2020–21 Los Angeles Kings season

The 2020–21 Los Angeles Kings season is the 54th season (53rd season of play) for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 5, 1967.[1] The Kings will try to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2017–18 season when they were swept in the First Round by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights. On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada-United States border. As a result of this realignment the Kings will play this season in the West Division and will only play games against the other teams in their new division during the regular season and potentially the first two rounds of the playoffs.

2020–21 Los Angeles Kings
2020–21 record	3–5–2
Home record	1–2–2
Road record	2–3–0
Goals for	28
Goals against	34
Team information
General manager	Rob Blake
Coach	Todd McLellan
Captain	Anze Kopitar
Alternate captains	Jeff Carter Drew Doughty
Arena	Staples Center
Minor league affiliate(s)	Ontario Reign (AHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Dustin Brown (4)
Assists	Anze Kopitar (12)
Points	Anze Kopitar (13)
Penalty minutes	Kurtis MacDermid (14)
Plus/minus	Dustin Brown Matt Roy (+2)
Wins	Jonathan Quick (2)
Goals against average	Cal Petersen (2.18)

Standings

Divisional standings

West Division

Pos	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Colorado Avalanche	11	7	3	1	6	38	24	+14	15
2	St. Louis Blues	12	7	4	1	6	40	39	+1	15
3	Vegas Golden Knights	8	6	1	1	5	28	19	+9	13
4	Anaheim Ducks	13	5	5	3	4	25	34	−9	13
5	Minnesota Wild	11	6	5	0	3	30	30	0	12
6	Arizona Coyotes	11	5	5	1	5	30	30	0	11
7	San Jose Sharks	10	4	5	1	1	28	37	−9	9
8	Los Angeles Kings	10	3	5	2	3	28	34	−6	8

Updated to game(s) played on February 6, 2021. Source: National Hockey League[2]
Rules for classification: 1) Fewer number of games played (GP, only during regular season); 2) Greater number of regulation wins (RW); 3) Greater amount of wins in regulation and overtime, excluding shootout wins (ROW); 4) Greater amount of total wins, including shootouts (W); 5) Greater number of points earned in head-to-head play; if teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded; 6) Greater goal differential (GD); 7) Greater amount of goals scored (GF)

Schedule and results

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.[3]

