The History Behind the LA Kings’ Winter Woes

Fire up the JftC Mystery Machine, gang!

Some say there’s a hockey team in Los Angeles that’s haunted every December and January by an almost supernatural predilection for losing.

But we here at JftC don’t believe in ghosts, do we? Let’s run down the cumulative Points Earned % for every Los Angeles Kings regular season month, from 1967-68 to 2013-14:

	W	L	T/OTL/SOL	Points Earned %	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .600	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .400
September	1	1	0	0.500
October	223	204	65	0.519	14	22	16	11
November	237	244	77	0.494	13	19	20	10
December	239	269	81	0.475	10	15	27	15
January	232	283	99	0.458	6	12	26	16
February	217	244	81	0.475	9	20	23	14
March	275	285	97	0.492	11	18	23	14
April	76	74	30	0.506	15	15	15	13
May	1	1	0	0.500

Jinkies! The winter months, especially January, have been a monster to the Kings. In 27 Decembers and 26 Januarys, Los Angeles earned less than half of the possible points. Compare that to just 16 below-average Octobers.

So there’s a reason for the chill in the bones that every Kings fan feels after Thanksgiving. Certainly, there’s no such thing as a Los Angeles “winter curse”—the only ghosts of the Forum here were the more-or-less invisible LA defenders.

However, every legend owns an origin. When did the Kings’ winter swoons begin? Was it in a particular era? To that end, I’ve divided team history into five periods for our meddling:

Expansion Era
1967-68 to 1971-72

	W	L	T/OTL/SOL	Points Earned %	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .600	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .400
October	14	25	4	0.372	0	1	3	3
November	19	38	4	0.344	0	1	4	3
December	20	34	10	0.391	0	1	4	2
January	19	40	14	0.356	0	0	5	3
February	18	39	7	0.336	0	1	4	4
March	20	39	13	0.368	0	0	4	3
April	4	1	0	0.800	2	2	0	0

These were dreary years, before Rogie Vachon’s first full season in Forum blue and gold. December was a bad team’s best month; February was rock bottom. Only two players held on for most of this bumpy ride: Eddie Joyal and Bill Flett, who were traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in early 1972.

Next year, Bob Pulford would kick off a long, distinguished coaching career by leading the Kings to respectability. You might also know Pulford as Dean Lombardi’s father-in-law.

Marcel Dionne Era
1975-76 to 1986-87

	W	L	T/OTL/SOL	Points Earned %	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .600	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .400
October	55	56	18	0.496	3	6	4	4
November	65	68	21	0.490	2	5	5	4
December	65	69	24	0.487	3	5	7	2
January	60	80	31	0.442	0	3	7	4
February	51	70	23	0.434	1	4	8	6
March	68	82	25	0.460	2	4	6	3
April	8	15	6	0.379	2	2	7	7

Between the expansion years and Dionne, there was 1974-75, and a squad that only lost two games in the first two months of the season.

But after Dionne’s acquisition that off-season, February betrayed LA. January, too, was not much kinder. The roots of the now to-be-expected winter declines grow here.

It was perhaps in 1982-83 that the franchise’s first notable December-January collapse occurred, as a club that started 11-9-3 then went 5-18-4.

Wayne Gretzky Era
1988-89 to 1995-96

	W	L	T/OTL/SOL	Points Earned %	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .600	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .400
October	46	29	11	0.599	3	7	0	0
November	45	36	9	0.550	3	3	2	1
December	33	42	13	0.449	2	2	5	3
January	33	48	17	0.423	1	2	5	5
February	40	48	17	0.462	2	2	5	3
March	51	45	14	0.527	3	3	3	1
April	14	19	6	0.436	1	1	3	3

Zoinks! So this is where the legend really begins. From Octobers that fed championship fantasies to expansion-level Januarys, no other era was rocked by such volatility. Can you believe that every October was enjoyed with over .500 in Points Earned %?

Most famously, LA started 1992-93 on a 20-8-3 tear (with Gretzky sidelined!), only to lose 17 of their next 25 games.

Dave Taylor Era
1997-98 to 2005-06

	W	L	T/OTL/SOL	Points Earned %	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .600	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .400
October	42	36	16	0.532	3	3	3	1
November	46	38	18	0.539	5	5	2	1
December	45	46	19	0.495	1	2	4	2
January	48	43	16	0.523	2	3	4	1
February	40	29	12	0.568	3	5	1	0
March	46	51	18	0.478	1	4	4	3
April	23	18	6	0.553	4	4	2	1

GM Dave Taylor, that is (there was some thought to calling this the Mattias Norstrom Era, as he was inherited by and outlasted Taylor). Another ubiquitous figure from this period was Coach Andy Murray, who shepherded some of the best winters in team history, but also its longest losing streak, closing 2003-04 with 11 consecutive defeats.

Finally, there was 2005-06, which saw a 27-14-2 record begin to unravel in the winter and lead to Taylor and Murray’s dismissals.

Anze Kopitar Era
2006-07 to present

	W	L	T/OTL/SOL	Points Earned %	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .600	Months w/ Points Earned % Greater Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .500	Months w/ Points Earned % Less Than .400
October	43	34	7	0.554	4	4	3	2
November	41	36	11	0.528	2	4	3	0
December	47	46	9	0.505	3	4	3	2
January	42	42	11	0.500	2	3	3	2
February	43	29	13	0.582	3	6	2	0
March	61	44	15	0.571	4	4	4	3
April	20	17	9	0.533	3	3	3	2

Despite building an unmatched standard of excellence for Kings hockey, Kopitar, along with long-time running mate Dustin Brown, have also suffered the December-January blues. Of course, Terry Murray was canned in a December.

However, fans may want to train their focus on March: Under Darryl Sutter, LA has gone 31-14-2 in that month, propelling themselves to three straight deep playoff runs.