2008 – 09 Los Angeles Kings season The 2008 – 09 Los Angeles Kings season was the 40th season in the club ' s history . The Kings showed improvement while fielding the youngest team in the league ( in terms of average age per player ) , but came up short of breaking a playoff drought that stretches back to the 2001 - 02 season . Despite a crazy schedule which saw them play 17 of their final 24 games away from Staples Center , the Kings managed to stay in the playoff hunt for much of the year . They played in 43 games decided by one goal , and their record in these games was 20 - 12 - 11 , which bodes well for next season . Alexander Frolov led the team in goals with 32 . This marked his fifth consecutive season with at least 20 or more goals . The last to do so before Frolov for the Kings was Luc Robitaille in the 1993 - 94 season . Also , defenseman Sean O ' Donnell reached a milestone by playing in his 1 , 000th career NHL game on March 14 . Pre - season . On June 10 , the Kings fired their head coach Marc Crawford after failing to make the post - season in back - to - back seasons . Crawford posted a 59 - 84 - 21 record during his tenure . He was replaced on July 17 by Terry Murray , who takes over his fourth team . Murray had previously coached for Washington , Florida , and Philadelphia , where he led the Flyers to the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals . Entering the season , Murray ' s career record is 360 - 288 - 89 . Regular season . The Kings made great strides in the 2008 - 09 season . They went from dead last in the league a year earlier in penalty killing to 7th best in the league , with an 82 . 9 % rating . They had the fourth best faceoff win percentage , and allowed the fourth fewest shots on goal in the league . Five players played in all 82 games : Anze Kopitar , Michal Handzus , Matt Greene , Sean O ' Donnell , and rookie Wayne Simmonds . Several surprises also emerged during the season . Kyle Quincey was grabbed off waivers shortly after season started from Detroit , due to the injury of Jack Johnson . Quincey went on to finish second in the team in assists and averaged over 20 minutes of ice time per game . Drew Doughty was the 2nd overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and immediately contributed to the team , leading the team in ice time and was second in blocked shots . He finished in the top ten in the league in several categories , and was considered a strong Calder Trophy candidate . Another surprise was Jonathan Quick , who emerged as the number one goaltender . Quick was thrust into the line - up following the trade of Jason LaBarbera in mid - season to Vancouver and an injury to Erik Ersberg . All Quick did was lead the team in every goaltending category , posting the third highest win total for a rookie in club history . He finished third in the league among rookie netminder in goals against average , and played in 22 of the final 27 and 41 of the final 52 Kings games . He had a 1 . 76 goals - against average ( 16 GA in 546 : 03 ) and . 942 save percentage ( 258 saves in 274 shots ) in nine straight appearances from March 22 to April 9 . The Western Conference remained a tight race throughout the season , and the Kings weren ' t officially eliminated from the playoffs until two weeks remained in the season . Playoffs . The Los Angeles Kings failed to qualify for the 2009 NHL Playoffs . Player stats . Skaters . " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points ; + / − = Plus / Minus ; PIM = Penalty Minutes " Goaltenders . " Note : GP = Games Played ; TOI = Time On Ice ( minutes ) ; W = Wins ; L = Losses ; OT = Overtime Losses ; GA = Goals Against ; GAA = Goals Against Average ; SA = Shots Against ; SV = Saves ; Sv % = Save Percentage ; SO = Shutouts " Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Kings . Stats reflect time with the Kings only . Traded mid - season Bold / italics denotes franchise record Farm teams . The Kings have one American Hockey League affiliate in the Manchester Monarchs . They also have two ECHL affiliates in the Ontario Reign and Reading Royals . All three are owned in part by the Kings ' parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group .