2020–21 game log
January: 3–3–2 (Home: 1–1–2 ; Road: 2–2–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 January 14 Minnesota 4–3 Los Angeles OT Quick 0 0–0–1 1 Recap 2 January 16 Minnesota 4–3 Los Angeles OT Quick 0 0–0–2 2 Recap 3 January 19 Colorado 3–2 Los Angeles Petersen 0 0–1–2 2 Recap 4 January 21 Colorado 2–4 Los Angeles Quick 0 1–1–2 4 Recap 5 January 23 Los Angeles 2–4 St. Louis Petersen 0 1–2–2 4 Recap 6 January 24 Los Angeles 6–3 St. Louis Quick 0 2–2–2 6 Recap 7 January 26 Los Angeles 2–1 Minnesota Petersen 0 3–2–2 8 Recap 8 January 28 Los Angeles 3–5 Minnesota Quick 0 3–3–2 8 Recap
February: 0–2–0 (Home: 0–1–0 ; Road: 0–1–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 9 February 2 Anaheim 3–1 Los Angeles Petersen 0 3–4–2 8 Recap 10 February 5 Los Angeles 2–5 Vegas Quick 0 3–5–2 8 Recap 11 February 7 Los Angeles – Vegas 12 February 9 San Jose – Los Angeles 13 February 11 San Jose – Los Angeles 14 February 13 Minnesota – Los Angeles 15 February 16 Minnesota – Los Angeles 16 February 18 Los Angeles – Arizona 17 February 20 Los Angeles – Arizona 18 February 22 Los Angeles – St. Louis 19 February 24 Los Angeles – St. Louis 20 February 26 Los Angeles – Minnesota 21 February 27 Los Angeles – Minnesota
March: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 22 March 5 St. Louis – Los Angeles 23 March 6 St. Louis – Los Angeles 24 March 8 Los Angeles – Anaheim 25 March 10 Los Angeles – Anaheim 26 March 12 Los Angeles – Colorado 27 March 14 Los Angeles – Colorado 28 March 15 St. Louis – Los Angeles 29 March 17 St. Louis – Los Angeles 30 March 19 Vegas – Los Angeles 31 March 21 Vegas – Los Angeles 32 March 22 Los Angeles – San Jose 33 March 24 Los Angeles – San Jose 34 March 29 Los Angeles – Vegas 35 March 31 Los Angeles – Vegas
April: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 36 April 2 San Jose – Los Angeles 37 April 3 San Jose – Los Angeles 38 April 5 Arizona – Los Angeles 39 April 7 Arizona – Los Angeles 40 April 9 Los Angeles – San Jose 41 April 10 Los Angeles – San Jose 42 April 12 Vegas – Los Angeles 43 April 14 Vegas – Los Angeles 44 April 16 Los Angeles – Colorado 45 April 18 Los Angeles – Colorado 46 April 20 Anaheim – Los Angeles 47 April 23 Arizona – Los Angeles 48 April 24 Arizona – Los Angeles 49 April 26 Anaheim – Los Angeles 50 April 28 Anaheim – Los Angeles 51 April 30 Los Angeles – Anaheim
May: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 0–0–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 52 May 1 Los Angeles – Anaheim 53 May 3 Los Angeles – Arizona 54 May 5 Los Angeles – Arizona 55 May 7 Colorado – Los Angeles 56 May 8 Colorado – Los Angeles
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Transactions

The Kings have been involved in the following transactions during the 2020–21 season.

Free agents

Note: This does not include players who have re-signed with their previous team as an unrestricted free agent or as a restricted free agent.

Date	Player	New team	Previous team	Ref
October 9, 2020	Mark Alt	Los Angeles Kings	Colorado Avalanche	[4]
October 9, 2020	Troy Grosenick	Los Angeles Kings	Nashville Predators	[4]
October 10, 2020	Paul LaDue	Washington Capitals	Los Angeles Kings	[5]
October 12, 2020	Joakim Ryan	Carolina Hurricanes	Los Angeles Kings	[6]
October 16, 2020	Sheldon Rempal	Carolina Hurricanes	Los Angeles Kings	[7]

Trades

* Retained Salary Transaction: Each team is allowed up to three contracts on their payroll where they have retained salary in a trade (i.e. the player no longer plays with Team A due to a trade to Team B, but Team A still retains some salary). Only up to 50% of a player's contract can be kept, and only up to 15% of a team's salary cap can be taken up by retained salary. A contract can only be involved in one of these trades twice.

Hover over-retained salary or conditional transactions for more information.

October

October 7, 2020	To Los Angeles Kings Lias Andersson	To New York Rangers VGK 2nd-round pick in 2020	[8]
October 7, 2020	To Los Angeles Kings EDM 2nd-round pick in 2020 (#45 overall)	To Detroit Red Wings VAN 2nd-round pick in 2020 (#51 overall) 4th-round pick in 2020 (#97 overall)	[9]
October 7, 2020	To Los Angeles Kings MTL 5th-round pick in 2020 (#140 overall)	To Carolina Hurricanes 6th-round pick in 2020 (#159 overall) 7th-round pick in 2021	[10]

