Insider Roundtable – LeBrun, Seravalli & Whyno Talk Kings/Oilers Series

Presenting the first Insider Roundtable discussion of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs!

When it comes to this iteration of the Los Angeles Kings, I feel there’s been tremendous growth and evolution year over year. This is a team that is deeper and more explosive than in previous years. They possess elite goaltending and all of that puts them in a prime position as they begin a fourth straight playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.

But what do other observers of the game think? Do they think along similar lines or is this simply the product of standing too close to the subject?

Only one way to find out.

I reached out to three members of the national hockey media whose perspective provides an objective lens into this series. Pierre LeBrun, a lead analyst with TSN in Canada and a long-time columnist for The Athletic, Stephen Whyno, the national hockey writer for the Associated Press, and Frank Seravalli, who has made Daily Faceoff into a must-read and listen site for hockey fans and insiders alike.

The fact that all three are close friends only added to the fun of putting this roundtable discussion together.

You can listen along to the full discourse but what follows is a sampling of thoughts and observations from our three panelists.

Let’s start with my initial question to the panel:

How has your pre-season expectations of the Kings changed throughout this season?
Seravalli: I wasn’t really sure what to make of this Kings team heading into this season. Look, there was so much hinging on this fascinating Darcy Kuemper for Pierre-Luc Dubois trade that has played out so well for them. Kuemper has been excellent……a rare deal, problematic contract for problematic contract, that both sides seem to be very happy about……and so, I look at this Kings team, I think a deep team, a team that has high-end skill, that for whatever reason, despite that home record, really hasn’t been talked about in that conversation of a team that could make noise and go on a deep run. And I think there’s a lot of pressure that’s associated with that for a team that’s now running squarely into the Edmonton Oilers for a fourth year in a row.

Whyno: Darcy Kuemper has been a revelation for LA. He’s probably going to be a Vezina Trophy finalist. And I’ve just been impressed With what Jim Hiller has done in his first full year as coach in developing offense from a team that was a very good defensive trap team……but now you have five 20-goal scorers on that roster and the ability to win games sort of every different way. And they’re the hottest team since the 4 Nations break. No team in the NHL has won more games since coming back from the 4 Nations Face-Off. And it does sort of feel, I don’t want to pump your ego up too much, like it is their year to break through.

Which Kings Player Is Under Your Personal Spotlight?
LeBrun: It’s Kevin Fiala. Thirty-five goals this year. He had one goal in the playoffs last year, one goal in the playoffs the season before that. I just think he’s got a chance to be the kind of difference-maker in the playoffs that the Kings have been waiting for with him. Sometimes I know with him it’s been health and two years ago he was banged up. But they need that because I think organically it’s more difficult for them to match up offensively in theory with the Oilers – although again let’s see what version of the Oilers we get here in the first round. And I think he also benefits from no (Mattias) Ekholm. The Ekholm injury is so massive on so many levels for Edmonton it’s right up there with what (Miro) Heiskanen means to the Dallas Stars. And I think Fiala’s a guy that directly benefits from being freed up from that kind of matchup.

Whyno: It’s Quinton Byfield. Quinton Byfield is one of the hottest scorers in the league over the past several weeks. A guy who’s still 22-years-old, and kind of the big body, top prospect when he was drafted high, and the expectation that he would grow into this. But when you’re a team that does lack the ability to score, maybe on the power play, to be able to have somebody who can score not necessarily the gritty goals but he can score from anywhere on the ice, he’s the kind of big body now, without the Oilers having Mattias Ekholm for the entire first round, who might be able to find space enough to score. And I think also, when you have a Fiala and a (Adrian) Kempe and other guys on this team, it’s going to create matchup problems if Quinton Byfield is in the lineup and is able to produce.

