History of the Los Angeles Kings

While the Los Angeles Kings awaited construction to be completed on their future home, The Forum in Inglewood, California, they played their first two games during their inaugural 1967–68 season at the Long Beach Arena.

A period of mediocrity ensued, with the Kings only resurging as they broke a six-year playoff drought in the 2009–10 season, with a team that included goaltender Jonathan Quick, defenseman Drew Doughty, and forwards Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams.

[1] When the NHL decided to expand for the 1967–68 season amid rumblings that the WHL was proposing to turn itself into a major league and compete for the Stanley Cup, five separate Los Angeles groups bid for a hockey franchise, including ones led by Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson and Donna Reed's producer husband Tony Owen.

[2] In February 1966, Cooke was awarded one of the six new NHL expansion franchises, which also included the California Seals, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues.

[6][7] Prior to the 1967 NHL expansion draft, Cooke named Larry Regan the first general manager in franchise history, and struck a deal with Toronto Maple Leafs left winger Red Kelly, who was set for his retirement, to become the Kings' first head coach.

[11] The Kings were the only expansion team that had a winning record at home, but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota North Stars, losing the seventh game at The Forum on April 18, 1968, 9–4.

Kings general managers established a history of trading away first-round draft picks, usually for veteran players (many of them NHL stars on the downside of their careers), a problem that would hinder the development of the franchise for years to come.

"[16] After being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in both 1973–74 and 1974–75, the Kings moved to significantly upgrade their offensive firepower when they acquired center Marcel Dionne on June 23, 1975, in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings.

Cooke however, often meddled in player personnel matters, which also caused another key component for the Kings, general manager Jake Milford, to leave as well and join the Vancouver Canucks.

This proved to be the crippling blow for a team that relied almost exclusively on the Triple Crown Line for scoring; and once again, an impressive season was washed out by a first round upset, this time by the New York Rangers in four games.

While the Oilers would tie the game 8-8 midway through the third, Charlie Simmer scored the gamer winner and Bernie Nichols capped an empty net goal to stun the Edmonton home crowd with a 10-8 win.

[27] By this time, the Kings had new skaters to help lead them into the next decade, including star forwards Bernie Nicholls, Jimmy Carson, Luc Robitaille, and defenseman Steve Duchesne.

[29][30] Part of the problem was that the way the playoffs were structured (teams were bracketed and seeded by division) made it very likely that they would have to get past either the powerful Oilers or Calgary Flames (or both) to reach the Conference Finals.

[7] In Gretzky's first season with the Kings, he led the team in scoring with 168 points on 54 goals and 114 assists, and won his ninth Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's Most Valuable Player.

[37] The 1991–92 season, the Kings' 25th as a franchise, witnessed seven Kings players score over twenty goals;[38] Gretzky, who missed the first month of the season due to a back injury suffered from the 1991 Canada Cup, had a then-career low in scoring yet had the most assists in the league and finished third in points behind Pittsburgh Penguins stars Mario Lemieux and Kevin Stevens;[39] Gretzky was also reunited with former Edmonton Oiler teammates Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, and Charlie Huddy.

[37] This marked the third-straight year that the Gretzky-led Kings were eliminated from the playoffs by his former team, and at the end of the season, Tom Webster was relieved from head coach, and general manager Rogie Vachon was moved to a different position in the organization and named Nick Beverley as his successor.

[42] Gretzky's popularity in Southern California also led to the NHL expanding or moving into other Sun Belt cities such as Dallas, Phoenix, Tampa, Miami, Atlanta (now in Winnipeg since 2011), and Nashville throughout the 1990s.

McNall sold the team to IDB Communications founder Jeffrey Sudikoff and former Madison Square Garden president Joseph Cohen in the wake of a federal investigation into his financial practices.

They were led by strong players Jozef Stumpel and Glen Murray, and Blake also became the first Kings defensemen to win the James Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman after recording a career-high 23 goals and 50 points.

The Red Wings were called for a penalty with just under three minutes to play and Kings' coach Andy Murray gambled and pulled his goalie to give his team a two-man advantage.

In the second round, the Kings went up against another elite team, the Colorado Avalanche, led by superstars Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy, Ray Bourque, playing in his last NHL season, and former teammate Rob Blake.

Earlier in the season, the team acquired Jason Allison who was involved in a contract dispute along with Mikko Eloranta from the Boston Bruins in return for Jozef Stumpel and Glen Murray.

The Kings also had young talented forwards with Alexander Frolov, Michael Cammalleri and Dustin Brown, as well as strong offensive prowess from defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, who led the team in points.

In the 2006 off-season, Roenick signed with the Phoenix Coyotes; Bure, who didn't play the 2005–06 season due to injuries, retired; and Demitra was traded to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Patrick O'Sullivan and Trevor Lewis.

[79] Despite the series loss, many considered the season to be an outright success due to the age of the team and the setbacks from injuries to key players Ryan Smyth and Justin Williams.

[82] In the 2011 off-season, the Kings acquired Mike Richards and prospect Rob Bordson from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and a 2012 second-round pick.

Before the trade deadline, the Kings acquired another former Philadelphia Flyer in Richards' friend and former teammate Jeff Carter from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jack Johnson and a conditional first-round draft pick.

On June 1, 2014, the Kings advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in three years after winning Game 7 5–4 in overtime via a goal from Alec Martinez, clinching their third Western Conference title in franchise history.

[108] Despite the trade, the Kings ultimately missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons and, in the offseason, fired general manager Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter.

In the 2020–21 season, the Kings had another rebuilding year as they traded Jeff Carter, extended Alex Iafallo, and saw debuts of prospects like Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Arthur Kaliyev, Tobias Bjornfot, Rasmus Kupari and Quinton Byfield.