Los Angeles Kings

For Jack Kent Cooke, the Los Angeles Kings brought hockey to the beautiful beaches of southern California. Cooke was already an owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association who,; as a Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario, he wanted to bring hockey to a new market where he could share his passion for hockey. He named the team the "Kings" because he wanted the team to have a royal air. To add to that air, the Kings wore purple and gold. The purple color would be officially named "Forum Blueblue" after Cooke built The Forum, known by locals as "The Fabulous Forum," where the team would play for thirty-two seasons.

When the Los Angeles Kings entered the league, they did so wearing a "Forum Blue"blue (purple) and gold uniform. The original design had a straightforward design, featuring monochrome striping on the shoulders and tail, as well as purple pants with white and gold trim. White trim would later be added onto the numbers, names, and a white tail stripe. There was a point when the team wore gold jerseys with gold pants and a variation of the original crown logo.

The Kings made a radical change in 1988, when they moved away from "Forum Blue"blue and gold in favor of black and silver. The new uniforms did not deviate in design much from their predecessor, but the primary logo was changed, and the shoulder yokes were changed to sleeve stripes. The logo was changed from a crown to a silver chevron with a stylized "Kings" word-mark in the middle.

During this jersey's lifespan, there was a third jersey was introduced, which has since become infamous as the "burgerBurger kingKing" jersey. This jersey came during a period when the NHL and jersey suppliers were playing around with a sublimation coloring technique, which allowed them faded colors and brought back "Forum Blue"blue and gold with a logo of a bearded figure wearing a golden crown oftoften compared to the mascot of the fast food burger chain Burger King. The jersey was quickly retired.

In 1998, the Kings went through another uniform redesign. The chevron logo was ditched in favor of a new crest—a vague shield design with two crossed hockey sticks over the shield. Three emblems were on the shield—a sun in the top right corner, a crown in the top left corner, and a lion in the bottom center while it sported "LA" and "KINGS" wordmarksword-marks on top and bottom. The team also reintroduced purple to the jersey, although of a darker color than the original "Forum Blue"blue alongside black and silver.

The jerseys were redesigned as well, with thick purple shoulder yokes trimmed in silver and black, a similar purple trimmed in black and silver sleeve stripe, and a similar stripe at the bottom of the uniform, which included a "Los Angeles" wordmarkword-mark.

In 1999, they introduced a third logo of a purple and black crown, which was worn on a solid purple jersey. The crown became the main logo. For a while, this was on a similar jersey as they had introduced in 1998 before the jerseys were redesigned in 2007. The redesign maintained the silver, black, and purple color scheme, but removed the lower stripe on the jersey bottom while keeping the Los Angeles wordmarkword-mark. This redesign came under the Reebok Edge uniform system, which redesigned jerseys across the league.

The remainder of the 1960s were unremarkable for the Los Angeles Kings. They entered the 1970s acquiring future Hall of Famer Bob Pulford from the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for Garry Monahan and Brian Murphy. A seasoned veteran who had won four Stanley Cups as a member of the Leafs, Pulford brought leadership and a sense of legitimacy and respect into the team's lineup. Pulford eventually retired after the 1971–1972 season and came back as a head coach of the team in the 1972–1973 season.

The middle of the 1980s saw another group of talented rookies join the Los Angeles Kings: Luc Robitaille, Jimmy Carson, and Steve Duchesne. Robitaille would gowent on to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and has been considered by many to be one of the all-time greatest Kings players. Unfortunately, Robitaille and Duchesne would have to go to Detroit, at the end of their careers, to finally win a Stanley Cup. The Kings, despite the strength of their team, continued to fail to get to the Stanley Cup finals through the 1980s. Bruce McNall took control of the Los Angeles Kings ownership in 1987 and sought to build a successful team.

However, the final half of the 2010s failed to bring more success to the Kings. The team struggled to remain competitive, failing to make the playoffs in the 2014–2015, 2016–2017, and 2018–2019 seasons, while suffering opening-round losses during the years they made the payoffs. This left the Kings in a position of mediocrity, and the team committed to, if not quite a rebuild, a retool of the roster, seeing some players traded, while stalwarts such as Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty remained on the team, helping with the development of the young players the team drafted.

The Los Angeles Kings are a professional hockey club playing in the Pacific Division of the National Hockey Leagues' (NHL) Western Conference. Located in Los Angeles, the team was brought into the league during the 1967 expansion, which brought an end to the "original six" era and the doubling ofdoubled the league from six to twelve teams. Similar to other expansion teams, the Los Angeles Kings struggled out of expansion and would not win a conference championship until 1993. Since then, the team has gone on to win the conference championship and the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014. The Los Angeles Kings play out of the Crypto.com Arena (fka Staples Center) in downtown Los Angeles after having played in The Forum. They share the rink with the Los Angeles Lakers, as they shared The Forum before.

For Jack Kent Cooke, the Los Angeles Kings brought hockey to the beautiful beaches of southern California. Cooke was already an owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association who, as a Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario, wanted to bring hockey to a new market where he could share his passion for hockey. He named the team the "Kings" because he wanted the team to have a royal air. To add to that air, the Kings wore purple and gold. The purple color would be officially named "Forum Blue" after Cooke built theThe Forum, known by locals as "The Fabulous Forum," where the team would play for thirty-two seasons.

