Stano’s Daily: Former Kings to the Final & Panthers Kings Comparison

The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Dallas Stars on Monday, punching their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final. This means several former Kings will compete for the Cup this year.

Jonathan Quick, Ben Hutton, Alex Martinez, Brayden McNabb and Michael Amadio all played for the Kings at some point.

Of course, Quick and Martinez will be the two players Kings fans are most interested in as they had the biggest impact with the Kings.

One of the few original Golden Knights left, McNabb is a player the Kings could use right now. A big, physical left-shot defenseman would really round out their defense.

Kings & Panthers Similarities:

A common talking point over the last few days has been people comparing this Florida Panthers team to the 2012 Los Angeles Kings.

I see why it’s being made, two teams that underachieved in the regular season, are winning off the back of elite goalie play and have dominant two-way centers in Alexander Barkov and Anze Kopitar respectively.

But I do find a big difference in how dominant that 2012 Kings team was versus this Panthers team. And that isn’t to take anything away from the Panthers, but the Kings were on another level in 2012.

Anytime an eight seed makes it to the Final it’s a good story though.

NationalHockeyNow:

VegasHockeyNow: The Golden Knights are apparently a more superstitious group than the Panthers, refusing to touch the Campbell Trophy.

BuffaloHockeyNow: California native Ryan Johnson signed his entry level deal with the Buffalo Sabres after some questions about whether he’d hit free agency out of college.

MontrealHockeyNow: Who has the most to prove in Montreal next season?