LOS ANGELES (April 12, 2007) -- With their season at an end, and with most of the Los Angeles Kings trading their hockey sticks for golf clubs for the next five months, it is time to look back on the 2006-07 season for the Kings, and look ahead to their future.

For now, the look back will start next week, when hockeytalk.biz begins a complete, multi-part evaluation of the Kings, from the players and coaching staff up to the front office and maybe even a few words about their ownership.

This week, just like the Kings did after they played their final game of the season on April 8, when they beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2 at Staples Center, we will focus on what the road ahead will bring.

NOTHING BUT OPTIMISM

To be sure, the 2006-07 Kings were a huge disappointment, ending the season next-to-last in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference, and ranked 28th in the thirty-team National Hockey League.

In fact, the Kings were so bad, they were out of playoff contention by January, just three months into the season.

Many even considered the Kings to be out of playoff contention before the season began.

Despite their poor showing, in no uncertain terms, the Kings, to a man, are highly optimistic about their future.

Kings rookie sensation Anze Kopitar, who scored the game-winning goal against the Coyotes on April 8--a power play goal at 19:07 of the third period, had an ear-to-ear grin when he talked about the future of his team after the game.

"Today, [Dustin] Brown, [Michael] Cammalleri and I were trying to make some nice plays, said Kopitar, who ended the year with 20 goals and 41 assists for 61 points in 72 games, ranking third in the league in rookie scoring. "It didn't work out every time, but we are on a road that leads us to a really good season next year. We felt the connection the last couple of games. We were playing hard."

"Brownie's kind of a power forward, but he always make plays," added Kopitar. "Cammy is a shooter and I'm a bit of playmaker in there. I think we have a perfect mix, and we're young, too. We have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. That's going to lead to a great year next year. We have a lot of good young players. I think the future is really bright for us."

Indeed, with a solid young core of skilled players led by Cammalleri and Kopitar, and supported by wingers Alexander Frolov, Brown, and Patrick O'Sullivan, along with defensemen Lubomir Visnovsky and rookie Jack Johnson, the Kings certainly have a foundation to build upon.

"I don't think we're close to being satisfied with where we need to be," Kings head coach Marc Crawford explained. "But at the same time, I think there were a lot a of building blocks put in place this year. The foundation of what you've got is the core people. It's pretty obvious to see where your foundation is. We've got a great young defenseman in Johnson, and we've got a great defenseman who's thirty years old in Visnovsky, and I believe he'll play another five years at a very high level. Those two guys, along with Rob Blake, will form a big part of the Kings defensive corps."

"And you can see at the forward position, we're in good shape," Crawford added. "We've got five great, young forwards. We're going to get a good player in the draft who might be able to play [here] as well. You sprinkle in what we've got, we've got a lot more than what people may give us credit for."

"I'm excited about what lies ahead. I know there's lots of work and we can't take anything for granted. But this club has got some building blocks that are in the right spots. All we've got to do is keep building upon them."

Cammalleri, who scored 34 goals and added 46 assists for 80 points (all career highs) in 81 games and led the Kings in assists and points and was selected by the team as its most valuable player, was confident that the Kings will be an improved team and could be a surprise to many as soon as next season.

"I've been saying it for a little while now, a lot of the guys in here are pretty optimistic that we're going to be better, probably sooner than a lot of people might think, and that's really exciting for us," said Cammalleri. "Moving forward and preparing for next season--that's the idea, and if you look at some of the performances of some of the guys this year, we're really excited about what's going to happen next year."

"Kopitar and O'Sullivan, it was their first year in the NHL, and they proved that they belong," added Cammalleri. "They're going to come in feeling like they need to help the team win hockey games on a nightly basis. And the list goes on right through the lineup."

Cammalleri and Kopitar clearly emerged as the leaders of the young core that the Kings are building around.

"Cammy has been our most valuable player this year," said Crawford. "You look at where our club is going to really revolve around, it's going to be around a young superstar like Kopitar."

"Superstar." When was the last time ANYONE, even someone in the Kings organization, said that about a Kings player?

Even veteran defenseman Jamie Heward, who has been with the Kings for just six weeks after being acquired at the February 27 trade deadline from the Washington Capitals, believes that the Kings are on the rise.

"I saw a lot of good things from a good group of young kids," said Heward. "It was only a six-week stint, but right from the leadership of Rob Blake, on down to the young kids, and then adding two young defensemen at the end of the year--there's going to be a lot of excitement when Johnson goes out on the ice for a full season."

"I think the promise is there," added Heward. "The commitment from the coaching staff, the commitment from the players to work hard every night is there. You add a couple more things, you build chemistry through training camp next year, you could possibly have a good run early and then you never know what happens."

