The Kings also made an even bigger move in 1999, as they left the Great Western Forum and moved to Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, which was built by Anschutz and Roski. Staples Center was a state-of-the-art arena, complete with luxury suites and all the modern amenities that fans and athletes would want in a brand-new facility.

With a new home, a new coach, a potential 50-goal scorer in the fold and players such as Rob Blake, Luc Robitaille, Glen Murray, Jozef Stumpel, Donald Audette, Ian Laperriere, and Mattias Norstrom, the Kings improved dramatically, finishing the season the 1999–2000 season with a 39-31-12-4 record (94 points), good for second place in the Pacific Division. But in the 2000 playoffs, the Kings were once again eliminated in the first round, this time by the mighty Detroit Red Wings in a four-game sweep.

The 2000–01 season was a controversial one, as fans began to question AEG's commitment to the success of the Kings because they failed to significantly improve the team during the off-season. Adding fuel to the fire was the February 21, 2001 trade of star defenseman Rob Blake, who had won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman in 1998. In that deal, the Kings sent Blake and center Steven Reinprecht, to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for right wing Adam Deadmarsh, defenseman Aaron Miller, center prospect Jared Aulin and a first-round pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft (Dave Steckel). Deadmarsh and Miller became impact players for the Kings, who finished the 2000–01 season with a 38-28-13-3 record (92 points), good for a third place finish in the Pacific Division and another first-round playoff date with the still-mighty Detroit Red Wings.

The heavily-favored Red Wings — many predicted another four-game sweep — made easy work of the Kings in Games 1 and 2 at the Joe Louis Arena, but the Kings got back in the series with a 2-1 win in Game 3 at Staples Center.

In Game 4, the Red Wings took a commanding 3-0 lead after two periods, seemingly restoring order to a series they were supposed to win easily. And in the third period, it looked like nothing would change. But all that set the stage for yet another unbelievable playoff comeback for the Kings, highly reminiscent of the "Miracle on Manchester," back in 1982.

Seldom-used forward Scott Thomas, a career minor-leaguer, scored a power play goal at 13:53, to give the Kings a bit of life. 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 man advantage. The gamble paid off as Jozef Stumpel would follow with another power play goal at 17:33. Finally, Bryan Smolinski tied the game at the 19:07 mark.

In the overtime, Deadmarsh stole the puck from Red Wings' star defenseman Chris Chelios in the right corner behind the Detroit net, and threw a centering pass to center Eric Belanger, who scored the game-winning goal at 2:36 to lift the Kings to a miraculous come-from-behind win, now known as the "Frenzy on Figueroa," or the "Stunner at Staples."

That amazing win took all the wind out of the Red Wings' sails, and the Kings eliminated them in Game 6 in Los Angeles, having won four straight games after going down 2-0 in the series. It was the Kings' first playoff series win since 1993.

In the second round, the Kings went up against another elite team, the Colorado Avalanche, led by superstars like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy, Ray Bourque, and of course, Rob Blake. The Kings took the eventual champions to seven games but lost the series, 4-3. While still fighting for a playoff spot in which they clinched seventh place in the Western Conference where they were matched with the heavily-favored Avalanche. After being bounced out of the playoffs in the first round by the Avalanche, the next two seasons would be major disappointments, as the team failed to make the playoffs in both seasons.

Even though the Kings refused to use it as an excuse, injuries were the primary reason for the team's failures. In 2002–03, the Kings just missed breaking the unofficial NHL record for the most man-games lost to injury in a season with 536. But they would easily surpass the record in 2003–04 with 629 man-games lost.

The Kings' 2004–05 NHL season was lost due to labor strife between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association.
League play resumed for the 2005–06 season and saw the Kings acquire Valeri Bure, Jeremy Roenick and Pavol Demitra. Los Angeles began the new season strongly challenging for the Western Conference title. However, the second half of the season saw the Kings once again stumble badly, freefalling from second in the Western Conference in early January to tenth place.

At the trade deadline, the Kings added another goal scorer in the New York Islanders' Mark Parrish, along with defenseman Brent Sopel, and they fired head coach Andy Murray on March 21, 2006, replacing him with interim head coach John Torchetti, but the moves failed to jumpstart the team, as they continued their losing ways. With three games left in the season, Luc Robitaille, the team's all-time leading scorer and the NHL's all-time highest-scoring left winger, announced that, at the end of the year, he would be retiring from pro hockey.

Just one day after the end of the Kings' 2005-06 regular season, AEG decided to clean house on April 18, 2006, and they relieved President/Hockey Operations and General Manager Dave Taylor of his duties, along with Director of Player Personnel Bill O'Flaherty. Interim head coach John Torchetti and assistant coaches Mark Hardy and Ray Bennett, along with goaltending consultant Andy Nowicki, were also fired, and Vice President and Assistant General Manager Kevin Gilmore was re-assigned to other duties within AEG. Kings CEO Tim Leiweke also announced that he will no longer be the team's Chief Executive Officer.