Jack Kent Cooke brought the Los Angeles Kings into the NHL. As the original owner of the team, he continued ownership until 1979, at which time he sold theThe Forum, the Kings, and the Lakers to Dr. Jerry Buss. Buss purchased the group more for basketball and found himself quite unlike other NHL owners. Under his ownership, the Lakers went on to win ten championships. However, for the Kings, his ownership was not as successful, as the team posted an overall losing game percentage and only saw the playoffs in four seasons. However, in one of those seasons, in 1980–1981, Los Angeles recorded their best record yet, with 43 wins, 24 losses, and 13 ties before being upset in the playoffs.

The first season for the Los Angeles Kings began with some frustration. Founder Jack Kent Cooke wanted the new team to play at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where the Los Angeles Lakers played, but the arena had already entered into an agreement with the WHL's Los Angeles Blades, who had been founded in the owners' failed attempt to land an NHL franchise, and in the WHL's attempt to turn itself into a major league. This led to the construction of theThe Forum.

However, the construction of theThe Forum would not be complete at the beginning of the team's inaugural season. This left the Kings to open their first season at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach. Their first game, on October 14, 1967, saw the team defeat their expansion cousin, Philadelphia Flyers, 4–2. By December 1967, theThe Forum finally opened with a game against the Flyers again, but this time the Flyers shut the Kings out 2–0.

The Los Angeles Kings are a professional hockey club playing in the Pacific Division of the National Hockey Leagues' (NHL) Western Conference. Located in Los Angeles, the team was brought into the league during the 1967 expansion, which sawbrought an end to the "original six" era and the doubling of the league double from six to twelve teams. Similar to other expansion teams, the Los Angeles Kings would strugglestruggled out of expansion, and would not win a conference championship until 1993. Since then, the team has gone on to win the conference championship and the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014. The Los Angeles Kings play out of the Crypto.com Arena (fka Staples Center) in downtown Los Angeles, after having played in The Forum. They share the rink with the Los Angeles Lakers, as they shared The Forum before.

The Los Angeles Kings were awarded an expansion franchise in 1966 during Clarence Campbell and the NHL's search to expand the league from six to ana dozen teams. This expansion saw numerous cities jockeying for a franchise, with cities including Cleveland, Buffalo, Vancouver, Louisville, and Baltimore being passed over in favor of the Minnesota North Stars, Oakland Seals, St. Louis Blues, Philadelpia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Los Angeles Kings. Some of those original expansion teams would eventually end up in other cities, especially as they struggled through their early seasons and failed to find success with their potential fanbasesfan bases.

For Jack Kent Cooke, the Los Angeles Kings would bringbrought hockey to the beautiful beaches of southern California. Cooke was already an owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association who, as a Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario, wanted to bring hockey to a new market where he could share his passion for hockey. He named the team the "Kings" because he wanted the team to have a royal air. To add to that air, the Kings wore purple and gold. The purple color would be officially named "Forum Blue" after Cooke built the Forum, known by locals as "The Fabulous Forum," where the team would play for 32thirty-two seasons.

Further, to work to ingratiate the players picked in expansion - whichexpansion—which did not include many big names - Cookenames—Cooke came up with an idea to give the players colorful nicknames to create buzz around the players and help to glitz the team up to better fit in "Tinseltown." This strategy saw the likes of Eddie "The Jet" Joyal, Eddie "The Entertainer" Shack, "Cowboy" Bill Flett, Juha "Whitey" Widing, and Real "Frenchy" Lemieux, among others.

Jack Kent Cooke would bringbrought the Los Angeles Kings into the NHL. As the original owner of the team, he would continue to own thecontinued teamownership until 1979, at which time he sold the Forum, the Kings, and the Lakers to Dr. Jerry Buss. Buss would purchasepurchased the group more for the basketball, and findfound himself quite unlike other NHL owners. Under his ownership, the Lakers would gowent on to win 10ten championships. However, for the Kings, his ownership was not as successful, as the team posted an overall losing games wongame percentage and would only seesaw the playoffs in four seasons. However, in one of those seasons, in 1980-811980–1981, Los Angeles would recordrecorded their best record yet, with 43 wins, 24 losses, and 13 ties before being upset in the playoffs.

Recognizing the need for something, Bruce McNall, a minority owner of the Kings, would taketook over as owner of the team starting in 1989, and he would be part of bringing Wayne Gretzky to the team. Under McNall, the team would postposted an overall winning record and reachreached the playoffs five times in six seasons, even reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, although the team was unable to bring home the ultimate trophy.

In 1995, ownership shifted to Jeffrey Sudikoff and Joseph Cohen. They would bewere owners for a single season before, Philip Anschutz took over ownership in 1996, Philip Anschutz would take over ownership. Anschutz continues to be the owner of the Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as the Staples Center), where the Los Angeles Kings have played out of since 1999, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Under his ownership, the Kings have been able to secure two Stanley Cups.

When the Los Angeles Kings entered the league, they did so wearing a "Forum Blue" (purple) and gold uniform. The original design had a straightforward design, featuring monochrome striping on the shoulders and tail as well as purple pants with white and gold trim. White trim would later be added on the numbers, names, and a white tail stripe. There was a point wherewhen the team wore gold jerseys with gold pants and a variation of the original crown logo.

From 1980 to 1988, the Kings modified their jersey to include a contrasting shoulder yoke that extended from sleeve to sleeve,; white as added to the socks, on the tail stripes, and at the bottom of the yoke,; whileand the color was removed from the banks. Names and numbers of the jerseys were also modified to reflect the standard NHL block lettering.

