Kings have serious decisions to make in the summer

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LOS ANGELES — The idea was that after missing the playoffs a year ago, the two-time Stanley Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings would come back re-energized and ready to reclaim their place among the NHL’s elite.

And they did for the most part, putting up a 102-point season and picked by many to go on another deep playoff run and challenge for the Cup.

But a five-game loss to the San Jose Sharks in the opening round nipped that in the bud rather quickly — and opens up questions about where this team is headed in its attempt to get back in the winner’s circle.

“I haven’t given that much thought yet,” Kings head coach Darryl Sutter said shortly after his team’s season ended Friday night in a 6-3 loss at Staples Center. “Your whole focus going in to the season is obviously to make the playoffs as quick as you can, and we did that and we did it in pretty good fashion. Then another thing was to get to 100 points, then start again. We just weren’t able to get that.”

It’s exactly what Milan Lucic said after the Game 5 loss Friday night, that for whatever reason the team lost its mojo late in the regular season and never got it back in time for the playoffs. Giving up a 3-0 lead and losing 4-3 to the Winnipeg Jets in the regular-season finale was a red-flag moment.

“Being the first team in the West to clinch a playoff spot, unfortunately after that our game slipped to where we couldn’t get it back,” said Lucic. “I think we played only one really good game at home against Anaheim, and that was it. We weren’t able to find that magic here. It just wasn’t there. And it’s really unfortunate because this was definitely a special group and we …

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