Peter Laviolette will debut as coach of the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night when they face the Colorado Avalanche in a Kings vs Avalanche rematch at Ball Arena in Denver. The game is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET and comes with an immediate measure of context: Colorado swept Los Angeles in four games in the Western Conference First Round last season.
A new era for the Kings
The opener marks the start of a new chapter for the Kings, who are turning to Laviolette after he spent the 2023-25 stretch guiding the New York Rangers for two seasons. That experience gives Los Angeles a coach with plenty of NHL mileage, but the challenge in front of him is simple enough — get the Kings past a team that handled them decisively in the playoffs a few months ago.
Los Angeles also arrives with a different leadership setup. Drew Doughty is taking over as Kings captain after Anze Kopitar retired, adding another layer of transition as the club begins the season. When a team changes its coach and captain at the same time, the early games often become about establishing structure as much as chasing a result.
Colorado enters with recent success
The Avalanche are not just the opponent; they are the standard the Kings have to chase. Colorado won the Presidents’ Trophy with 121 points last season, and Nathan MacKinnon led the way with 53 goals while capturing the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. That combination of regular-season dominance and playoff pedigree is part of what makes this matchup such a useful first test for Laviolette’s group.
For the Kings, the task is less about making a statement with one game and more about showing early signs of growth against a familiar obstacle. Wednesday night will not settle the season, but it will offer a first look at how Laviolette’s team handles the kind of pressure that ended its playoff run last spring.
What to watch
The most obvious storyline is whether Los Angeles can look more organized and resilient than it did in last season’s four-game loss. The second is how quickly Laviolette’s structure shows up in a meaningful setting. With the same opponent across the ice and the same building in Denver, the Kings do not need to be perfect — they just need to look like a team with a clearer direction than the one that left the playoffs early last year.
