Puneet Varma (Editor)

2009–10 Los Angeles Kings season

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Division
  
3rd Pacific

2009–10 record
  
46–27–9

Road record
  
24–14–3

Conference
  
6th Western

Home record
  
22–13–6

Goals for
  
241

The 2009–10 Los Angeles Kings season was the 43rd season (42nd season of play) for the National Hockey League franchise. For the first time since the 2001–02 NHL season, the Kings qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Contents

Pre-season

The Kings were busy at the entry draft, making five trades. The Kings chose Brayden Schenn as their first-round pick, fifth overall. The Kings finished the pre-season with a record of 4–3–1. Defenseman Sean O'Donnell received a five-game suspension during the pre-season after an incident involving New York Islanders forward Matt Martin. O'Donnell missed the final three pre-season games, and will miss the first two games of the regular season.

Luc Robitaille was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 9, 2009. Robitaille, who currently serves as the President of Business Operations for the Kings, was joined by Brian Leetch, Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and Lou Lamoriello in this year's class of inductees.

Regular season

The Kings observed a 17-day break in the schedule in February due to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Five players currently under contract for Los Angeles were selected to represent their countries during the tournament. Drew Doughty played for Canada, Michal Handzus played for Slovakia, while Dustin Brown, Jack Johnson and Jonathan Quick all represented the United States.

The main highlights for the club included them breaking an eight-year playoff absence by qualifying as the sixth seed in the Western Conference. They finished the season with 101 points, the third highest point total in franchise history. They also set a franchise record with a nine-game winning streak from January 21 through February 6. They registered two other eight game stretches without a loss. On the road, they established franchise records for road wins in a season (24), road points (51) and the first ever 5–0–0 record on a five-game trip in franchise history.

Individually, goaltender Jonathan Quick established single-season records for victories with 39 and games played with 72.

Conference standings

bold – Qualified for playoffs; y – Won division; z – Won conference (and division)

Playoffs

  • The Los Angeles Kings qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2002, clinching the sixth seed with 101 points.

    • Legend:   Win   Loss

    Skaters

    Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals 

    Goaltenders

    Note:  Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

    †Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Kings. Stats reflect time with the Kings only.
    ‡Traded mid-season.
    Bold/italics denotes franchise record.
    Underline denotes currently with a minor league affiliate.

    Awards

  • Drew Doughty was named as one of the three finalists for the James Norris Memorial Trophy awarded to the outstanding defenseman in the NHL. The award will be handed out at the 2010 NHL Awards Show on June 23. Doughty became the second youngest player in NHL history to be nominated for this award, with Bobby Orr being the youngest ever. Doughty would be the second ever member of the Kings to win this award; Rob Blake is the only other member of the Kings to win this award.

    • Transactions

    The Kings have been involved in the following transactions during the 2009–10 season.

    References

    2009–10 Los Angeles Kings season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA