Drew Doughty won't be satisfied with the Los Angeles Kings front office if it doesn't bolster the rebuilding club in the near future.

The defenseman expressed a sense of urgency and cited the Kings' aging core when asked if it's time for the team to add more experience.

"Yeah, for sure. I mean, shit, we gotta," Doughty said Friday. "Me and (Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Quick, and Dustin Brown), we're all getting older. We all had, I thought, phenomenal seasons, but we're running out of time. You've got two of the best players at their position ... both ways ... and with all this cap room, yeah, we've got to bring guys in, that's it.

"There's no point in just waiting for these prospects to develop when you've got guys in their prime, hungry to win, and sick of losing."

Doughty was asked if he'd be happy if big moves aren't made in the offseason. His reply was brief but to the point.

"No," he said.

The Kings went 21-28-7 this season, finishing near the bottom of the league standings. Los Angeles has been rebuilding for the last three campaigns, missing the playoffs each time. The Kings have made only two postseason appearances - losing both first-round series - since claiming their second Stanley Cup championship over a three-year span in 2014.

However, as Doughty noted, the 2021 squad showed some promise. The 31-year-old produced 34 points in 56 games, while Kopitar, who's 33, racked up 50 points while also playing every contest. Brown, the eldest player on the Kings' roster at 36, led the team with 17 goals in 49 games. However, Quick posted a subpar .898 save percentage over 22 contests and was outplayed by 26-year-old Cal Petersen.

Los Angeles has begun to give more opportunities to younger players like Petersen, Adrian Kempe, and 2017 first-round pick Gabriel Vilardi, all of whom have shown flashes of their abilities. The Kings also boast a deep prospect pool led by 2020 second overall pick Quinton Byfield - who debuted with the club this season - and 2019 second-rounder Arthur Kaliyev, who scored in his lone appearance in the league in February.

The Kings finished the season with about $9 million in cap space and could have even more than that this summer if they opt not to re-sign any of their six pending restricted free agents.

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Ryan O'Reilly didn't say, "I guarantee," but the St. Louis Blues captain clearly believes his team will upset the NHL's top squad in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"It's exciting for us," O'Reilly said Thursday night. "We know we can beat this team and do some damage here."

"We know that they have a lot of talent over there and they work hard, but for us, it's an exciting challenge," the Blues star added. "We're going have some fun and we're going to beat them."

The Avalanche clinched the Presidents' Trophy to claim the NHL's best record with a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

Colorado scored the most goals per game and surrendered the third-fewest per contest in 2021 while authoring the NHL's second-best goal differential. The Avalanche also led the league in goals for percentage at five-on-five and expected goals for percentage in the same situations, according to Natural Stat Trick.

O'Reilly, who played his first six seasons with Colorado, led the Blues with 24 goals and ranked second with 30 assists while playing all 56 games this season. St. Louis named him captain in December following Alex Pietrangelo's departure in October.

The Avalanche finished atop the West Division with a 39-13-4 record, while the Blues finished fourth at 27-20-9.

Colorado won five of the eight meetings between the clubs during the regular season, though St. Louis won the last two, both on home ice.

Game 1 of their first-round series is scheduled for Monday night in Denver.

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The NHL won't be giving out the conference championship trophies this postseason, the league's chief content officer Steve Mayer told ESPN's Greg Wyshynski on Friday.

The winner of the Eastern Conference is typically awarded the Prince of Wales Trophy, while the Western Conference winner is usually handed the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl.

The NHL needed to drastically alter its regular-season format this campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Divisions were temporarily realigned - including all the Canadian teams participating in the North Division - and clubs only played intradivisional games.

Teams will continue to play within those same divisions for the first two rounds of the playoffs. When one team is remaining from each of the four divisions, those squads will be re-seeded before facing off for spots in the Stanley Cup Final, making it possible for two clubs from the same conference to battle for the championship.

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Alain Vigneault isn't going anywhere.

The Philadelphia Flyers head coach will back for the 2021-22 campaign, general manager Chuck Fletcher told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun this week.

"Absolutely. AV's our coach and we're excited to have he and his staff back next season," Fletcher said without hesitation, according to LeBrun. "We have a lot of work ahead of us to redefine our defensive game and our defensive structure. I can't think of a better group to do it than the group of experienced coaches that we have behind our bench right now."

Fletcher added that the Flyers didn't meet expectations in 2021. The club missed the playoffs this season with a 25-23-8 record after posting the NHL's fourth-best record in the previous campaign.

The Flyers allowed the most goals against per game in the league and finished last in save percentage while producing a minus-38 goal differential. Franchise netminder Carter Hart owned the NHL's worst goals saved above expected and goals saved above average totals in all situations.

"You have no chance to be successful giving up the number of chances and the number of goals that we did this year," Fletcher said.