Seravalli: My answer is Warren Foegele. Going up against his former team, a team that had zero percent interest in bringing him back (after) last season, very quietly third on the LA Kings in goals. I think the knock on his game has been that in big moments he maybe shies away or doesn’t have the same grit or stick-to-it-iveness, but I think that’s BS that notion. I really like what I’ve seen. When there’s been so much talk around the NHL of hey, look at what happened to all these guys that have departed Edmonton and the magical seasons that they’ve had, whether it’s been (Dylan) Holloway and (Philip) Broberg in St. Louis or (Ryan) McLeod in Buffalo, no one’s really been talking about Warren Foegele. And I think he’s a guy that I look toward in this first round series…one of the villains in this series in a really good way might be Foegele.

How Do You Feel About Kings/Oilers Part Four?
Seravalli: I love it. I think heading into this postseason looking at the matchups and saying this might be the fifth most interesting of the first round series and I’m thinking now with the hate that that built up in a healthy way, plus that notion of ask the Calgary Flames how satisfying winning in 1989 was after running into the Edmonton Oilers at every turn in the mid 1980s…there’s no guarantee that you do but I think it’ll be all the more satisfying if you’re able to accomplish that and to the point that Pierre made to start off, this Oiler team is more vulnerable than they’ve been at any point over this four-year stretch.

Whyno: I’m okay with this matchup again this year for the reason of I think the Oilers, and maybe I’m wrong and I look like an idiot in two weeks, but the Oilers look like a team that’s played a lot of hockey and are the walking wounded and sort of need a reset this summer……look, if the Kings lose four in a row yes, I’ll be bored of a fifth next year, but the Capitals did run into the Penguins every year and Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom all kept having to answer the question of why can’t you break through, why can’t you win it when really they were just running into a better team. … maybe the Kings are ahead of schedule on our expectations for being that kind of team and maybe I’m drinking the Kool Aid after watching a lot of Kings games in preparation for this, that I look at this team and say there’s no reason the Kings can’t win two rounds, can’t go to a conference final……just because of the style they play. And to get through the Oilers, like the Capitals (finally beating Pittsburgh in 2018), there is just such a boost from getting over that hump you haven’t been able to get through before.

What is the key factor in this series?
LeBrun: I covered those three series they played against Edmonton and it was clear there was an organizational decision, Jim Hiller was made head coach, we’re not going to play a [1-3-1] anymore, we’re going to have to loosen things up and come back with a different style of game. And they have from all the games I’ve watched. But at the same time if you look at a lot of their team numbers there’s a lot of their original DNA still in there……so, better offensively than a year ago, power play’s not very good, very stingy defensively, so it hasn’t been a complete metamorphosis despite changing their playing style. They’re still the Kings who don’t want you to score on them and I think that’s helped top off a very good Darcy Kuemper season. I’m not taking anything away from him but I think it’s a perfect place for Darcy Kuemper to end up because of the way the Kings play in front of goalies. And listen, those are good traits to have going into the playoffs when you’re that good defensively. I think my concern for them would be this, that depending on how healthy the Oilers are and what version of the Oilers the Kings get here in the first round, the Kings have to finally win the special teams battle for the first time in these four playoff matchups with the Edmonton Oilers. That has been crushing them in the first three playoff series with Edmonton, how dominant the Oilers have been on special teams. Some games have been over just because of it. And so that at the very least has to be a 50-50 saw-off. And I actually do think the Kings have their best shot at beating Edmonton in these four years but that has to be an area that has to be improved for them.

Whyno: I’m going to pull that back and say the most important thing for the Kings because of the Oilers power play is to be disciplined and to not take penalties. And I know that’s a thing that every coach preaches to every player and is on their mind. But not taking a bunch of penalties keeps Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl from being on the power play for long stretches. And the Kings have the seventh-ranked penalty kill in the league this season so they have the ability to do it. But these guys, if Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, put their capes on and are Superman and just say we’re not losing a series then everybody in the NHL is in trouble. But just be disciplined, don’t be chasing the game……if they’re able to get leads in these games and they’re not chasing, whether it’s chasing the game or chasing the puck and not having to grab and chase and trip and stick foul against everybody, that gives the Kings a better chance of playing as much of the series as possible at five-on-five.

The full video above has several additional thoughts, including some love for Anze Kopitar, measures of success for the Kings in a variety of ways and thoughts on the other seven series around the NHL.