The Kings would makemade a radical change in 1988, when they would movemoved away from "Forum Blue" and gold in favor of black and silver. The new uniforms did not deviate in design much from their predecessor, but the primary logo was changed, and the shoulder yokes were changed to sleeve stripes. The logo was changed from a crown to a silver chevron with a stylized "Kings" word-mark in the middle.

During this jersey's lifespan, there was onea third jersey introduceintroduced, which has since become infamous as the "burger king" jersey. This jersey came during a period wherewhen the NHL and jersey suppliers were playing around with a sublimation coloring technique, which allowed them fadefaded colors, and brought back "Forum Blue" and gold with a logo of a bearded figure wearing a golden crown oft compared to the mascot of the fast food burger chain Burger King. The jersey would bewas quickly retired.

In 1998, the Kings would gowent through another uniform redesign. This saw them ditch theThe chevron logo was ditched in favor of a new crest. The new logo had acrest—a vague shield design with a two crossed hockey sticks over the shield. Three emblems were on the shield, ashield—a sun in the top right corner, a crown in the top left corner, and a lion in the bottom center while it sported "LA" and "KINGS" wordmarks on top and bottom. The team also reintroduced purple to the jersey, although of a darker color than the original "Forum Blue" alongside black and silver.

The jerseys were redesigned as well, with thick purple shoulder yokes trimmed in silver and black, a similar purple trimmed in black and silver sleeve stripe, and a similar stripe at the bottom of the uniform, which included a "Los Angeles" wordmark.

TheyIn 1999, wouldthey introduceintroduced a third logo of a purple and black crown in 1999, which was worn on a solid purple jersey. The crown would becomebecame the main logo. For a hwilewhile, this was on a similar jersey as they had introduced in 1998 before the jerseys were redesigned in 2007. The redesign maintained the silver, black, and purple color scheme, but removed the lower stripe on the jersey bottom while keeping the Los Angeles wordmark. This redesign came under the Reebok Edge uniform system, which redesigned jerseys across the league.

In 2008, the Kings would introduceintroduced a new third jersey. The jersey went back to the black and silver color scheme and introduced a new crest, which sawwith "LA" sit over a crown on a shield. The jersey was devoid of purple, had silver piping down the sleeves, and included a white sleeve stripe. This alternate would becomebecame the team's primary jersey in 2011, as the team moved away from the purple. The jersey would gowent through some slight redesigns, with the Kings introducing a grey third jersey at different periods, and introducing a "shiny" jersey, which returned the silver chevron to the jersey in a shiny silver color and paired them with shiny silver helmets.

The first season for the Los Angeles Kings began with some frustration. Founder Jack Kent Cooke wanted the new team to play at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where the Los Angeles Lakers played, but the arena had already entered into an agreement with the WHL's Los Angeles Blades, who had been founded in the owners' failed attempt to land an NHL franchise, and in the WHL's attempt to turn itself into a major league. This leadled to the construction of the the Forum.

However, the construction of the Forum would not be complete at the beginning of the team's inaugural season. This left the Kings to open their first season at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach. Their first game, on October 14, 1967, saw the team defeat their expansion cousin, Philadelphia Flyers 4, to 24–2. By December, 1967, the Forum finally opened with a game against the Flyers again, but this time the Flyers shut the Kings out 2 to nothing2–0.

The inaugural team was headlined by Terry Sawchuk, who at the time of the 1967 Expansion Draft was 38-years-oldthirty-eight years old and a legendary goaltender who already had won four Stanley Cups and earned 100 shutouts in thehis career. whoHe would add to those totals in his first year with the Kings and earn a record of 11 wins, 14 losses, and 6 ties. However, the rest of the Kings' roster was fairly lean, and led to Cooke's use of nicknames to brand his new NHL team. The Kings would finishfinished their first season with a record of 31 wins, 33 losses, and 10 ties, which would be one of the better records of an NHL expansion team.

The remainder of the 1960s were unremarkable for the Los Angeles Kings. They entered the 1970s with the Kings acquiring future Hall of Famer Bob Pulford from the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for Garry Monahan and Brian Murphy. A seasoned veteran who had won four Stanley Cups as a member of the Leafs, Pulford brought leadership and a sense of legitimacy and respect into the team's lineup. Pulford eventually retired after the 1971-721971–1972 season, and would comecame back as a head coach of the team in 1972-731972–1973 season.

Where Pulford could not help the team on the ice, wouldhe helphelped the team behind the bench. Under his coaching, the Kings would postposted a then-team-best record of 42 wins, 17 losses, and 21 ties in 1974-751974–1975. Much of the success can be attributed to the goaltending of Rogatien Vachon, who would gowent on to be a Hall of Famerhall-of-famer, and the play of forwards Butch Goring, Mike Murphy, and Bob Nevin. In 1975, the Kings would bolsterbolstered their lineup through a trade with the Detroit Red Wings, which sawwith the Kings receivereceiving superstar Marcel Dionne and Bart Crashley.

While Crashley would only play four games in a Kings' uniform, Dionne went on to play just short of 12twelve seasons for the Kings franchise, becomebecoming the first Kings' player to score 50fifty goals in an NHL season (which he would accomplishaccomplished in six seasons). However, the Kings would not break through in the playoffs. Pulford would leaveleft as a coach after the 1976-771976–1977 season, and general manager Jake Milford would leave as well. This led the team to struggle in the 1977-781977–1978 season, where they would bewere swept out of the first round of the playoffs. The season saw Vachon leave to free agency, and Bob Berry came on to coach the team.