Current roster

Updated February 6, 2021[11][12]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
5		Mark Alt	D	R	29	2020	Kansas City, Missouri
10		Michael Amadio	C	R	24	2014	Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
44		Mikey Anderson	D	L	21	2017	Fridley, Minnesota
28		Jaret Anderson-Dolan	C	L	21	2017	Calgary, Alberta
24		Lias Andersson	C	L	22	2020	Smögen, Sweden
22		Andreas Athanasiou	LW	L	26	2020	London, Ontario
33		Tobias Bjornfot	D	L	19	2019	Upplands Väsby, Sweden
23		Dustin Brown	RW	R	36	2003	Ithaca, New York
77		Jeff Carter (A)	C/RW	R	36	2012	London, Ontario
58		Kale Clague	D	R	22	2016	Regina, Saskatchewan
8		Drew Doughty (A)	D	R	31	2008	London, Ontario
29		Martin Frk	RW	R	27	2019	Pelhrimov, Czech Republic
91		Carl Grundstrom	LW	L	23	2019	Umea, Sweden
19		Alex Iafallo	LW/C	L	27	2017	Eden, New York
31		Jacob Ingham	G	L	20	2018	Barrie, Ontario
9		Adrian Kempe	LW	L	24	2014	Kramfors, Sweden
11		Anze Kopitar (C)	C	L	33	2005	Jesenice, Yugoslavia
46		Blake Lizotte	C	L	23	2019	Lindstrom, Minnesota
64		Matt Luff	RW	R	23	2016	Oakville, Ontario
6		Olli Maatta	D	L	26	2020	Jyväskylä, Finland
56		Kurtis MacDermid	D	L	26	2013	Quebec City, Quebec
12		Trevor Moore	LW	L	25	2020	Thousand Oaks, California
40		Cal Petersen	G	R	26	2017	Waterloo, Iowa
32		Jonathan Quick	G	L	35	2005	Milford, Connecticut
3		Matt Roy	D	R	25	2015	Canton, Michigan
71		Austin Strand	D	R	23	2017	Calgary, Alberta
13		Gabriel Vilardi	C	R	21	2017	Kingston, Ontario
27		Austin Wagner	LW	L	23	2015	Calgary, Alberta
26		Sean Walker	D	R	26	2018	Keswick, Ontario

Draft picks

Below are the Los Angeles Kings' selections at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally scheduled for June 26–27, 2020 at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was held October 6–7, 2020 virtually via Video conference call from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	2	Quinton Byfield	C	Canada	Sudbury Wolves (OHL)
2	35	Helge Grans	D	Sweden	Malmö Redhawks (SHL)
2	51	Brock Faber	D	United States	U.S. NTDP (USHL)
3	66	Kasper Sinomtaival	RW	Finland	Tappara (Liiga)
3	83	Alex Laferriere	RW	United States	Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)
4	112	Joho Markkanen	G	Finland	Kettera (Mestis)
5	128	Matin Chrormiak	RW	Slovakia	Kingston Frontenacs (OHL)
7	190	Aatu Jamsen	RW	Finland	Lahti Pelicans U20 (Jr. A)

References

1. National Hockey League (2013). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2014. Diamond Sports Data, Inc. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-894801-26-3.
2. "NHL Hockey Standings". www.nhl.com. National Hockey League.
3. "2020-21 NHL schedule announced". NHL.com. December 23, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
4. "LA Kings Sign Defenseman Mark Alt and Goaltender Troy Grosenick". Los Angeles Kings. October 10, 2020.
5. "Capitals Sign Defenseman Paul LaDue". Washington Capitals. October 10, 2020.
6. "Canes Agree to Terms with Joakim Ryan". Carolina Hurricanes. October 12, 2020.
7. "Canes Sign Bracco, Gust and Rempal to One-Year Deals". Carolina Hurricanes. October 16, 2020.
8. Rosen, Dan (October 7, 2020). "Andersson traded to Kings by Rangers for second-round pick". nhl.com.
9. "Red Wings trade pick 45 to the LA Kings for picks 51 and 97". @JasonGregor. October 7, 2020.
10. "The #Canes have made their first trade of the day. They send pick 140 to Los Angeles in exchange for pick 159 and the Kings' 7th-rounder in 2021". @MSmithCanes. October 7, 2020.
11. "Los Angeles Kings Roster". National Hockey League. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
12. "Los Angeles Kings Hockey Transactions". The Sports Network. Retrieved October 3, 2017.