Through 57 games, Hertl has 49 points, including 11 multi-point contests. In 20 of 57 games this season, Hertl has scored - including two games with multiple goals. Hertl's 22 goals this season have come via 147 shots (15.0% conversion percentage).
On paper, this is a team that should be taking a clear step into a new era: Anže Kopitar is nearing retirement after a successful career, Brandt Clarke and Quinton Byfield are emerging, and the front office has invested heavily in a core that's supposed to push them forward.
Entering Monday's NHL action, the Los Angeles Kings were fourth in the NHL in goals against per game (2.74), tied for eighth in save percentage (.904), ninth in shots against (1,356), and third in goals against (137). While the Kings are struggling to score goals (Los Angeles is 28th in goals for per game), they are getting good performances from their goaltending and their defence.
This should worry Maple Leafs fans, as without Auston Matthews in the future, the Maple Leafs will more than likely have to begin a rebuild, something Leafs fans haven't seen in nearly a decade. Making the playoffs over the next few seasons will be a deciding factor for Matthews. Matthews is in the heart of his career, and does not want to waste his prime sitting on a non-playoff-contending roster.
"I don't know that I have an answer to that to be honest, because if I did, I don't think we would keep being in the same situation every game," Warren Foegele said when asked what's missing right now. "At the end of the day, we didn't get the job done, we didn't get the two points, and it's just not good enough."
It is really frustrating when you come out on the bottom of all these games where I feel like we're playing well and we're playing good enough to win,
I don't think anybody's pretty happy about a narrative being spread like that. I think it's okay for people to critique our on-ice performance, but when it gets into family, it's pretty f****** b***s***.
Just over half of the 2025-26 season has been completed, and the Los Angeles Kings are sporting an 18-14-10 record with 46 points, good enough for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. Looking at that from an outside lens, most would come to the conclusion that sitting in a wild card spot at the halfway mark of the season is a positive sign and one that would equate to a successful season if the trend continued.
The Los Angeles Kings are entering a pivotal week as they look to correct a mediocre first half of the 2025-26 season. Sitting with a record of 16-12-9, the team is battling offensive inconsistency and swirling trade rumors as they prepare to face one of the league's top teams, the Colorado Avalanche, tonight. On Dec. 19 the Kings traded forward Phillip Danault to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a second-round 2026 pick.
The Los Angeles Kings' 2025-26 season is shaping up to be run-of-the-mill. The team has amassed 39 points in 34 games played. While the number doesn't seem too shabby three months in, the Kings could use plenty of improvement in certain areas. Their messy style of play consists of mistakes that cost the team games they should be winning. Additionally, they could use more chemistry and grittiness in their forward group. Let's take a deeper look at where they have struggled this season.