On April 21, 2006, the Kings signed Philadelphia Flyers scout and former San Jose Sharks general manager Dean Lombardi as their new President and General Manager. He was signed to a five-year contract, signaling big changes in the near future for the franchise. Soon after he was hired, Lombardi quickly began to revamp the Kings' hockey operations and just barely over one month into his tenure as President and General Manager, he hired Marc Crawford to be the Kings' 21st head coach on May 22, 2006.
On January 13, 2007, hockey history was made when the Kings put Yutaka Fukufuji in goal for the 3rd period of their game with the St. Louis Blues. This marked the first time in hockey history that a Japanese-born player played in an NHL regular season game. The Kings lost the game and Fukufuji was assessed the loss.

On January 20, 2007, the Kings retired Luc Robitaille's jersey in an hour-long ceremony prior to the game with the Phoenix Coyotes. It was the fifth Kings jersey to be retired by the team.

The Kings and the NHL announced on February 28, 2007 that the Los Angeles Kings would open the 2007-08 National Hockey League regular season at the new O2 Arena (also owned by AEG) in London, England, with two games against the Anaheim Ducks on September 29 and 30, 2007. The special “NHL Premiere 2007” series were the Kings’ first games ever outside of North America and the first NHL regular season games to be played in Europe.

In the 2007–2008 off-season, the Kings signed six unrestricted free agents, including center Michal Handzus, left wings Ladislav Nagy and Kyle Calder, and defensemen Tom Preissing, Brad Stuart and Jon Klemm.

Like all NHL teams for the 2007-08 season, the Kings changed jerseys to new Reebok Edge jerseys. The Kings kept their logo, and only made two minor changes to the striping; the shoulder trim was curved to fit the new style and the bottom (purple) stripe was removed, with "Los Angeles" remaining along the bottom edge (silver was changed to purple lettering on the road jerseys, and silver lettering remained on the home jerseys).

In recent days we’ve seen several trades (see my most recent posts since August 29th) and now we’re starting to see some movement in the free agent market.  The big news today comes out of Los Angeles, where the Kings announced the signing of forward Jarret Stoll to a four-year, $14 million contract. Stoll was acquired by the Kings from the Edmonton Oilers earlier this summer in exchange for defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky.  His new contract breaks down as $3.5 million per season against the Kings salary cap, a significant raise over the $2.2 million per season he earned over the last two years with the Oilers.  Stoll got that contract thanks to a 22-goal, 68-point performance in 2005-06, but a concussion the following season and the lingering after-effects hampered his performance since then, with 39 points (in 51 games) in 2006-07 and 36 points in 81 games last year. The Kings may be taking a chance on Stoll regaining that 68-point form as it appears he hasn’t been the same since the concussion, but if he can round back into form he’ll be worth that kind of coin. At least cap-wise the Kings are now a little closer (now less than $10 million closer) to the NHL’s minimum cap of $40.7 million.

Inside Shots

The Los Angeles Kings would rather be in the position of the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins, playing for the Stanley Cup. But the Kings will be busy throughout June, making moves that they hope will lead them deep into the playoffs for years to come.
Most obvious, the Kings are gearing up for the June 20-21 NHL entry draft, in which they hold the No. 2 and No. 28 picks, and 15 picks overall in the seven-round draft. The No. 2 pick will almost certainly land them one of the top draft-eligible defensemen.
Beyond that, however, there is plenty of work to be done. The Kings are working on locking up Patrick O’Sullivan, one of the most pleasant surprises of last season, who is a restricted free agent this summer.
The Kings are not expected to be major players on the free-agent market, even though they have several holes to fill and plenty of money to spend. Their greatest need is for young defensemen, and there aren’t many available on the market this summer.
Instead, the Kings will seek a trade, possibly dangling one or more of their draft picks or a talented young forward such as Michael Cammalleri. The Kings are expected to be very aggressive in pursuing trade possibilities in the weeks leading up to the draft.
Season Highlight:   On Nov. 10 at Staples Center, the Kings trailed Dallas 4-0 with less than eight minutes remaining in the third period. Facing elite goalie Marty Turco, the Kings scored five goals on their next six shots and took the lead when Ladislav Nagy scored a power-play goal with 2:07 remaining. The Stars tied the game on Mike Modano’s power-play goal with 1:05 remaining, but Anze Kopitar scored 2:34 into overtime to give the Kings the remarkable 6-5 victory.
Turning Point:   With victories in two of their previous three games, the Kings were inching toward respectability as they started a two-game road trip with a winnable game against Chicago on Dec. 12. Instead, the Kings suffered a dreadful 6-3 loss in which they were outshot 36-28. That game was the start of an eight-game losing streak that dropped the Kings to the bottom of the Western Conference for the rest of the season.