One of the more impactful coaching decisions Bob Berry made came when he placed the veteran Dionne with second-year player Dave Taylor and career minor-leaguer Charlie Simmer. The line worked, aswith Simmer being a gritty player capable of battling along the boards, Taylor offering playmaking capability, and Dionne being a natural goal scorer, allowing the line to dominate other lines. The line would gowent on to be known as the "Triple Crown Line" and would be one of the higher scoringhigher-scoring line combinations in NHL history. In their first season together, the line combindcombined for 328 points, and in the next season, they became the first linefirst-line combination where each member surpassed 100 points in a single season.

The 1980s also began with the sale of the Los Angeles Kings to Jerry Buss. Under his ownership, the team brought in a group of young talent, with players such as Bernie Nicholls, Larry Murphy, Jim Fox, Mark Hardy, Jay Wells, Steve Bozek, Doug Smith, Brian McLellan, Grant Ledyard, and Garry Galley forming the young team. Many of these players would become fan favouritesfavorites in 1982 during a come-from-behind overtime playoff game against the Edmonton Oilers - whoOilers—who were a juggernaut of the period - whichperiod—which would go on to be called "The Miracle on Manchester.".

The middle of the 1980s saw another group of talented rookies join the Los Angeles Kings: Luc Robitaille, Jimmy Carson, and Steve Duchesne. Robitaille would go on to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and has been considered by many to be one of the all-time greatest Kings players. Unfortunately, Robitaille, and Duchesne, would have to go to Detroit, at the end of their careers, to finally win a Stanley Cup. The Kings, despite the strength of their team, would continuecontinued to fail to get to the Stanley Cup finals through the 1980s. Bruce McNall would taketook control of the Los Angeles Kings ownership in 1987 and sought to build a successful team.

The Kings would continuecontinued to try and work their lineup to find success, trading Dionne to the New York Rangers in 1987. However, the biggest of these trades, and one of the biggest trades in NHL history, would comecame in 1988 when the Los Angeles Kings acquired Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers, sending the Oilers Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, and first-round draft picks in the 1989, 1991, and 1993 NHL Entry Drafts and cash in return for Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski, and Marty McSorely.

Wayne Gretzky's trade to L.A. would shockshocked the hockey world.

The trade stunned the hockey world. No one thought a team would trade Gretzky, often known by his moniker "The Great One,"; but he had been traded. In his 1988-891988–1989 season, his first with the Los Angeles Kings, Gretzky would set a team record with 168 points - withpoints—with 54 goals and 114 assists - andassists—and he would lead the Kings to the playoffs in his first five seasons in Los Angeles.

The 1990s saw the Kings finally break into the Stanley Cup Finals. Despite superstar Gretzky leading the team, the Kings went into the 1992-931992–1993 season with rookie head coach Barry Melrose guiding the team to 88 points and underdog status going into the playoffs. They would managemanaged to reach the Finalsfinals, where they faced the Montreal Canadiens. There, despiteDespite Gretzky's incredible playoff performance, which saw him reach 40 points in 24 games, the Kings would loselost in five games to the Canadiens, who won their 24thtwenty-fourth Stanley Cup.

The remainder of the decade would fall short of the early decade. The Kings failed to make the playoffs for the next several seasons, spanning from 1993 to 1999. The team would eventually sinksank into bankruptcy, and bewas sold to Philip F. Anschutz and Edward P. Roski, who would enterentered the team into a rebuilding phase. This phase began with the move of appointing of Dave Taylor to the position of general manager. Further, the Staples Center was opened in 1999 (now the Crypto.com Arena) and became the new home for the Kings. The team also acquired a new training facility in El Segundo, California. So, while the Kings' on-ice play into the new millennium was not great, the transition was occurring to turn the Kings into a better organization as a whole.

The 1999-2000 L.A. Kings would failfailed to make the playoffs.

Beginning with the 1999-20001999–2000 season, the Kings would beginbegan a streak of playoff appearances under coach Andy Murray and a young team led by theplayers likessuch ofas Ziggy Palffy, Lubomir Visnovsky, and Mattias Norstrom. However, after an opening roundopening-round playoff loss in 2001-022001–2002, Los Angeles would fail to make the playoffs for the next six seasons, the longest playoff drought in franchise history. The postseason misses would leadled to a revolving door of coaches, which saw the likes of Andy Murray, John Torchetti, Marc Crawford, and Terry Murray come and go. Players would also come and go in similar fashion, with stars like Martin Straka, Jozef Stumpel, Pavol Demitra, Jeremy Roenick, and Kyle Calder all coming and goingplaying with little to no success.

However, once again, as the on-ice results failed to impress, the off-ice work of the Kings' front office and scouting would pavepaved the way for a better future. Dean Lombardi would taketook over as the team's general manager in 2006. Endowed with a keen eye for player talent, and athe capableability developerto ofdevelop that talent, Lombardi played to his strengths and trytried to build the team through the NHL Entry Draft. This saw players such as Ale Martinez, Wayne Simmonds, Slava Voynov, Jordan Nolan, Kyle Clifford, Jonathan Bernier, and Drew Doughty were all drafted by the King'sKings before the decade came to a close. This built on young players, including Jonathan Quick and Anze Kopitar, who had been drafted prior to Lombardi taking over.

