2002–03 Los Angeles Kings season

2002–03 Los Angeles Kings
Division	3rd Pacific
Conference	10th Western
2002–03 record	33–36–6–7
Goals for	203
Goals against	221
Team information
General manager	Dave Taylor
Coach	Andy Murray
Captain	Mattias Norstrom
Alternate captains	Mathieu Schneider Bryan Smolinski Ian Laperriere
Arena	Staples Center
Average attendance	17,569
Minor league affiliate(s)	Manchester Monarchs Reading Royals
Team leaders
Goals	Zigmund Palffy (37)
Assists	Zigmund Palffy (48)
Points	Zigmund Palffy (85)
Penalty minutes	Ian Laperriere (122)
Plus/minus	Zigmund Palffy (+22)
Wins	Felix Potvin (17)
Goals against average	Jamie Storr (2.55)

The 2002–03 Los Angeles Kings season was the Kings' 36th season in the National Hockey League. The Kings failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 1999, ending a three season playoff streak.

Regular season

The Kings tied the Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals for the fewest short-handed goals allowed, with just four.

Final standings

Pacific Division

No.	CR		GP	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	1	Dallas Stars	82	46	17	15	4	245	169	111
2	7	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	82	40	27	9	6	203	193	95
3	10	Los Angeles Kings	82	33	37	6	6	203	221	78
4	11	Phoenix Coyotes	82	31	35	11	5	204	230	78
5	14	San Jose Sharks	82	28	37	9	8	214	239	73

Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
         Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	W	October 9, 2002	4–1	Phoenix Coyotes (2002–03)	1–0–0–0
2	W	October 12, 2002	3–2	Detroit Red Wings (2002–03)	2–0–0–0
3	W	October 16, 2002	4–2	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2002–03)	3–0–0–0
4	L	October 17, 2002	1–4	Colorado Avalanche (2002–03)	3–1–0–0
5	T	October 19, 2002	2–2 OT	Vancouver Canucks (2002–03)	3–1–1–0
6	T	October 23, 2002	3–3 OT	@ Detroit Red Wings (2002–03)	3–1–2–0
7	W	October 25, 2002	6–2	@ New York Rangers (2002–03)	4–1–2–0
8	L	October 27, 2002	1–5	@ Columbus Blue Jackets (2002–03)	4–2–2–0
9	W	October 29, 2002	4–0	@ Atlanta Thrashers (2002–03)	5–2–2–0
10	OTL	October 31, 2002	1–2 OT	@ Chicago Blackhawks (2002–03)	5–2–2–1
11	W	November 2, 2002	6–5 OT	Nashville Predators (2002–03)	6–2–2–1
12	L	November 4, 2002	2–5	Minnesota Wild (2002–03)	6–3–2–1
13	L	November 5, 2002	2–5	@ San Jose Sharks (2002–03)	6–4–2–1
14	W	November 8, 2002	3–2	@ Ottawa Senators (2002–03)	7–4–2–1
15	L	November 9, 2002	1–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (2002–03)	7–5–2–1
16	OTL	November 12, 2002	3–4 OT	@ Toronto Maple Leafs (2002–03)	7–5–2–2
17	L	November 14, 2002	2–3	@ Vancouver Canucks (2002–03)	7–6–2–2
18	W	November 16, 2002	4–1	@ Edmonton Oilers (2002–03)	8–6–2–2
19	T	November 19, 2002	2–2 OT	@ Minnesota Wild (2002–03)	8–6–3–2
20	OTL	November 21, 2002	2–3 OT	@ St. Louis Blues (2002–03)	8–6–3–3
21	W	November 23, 2002	2–0	Dallas Stars (2002–03)	9–6–3–3
22	L	November 27, 2002	2–5	Florida Panthers (2002–03)	9–7–3–3
23	T	November 29, 2002	2–2 OT	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2002–03)	9–7–4–3
24	W	November 30, 2002	4–1	Chicago Blackhawks (2002–03)	10–7–4–3
25	L	December 5, 2002	2–3	Nashville Predators (2002–03)	10–8–4–3
26	L	December 7, 2002	2–4	Columbus Blue Jackets (2002–03)	10–9–4–3
27	W	December 10, 2002	3–0	@ Nashville Predators (2002–03)	11–9–4–3
28	W	December 11, 2002	3–0	@ Dallas Stars (2002–03)	12–9–4–3
29	W	December 14, 2002	3–2 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins (2002–03)	13–9–4–3
30	L	December 15, 2002	1–2	@ Phoenix Coyotes (2002–03)	13–10–4–3
31	W	December 17, 2002	6–2	St. Louis Blues (2002–03)	14–10–4–3
32	W	December 19, 2002	5–4	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2002–03)	15–10–4–3
33	L	December 22, 2002	1–3	@ Chicago Blackhawks (2002–03)	15–11–4–3
34	L	December 23, 2002	0–5	@ St. Louis Blues (2002–03)	15–12–4–3
35	W	December 26, 2002	4–3 OT	Phoenix Coyotes (2002–03)	16–12–4–3
36	L	December 29, 2002	1–6	@ Colorado Avalanche (2002–03)	16–13–4–3
37	L	December 30, 2002	0–2	Chicago Blackhawks (2002–03)	16–14–4–3
38	L	January 2, 2003	1–4	Philadelphia Flyers (2002–03)	16–15–4–3
39	L	January 4, 2003	2–3	Dallas Stars (2002–03)	16–16–4–3
40	W	January 6, 2003	3–2	@ Minnesota Wild (2002–03)	17–16–4–3
41	L	January 7, 2003	4–7	@ Dallas Stars (2002–03)	17–17–4–3
42	L	January 9, 2003	4–5	Edmonton Oilers (2002–03)	17–18–4–3
43	L	January 11, 2003	1–2	St. Louis Blues (2002–03)	17–19–4–3
44	W	January 13, 2003	3–2 OT	San Jose Sharks (2002–03)	18–19–4–3
45	L	January 16, 2003	0–2	@ Edmonton Oilers (2002–03)	18–20–4–3
46	OTL	January 18, 2003	1–2 OT	@ Calgary Flames (2002–03)	18–20–4–4
47	L	January 22, 2003	5–6	@ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2002–03)	18–21–4–4
48	L	January 23, 2003	1–2	Minnesota Wild (2002–03)	18–22–4–4
49	W	January 25, 2003	2–1 OT	New Jersey Devils (2002–03)	19–22–4–4
50	L	January 27, 2003	0–3	San Jose Sharks (2002–03)	19–23–4–4
51	L	January 28, 2003	1–3	@ San Jose Sharks (2002–03)	19–24–4–4
52	W	January 30, 2003	3–0	Ottawa Senators (2002–03)	20–24–4–4
53	W	February 5, 2003	4–3	Phoenix Coyotes (2002–03)	21–24–4–4
54	W	February 7, 2003	8–2	Carolina Hurricanes (2002–03)	22–24–4–4
55	L	February 9, 2003	1–3	@ Dallas Stars (2002–03)	22–25–4–4
56	W	February 11, 2003	3–2	@ Nashville Predators (2002–03)	23–25–4–4
57	W	February 13, 2003	4–2	Calgary Flames (2002–03)	24–25–4–4
58	L	February 15, 2003	2–3	New York Islanders (2002–03)	24–26–4–4
59	W	February 17, 2003	3–2	San Jose Sharks (2002–03)	25–26–4–4
60	L	February 20, 2003	0–5	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2002–03)	25–27–4–4
61	W	February 21, 2003	4–1	@ Buffalo Sabres (2002–03)	26–27–4–4
62	L	February 24, 2003	4–5	@ Detroit Red Wings (2002–03)	26–28–4–4
63	W	February 25, 2003	5–3	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2002–03)	27–28–4–4
64	L	February 27, 2003	1–3	@ Columbus Blue Jackets (2002–03)	27–29–4–4
65	W	March 1, 2003	4–1	Atlanta Thrashers (2002–03)	28–29–4–4
66	L	March 4, 2003	1–2	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2002–03)	28–30–4–4
67	L	March 6, 2003	1–2	Edmonton Oilers (2002–03)	28–31–4–4
68	W	March 8, 2003	2–1	Montreal Canadiens (2002–03)	29–31–4–4
69	L	March 10, 2003	2–3	Detroit Red Wings (2002–03)	29–32–4–4
70	L	March 12, 2003	2–4	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2002–03)	29–33–4–4
71	W	March 14, 2003	3–1	@ Washington Capitals (2002–03)	30–33–4–4
72	T	March 15, 2003	0–0 OT	@ Carolina Hurricanes (2002–03)	30–33–5–4
73	L	March 18, 2003	1–4	Calgary Flames (2002–03)	30–34–5–4
74	T	March 20, 2003	2–2 OT	Tampa Bay Lightning (2002–03)	30–34–6–4
75	OTL	March 22, 2003	3–4 OT	Boston Bruins (2002–03)	30–34–6–5
76	OTL	March 25, 2003	1–2 OT	Columbus Blue Jackets (2002–03)	30–34–6–6
77	L	March 27, 2003	0–3	@ Colorado Avalanche (2002–03)	30–35–6–6
78	L	March 29, 2003	1–5	Vancouver Canucks (2002–03)	30–36–6–6
79	W	March 31, 2003	5–4 OT	@ Phoenix Coyotes (2002–03)	31–36–6–6
80	W	April 2, 2003	5–3	Colorado Avalanche (2002–03)	32–36–6–6
81	OTL	April 4, 2003	1–2 OT	@ Calgary Flames (2002–03)	32–36–6–7
82	W	April 6, 2003	2–0	@ Vancouver Canucks (2002–03)	33–36–6–7

