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1968–69 Los Angeles Kings season
National Hockey League team season
National Hockey League team season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| League | NHL |
| Season | 1968–69 |
| year | 1968 |
| Team | Los Angeles Kings |
| Division | West |
| DivisionRank | 4th |
| Record | 24–42–10 |
| HomeRecord | 19–14–5 |
| RoadRecord | 5–28–5 |
| GoalsFor | 185 |
| GoalsAgainst | 260 |
| GeneralManager | Larry Regan |
| Coach | Red Kelly |
| Captain | Bob Wall |
| AltCaptain | Bill White |
| Dale Rolfe | |
| Eddie Joyal | |
| Arena | Los Angeles Forum |
| GoalsLeader | Eddie Joyal (33) |
| AssistsLeader | Real Lemieux (29) |
| PointsLeader | Eddie Joyal (52) |
| PIMLeader | Dale Rolfe (85) |
| WinsLeader | Gerry Desjardins (18) |
| GAALeader | Gerry Desjardins (3.26) |
Dale Rolfe Eddie Joyal
The 1968–69 Los Angeles Kings season was the second ever for the Los Angeles Kings in the National Hockey League (NHL). After finishing a surprising second place during the 1967–68 season, the Kings stumbled in their second regular season, finishing with a 24–42–10 record, good for 58 points and fourth place in the six-team Western Division. The Kings made the playoffs, losing in the West Division Final to the St. Louis Blues.
Offseason
The Kings acquired goaltender Gerry Desjardins from the Montreal Canadiens in June, giving up two first-round picks. Goaltender Terry Sawchuk was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in October for Jimmy Peters Jr. On the same day the Kings picked up goaltender prospect Wayne Thomas of the University of Wisconsin from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Desjardins would play the majority of games with Wayne Rutledge his main backup.
Regular season
The Kings second season began with playoff expectations following a second-place finish in their inaugural season. The Kings played well enough at home to be competitive for a playoff spot, but they only won 5 road games all season.
Attendance for the season exceeded 300,000 for the first time over a 38-game home schedule.
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Playoffs
The Kings pulled off a first round upset, knocking off their in-state rivals the Oakland Seals in seven games in the NHL Quarter-finals. The Kings would then be swept by the St. Louis Blues in the West Division final. Bill Flett led all Kings playoff scorers with 7 points, while Eddie Joyal and Ted Irvine had 6 points each. Irvine had 5 goals to lead the club.
Schedule and results
|- | 1 || 12 || St. Louis Blues || 0–6 || St. Louis || 0–1–0 |- | 2 || 13 || Oakland Seals || 4–4 || Oakland || 0-1–1 |- | 3 || 17 || Boston Bruins || 2–1 || Los Angeles || 1–1-1 |- | 4 || 19 || Minnesota North Stars || 1–4 || Minnesota || 1–2–1 |- | 5 || 20 || New York Rangers || 0–7 || New York || 1–3–1 |- | 6 || 23 || Montreal Canadiens || 2–5 || Los Angeles || 1–4–1 |- | 7 || 26 || Philadelphia Flyers || 6–2 || Los Angeles || 2–4-1 |- | 8 || 30 || Chicago Black Hawks || 2–4 || Los Angeles || 2–5–1
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| Legend:
Playoffs
;West Division Semifinal Los Angeles Kings vs. Oakland Seals
| Date | Away | Score | Home | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2 | **Los Angeles** | **5** | Oakland | 4 | (OT) |
| April 3 | Los Angeles | 2 | **Oakland** | **4** | |
| April 5 | **Oakland** | **5** | Los Angeles | 2 | |
| April 6 | Oakland | 2 | **Los Angeles** | **4** | |
| April 9 | Los Angeles | 1 | **Oakland** | **4** | |
| April 10 | Oakland | 3 | **Los Angeles** | **4** | |
| April 13 | **Los Angeles** | **5** | Oakland | 3 |
Los Angeles wins best-of-seven series 4–3.
;West Division Final
Los Angeles Kings vs. St. Louis Blues
| Date | Away | Score | Home | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 4 | Los Angeles | 0 | **St. Louis** | **4** | |
| April 6 | Los Angeles | 2 | **St. Louis** | **3** | |
| April 9 | **St. Louis** | **5** | Los Angeles | 2 | |
| April 11 | **St. Louis** | **4** | Los Angeles | 1 |
St. Louis wins best-of-seven series 4–0.
Player statistics
Forwards
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eddie Joyal | 73 | 33 | 19 | 52 | 24 |
| Bill Flett | 72 | 24 | 25 | 49 | 53 |
| Real Lemieux | 75 | 11 | 29 | 40 | 68 |
| Ted Irvine | 76 | 15 | 24 | 39 | 47 |
| Howie Hughes | 73 | 16 | 14 | 30 | 10 |
| Lowell MacDonald | 58 | 14 | 14 | 38 | 10 |
| Gord Labossiere | 48 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 12 |
| Howie Menard | 56 | 10 | 17 | 27 | 31 |
| Jimmy Peters | 76 | 10 | 15 | 25 | 28 |
| Phil "Skip" Krake | 30 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 11 |
| Doug Robinson | 31 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 2 |
| Ron Anderson | 56 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 26 |
| Gary Croteau | 11 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| Bryan Campbell | 18 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Bill Inglis | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Gerry Foley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marc Dufour | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Defensemen
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill White | 75 | 5 | 28 | 33 | 38 |
| Bob Wall | 71 | 13 | 13 | 26 | 16 |
| Dale Rolfe | 75 | 3 | 19 | 22 | 85 |
| Brent Hughes | 72 | 2 | 19 | 21 | 73 |
| Larry Cahan | 72 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 76 |
| Dave Amadio | 65 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 60 |
| Jacques Lemieux | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Goaltending
Note: GP = Games played; MIN = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average
| Player | GP | MIN | W | L | T | SO | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gerry Desjardins | 60 | 3499 | 18 | 34 | 6 | 4 | 3.26 |
| Wayne Rutledge | 17 | 921 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3.65 |
| Jacques Caron | 3 | 140 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 |
Transactions
The Kings were involved in the following transactions during the 1968–69 season.
Trades
| November 12, 1968 | To Los Angeles KingsRon Anderson | To Detroit Red WingsPoul Popiel |
|---|
Reverse Draft
| June 10, 1968 | From Montreal CanadiensNoel Price |
|---|
Intra-league Draft
| June 12, 1968 | To St. Louis BluesMyron Stankiewicz |
|---|
Draft picks
| Round | Pick | Player | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Jim McInally | Canada |
- NOTE: Back before 1979, the amateur draft was held with varying rules and procedures. In 1968, teams only needed to select as many player as they wanted to, which is why there was only one Kings player drafted.
References
References
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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