Kings have bright future after taking big step forward

In the end the Los Angeles Kings did not have enough to stop Connor McDavid in their First Round series against the Edmonton Oilers.

Even though the Game 7 loss on Saturday night may have been a disappointing end to their season, the fact the Kings were even in that spot has to be seen as a massive step forward. And there might be a valuable lesson some other teams around the league in a similar position can take from them in the future. Sometimes it pays to actually try to win and speed up your timeline a little bit.

The Kings entered this past offseason clearly in the middle of a rebuild while expectations from the outside were practically non-existent. They were not seen as a potential playoff team, and while their farm system is widely considered to be one of the best in the league, their timeline did not have them as contenders right now. Or even a playoff team.

Even so, they made a pretty significant effort to make their team better this past offseason and added talent when the opportunity presented itself.

They traded two draft picks to Nashville for Viktor Arvidsson to bring some much-needed scoring punch to their top-six.

Then they went into free agency and signed Philip Danault to a long-term contract to strengthen the middle of their lineup, while also adding Alexander Edler to add depth to their defense.

Danault and Arvidsson were the foundation of a dominant second line to complement the Anze Kopitar line, while Edler found the fountain of youth and had a strong year to help lead a young, and often times undermanned defense. Combined with some strong performances by returning veterans (Kopitar, Adrian Kempe, Alex Iafallo, Trevor Moore, as well as a bounce back year from Drew Doughty), and some young players