Philadelphia was expected to continue to make strides after finishing strong and winning a postseason series on the strength of a solid defensive effort in 2019-20. However, steady blue-liner Matt Niskanen surprisingly retired in October, and Fletcher said he should have done more to replace him.

"I did a poor job of filling that void," the GM said. "It wasn't for a lack of trying, but we didn't do what we needed to do. And that falls on me."

Vigneault reportedly signed a five-year, $25-million contract when the Flyers hired him in April 2019. The longtime bench boss, who turned 60 on Friday, previously guided the New York Rangers for five seasons, the Vancouver Canucks for seven, and the Montreal Canadiens for parts of four to begin his NHL coaching career.

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With the Stanley Cup Playoffs set to begin Saturday, we rank the top 30 players who will compete for the ultimate prize (2020-21 stats in tables):

30-21 | 20-11 (May 14) | 10-1 (May 15)

30. Charlie McAvoy, Boston Bruins

McAvoy probably won't win the Norris Trophy this season, but he's been in the conversation all year long on the strength of his excellent play. The Bruins depend heavily upon the 23-year-old with Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara now playing elsewhere, and McAvoy has proven worthy of the increased responsibility.

29. Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets

Hellebuyck, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, was rock-solid again this season, and he's a major reason why the Jets find themselves in the postseason at all. Winnipeg allowed the fifth-most scoring chances (1,565) and second-most high-danger scoring chances (678) in 2020-21, but Hellebuyck held the fort. He has the skills to backstop the Jets to a lengthy playoff run.

28. Mark Scheifele, Jets

Scheifele is vital to the Jets' offense and enters the playoffs after averaging 1.11 points per game in his most productive regular season yet. He suffered an injury early in last year's qualifying round, and Winnipeg wasn't able to survive without its top pivot.

27. Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild

Kaprizov is already one of the league's must-watch talents just 55 games into his NHL career. The Wild's 24-year-old star is scoring at an elite rate and will likely win the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie this season. Kaprizov embraces the spotlight and seems like the type of player who will take his game to another level in the postseason.

26. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins

It's been a difficult year for Malkin, both in terms of his health and goal-scoring. The Penguins star said he feels fine after leaving Saturday's game as a precaution. He may not be capable of replicating his playoff performances of old, but the once-dominant center is still a threat to impact postseason games.

25. Shea Theodore, Vegas Golden Knights

Theodore continues to be one of the most under-the-radar elite defensemen in the NHL. He ranks third among Golden Knights skaters with 42 points and has averaged 22:38 of ice time per game. He's one of the league's biggest offensive threats from the blue line and a vital cog in Vegas' potent lineup.

24. Dougie Hamilton, Carolina Hurricanes

Hamilton turned in yet another brilliant campaign for the Hurricanes this season, finishing top 10 in scoring among defensemen and first in shots on goal - all while controlling 57.17% of expected goals at five-on-five. He plays a key role in Carolina's up-tempo style, and a strong playoff run could soon have the pending unrestricted free agent in line for an eight-figure salary.

23. Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers

Huberdeau is one of the game's top playmakers and will look to lead the Panthers to their first playoff series win since 1996. The dynamic winger ranks seventh among all NHL skaters in assists and produced at a 90-point pace over 82 games for the third consecutive campaign. With just 10 career playoff games under his belt, the 27-year-old will be hungry to seize the opportunity.

22. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning

Kucherov is perhaps the biggest question mark entering these playoffs. Will he be fully healthy after missing the entire regular season? If so, will there be any rust to kick off? If there is, how quickly can he return to his usual dynamic form? The Lightning superstar would obviously be far higher up this list in a normal year, but it's unclear how much he'll be able to contribute.

21. Ryan O'Reilly, St. Louis Blues

The 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy winner turned in another incredible season with the Blues this year. O'Reilly's two-way game is impeccable, and he's proven over the past two seasons that he doesn't slow down come playoff time; he ranks fifth among all players with 34 points in 35 playoff games since 2019. If the Blues can catch fire with O'Reilly leading the way, they'll be as tough an out as any team.

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The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-1 on Thursday night to claim the Presidents' Trophy as the league's top regular-season team with 82 points.

As a result, Colorado supplanted the Vegas Golden Knights atop the West Division and will take on the fourth-seeded St. Louis Blues in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Both Colorado and Vegas finished the 56-game schedule equal in points, but the Avalanche earned the tiebreaker with five more regulation wins.

2021 NHL standings

The Avalanche have now won the Presidents' Trophy three times in franchise history. They previously earned the honor in 1996-97 and then again in 2000-01, which they paired with a Stanley Cup.

The Presidents' Trophy winner hasn't won it all since the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks and hasn't advanced past the second round in each of the last five postseasons.

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