Player statistics

Regular season
Scoring
Player Pos GP G A Pts PIM +/- PPG SHG GWG Zigmund Palffy RW 76 37 48 85 47 22 10 2 5 Mathieu Schneider D 65 14 29 43 57 0 10 0 1 Bryan Smolinski C 58 18 20 38 18 -1 6 1 8 Jaroslav Modry D 82 13 25 38 68 -13 8 0 1 Derek Armstrong C 66 12 26 38 30 5 2 0 1 Eric Belanger C 62 16 19 35 26 -5 0 3 1 Alexander Frolov LW 79 14 17 31 34 12 1 0 3 Jason Allison C 26 6 22 28 22 9 2 0 3 Lubomir Visnovsky D 57 8 16 24 28 2 1 0 1 Ian Laperriere RW 73 7 12 19 122 -9 1 1 1 Adam Deadmarsh RW 20 13 4 17 21 2 4 0 1 Mikko Eloranta LW 75 5 12 17 56 -15 1 0 1 Erik Rasmussen LW/C 57 4 12 16 28 -1 0 0 1 Brad Chartrand C 62 8 6 14 33 -10 0 1 2 Joe Corvo D 50 5 7 12 14 2 2 0 0 Steve Heinze RW 27 5 7 12 12 -5 1 0 0 Craig Johnson LW 70 3 6 9 22 -13 0 0 0 Jaroslav Bednar RW 15 0 9 9 4 3 0 0 0 Michael Cammalleri C 28 5 3 8 22 -4 2 0 2 Brad Norton D 53 3 3 6 97 1 0 0 0 Aaron Miller D 49 1 5 6 24 -7 0 0 0 Mattias Norstrom D 82 0 6 6 49 0 0 0 0 Steve Kelly C 15 2 3 5 0 -6 0 0 1 Jared Aulin C/RW 17 2 2 4 0 -3 1 0 0 Sean Avery C 12 1 3 4 33 0 0 0 0 Andreas Lilja D 17 0 3 3 14 5 0 0 0 Dmitri Yushkevich D 42 0 3 3 24 -4 0 0 0 Tomas Zizka D 10 0 3 3 4 -4 0 0 0 Chris McAlpine D 21 0 2 2 24 -4 0 0 0 Chris Schmidt C/D 10 0 2 2 5 -1 0 0 0 Jon Sim LW 14 0 2 2 19 -3 0 0 0 Jerred Smithson C 22 0 2 2 21 -5 0 0 0 Ryan Flinn LW 19 1 0 1 28 0 0 0 0 Jason Holland D 2 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 Jamie Storr G 39 0 1 1 8 0 0 0 0 Scott Barney C 5 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 Derek Bekar LW 6 0 0 0 4 -1 0 0 0 Ken Belanger LW 4 0 0 0 17 0 0 0 0 Kip Brennan LW 19 0 0 0 57 0 0 0 0 Cristobal Huet G 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Maxim Kuznetsov D 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Felix Potvin G 42 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 Pavel Rosa RW 2 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0
Goaltending
Player MIN GP W L T/OT GA GAA SO SA SV SV% Felix Potvin 2367 42 17 20 3 105 2.66 3 987 882 .894 Jamie Storr 2027 39 12 19 2 86 2.55 3 904 818 .905 Cristobal Huet 541 12 4 4 1 21 2.33 1 241 220 .913 Team: 4935 82 33 43 6 212 2.58 7 2132 1920 .901

