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Embarrassing.

That has to be the best word to describe the Los Angeles Kings' season so far. The Royalty currently have a 6-17-3 record, good for 15 points and last place in the entire NHL.

The Kings finished fifth in the west last season, so expectations were high. And the front office made some moves to improve the team's weaknesses. Steve Duchesne came over from the Blues for his second stint as a member of the Kings. The hope was for him to combine with Rob Blake on the power play like Duchesne did with Al MacInnis in St. Louis. Doug Bodger was also acquired to give some defensive depth and leadership.

But the main problem was not addressed: the Kings do not have a high scoring forward. There were opportunities to fill this gap but Dave Taylor and friends weren't able to close the deal. So the Kings came into the season having one of the best goaltending combos and defensive corps, but with no ability to score. That has been a big factor in the Kings stinking up the Pacific, but not the only reason.

Injuries have been devastating to the Kings this year, with them losing 114 man games through 26 games, compared with the 35 through the same point last season. They couldn't even get out of the preseason unscathed, with Mark Visheau breaking his hand, and worse, Jozef Stumpel getting a nasty little hip injury. Stumpel, who was the Kings leading scorer last season, has only been able to play in 13 games so far this season, scoring one goal and five assists, far off his point per game rate of last season.

Other forwards injured include Russ Courtnall breaking his ankle after getting hit by a shot, and Ian Laperriere, who has partially torn ligaments in his knee and is only a little twist away from being out for the season.

Then came the massacre of the goaltenders. In the October 18th game against the Avalanche both Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr went down with groin injuries from which they are only now returning from. This forced a previously unknown goalie named Manny Legace to become the No. 1 goaltender. He did well, cranking out a .910 save percentage and a 2.35 goals-against average. Unfortunately, he didn't produce many wins, going 2-9-2 during his stay in the big leagues.

Rob Blake by Meredith Martini

The Kings blue line has suffered the worst injuries. Doug Bodger got injured in a way that is appropriate for this season: he stepped on a puck in warmups and broke his hand. But most importantly, the defending Norris Trophy winner, Rob Blake, broke his foot and has been out since October 30th. The loss of Blake has been the most devastating since he was a 30 minute per game player, and without him people like Garry Galley and Philippe Boucher are having to play many more shifts than they would normally. Plus, Steve Duchesne has had more pressure put on him to produce. Just not a good thing all around.

The failure of certain players to perform like they should is also holding them down. As expected, Yanic Perreault has disappeared as a goal scorer, not scoring since the fourth game of the season. He has to be the most frustrating player on the Kings, since he shows flashes of being a sniper in four or five game bursts, then disappears and is a non-factor the rest of the season.

With the emergence of Olli Jokinen, Perreault has been banished to the third or fourth line, with even Laperriere being more of an offensive threat than Yanic.

Steve Duchesne has also been a dissapointment. Pushed as being a savior of the power play, Duchesne has only scored one goal and seven assists in 26 games. And the power play has been a total embarrassment, with the Kings only being able to score nine goals in 102 opportunities. This is one of the major reasons why the Kings are sucking it up so badly, since things might have been different if they had scored a stray power-play goal once in a while, particularly in games like those against the Red Wings and the Senators.

Also needing to be held accountable are the coaching staff and management. When it is the same problem (or problems) losing games over and over, one has to wonder if the coaching staff is doing its job. But the biggest problem has been the front office. They knew what the team's weaknesses were and did almost nothing to change them. The need of a scorer is still there, with Pavel Bure, Ziggy Palffy and Theo Fleury still waiting to be had. But they are all reportedly a long ways away from making a deal. Hopefully Dave Taylor will realize that making a move for someone who isn't a former King teammate might be a good idea.

Okay, now after that negativity there have to be some bright spots. Luc Robitaille is showing why Los Angeles loved him, going out and scoring 22 points (12-10-22) in the first 26 games. He shows maturity that he didn't have during his first run with the Kings, and can actually play defense now.

Also showing hustle is the pairing of Laperriere and Eric Lacroix. The two have to be about as pesky of a line as there is in the NHL, and are many times the best forechecking line on the team. Also doing well is Ray Ferraro. He is showing a great deal of class handling his reduced role with the team and plays hard in those games he gets into. Now if only that would rub off on some of the other Kings...

The outlook for the Kings? They should receive a boost when Rob Blake returns, hopefully winning a few of those tight games as a result. I can still see them making the playoffs but in order to do that they will need to turn the season around quickly, and pray that all those 3-1 losses didn't ruin the season.

But the Kings are only a scorer away from being one of the better teams in the league. Combined with someone like a Theo Fleury (who would be a perfect fit for them) they could actually get as high as sixth in the conference and be able to compete well in the playoffs. But will Dave Taylor pull the trigger on a big trade? I tend to doubt it.

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