAA and 95.1% save percentage. In 2007, they drafted defenseman Thomas Hickey 4th overall, Canada?s team captain on the 2009 World Junior Championships Gold Medal squad. With their 13th overall pick in the 2008 draft they selected another d-man, 6?4? 19 year old Colten Teubert, currently playing in the WHL. The Kings also have this year?s first round pick Brayden Schenn (5th overall) in the WHL. Schenn is the younger brother of Leafs? defenseman Luke Schenn. The gifted 18 year old has 188 points in 155 games in his WHL career. Lombardi continued adding solid players to the Kings roster in 2009. At the trade deadline he acquired forward Justin Williams in a 3-team trade for Patrick O?Sullivan. After scoring 143 points between 2005-06 and 2006-07, plus 18 points en route to winning a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006, Williams has battled injury after injury but still has the ability to make offensive and defensive contributions every game. The 2009 offseason saw the Kings add 2 important veterans to their roster. First they signed defenseman Rob Scuderi, a very solid blue liner who played an important role on the back end for the Stanley Cup champion Penguins last year. The next day they pulled off a trade for what looks to be the most important piece of the puzzle, the glue that brought it all together. Excess defensemen Kyle Quincy and Tom Preissing were sent to the Avalanche for Ryan Smyth ? one of the hardest working players of the last decade, and a ?pro?s pro.? What the Kings lacked before this season was a proven veteran leader to help the talented crop of young forwards to take the next step. While helping Kopitar, Brown, and Frolov to the best starts of their careers, Smyth is also off to his own best offensive start in a long and productive, blue-collared career. In 12 seasons prior to this one, 70 points has been his highest output. This year, the 33 year old and former 6th overall pick has 23 points in 21 games, and has resurrected his chances at an Olympic roster spot. Most importantly to the Kings, however, is they are second in their division and tied with Calgary for the third most points in the Western Conference so far. And there is no reason to believe that this is a one-year fluke in Los Angeles. Kopitar is signed to 2016, Brown and Greene to 2014, Scuderi and Quick to 2013, and Stoll and Smyth to 2012. After this year, they only have two forwards (Frolov and Raitis Ivanans) and two defensemen (Randy Jones and Sean O?Donnell) that will be unrestricted free agents, and three restricted free agents that are not part of the core Lombardi has built. Thus, their success to start this season, a success that has been well-developed, well-strategized, and well-executed, has a very real possibility of being continued for the next few seasons. The pieces are in place: stars on the NHL roster, depth and role players, the prospects waiting for their opportunity, and excellence in the front office, all of whom are hoping for their crown. Nick may be reached at nickobergan@hotmail.com