Are the Los Angeles Kings simply too old?

It’s often said that hockey is a young man’s game. Just don’t tell that to the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings were the third-oldest team in the NHL last season in terms of average age, and they haven’t exactly embraced a youth movement this offseason.

Even with the retirement of franchise legend Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles’ signings of veterans Mats Zuccarello, Corey Perry, and Erik Haula, combined with their acquisitions of Artemi Panarin and Scott Laughton at last season’s trade deadline, mean they’ll still be heavily relying on a collection of players in their 30s. If the Kings falter in their attempt to make their sixth straight postseason next year, they may have to finally give in to a full-scale rebuild.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk discussed how the ‘experienced’ Kings are likely to fare next season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: What were your offseason moves, (Kings general manager) Ken Holland? You signed 38-year-old Mats Zuccarello. You signed 40-something-year-old Corey Perry. You signed 35-year-old Erik Haula. That’s not good enough. You lost Anze Kopitar, who was still a good player for you last year. You did not replace him.

Your blueline is a year older. It was bad last year so how good is it going to be? You’re putting all your eggs into crossing your fingers and hoping and praying that Brandt Clarke and Quinton Byfield take steps forward next year. That’s a hell of bet, man.

Darcy Kuemper is 36 years old. Anton Forsberg is 33 years old. On the blueline, (Joel) Edmundson is 33, (Brian) Dumoulin is 34, (Cody) Ceci is 32, (Drew) Doughty is 36. With the forward group, Panarin is 34 years old. They have guys that I like. They’ll be in the mix because the Pacific Division is still probably going to be pretty open in that middle rung of teams, but you’re throwing down a group of centers that goes Byfield, Haula, Laughton, (Samuel) Helenius. That’s not a playoff group of centermen. Let’s not kid ourselves here.

Ken Holland had what I would call one of the worst offseasons in the league. They don’t have a lot of cap space. They have some glaring holes. They have important spots where they’re a year older. I just don’t know. If Quinton Byfield, whose numbers last year were 24 goals and 25 assists for 49 points, can add 10 more goals and 15 more assists, and Brandt Clarke can add 10 more goals and 20 more assists, then yeah, maybe they can lead the Kings to the promised land. And listen, with (Adrian) Kempe, (Kevin) Fiala, Panarin, they’ve got other guys around them. I’m not trying to put all this pressure on them, but you’re hoping Quinton Byfield is a 1C and we have not seen that yet in his NHL career.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Wednesday’s episode here…