Unfortunately, for Kings fans, the fruit of the rebuilding through the 2000s wouldwas not be realized until the 2010s. However, once it was realized, it was able to bring the Kings to the promised land. This began at the end of the 2011-122011–2012 season, wherewhen the team went on a tear at the end of the season, posting 12 wins in their final 19 games to squeak into the playoffs. The Kings securesecured the final playoff spot in their second-to-last game of the season.

Once the playoffs were underway, the Kings would beat the Vancouver Canucks in five games, the St. Louis Blues in four games, and Phoenix Coyotes in five games to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Kings were leadled by the goaltending of Quick, and the scoring of Kopitar, Doughty, Justin Williams, and Dustin Brown. The Kings would meetmet the New Jersey Devils in the Finals, who they would beat in six games en route to the Kings' first Stanley Cup championship in the club's history. Jonathan Quick would bewas recognized for his stellar play, awardingand himwas withawarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.

The Kings would trytried to repeat and set out to defend their title in 2012-132012–2013. They would once more makemade it to the semi-finals before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime of game five. The team was more motivated going into 2013-14the 2013–2014 season, enlisting newcomesnewcomers like Marian Gaborik, Robyn Regehr, Tanner Pearson, and Tyler Toffoli to help lead the team to a regular season record of 46 wins, 28 losses, 2 overtime losses, and 6 ties.

Once into the playoffs, the Los Angeles Kings would bewere up against difficult competition, and went to seven games in three consecutive teams to eliminate the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, and Chicago Blackhawks to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Kings would meetmet the New York Rangers once in the Stanley Cup Finals, where they would taketook five games to beat the Rangers and secure not only the second Stanley Cup for the franchise, but the second Stanley Cup for this iteration of the team, proving they were not just a "one-trick pony" but one of the better teams of the 2010s.

However, the final half of the 2010s would failfailed to bring more success to the Kings. The team struggled to remain competitive, failing to make the playoffs in the 2014-15 season2014–2015, 2016-17 season2016–2017, and 2018-192018–2019 seasonseasons, while suffering opening roundopening-round losses during the years they made the payoffs. This left the Kings in a position of mediocrity, and the team committed to, if not quite a rebuild, a retool of the roster, seeing some players traded, while stalwarts such as Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty remained on the team, helping with the development of the young players the team drafted.

Starting the decade in a rebuild, the Kings would missmissed the playoffs in the 2019-202019–2020 season; but as soon as the 2020-212020–2021 season, with some good drafting, savvy trading, and by keeping the veterans who had long ties to the franchise, the Kings would returnreturned to the playoffs. And they would stay in the playoffs in the 2022-232022–2023 playoffsseason. Both playoffs saw the Los Angeles Kings face Connor McDavid and his Edmonton Oilers, taking the juggernaut oilersOilers to seven and six games, respectively, and making many believe the team has the potential to be a Stanley Cup contending team as soon as the 2023-242023–2024 season.

Los Angeles Kings is a professional ice hockey club based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles on February 9, 1966, becoming one of six teams that began play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion.The Kings played their home games at the Forum in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, for 32 years until they moved toCrypto.com Arena" in downtown Los Angeles at the beginning of the 1999-2000 season.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Kings had many years marked by impressive regular-season play, but they were washed away by early playoff exits. Their highlights in those years included strong goaltender Rogi Vachon and Triple Crown lineman Charlie Simmer, Dave Taylor and Hall of Fame member Marcel Dionne, who had a famous upset of the Edmonton Oilers rebellion in the 1982 playoff game known as the "Miracle at Manchester". In 1988, the Kings traded with the Oilers to get their captain Wayne Gretzky, which led to a successful phase of the franchise that raised the popularity of hockey in Los Angeles and helped raise the profile of the sport in the American Sun Belt region. Gretzky, Hall of Fame member Luc Robitaille and defenseman Rob Blake led the Kings to the franchise's only division title in the 1990-91 season and the Kings' first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals in 1993, where they lost to the Montreal Canadiens.

The Los Angeles Kings are a professional hockey club playing in the Pacific Division of the National Hockey Leagues' (NHL) Western Conference. Located in Los Angeles, the team was brought into the league during the 1967 expansion which saw an end to the "original six" era and the league double from six to twelve teams. Similar to other expansion teams, the Los Angeles Kings would struggle out of expansion, and would not win a conference championship until 1993. Since then, the team has gone on to win the conference championship and the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014. The Los Angeles Kings play out of the Crypto.com Arena (fka Staples Center) in downtown Los Angeles, after having played in The Forum. They share the rink with the Los Angeles Lakers, as they shared The Forum before.

The Crypto.com Arena, out of which the Los Angeles Kings play.

The Los Angeles Kings were awarded an expansion franchise in 1966 during Clarence Campbell and the NHL's search to expand the league from six to an dozen teams. This expansion saw numerous cities jockeying for a franchise, with cities including Cleveland, Buffalo, Vancouver, Louisville, and Baltimore being passed over in favor of the Minnesota North Stars, Oakland Seals, St. Louis Blues, Philadelpia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Los Angeles Kings. Some of those original expansion teams would eventually end up in other cities, especially as they struggled through their early seasons and failed to find success with their potential fanbases.

