CHECK UP ON CALI

Evan Davis

Heading into the 2021-2022 NHL season, not a lot of folks had the LA Kings making the playoffs, let alone be one of the three teams that made it from their division. Now they are two wins away from advancing to the second round to either face Dallas/Calgary. Edmonton, on the other hand had numerous expectations heading into the season, given the fact they have only won one playoff series since the arrival of Draisaitl and McDavid.

The LA Kings however are no stranger to the playoffs, having won two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014. Since then, the Kings have yet to win a playoff series and the roster looks completely different. Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Philip Danault, Alex Edler, Olli Maata, and Jonathan Quick are the guys with 15+ playoff games in their career that are playing in this series. The loss of Drew Doughty is huge, but Sean Durzi and Mikey Anderson have really stepped up and have found ways to stop Connor McDavid.

The Oilers as well don’t have a large sum of playoff experience, with Duncan Keith being the only noticeable player with experience. With that being said, this should be a “gimme” series for the Oilers given the fact that the Kings were not supposed to be here as they were playing nine guys making their playoff debut during Game 1.

Right now the series is tied at two games a piece, which sets the table for a best of three series the rest of the way. It will definitely be an interesting fight to the finish, as both teams have appeared dominant in their respective wins. Connor McDavid had multi point efforts in the first three games of the series and Evander Kane has been everything the Oilers have needed when they signed him. All that being said, if the Oilers don’t win this series, then there will be interesting stories brewing in Edmonton.

Mike Smith has one more year left on his deal and Miko Koskinen will be a UFA following this season. The Oilers have a few UFA/RFA’s heading into this offseason, most notably Evander Kane. However I have a hot take that might not be taken lightly by Edmonton Oilers fans. I believe if the Oilers lose this series to LA, they should look to trade away Leon Draisaitl.

I don’t believe this team is a goalie away from making a run for the Stanley Cup and you can obviously get a haul for Draisaitl. If you want McDavid to stay happy in Edmonton, you need to win, and you can’t win with this lineup. Trading away Draisaitl will hurt, but the assets you can gain might outweigh the production of Draisaitl. The Oilers need secondary scoring, and prior to Evander Kane arriving, it was hard for them to get that.

The Kings have nothing to lose in this series, they have the cap space in the future, they have the picks, and they too have UFA/RFA’s they would like to resign. As much as I love Dustin Brown, he should’ve retired two years ago, but now that he is finally retiring the Kings will gain nearly $6 million in cap space. It’ll be interesting to see their approach throughout the offseason.

Overall, I’m gonna stick with my pick of Kings in six games because I have more trust in Jonathan Quick than Mike Smith. I have also been impressed by the play of their young defenseman, who have seemed like seasoned vets during these playoffs.