Being a prospect for the Los Angeles Kings is a double-edged sword. On the one side is the opportunity to be part of a championship team; the Kings have won the Stanley Cup two of the past three seasons.

The other side, though, is a lack of playing time and limited opportunities for promotion. That means a patient approach has to be taken by the younger players.

"We're not in a rush to get these kids in the lineup right now," Kings vice president of hockey operations and director of player personnel Michael Futa said. "They can hone their skills at the American Hockey League and with our development team and be ready to make an impact when they're called upon."

Here's a look at the Kings' top 10 prospects, according to NHL.com:

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout August.

Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi faces a different set of challenges in the offseason than most of his peers. While other managers focus on improving their team through free agency, Lombardi is charged with keeping his lineup intact within the NHL salary cap.

His biggest move came 12 days after the Kings won their second Stanley Cup when he signed left wing Marian Gaborik to a seven-year contract worth $34.125 million, which guarantees the 32-year-old Gaborik can remain with the Kings through 2020-21. More important, his salary-cap charge is $4.875 million, according to CapGeek.com.

"His cap number is certainly reasonable for a player his caliber," Lombardi said. "It's just a player you decide is going to fit in. You felt good that he was going to make the commitment to train the right way, as so many of these guys can do to extend their careers and perform at a high level. Look at Teemu Selanne's career at the same age. You look at what he accomplished from 32 on to the end; it's pretty remarkable. Marian is clearly one of those players that figured out it's not about the fame and money. It's about, 'I like this winning stuff.'"

There aren't many hard questions facing the Los Angeles Kings following their second Stanley Cup in three seasons, but the Kings still make it interesting.

They again muddled through another regular season, then turned it on thanks to the addition of Marian Gaborik and the emergence of the dynamic duo of Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson.

But there's always room for improvement in the eyes of the organization, and here's a closer look at five questions that will need to be answered if the Kings hope to keep their mini-dynasty going for the 2014-15 season:

When the Los Angeles Kings traded for Mike Richards in June 2011, it was a given that they had landed a cornerstone center for years to come. Richards was regarded as one of the finest 200-foot young forwards in the NHL.

The team did not envision Richards devolving into a fourth-line grinder who finished last season playing between Kyle Clifford and Trevor Lewis. The former captain of the Philadelphia Flyers had his lowest offensive output since his rookie season in 2006-07 with 11 goals and 30 assists. Yet general manager Dean Lombardi refused to use a buyout on Richards, who has six seasons remaining on the 12-year, $69 million contract he signed with Philadelphia in 2007.

Instead, Lombardi said it's crucial for Richards to rebound.

For the second time in three seasons the Los Angeles Kings will be the defending Stanley Cup champion and will start the campaign with nearly an identical roster to the title-winning one.

The Kings are loaded down the middle, could be even better on the wings with a full season of Marian Gaborik, Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli, and will have one of the best tandems in net with Jonathan Quick and Martin Jones.

Obviously it is championship or bust for the Kings. The best regular season they've had in the past three seasons was the one after the first title, but injuries in the Stanley Cup Playoffs stunted any chance of a repeat.

This could be the best team of the four, but will the same thing that helped them against the Chicago Blackhawks (revenge for the previous playoff defeat) be their undoing should the two superpowers meet again? The Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks also will have some say about who gets out of the Pacific Division as well.

Here is the projected 2014-15 lineup for the Kings:

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout August.

Arizona Coyotes director of amateur scouting Tim Bernhardt said it's just a coincidence that six of the organization's top prospects are sons of former NHL players.

The list of 'Who's Who' of players in the pipeline with familiar last names include forwards Max Domi (son of Tie Domi), Henrik Samuelsson (Ulf Samuelsson), Ryan MacInnis (Al MacInnis), Brendan Perlini (Fred Perlini); defenseman Connor Murphy (Gord Murphy); and goalie Brendan Burke (Sean Burke). As if that weren't enough, the organization also invited unsigned right wing Jackson Playfair (Jim Playfair) to development camp in July.

"It's pretty crazy, but believe me when I say we didn't draft these players with the mindset we had to because they had good hockey-playing dads," Bernhardt said. "It just turned out that way. But we're certainly glad they're a part of our organization."

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout August.

When the Arizona Coyotes (formerly Phoenix) take the Gila River Arena (formerly Jobing.com Arena) ice for their season opener against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 9, they will be hoping the name changes won't be the only difference.

That's because Arizona endured a second straight early summer last season after making the Stanley Cup Playoffs three consecutive seasons from 2009-12. The Coyotes finished four points out of eighth place in 2012-13 and came even closer last season, when only two points separated them from the Dallas Stars and the final wild-card spot.

However, coach Dave Tippett said his team is not content with merely making the playoffs and argued that heading into 2014-15, the Coyotes are poised to compete among the Western Conference elite.

"If a couple things go differently, we make the playoffs. But we want to be a better team than just get to the playoffs," Tippett said. "Last year we just had too much inconsistency to push us into that last playoff spot. In this League, you know it's going to be a dogfight right down to the end and you can't afford to have any lulls."

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout August.

At this time a year ago, many pundits were speculating that the Arizona Coyotes were poised for bigger things offensively. The Coyotes added free agent Mike Ribeiro to existing weapons Radim Vrbata, Shane Doan, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Keith Yandle, and the team appeared committed to a more attacking mindset.

The philosophy worked, until it didn't, and the Coyotes' impressive 14-4-3 start deteriorated into a season of inconsistency on each side of the puck and, ultimately, a narrow miss of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive season.

"Maybe the change in philosophy, trying to expand our horizons into a more offensive team probably didn't do us as much good, overall, as we thought it would," coach Dave Tippett said.

With Arizona approaching 2014-15 determined to avoid an early summer, an all-around game will be central to its chances, and also to the major questions facing Tippett and his staff. Here are five questions facing the Coyotes heading into training camp:

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout August.

When the Arizona Coyotes acquired forward Sam Gagner on June 30 in a three-team transaction, they knew they were getting a player with a unique history.

Once considered a point-producing prodigy, Gagner has never quite lived up to expectations. The Edmonton Oilers drafted him with the sixth pick at the 2007 NHL Draft, and the London, Ontario native made the team out of training camp. Gagner had an immediate impact despite being the youngest player in the NHL in 2007-08, scoring 49 points in 79 games.

Six seasons later, however, Gagner has yet to match that output.

In 2013-14, the 25-year-old endured his worst statistical season, scoring 37 points in 67 games with a minus-29 rating. Trade rumors trailed Gagner and a move this offseason appeared imminent.

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout August.

In 2011-12, the Arizona Coyotes enjoyed the most successful postseason run in franchise history, reaching the Western Conference Final before losing to the Los Angeles Kings.

Each of the past two seasons since then has followed a similar script. Coach Dave Tippett has kept the Coyotes competitive, but they've ultimately finished just shy of another playoff berth. In 2013-14, they were three points shy of the final wildcard spot after finishing two points behind the Dallas Stars, who would have owned the tiebreaker. Finishing the season with one victory in their final eight games marked the Coyotes' undoing. The year before that, the Coyotes lost eight of nine near the end of the season to fall out of contention.

The name is new, switching from Phoenix to Arizona, but the team will again rely on defense and goaltending to try and carve out a spot in the top eight of the West.