All the hopes of Los Angeles Kings fans lay squarely on the shoulders of Quinton Byfield. The Los Angeles Kings’ Stanley Cup window is almost certainly shut without a major glow-up by Byfield.
The second overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft has had his career go through fits and starts. At times, he’s looked like he could be on the verge of turning into an elite player, perhaps even a unicorn. His rare blend of puck skills, athleticism and size could have drawn comparisons to unicorns in other sports, like the Miami Heat’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. That’s the upside for Byfield, a rare physical specimen who becomes a matchup nightmare for teams.
Instead, Byfield has settled into a second-line player in the NHL. If that’s all he ever winds up being, that’s fine. Second-line players are very important, but the Kings likely hope Byfield is the heir to Anze Kopitar.
Well, it’s now or never.
Byfield Leads the Way on League’s Oldest Team
The Los Angeles Kings’ Stanley Cup window might well be smashed shut, according to Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff:
“But the Kings might have the tightest distance between floor and ceiling of any team in the NHL. They’re very clearly an 85-point team at minimum yet look highly unlikely to get 100. That’s a depressing place to be. The Kings look exactly how they look every year: like a team that’ll get nudged aside easily in Round 1 of the playoffs.”
They’ll enter 2026-27, barring something unforeseen occurring, as the oldest team in the NHL. GM Ken Holland, for the second consecutive summer, targeted experience. The Kings labored to a playoff spot in a weak Western Conference, thanks in part to the arrival of superstar winger Artemi Panarin. He remains an elite point producer and power-play weapon, yet Panarin is now 34. The two-year extension he signed in Los Angeles makes it clear the Kings are thinking about winning now.
The Kings signed undersized winger Mats Zuccarello (38), bottom-six utility forward Scott Laughton (32) and depth scoring winger Corey Perry (41) to contracts this summer. Altogether, the Kings are the oldest team in the league as of this moment, according to Elite Prospects. This doesn’t seem like the right recipe for the Kings’ Stanley Cup window to re-open.
Simultaneously, Adrian Kempe or Alex Laferriere could potentially move to center. That makes Byfield the only true top-six center on the roster. The numbers aren’t bad for Byfield, though he finished an uncharacteristic minus-one at five-on-five last season. Byfield has shown he can be a top-six center in the NHL. Consequently, other questions are mounting regarding Byfield’s future.
Is Quinton Byfield Ready to Step Up?
Byfield could help the Kings’ Stanley Cup window open back up in one of two ways. One, Byfield could emerge as a true number one center, an all-situations player capable of being a critical contributor at every moment. He has started to show signs of this, but he needs to take another step. Byfield has become a penalty killer in the past two seasons, though Los Angeles’s PK unit was among the worst in the league last season. He also fell down the pecking order in usage on the power play, finishing seventh in TOI per game among forwards. The Kings’ man-advantage unit finished 28th in the NHL last season.
The second option for the 6-foot-5, 230-pound center is to see Adrian Kempe capably step into Kopitar’s role. In that instance, the Kings can more reasonably deploy Byfield with more focus on scoring at five-on-five. Byfield appeared to be much better after the Olympic Break. He scored 33 points in 58 games for Jim Hiller last season. That’s a prorated 82-game pace of 46.7 points. After Hiller’s firing, Byfield scored 16 points in his final 21 games, all under interim coach DJ Smith. That’s a prorated 82-game pace of 62.5 points. If Byfield can produce like a top-end second-line center, rather than an average one, that would do wonders for the Kings.
New coach Peter Laviolette is tasked with finding a way to open the Kings’ Stanley Cup window. He had a similar situation in his last stop in New York. In fact, he had both Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafrenière, former top picks who were underachieving. Kakko failed to break out under Laviolette. As a result, the Rangers ultimately traded him to Seattle. Conversely, Lafrenière, an up-and-down player like Byfield, had the best season of his career under Laviolette. He appears to be trending in the right direction now.
Is the Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Window ‘Smashed’ Shut?
Even if Byfield can achieve one of those two paths, the Kings probably don’t look like a Stanley Cup contender. Certainly, Byfield stepping up can result in improvements across the board at five-on-five, the power play and penalty kill.
That may not be enough with the Kings’ concerns in goal. Darcy Kuemper lost his net to Anton Forsberg for the playoff series loss to Colorado. Both players are on expiring deals, indicating there isn’t a lot of faith in bringing either back at the moment.
The Kings pipeline is among the most barren in the NHL, especially after trading their top prospect, Liam Greentree, to acquire Artemi Panarin. 23-year-old defenseman Brandt Clarke, who signed a five-year extension this summer, will also need to step up for the Kings.
The window is smashed shut if Byfield doesn’t step up this season. If he can become the player the Kings thought they were drafting in 2020, maybe we can upgrade ‘smashed shut’ to cracked open.
Los Angeles Kings Cup Window Relies on Quinton Byfield Breakout