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Transactions

The Kings were involved in the following transactions during the 2002–03 season.

Trades

June 22, 2002	To Los Angeles Kings 4th round pick in 2002 - Aaron Rome	To Minnesota Wild Cliff Ronning
July 16, 2002	To Los Angeles Kings Derek Armstrong	To New York Rangers 6th round pick in 2003 - Chris Holt
July 24, 2002	To Los Angeles Kings Erik Rasmussen	To Buffalo Sabres Adam Mair 5th round pick in 2003 - Thomas Morrow
November 26, 2002	To Los Angeles Kings Dmitri Yushkevich 5th round pick in 2003 - Brady Murray	To Florida Panthers Jaroslav Bednář Andreas Lilja
February 4, 2003	To Los Angeles Kings Greg Koehler	To Nashville Predators Future considerations
March 1, 2003	To Los Angeles Kings 4th round pick in 2003 - Patrik Valcak 7th round pick in 2004 - Danny Taylor	To Philadelphia Flyers Dmitri Yushkevich
March 11, 2003	To Los Angeles Kings Tim Gleason	To Ottawa Senators Bryan Smolinski
March 11, 2003	To Los Angeles Kings Sean Avery Maxim Kuznetsov 1st round pick in 2003 - Jeff Tambellini 2nd round pick in 2004 - Martins Karsums	To Detroit Red Wings Mathieu Schneider

Free agent signings

August 27, 2002	From Chicago Blackhawks Chris McAlpine (1 year, $500,000)
September 4, 2002	From Manchester Monarchs (AHL) Eric Healey
September 24, 2002	From Florida Panthers Brad Norton (1 year, $450,000)

Free agents lost

May 23, 2002	To Hull Thunder (BNL) Dan Currie
July 2, 2002	To Dallas Stars Philippe Boucher (4 years, $10 million)
July 7, 2002	To Phoenix Coyotes Kelly Buchberger (1 year, $600,000)
July 8, 2002	To New York Rangers Ted Donato
July 18, 2002	To Boston Bruins Rich Brennan
July 24, 2002	To New Jersey Devils Rob Valicevic
September 5, 2002	To San Jose Sharks Scott Thomas

Waivers

March 8, 2003

From Nashville Predators Jon Sim

Draft picks

Los Angeles's draft picks at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Round	#	Player	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	18	Denis Grebeshkov	Russia	Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (Russia)
2	50	Sergei Anshakov	Russia	CSKA Moscow Jr. (Russia)
3	66	Petr Kanko	Czech Republic	Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
4	104	Aaron Rome	Canada	Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
4	115	Mark Rooneem	Canada	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
5	152	Gregory Hogeboom	Canada	Miami University (NCHC)
5	157	Joel Andresen	Canada	St. Albert Steel (AJHL)
6	185	Ryan Murphy	United States	Boston College (Hockey East)
7	215	Mikhail Lyubushin	Russia	Krylya Sovetov (Russia)
8	248	Tuukka Pulliainen	Finland	TuTo (Finland)
9	279	Connor James	Canada	University of Denver (NCHC)