For Jack Kent Cooke, the Los Angeles Kings would bring hockey to the beautiful beaches of southern California. Cooke was already an owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association who, as a Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario, wanted to bring hockey to a new market where he could share his passion for hockey. He named the team the "Kings" because he wanted the team to have a royal air. To add to that air, the Kings wore purple and gold. The purple color would be officially named "Forum Blue" after Cooke built the Forum, known by locals as "The Fabulous Forum" where the team would play for 32 seasons.

Further, to work to ingratiate the players picked in expansion - which did not include many big names - Cooke came up with an idea to give the players colorful nicknames to create buzz around the players and help to glitz the team up to better fit in "Tinseltown." This strategy saw the likes of Eddie "The Jet" Joyal, Eddie "The Entertainer" Shack, "Cowboy" Bill Flett, Juha "Whitey" Widing, and Real "Frenchy" Lemieux, among others.

Jack Kent Cooke would bring the Los Angeles Kings into the NHL. As the original owner of the team, he would continue to own the team until 1979, at which time he sold the Forum, the Kings, and the Lakers to Dr. Jerry Buss. Buss would purchase the group more for the basketball, and find himself quite unlike other NHL owners. Under his ownership, the Lakers would go on to win 10 championships. However, for the Kings, his ownership was not as successful, as the team posted an overall losing games won percentage and would only see the playoffs in four seasons. However, in one of those seasons, in 1980-81, Los Angeles would record their best record yet with 43 wins, 24 losses, and 13 ties before being upset in the playoffs.

Recognizing the need for something, Bruce McNall, a minority owner of the Kings, would take over as owner of the team starting in 1989, and he would be part of bringing Wayne Gretzky to the team. Under McNall, the team would post an overall winning record and reach the playoffs five times in six seasons, even reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, although the team was unable to bring home the ultimate trophy.

In 1995 ownership shifted to Jeffrey Sudikoff and Joseph Cohen. They would be owners for a single season before, in 1996, Philip Anschutz would take over ownership. Anschutz continues to be the owner of the Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as the Staples Center), where the Los Angeles Kings have played out of since 1999, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Under his ownership, the Kings have been able to secure two Stanley Cups.

The original L.A. Kings "Forum Blue" and gold jersey.

When the Los Angeles Kings entered the league, they did so wearing a "Forum Blue" (purple) and gold uniform. The original design had a straightforward design, featuring monochrome striping on the shoulders and tail as well as purple pants with white and gold trim. White trim would later be added on the numbers, names, and a white tail stripe. There was a point where the team wore gold jerseys with gold pants and a variation of the original crown logo.

The L.A. Kings made slight changes to their original jersey.

From 1980 to 1988, the Kings modified their jersey to include a contrasting shoulder yoke that extended from sleeve to sleeve, white as added to the socks, on the tail stripes, and at the bottom of the yoke, while the color was removed from the banks. Names and numbers of the jerseys were also modified to reflect the standard NHL block lettering.

Wayne Gretzky in the silver and black "chevron" jersey.

The Kings would make a radical change in 1988, when they would move away from "Forum Blue" and gold in favor of black and silver. The new uniforms did not deviate in design much from their predecessor, but the primary logo was changed and the shoulder yokes were changed to sleeve stripes. The logo was changed from a crown to a silver chevron with a stylized "Kings" word-mark in the middle.

The infamous "Burger King" jersey.

During this jersey's lifespan there was one third jersey introduce, which has since become infamous as the "burger king" jersey. This jersey came during a period where the NHL and jersey suppliers were playing around with a sublimation coloring technique, which allowed them fade colors, and brought back "Forum Blue" and gold with a logo of a bearded figure wearing a golden crown oft compared to the mascot of the fast food burger chain Burger King. The jersey would be quickly retired.

The purple returns to L.A.

In 1998 the Kings would go through another redesign. This saw them ditch the chevron logo in favor of a new crest. The new logo had a vague shield design with a two crossed hockey sticks over the shield. Three emblems were on the shield, a sun in the top right corner, a crown in the top left corner, and a lion in the bottom center while it sported "LA" and "KINGS" wordmarks top and bottom. The team also reintroduced purple to the jersey, although of a darker color than the original "Forum Blue" alongside black and silver.

The jerseys were redesigned as well, with thick purple shoulder yokes trimmed in silver and black, a similar purple trimmed in black and silver sleeve stripe, and a similar stripe at the bottom of the uniform which included a "Los Angeles" wordmark.

Reebok redesign of the L.A. Kings jersey.

They would introduce a third logo of a purple and black crown in 1999, which was worn on a solid purple jersey. The crown would become the main logo. For a hwile this was on a similar jersey as they had introduced in 1998 before the jerseys were redesigned in 2007. The redesign maintained the silver, black, and purple color scheme, but removed the lower stripe on the jersey bottom while keeping the Los Angeles wordmark. This redesign came under the Reebok Edge uniform system, which redesigned jerseys across the league.

Kings' captain Anze Kopitar in the "shiny" alternate.

In 2008, the Kings would introduce a new third jersey. The jersey went back to the black and silver color scheme and introduced a new crest, which saw "LA" sit over a crown on a shield. The jersey was devoid of purple, had silver piping down the sleeves, and included a white sleeve stripe. This alternate would become the team's primary jersey in 2011, as the team moved away from the purple. The jersey would go through some slight redesigns, with the Kings introducing a grey third jersey at different periods, and introducing a "shiny" jersey which returned the silver chevron to the jersey in a shiny silver color and paired them with shiny silver helmets.

