Kings at a Glance

1996-97 SEASON: 28-43-11.

* 1996-97 FINISH: Sixth in the Pacific Division, missed the playoffs.

* WHO’S NEW: Luc Robitaille, Jozef Stumpel, Sandy Moger, Garry Galley, Olli Jokinen and Donald MacLean.

* WHO’S GONE: Kevin Stevens, Dimitri Khristich, Byron Dafoe, Kai Nurminen.

* PROJECTED LINES: Left wing Robitaille (24 goals, 48 points), center Stumpel (21, 76), right wing Glen Murray (16, 30).

Left wing Jokinen (rookie), center Ray Ferraro (25, 46), right wing Moger (10, 13).

Left wing Craig Johnson (4, 7), center MacLean (rookie), right wing Brad Smyth (8, 16).

Left wing Matt Johnson (1, 4), center Ian Laperriere (8, 23), right wing Roman Vopat (4, 9).

Left wing Vladimir Tsyplakov (16, 39), center Yanic Perreault (11, 25).

* PROJECTED DEFENSE PAIRINGS: Rob Blake (8, 31) and Aki Berg (2, 8).

Galley (4, 38) and Doug Zmolek (1, 1).

Mattias Norstrom (1, 22) and Philippe Boucher (7, 25).

Jan Vopat (4, 9) and Sean O’Donnell (5, 17).

* GOALTENDERS: Stephane Fiset (13-24-5, 3.19 goals-against average), Jamie Storr (2-1-1, 2.49), Frederic Chabot (39-26-7 in IHL).

* KEY TO THE SEASON: Offensive production will be needed for the Kings to be considered a playoff contender. Robitaille will be the team’s go-to guy, but the Kings expect to support him with an offense by committee led by Ferraro, Stumpel, Jokinen and Smyth. Another key will be the team’s new aggressive forechecking style that the Kings hope will boost scoring. Defensively, the Kings cannot afford to get careless because they will not win many shootouts.

* OUTLOOK: The playoff drought should come to an end this season. On offense they should be much better, especially their power play with the addition of Robitaille, Galley and Jokinen. Robinson finally will have enough depth to sit players not playing well. The Kings are not ready to compete with elite teams such as Detroit or Colorado, but they may be able to catch any of last season’s playoff teams on the slide.