The 2025-26 season was an incredibly up-and-down ride of the Los Angeles Kings, but somehow, for the fifth straight year they are headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
There have been several major storylines that came out of Los Angele this season. from Anze Kopitar’s farewell tour and Adrian Kempe’s contract negotiations to the arrival of Artemi Panarin and a record breaking 20 overtime losses. It has certainly been a season Kings fans will remember for a long time.
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To wrap up the regular season, we figured that it would be a good idea to hand out some awards for the Kings top performers this year.
*Note: The Kings shared their own team awards on X (formerly known as twitter) Ours were picked in advance and had no intention on copying the team
Most Valuable Player: Adrian Kempe
Honorable Mentions: Quinton Byfield, Kevin Fiala
After entering the season in the midst of contract extension drama, Adrian Kempe eventually signed a monster eight-year extension worth $85M ($10.625M) putting the drama in the rear view mirror.
Kempe appeared in all but one of the Kings 82 games, scoring 36 goals along with 37 assists for 73 points. This is the 29-year-old’s 4th career 30+ goal season, as well as his 3rd straight season with 70+ points.
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Like always, the Swedish sniper came up clutch when it mattered most with his team-leading eight game winning goals. Four of which came in 3-on-3 overtime which was good for second in the NHL behind just Cole Caufield’s five total OT game winners.
With Kopitar retiring, Kempe has done a great job preparing to be the face of the franchise when the future Hall-of-Famer hangs up the skates.
Best Defenseman and Most Improved: Brandt Clarke
Best Defenseman Honorable Mentions: Joel Edmundson, Drew Doughty
Most Improved Honorable Mentions: Taylor Ward, Anton Forsberg
Brandt Clarke deserves a tremendous amount of credit for his play this season. The 23-year-old entered the season under a large amount of pressure as he was expected to take his play to another level.
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For the first time in his young career, Clarke appeared in all 82 games while scoring eight goals and 32 assists for 40 points, reaching career highs in all three statistics. His +11 rating was also a positive note as he is on a team that doesn’t score a lot of goals.
Of his 40 points, 13 of them came on the power play which is positive in two ways. One, that he has shown he can succeed as a quarterback on the power play, and the other is that he doesn’t solely rely on it as a source of production.
Kings fans should be very excited for Brandt Clarke’s continued progress as the former 8th overall pick will continue to get better.
How Do The Los Angeles Kings Match Up Against The Colorado Avalanche?
How Do The Los Angeles Kings Match Up Against The Colorado Avalanche? The Los Angeles Kings clinched a playoff berth, but are currently in line to face the NHL’s best team, the Colorado Avalanche. How can the Kings match up against the Presidents’ Trophy winners?
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Best Addition: Artemi Panarin
Honorable Mentions: Scott Laughton, Anton Forsberg
Entering the season, if you were to tell a Kings fan that Artemi Panarin would be leading them to a playoff berth, they likely would have called you crazy. But here we are.
After he was acquired in February, Panarin came in and produced exactly how he was expected. As an over point-per-game player, the ‘Breadman’ found chemistry with Kempe and Kopitar.
In 26 games as a member of the Kings, the 34-year-old scored nine goals and 18 assists for 27 points. His goal scoring could improve but for a team that hasn’t had a point-per-game player since Kevin Fiala in 2023, there are no complaints here.
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Not only will Panarin be exciting to watch in the postseason, but it will be intriguing to see the numbers he can put up in his first full season in L.A. in 2026-27.
Most Underrated Player: Anton Forsberg
When the Kings signed Forsberg last summer they brought him in to be a solid backup to Darcy Kuemper, but he has proved to be much more than that.
As the season went on and Kuemper dealt with multiple injuries, Forsberg stepped in and kept the Kings afloat. He even played some of the best hockey of his career down the stretch as he was one of, if not the biggest reason that Kings clawed their way into the postseason.
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In 31 starts and 36 appearances this season, the 33-year-old netminder went 16-12-5 while posting a 2.57 GAA and .910 SV%. He also tied a career high with three shutouts. Forsberg ranked 18th among all goaltenders with a 9.4 GSAx (Goals Saved Above Expected) on the year.
The Swedish veteran may be an option to start in net for game one against the Colorado Avalanche due to his recent play.
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