The LA Kings Will Have A Healthy Schedule In 2016

Missing the 2015 NHL Playoffs, as heart breaking as it was for all black clad fans of the team, might have been the best move after all — they’ll head into 2016 with all the momentum.

The new full length 2016 schedule released by the LA Kings this week is awesome for several reasons.

First and foremost, the Kings get to kick off the season (again) against the Sharks.

It almost seemed like the NHL was kind of rubbing it in San Jose’s face when the two teams were scheduled to clash to begin last season — but it was worth the wait.

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All in good faith, the Kings had come back from an 0-3 deficit against San Jose in the previous playoffs and it didn’t sit well with many Sharks fans who, like everyone else that follows hockey, was under the impression the series was already over.

It didn’t help that the Kings went on to win the Stanley Cup and got to raise their championship banner to the Sharks dismay to start the season.

This year’s kick off has a much different feel.

Neither San Jose nor LA made the 2015 playoffs and both teams are obviously going to be looking to make the necessary adjustments to change that in 2016.

LA has had a lot of off the ice issues with Slava Voynov and Jarrett Stoll (spousal abuse and cocaine possession), but they’ve got to put that behind them if they want to get back to great hockey.

With the new NHL ruling regarding overtime and a shift from 4-on-4 to 3-on-3, the biggest thing that I think will factor into early success for Los Angeles is how they handle those extra time opportunities.

In the previous Stanley Cup runs of 2012 and 2014, LA got all the help they could get from taking teams the extra mile — and in their first championship struggle they ran through the playoffs undefeated on the road.

As an eight seed.

The biggest thing this team has shown its fans is that resilience seriously does pay off — so don’t quit.

There are so many times, especially last season, where the hype behind the team was on and off because one week they’d do exceptional and then they’d get right back into a slump.

If you paid attention to how the season ended for the Kings, you’ll know what I’m talking about all too well.

It’d gotten to the point where the Kings would have been able to make a playoff push if they’d won out and got some help, but found themselves tripped up by both the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.

They can’t afford to have those kinds of mistakes moving forward.

Bottom Line: LA is ready for it’s next conquest

The toughest month on the new calendar for LA looks to be mid-February, where the majority of their opponents made the post-season last year.

And of course, that month kicks off against none other than the Anaheim Ducks.