The first season for the Los Angeles Kings began with some frustration. Founder Jack Kent Cooke wanted the new team to play at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, where the Los Angeles Lakers played, but the arena had already entered into an agreement with the WHL's Los Angeles Blades who had been founded in the owners failed attempt to land an NHL franchise, and in the WHL's attempt to turn itself into a major league. This lead to the construction of the the Forum.

The Forum.

However, the construction of the Forum would not be complete at the beginning of the team's inaugural season. This left the Kings to open their first season at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach. Their first game, on October 14, 1967, saw the team defeat their expansion cousin Philadelphia Flyers 4 to 2. By December, 1967, the Forum finally opened with a game against the Flyers again, but this time the Flyers shut the Kings out 2 to nothing.

L.A. Kings during their inaugural season.

The inaugural team was headlined by Terry Sawchuk, who at the time of the 1967 Expansion Draft was 38-years-old and a legendary goaltender who already had won four Stanley Cups and earned 100 shutouts in the career who would add to those totals in his first year with the Kings and earn a record of 11 wins, 14 losses, and 6 ties. However, the rest of the Kings roster was fairly lean, and led to Cooke's use of nicknames to brand his new NHL team. The Kings would finish their first season with a record of 31 wins, 33 losses, and 10 ties which would be one of the better records of an NHL expansion team.

The remainder of the 1960s were unremarkable for the Los Angeles Kings. They entered the 1970s with the Kings acquiring future Hall of Famer Bob Pulford from the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for Garry Monahan and Brian Murphy. A seasoned veteran who had won four Stanley Cups as a member of the Leafs, Pulford brought leadership and a sense of legitimacy and respect into the team's lineup. Pulford eventually retired after the 1971-72 season, and would come back as a head coach of the team in 1972-73 season.

L.A. Kings forward Butch Goring.

Where Pulford could not help the team on the ice, would help the team behind the bench. Under his coaching, the Kings would post a then-team-best record of 42 wins, 17 losses, and 21 ties in 1974-75. Much of the success can be attributed to the goaltending of Rogatien Vachon, who would go on to be a Hall of Famer, and the play of forwards Butch Goring, Mike Murphy, and Bob Nevin. In 1975, the Kings would bolster their lineup through a trade with the Detroit Red Wings which saw the Kings receive superstar Marcel Dionne and Bart Crashley.

While Crashley would only play four games in a Kings' uniform, Dionne went on to play just short of 12 seasons for the Kings franchise, become the first Kings' player to score 50 goals in an NHL season (which he would accomplish in six seasons). However, the Kings would not break through in the playoffs. Pulford would leave as a coach after the 1976-77 season, and general manager Jake Milford would leave as well. This led the team to struggle in the 1977-78 season, where they would be swept out of the first round of the playoffs. The season saw Vachon leave to free agency, and Bob Berry came on to coach the team.

L.A. Kings star forward Marcel Dionne.

One of the more impactful coaching decisions Bob Berry made came when he placed the veteran Dionne with second-year player Dave Taylor and career minor-leaguer Charlie Simmer. The line worked, as Simmer being a gritty player capable of battling along the boards, Taylor offering playmaking capability, and Dionne being a natural goal scorer, allowing the line to dominate other lines. The line would go on to be known as the "Triple Crown Line" and would be one of the higher scoring line combinations in NHL history. In their first season together, the line combind for 328 points, and in the next season, they became the first line combination where each member surpassed 100 points in a single season.

The 1980s also began with sale of the Los Angeles Kings to Jerry Buss. Under his ownership, the team brought in a group of young talent, with players such as Bernie Nicholls, Larry Murphy, Jim Fox, Mark Hardy, Jay Wells, Steve Bozek, Doug Smith, Brian McLellan, Grant Ledyard, and Garry Galley forming the young team. Many of these players would become fan favourites in 1982 during a come-from-behind overtime playoff game against the Edmonton Oilers - who were a juggernaut of the period - which would go on to be called "The Miracle on Manchester".

L.A. Kings' Luc Robitaille.

The middle of the 1980s saw another group of talented rookies join the Los Angeles Kings: Luc Robitaille, Jimmy Carson, and Steve Duchesne. Robitaille would go on to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and has been considered by many to be one of the all-time greatest Kings players. Unfortunately, Robitaille, and Duchesne, would have to go to Detroit, at the end of their careers, to finally win a Stanley Cup. The Kings, despite the strength of their team, would continue to fail to get to the Stanley Cup finals through the 1980s. Bruce McNall would take control of the Los Angeles Kings ownership in 1987 and sought to build a successful team.

The Kings would continue to try and work their lineup to find success, trading Dionne to the New York Rangers in 1987. However, the biggest of these trades, and one of the biggest trades in NHL history, would come in 1988 when the Los Angeles Kings acquired Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers, sending the Oilers Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, and first-round draft picks in the 1989, 1991, and 1993 NHL Entry Drafts and cash in return for Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski, and Marty McSorely.

Wayne Gretzky's trade to L.A. would shock the hockey world.

The trade stunned the hockey world. No one thought a team would trade Gretzky, often known by his moniker "The Great One"; but he had been traded. In his 1988-89 season, his first with the Los Angeles Kings, Gretzky would set a team record with 168 points - with 54 goals and 114 assists - and he would lead the Kings to the playoffs in his first five seasons in Los Angeles.

