The Los Angeles Kings have gone one less season without a Stanley Cup victory than the Toronto Maple Leafs. Of course, this is because the Kings entered the National Hockey League the following year after the Maple Leafs won their last Cup in 1967. Since the start of the 1967-68 season, the Los Angeles Kings have gone without winning the Stanley Cup for over four decades.

The Kings entered the NHL with five other expansion teams for that 1967-68 season, expanding the league from its ‘Original Six’ to twelve teams. The team did make it to the Stanley Cup finals on one occasion, a loss to the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

This does not mean that Los Angeles has not seen its fair share of great hockey players since 1967. The city has been quite blessed to have some truly great stars don a Los Angeles Kings uniform. Of all those greats, the Kings have retired the numbers of just five.

Goaltender Rogatien ‘Rogie’ Vachon was the first to have his number raised to the rafters. Vachon’s number 30 was retired on February 14, 1985. Rogie played for Los Angeles from 1971-72 to 1977-78. Vachon’s NHL career spanned from 1966-67 to 1981-82 with the Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles, Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins.

Rogie Vachon still holds team single season records for most shutouts in a season with eight in 1976-77 and lowest goals against average with 2.24 in 1974-75. He is the Los Angeles Kings all-time leader in games played by a goaltender (389), minutes played by a goaltender (22,922), wins (171), losses (148), ties (66) and shutouts (32).

After his playing career, Vachon returned to the Kings to serve as General Manager from 1983 to 1992. Considering his accomplishments with Los Angeles and the fact the he was part of Stanley Cup winning teams in Montreal as well as winning a Vezina Trophy there, it is truly hard to believe that Rogatien Vachon is not an honoured member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The next player to have his number retired by the Los Angeles Kings was Marcel Dionne. The number 16 of Dionne was taken out of circulation by the club on November 8, 1990. Marcel played for Los Angeles from 1975-76 to 1986-87. He began his NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings in 1971-72 after the Wings took him second overall in the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft. He ended his NHL career with the New York Rangers.

Marcel Dionne won the Lady Byng Trophy with the Kings in 1976-77 as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player. That season, Dionne sat just twelve minutes in the penalty box. In 1979-80, Marcel won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point getter with 137. Although the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP eluded him throughout his career, on two consecutive occasions (1978-79 and 1979-80), he was awarded the Lester B. Pearson Trophy as the best player in the NHL as voted on by the players.

Marcel Dionne is still the Los Angeles Kings all time leader in assists (757) and points (1307). He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992.

On April 3, 1995, the number 18 of Dave Taylor was retired by the Kings. Taylor played his entire NHL career with Los Angeles from 1977-78 to 1993-94. Dave was drafted 210th overall by Los Angeles in the 1975 NHL Amateur draft, making him the lowest drafted NHL player to surpass the 1000 point plateau. The second lowest is fellow Kings alumnus, Luc Robitaille.

Dave Taylor is the Kings all-time leader in games played with 1111. He captained the team from 1985 to 1989 and, like Rogie Vachon, he came back to serve as General Manager of the Kings from 1997 to 2006.

Wayne Gretzky’s number 99 was retired by the entire National Hockey League in 2000. The Kings officially retired Gretzky’s 99 on October 9, 2002. Wayne Gretzky’s career is, of course, the greatest of all time in terms of records and milestones and his hockey cards are considered among the most valuable of the modern era. He played for the Kings from 1988-89 to 1995-96 and his NHL career went from 1978-79 to 1998-99.

As a Los Angeles King, Wayne won three Art Ross Trophies, three Lady Byng Trophies and one Lester Patrick Trophy. He holds the team’s single season records for most assists (122) and most points (168). Gretzky served as team captain from 1989 to 1996 and entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999.

The last player to have his number retired by the Los Angeles Kings was Luc Robitaille. Lucky Luc’s number 20 was retired on January 20, 2007. As mentioned earlier, he is the second lowest draft pick to reach 1000 points in his career. Robitaille was taken by the Kings 171st overall at the 1984 NHL Entry Draft.

Robitaille had three stints with Los Angeles. He played from 1986-87 to 1993-94 then returned for 1997-98 to 2000-01 and again for 2003-04 to 2005-06. In between, Luc played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings.

Luc is the only Los Angeles King to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie (1986-87). In that rookie season, he set the team’s record for most points by a first year player with 84, a mark that still stands today. Robitaille is the Los Angeles Kings all-time leader in goals with 557 and became an honoured member of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.

Today, the Los Angeles Kings have another batch of exciting young players that may well have their numbers retired some day. The hockey fans in Los Angeles can only hope that they get past the road block that has kept the team from hockey’s ‘holy grail’.