Notes & Quotes

• The Kings tied a NHL record by using seven goalies last season, but many fans are clamoring for another goalie, the one who will solve all of the Kings’ problems. The Kings are putting their future in three prospects, Jonathan Bernier, Jonathan Quick and Jeff Zatkoff and believe it’s wiser to wait and not make a trade. “How many elite goalies are there in the league?” Kings assistant general manager Ron Hextall said. “Maybe five and those five aren’t going anywhere. We had our eye on Miikka Kuprusoff a couple years ago, but of course Calgary re-signed him. Our feeling is that we have to develop our own. We’ve got three guys there in Bernier, Quick and Zatkoff… If we could grab a high-end goalie, we would have done it two years ago. We’ve looked at the environment but it’s not there. If we wanted to trade Bernier and Brown, I’m sure we could get a goalie.”
• One area in which the Kings will be aggressive is the pursuit of a defenseman. At a May 20 meeting with season-ticket holders, assistant general manager Ron Hextall said the Kings would attempt to trade for a defenseman. Defense is a position in which the Kings are relatively light in prospects, and this summer’s class of free-agent defensemen is considered relatively weak. “Our biggest concern is our defense,” Hextall said. “We will actively try to make trades. We won’t try to trade for a 30-year-old defenseman with one year left on his contract. We will try, actively, to trade for a young defenseman between now and the draft.”
Quote to Note:   “If someone wants to come here as a 32- or 33-year-old, to be honest. I’m asking why. It’s either money or they want to sit on the beach for a year.”’—Kings assistant general manager Ron Hextall.

Roster Report

Most Valuable Player:   Toward the end of last season, Kings Coach Marc Crawford publicly said that Dustin Brown had the potential to become a 30-goal scorer. Known primarily as a tough hitter, Brown must have taken Crawford’s challenge to heart. Brown almost doubled last year’s goal total, scoring 33 compared to last year’s 17. Brown proved himself as a bona-fide first-line winger.
Most Disappointing Player:   After a somewhat contentious arbitration process in which the Kings “won” the hearing and had to pay Michael Cammalleri $6.7 million over two seasons, Cammalleri took a step backward. Nagging injuries played a part in Cammalleri’s decline as he went from 80 points to 47 points.

Free Agent Focus:   The Kings will have several holes this summer. The expected departure of forwards Ladislav Nagy, Scott Thornton and Brian Willsie will force the Kings to find some secondary scoring, and the Kings must decide whether to re-sign defenseman Rob Blake to a short-term deal or find at least one veteran defenseman on the free agent market this summer. Perhaps most important, emerging winger Patrick O’Sullivan will be a restricted free agent and might need to be locked up with a long-term contract.

Biggest Needs:   With a strong stable of NHL-ready young forwards and at least three potential NHL goalies in the fold, the Kings’ primary focus will be on defensemen this summer. They’re not counting on Thomas Hickey, last year’s first-round pick, to be ready for the NHL this fall, and this year’s first-round pick, likely to be a defenseman, probably will return to juniors this fall. The Kings have openly said they will be looking to trade for a defenseman under the age of 30.

Player Notes: 

• The Kings figure to take a cautious approach with G Jonathan Bernier, who turns 20 in August. Bernier, is considered the Kings’ goaltender of the future, but the Kings remain undecided about whether it would be better, from a development standpoint, to have Bernier play in the NHL or the American Hockey League next season. “Goaltender is a position we’d like to get better at in the near future but we’ve got to be extremely careful with this kid,” assistant general manager Ron Hextall said. “There are a lot of factors that go into if he will play here… Myself, in my heart, I think he has a chance, but my greatest fear is bringing him in too early and ruining him. I can tell you if he can stop the puck, but I can’t tell you what’s between his ears. That’s 80 percent of it.”
• Goalie Erik Ersberg, a restricted free agent this summer, is likely to return and have a chance to be the Kings’ goalie next season. Last season, in his first NHL season since coming over from Sweden, Ersberg had a 2.48 goals-against average and two shutouts in 14 games. “Erik was obviously a pleasant surprise,” Hextall said. “He’s got a lot of ability but he’s nowhere near a proven goaltender. The jury is still out but he has a lot of athletic ability. He’s unflappable but he’s very unproven. He’s got a lot of mental toughness and he’s got an air about him… He’s absolutely going to get a shot. He’s going to be in the mix.”
• Goalie Dan Cloutier remains a top candidate for a buyout, but the Kings have until July 1 to make that decision. Cloutier, due $3.1 million next season, in the final year of a two-year contract, is unlikely to make the Kings’ roster next season, under any circumstance. “We haven’t made a final decision on a buyout,” Hextall said. “I’m not going to lie and say we haven’t talked about it, but a final decision has not been made.