"There's a good group of young, core guys who are going to develop over the next couple of years. If you want to develop a good hockey team, you've got to have a couple of seasons of hard knocks. Next year, they're going to make good strides."

And speaking of Johnson, who will be heading back to the University of Michigan to complete last semester's course work and final exams, he was also looking ahead with a big smile.

"It's really exciting," said Johnson, who got his NHL feet wet in five games with the Kings at the end of the season. "I haven't had the privilege to play with that many who are so young and so good. It's pretty awesome to be out there. They make the game easier for me and everyone around them. They're guys who want to win. Looks like we're going to be pretty successful in the future."

Despite the optimism, the Kings are also preaching patience, even though they subjected their fans to some atrocious hockey this past season.

Acknowledging that fact, Crawford took the unusual step of addressing the Staples Center crowd immediately after their game against the Coyotes on April 8.

"You guys have been unwavering in your support of us this year," said Crawford. "We really appreciate it. We know it's been tough at times to be a Kings fan this year, but I hope that you see the future that we have. I hope you see the bright, young stars that we've got, and we thank you for your patience and we know that your patience will be rewarded."

"I've been in a lot of organizations through my career that were similar to this," added Crawford. "A young team in Quebec that moved to Colorado and just kept getting better, a young team in Vancouver that was young and kept getting better. And I believe what you've got here is the makings of a very great, young team that will reward you in the future."

After addressing the fans, Crawford was a bit more detailed in his remarks to the media.

"I think the Kings' future is very bright," he said. "I've been through this process before twice, in Quebec and Colorado, and then in Vancouver, and now with the Kings. We got a nice crew and there's a lot of things coming with all the draft picks that we've got, with all the players coming out next year. You go down the list of the people we have coming out, not to mention the goalies, you can see that we not only have great young players but we've got another group in behind them, and obviously, a bunch of draft picks that can keep sustaining it."

"I know it's been painful for our fans, and they have been terrific," added Crawford. "I really mean that. It's remarkable that we've gotten the support that we've gotten this year. But I believe that they know where we're going. As much as LA is a city of stars, I also think it's a city that appreciates hard work and winning as well."

"We know that our future is brighter than what we've just gone through. We may have absorbed some of the pain this year. Not that it's going to be pain-free as we move forward, but I think it looks a lot brighter. Anyone who understands how you build a hockey club can see that we've at least got a plan and that it's progressing well."

Often times, the Kings just have the worst luck.

On April 10, the Chicago Blackhawks, who ended the 2006-07 regular season as the 26th ranked team in the NHL and like the Kings, missed the playoffs, won the 2007 NHL Draft Lottery and will pick first in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

The Blackhawks had an 8.1 percent chance of winning the lottery.

The draft will be held June 22-23, 2007 in Columbus, Ohio. The Philadelphia Flyers, the Phoenix Coyotes, the Kings, and the Washington Capitals all drop down one notch.

The Kings will pick fourth in the first round.

In subsequent rounds, teams that did not make the playoffs will make draft selections according to how they finished the regular season. The final draft order for the remaining teams will not be determined until the conclusion of the playoffs.

Over the last few seasons, Kings fans have gotten used to seeing their team totally decimated by injuries.

Indeed, it was not all that long ago...2002-03 and 2003-04 to be exact, when the Kings lost 536 and 625 man-games to injury, respectively, the latter mark setting a new, unofficial National Hockey League record.

Compared to those staggering numbers, the 2006-07 Kings went virtually unscathed.

This season, the Kings lost 180 man-games to injury. That is, if you go by their own accounting.

However, the Kings are not counting the games that center Alyn McCauley sat out due to his recovery from off-season knee surgery.

McCauley was a non-roster player until he came off of injured reserve on December 28. As such, the games he missed prior to that date are not counted by the Kings as man-games lost.

However, when looking at the game notes the Kings distributed to the media during their final game of the season on April 8, none of the games McCauley has missed were counted as man-games lost, including those he missed after December 28.

And realistically speaking, even the games he missed prior to December 28 should be counted. After all, he was signed to a contract by the team. So, as far as hockeytalk.biz is concerned, McCauley played in ten games for the Kings and missed 72. Therefore, the Kings lost 252 man-games to injury in the 2006-07 season, not 180.

On the upside, Kings defenseman Aaron Miller played in all 82 games for the Kings this season.

At this point, we will give you a few minutes to recover from passing out after reading that.

Indeed, Miller playing an entire season-full of games is a remarkable feat considering that he played in just 49 games in 2002-03, 35 games in 2003-04 and in 56 games in 2005-06.

His best season was in 2001-02, when he played in 74 games.

In previous seasons, Miller had been plagued by back problems, but thanks to hip surgery last summer that corrected his back troubles, Miller said he felt strong and was pain-free all season.

Unless he signs with the Kings prior to July 1, Miller will become an unrestricted free agent on that date.

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