2012 Stanley Cup Champions: Los Angeles Kings

By JVDW
In HbD Breakdown
Jun 12th, 2012
9 Comments

Congrats to the LA Kings, who played a dominant game throughout the entire playoffs and (relatively) easily dispatched all three division winners in the West and, of course, the Eastern champions. It feels like they rope-a-doped the entire league with their mediocre regular season and 8th seed. I’m not big on the “flipping the switch” cliché, but this made a pretty big case for it. Despite my grudge-bearing over eliminating my beloved Canucks, their win is much deserved.

HbD’s first attempt at predicting each match-up based on the quality of their overall brand was a complete disaster, going 5 for 15 overall. The moral of the story? Don’t judge a book by its cover. However, we all do that from time to time, and as a book designer as well, my job kind of relies on people doing that. So, ignore that moral and I’ll keep trying to make aesthetically-pleasing things!

9 Responses to “2012 Stanley Cup Champions: Los Angeles Kings”

  1. Guy Incognitus says:

    The only case to be made for “flipping the switch” is flipping the switch on some major personel changes mid-season (Sutter, Carter). Players don’t just decide to play better.

    • Guy Incognitus says:

      Just some numbers to back me up here:
      Under Sutter in the regular season they were 25-14-11 which extrapolated over 82 games would be 100 points, giving them the 3rd seed.
      After Carter joined they went 13-5-3 down the stretch. I know it’s a small sample size but over 82 games that would be 113 points, good for a President’s Trophy this year.

    • Admin says:

      Fair enough. But nobody would have predicted the romp they took through the playoffs. They lost their last 2 games against San Jose, in which they could’ve won the division. On the flip side, the Canucks went 8-1 in their final 9 games, but obviously that didn’t help them.

  2. Zbat72 says:

    since the trade deadline the Kings were 29-9-3 including play-offs. the best team in the NHL and of course Stanley Cup champion. I don’t think it was a matter of flipping switch either. this was direct result of Carter trade and Sutter hire. the Carter trade could go down as the biggest the Kings have ever made, even more than the Gretzky trade. As much as I loved watching the Great One play for the Kings, he didn’t bring LA a Cup. Without the Carter trade, do the Kings even make the play-offs? Probably not.

    • Admin says:

      Sutter definitely helped their cause, but I don’t think Carter was that big of a factor. He had 9 points in 16 regular season games and 13 in the playoffs. Decent numbers, but not huge for a guy supposed to be a constant offensive threat, and he was far from being the best King on the ice in 90% of the games he played.

      You could argue that having him on the team allowed room for the other team members to excel more, and that could definitely have played a factor, but comparing that trade with the Gretzky trade, sorry, but that’s nuts.

      Without Gretzky, the Kings wouldn’t have even come near the Cup in ’93, or made the playoffs in the years before and after ’93. The Kings were expected to compete for, if not win, their division from the beginning of the season, way before Carter joined the team. They under-performed until Sutter lit a fire under their ass and started playing how everyone thought they could and should.

      • Zbat72 says:

        ok, I may be a little drunk from the Kings being Stanley Cup Champs. Yes Gretzky trade will always be bigger. but Carter is big factor in Kings cup run whether he put up points or not. The players have said as much. Opponents had to pay attention to his line and that led to other lines having more opportunity which you suggested.
        Have thoroughly enjoyed reading every entry. and I agreed with your take on LA logo. I wish they would go back to just the crown with some purple mixed in. at the beginning of the season I felt it was a truly awful logo and have refrained from buying any Kings gear with it. my shirt of choice during play-offs was Gretzky era Kings logo. If there is one thing you can say the Kings are consistent with it’s that they will change their logo. I think current one has about 4-5 seasons before they change up.

        • Admin says:

          Thanks, glad you enjoyed the blog! And congrats on the Kings win. Hopefully, I’ll know how it feels some day soon.

          I think once you have a championship in one jersey, it might take a lot more time than usual to change it. Hockey people are a superstitious group. But I like you rocking the vintage Gretzky-era shirt. It’s a classic!

  3. Don says:

    Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Its, not it’s. I know, I never give up.

    The Penguins changed their logo and uniforms immediately after having won two consecutive Cups. Of course, it was a long time before they won another.

    • Admin says:

      Argh! Fixed it. I’m trying to keep on top of those, I swear.

      Good point about the Penguins, but it’s more fuel for the superstitious, as they didn’t get close to another Cup until they went back to their original design.

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