If you bet horses, you probably never expected that the name Rachel Alexandra would matter this season. If you bet hockey, you probably haven’t noticed the Los Angeles Kings for over a decade. Sure, they had those brief blips of success with Ziggy Palffy, Matthieu Schneider and Jason Allison, but let’s face — the Kings haven’t been relevant since Wayne Gretzky centered Luc Robitaille and Tomas Sandstrom.

That’s about to change. I may be off by one year, tops – but the Kings are about to ascend back into the playoffs. They pulled a Chicago/Pittsburgh/St. Louis and stockpiled great prospects when no one was looking. Suddenly, their top six forwards turn online sports betting fans’ heads. Check it, yo:

Anze Kopitar

Alexander Frolov

Ryan Smyth

Dustin Brown

Justin Williams

Michael Handzus

Plus Jarret Stoll, Oscar Moller and Wayne Simmonds are in the mix. Then there’s first-rounder Brayden Schenn on the way. Not bad at all.

Defensively, the Kings have the league’s next great rushing defenseman in Drew Doughty, plus Jack Johnson, who still has plenty of potential. Blue chipper Thomas Hickey is on the way, though I’m betting management brings him along slowly.

Goaltending — featuring Jonathan Quick and Erik Ersberg — could be a temporary hindrance. Eventually, though, Jonathan Bernier, a Canadian World Junior champion, will get his shot to start.

Is that not a blue print for a playoff team? Can that not match what St. Louis or Columbus iced last year?

Don’t forget about the Kings when you make your hockey picks this year.

I’m betting most of you NHL fans knew who rounded out my top five before I posted, as Brayden Schenn is a consensus pick to go No. 5 on almost every mock draft board.

The comparison i’ve seen most is Bryan Trottier — pretty lofty. Scouts say Brayden is a power forward/playmaker hybrid, reportedly driving to the net hard, getting physical with defenders, and extremely tough to move from the front of the net. He also is said to have a quick release and great passing skills. Sounds to me like he projects to have a Mike Richards-like impact on daily sports picks in the NHL.

The front-runner to get Brayden is, naturally, the Los Angeles Kings, who hold the No. 5 pick. However, the Toronto Maple Leafs may consider making a play to acquire the No. 5 pick and pair Brayden with brother Luke on the same team. Will he be worth the price per head (speaking of which — how much are UFC 100 fight card tickets?) ? Only time will tell.