LA Kings General Manager Ken Holland sat down with LA Kings broadcaster Josh Schaefer and gave some noteworthy insight into how he plans to implement his new role with the franchise.
When asked by Schaefer about how he intends to put his stamp on the team, Holland made it clear that he wasn't going to make a move just to be able to say that he did something. On the contrary, he emphasized that if the current roster built by Rob Blake was to go on to win the Stanley Cup next season he would be "thrilled".
While many LA Kings fans are very disappointed in the team's inability to advance to the second round of the playoffs, Holland drew parallels between LA and his previous team, the Edmonton Oilers.
“We went through the same process in Edmonton: lost in the first round to Chicago, lost in the first round to Winnipeg, but you stuck with it and you keep putting yourselves in that situation. That’s what's gotta happen here.”-
“We went through the same process in Edmonton: lost in the first round to Chicago, lost in the first round to Winnipeg, but you stuck with it and you keep putting yourselves in that situation. That’s what's gotta happen here.”
To be a LA Kings fan in 2025 is a classic "glass half-full, glass half-empty" situation. For some, four straight years of playoff failure is definitely an empty glass, whereas Ken Holland sits squarely in the half-full camp: "The most important thing over 82 is to qualify. And then things have got to happen in there internally: growth of some kids, maybe a move or an addition at the trade deadline.”
As every longtime Kings fan knows, it took "45 years for the Kings to wear their crown" and it has been 11 years since they lost won the Stanley Cup. The fan base is hungry to get back to that level, which is completely understandable. According to Holland's metric, however, the team is already doing the first step of the plan: qualifying for the playoffs every season.
The next step of the plan now falls upon Holland: winning playoff series. How long that will take and how much patience fans will have with the process remains to be seen: “It can’t be that the manager is going to make some blockbuster trade or some free agent signing, it might happen, but that’s not the only…odds are it’s not going to happen, it’s gotta be brick by brick.”
Now that the dust has settled on the latest first round flameout, can one begin to take stock of how much of this recent playoff failure is due to LA not playing up to the moment or is it more a question of Edmonton just being a very good team? They have ended up in the Western Conference Finals three out of the past five years, which probably doesn't happen by accident. The Oilers were also one good third period away from winning the Cup last year, despite having fallen into the dreaded 0-3 hole to start the series. Thus, a begrudging stick tap may be due for the Oilers, as hard as that may be for the inhabitants of The Kingdom.
Edmonton being good, however, shouldn't completely absolve the Kings of their failings. You have to beat good teams, even great teams if you want to win the Cup. There are no easy outs in the Western Conference. End of story.
Now it's up to Ken Holland to draft a new ending for the LA Kings. And as the esteemed Elliotte Friedman likes to say, "you always have a chance to rewrite the narrative."
