Stanley Cup Playoffs 2025: What the Kings must address after fourth consecutive first-round loss to the Oilers

This year it seemed that it could be different for the kings of Los Angeles. They were a better team than the Edmonton Oilers in the regular season, and they remained this way during the first two games and two periods of the later season.

The Kings sought to take a three -year playoff losing a streak in the Oilers, and this seemed to be the probable result after they took the 1 and 2 games at home. Then the wheels left for Los Angeles. The team suffered four straight losses, two of which came after blowing their third period, and the result was the same as each year it has been since 2022.

The latter post -season was dragged into the hands of the oilers can be the most painful. The situation was set perfectly for the kings. They were playing elite defense against an offense that was not very deep outside a few great guns. Los Angeles’s offense, which had improved the stretch, came to face a blue line of Edmonton, which did not have the closure defender Mattas Ekholm.

At the goal, the kings had a determined advantage. Darcy Kuemper is a finalist of the vezin trophy, and Stuart Skinner had been extremely inconsistent from the beginning to the end.

In spite of everything, Los Angeles could not remove the rocky blue and Orange Monkey. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Company proved to be too much for the Kings to overcome again.

I will not delve into the “definition of madness” topic, but it is enough to say that something must change so that Los Angeles advances. Whether your staff, coach philosophy or player use, we take a look at what was bad for the kings and what to adjust.

Staff

This coincidence referred to the depth of the versus kings the power of oilers fire. This depth seemed safe bet through two games, but this power of fire in Edmonton really lit. McDavid, Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard took over the series at the end of match 3 and did not look back.

The problem of kings is not simply that they do not have McDavid. UNIVER -BOOD TO THE CLUB. Thirty others NHL teams have the same problem.

Los Angeles does not have enough dynamic offensive stars: players who can create their own scoring possibilities coherently. Adrian Kempe is a great shooter as he sometimes showed in this series. Kevin Fiala is a specialized player in the offensive area. Anze Kopitar is one of the best bidirectional forwards as always, and Quinton Byfield is in this same trajectory. All of this said, none of these players are approaching McDavid or Draisaitl when it comes to generating snapshots.

In the last four games of the series, McDavid and Draisaitl combined by 14 points. Bouchard brought four goals combined in fundamental victories at Games 3 and 4.

If the kings are going to take advantage of the window of the championship they have opened, CEO Rob Blake must be aggressive in his search for really elite players. These players do not grow in the trees, but a couple of recent champions of the Stanley Cup (see: Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights) have managed to connect in large staff swings.

This season drops, the Nhl The salary lid will make another great jump and this could facilitate some movement of the free agency and the commercial market. The kings must be right in the middle of this, as they are trying to load -because of the very realistic possibility that the oilers can see the Playoffs of the Stanley Cup in 2026.

Philosophy

Another glittering problem for the kings of this series was how they managed their third period’s advantages, especially in Games 3 and 4. I can understand a team that plays their identity, and Los Angeles was very effective in closing the opponents with their late advantages in the regular season, but this strategy is a little tougher to run against a team of Oilers who can mark a glance.

After almost burning -trying to park the bus to match 1, the type of kings shot this plan to different degrees at Games 3 and 4 when they entered the third period with leadership. After about 40 competitive minutes in which the kings were on their heels and took advantage of a defense of Edmonton’s defense, they tried to trust their two -way defenders and veterans defenders.

This did not work at all. McDavid and the rest of the Oilers Higher Arms celebrated, taking any breathing space that the Kings would give them as Los Angeles tried to unsuccessfully defend the ice in front of Kuemper.

It NUMBER NUMBERS STATISTICAL TRUCK Paint a strong image of the Third Period of the Kings collapses at Games 3 and 4.

This type of stoppage with Late Leads has been a feature of the kings, which went back to when Todd McLellan was the coach from 2019 to 2024. When Jim Hiller was promoted to this role, he maintained the same identity. This identity has won the kings many regular seasonal games, but it has clearly their shortcomings when trying to close games against one of the best teams in the West.

It is understandable that a team like the Kings would like to avoid taking too much risks against a team as lethal as the oilers. However, Los Angeles would probably have been able to keep his foot on the accelerator a little more to try to put Edmonton on the rear foot in large leverage situations.

Use of the player

According to his credit, Hiller tried to lean on the in -depth lead of his team in the series. Nine different kings had an average of more than 20 minutes of ice time per game. Only six oilers saw this type of playing time. The problem for Los Angeles was that many of these players, especially veteran proponents, were not effective enough while in the game.

For example, Drew Drerughty and Mikey Anderson drew the hard task of dealing with the McDavid line. As good as that duo was in the regular season, they fought in this game. Oilers controlled more than 75% of the expected goals with McDavid in ice against Doughty and Anderson to five by five For statistical natural trick.

Doughty and Anderson were not alone. The other veteran defensive mating of Joel Edmundson and Vladislav Gavrikov was also below five to five.

These results ask questions about why the duo is very skilled and very mobile (though young) by Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke did not get more often. These two had an average of 7:31 and 12:47 minutes per game, respectively. Coaches are always reluctant to use young defenders at critical moments, especially in playoffs, but this pairing could have provided an offensive impulse since the end. The two combined by 61 points in the regular season.

At least, Spence and Clarke could have eaten a few more minutes in the portions of previous games so that players like Daughty and Anderson were a little more gas on the tank while trying to close victories. Younger proponents may have fought very well like everyone else, but they probably deserved a leash longer than they achieved.