L.A. Kings battle with Canadiens during 1993 Stanley Cup Finals.

The 1990s saw the Kings finally break into the Stanley Cup Finals. Despite superstar Gretzky leading the team, the Kings went into the 1992-93 season with rookie head coach Barry Melrose guiding the team to 88 points and underdog status going into the playoffs. They would manage to reach the Finals, where they faced the Montreal Canadiens. There, despite Gretzky's incredible playoff performance which saw him reach 40 points in 24 games, the Kings would lose in five games to the Canadiens, who won their 24th Stanley Cup.

The remainder of the decade would fall short of the early decade. The Kings failed to make the playoffs for the next several seasons, spanning from 1993 to 1999. The team would eventually sink into bankruptcy, and be sold to Philip F. Anschutz and Edward P. Roski, who would enter the team into a rebuilding phase. This phase began with the move of appointing of Dave Taylor to the position of general manager. Further, the Staples Center was opened in 1999 (now the Crypto.com Arena) and became the new home for the Kings. The team also acquired a new training facility in El Segundo, California. So, while the Kings' on-ice play into the new millennium was not great, the transition was occurring to turn the Kings into a better organization as a whole.

The 1999-2000 L.A. Kings would fail to make the playoffs.

Beginning with the 1999-2000 season, the Kings would begin a streak of playoff appearances under coach Andy Murray and a young team led by the likes of Ziggy Palffy, Lubomir Visnovsky, and Mattias Norstrom. However, after an opening round playoff loss in 2001-02, Los Angeles would fail to make the playoffs for the next six seasons, the longest playoff drought in franchise history. The postseason misses would lead to a revolving door of coaches which saw the likes of Andy Murray, John Torchetti, Marc Crawford, and Terry Murray come and go. Players would also come and go in similar fashion, with stars like Martin Straka, Jozef Stumpel, Pavol Demitra, Jeremy Roenick, and Kyle Calder all coming and going with little to no success.

However, once again, as the on-ice results failed to impress, the off-ice work of the Kings' front office and scouting would pave the way for a better future. Dean Lombardi would take over as the team's general manager in 2006. Endowed with a keen eye for player talent, and a capable developer of that talent, Lombardi played to his strengths and try to build the team through the NHL Entry Draft. This saw players such as Ale Martinez, Wayne Simmonds, Slava Voynov, Jordan Nolan, Kyle Clifford, Jonathan Bernier, and Drew Doughty were all drafted by the King's before the decade came to a close. This built on young players including Jonathan Quick and Anze Kopitar, who had been drafted prior to Lombardi taking over.

Unfortunately, for Kings fans, the fruit of the rebuilding through the 2000s would not be realized until the 2010s. However, once it was realized, it was able to bring the Kings to the promised land. This began at the end of the 2011-12 season, where the team went on a tear at the end of the season, posting 12 wins in their final 19 games to squeak into the playoffs. The Kings secure the final playoff spot in their second-to-last game of the season.

Once the playoffs were underway, the Kings would beat the Vancouver Canucks in five games, the St. Louis Blues in four games, and Phoenix Coyotes in five games to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Kings were lead by the goaltending of Quick, and the scoring of Kopitar, Doughty, Justin Williams, and Dustin Brown. The Kings would meet the New Jersey Devils in the Finals, who they would beat in six games en route to the Kings first Stanley Cup championship in club's history. Jonathan Quick would be recognized for his stellar play, awarding him with the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.

L.A. Kings players celebrate their defeat of the New Jersey Devils, securing the Stanley Cup.

The Kings would try to repeat and set out to defend their title in 2012-13. They would once more make it to the semi-finals before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime of game five. The team was more motivated going into 2013-14 season, enlisting newcomes like Marian Gaborik, Robyn Regehr, Tanner Pearson, and Tyler Toffoli to help lead the team to a regular season record of 46 wins, 28 losses, 2 overtime losses, and 6 ties.

Once into the playoffs, the Los Angeles Kings would be up against difficult competition, and went to seven games in three consecutive teams to eliminate the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, and Chicago Blackhawks to get back to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Kings would meet the New York Rangers once in the Stanley Cup Finals where they would take five games to beat the Rangers and secure not only the second Stanley Cup for the franchise, but the second Stanley Cup for this iteration of the team, proving they were not just a "one-trick pony" but one of the better teams of the 2010s.

L.A. Kings celebrate their second Cup win, this time over the Rangers.

However, the final half of the 2010s would fail to bring more success to the Kings. The team struggled to remain competitive, failing to make the playoffs in the 2014-15 season, 2016-17 season, and 2018-19 season, while suffering opening round losses during the years they made the payoffs. This left the Kings in a position of mediocrity, and the team committed to, if not quite a rebuild, a retool of the roster, seeing some players traded, while stalwarts such as Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty remained on the team, helping with the development of the young players the team drafted.

Starting the decade in a rebuild, the Kings would miss the playoffs in the 2019-20 season; but as soon as the 2020-21 season, with some good drafting, savvy trading, and by keeping the veterans who had long ties to the franchise, the Kings would return to the playoffs. And they would stay in the playoffs in the 2022-23 playoffs. Both playoffs saw the Los Angeles Kings face Connor McDavid and his Edmonton Oilers, taking the juggernaut oilers to seven and six games respectively, and making many believe the team has potential to be a Stanley Cup contending team as soon as the 2023-24 season.