Well, it was fun while it lasted. The golden age of hockey in Southern California started with the end of the NHL lockout that forced the cancellation of the 2004-05 season and altered the landscape of the league’s power structure for the next 12 years or so.

The Ducks rose first like a phoenix from the ashes of the labor battle, advancing to the Western Conference finals in 2005-06 and then winning the first Stanley Cup championship by a California team with a dominating run in 2006-07.

When the Ducks faltered in 2011-12, the Kings took up the chase and sandwiched Stanley Cup victories in ’12 and ’14 around a conference finals appearances in ’13. Suddenly, casual fans sports from San Clemente to the South Bay to San Fernando and San Bernardino were talking about hockey.

The Kings’ mini-dynasty lost its steam following an exhausting second Cup drive, but the Ducks regrouped and advanced to two conference finals in a three-season span. They also won their fifth consecutive Pacific Division title in 2017.

Credit deserved to be shared among an elite group of players, coaches, scouts, executives and ownership for creating a stretch of unprecedented success and maintaining it for a decade and then some. Nothing lasts forever, though, and that includes hockey superiority.

This season, the Ducks and Kings have crashed-landed among the NHL’s dregs as they prepared to renew hostilities Tuesday at Staples Center. The Ducks are 6-6-3, having ended a seven-game losing streak Sunday, and the Kings are 4-8-1, having fired Coach John Stevens the same day.

How did this happen? How did Southern California go from hockey nirvana to hockey hell?

Time played a key role, so did the parity created by the salary cap adopted in the wake of the 2004-05 lockout. Poor judgment, evaluation and development coupled with a need to reward past performances also were factors in the demise of two powerhouse clubs.

Each team also was hesitant to adapt to a changing style of play around the NHL, with Ducks general manager Bob Murray demanding his squad play faster and smarter and with younger and more skillful players this season. The adjustment has been a difficult one so far, though.

The Kings have been even slower to react, sticking with slower, less skilled players in the failed hope they could continue to play elite-level hockey with the grinding style that won them two Stanley Cup championships without anyone else around the league adapting.

Well, they did. So upper management finally cast off hard-headed Coach Darryl Sutter in favor of Stevens after missing the playoffs in 2016-17, and dumped General Manager Dean Lombardi and replaced him with Rob Blake. The Kings’ troubles extended far wider and deeper than the Ducks’ issues, though.

It started with development. Or the lack thereof.

The Ducks’ next generation is already here and playing key roles, and it appears poised to inherit the reins when the careers of Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler and Corey Perry come to an end. Or more to the point, when they become less effective players, which could already be the case.

Goaltender John Gibson, defensemen Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson and forward Rickard Rakell have become core members of the Ducks’ lineup. Gibson, Fowler and Rakell have each been selected to play in the All-Star Game in recent seasons.

Murray’s 2011 draft class was exceptional, setting up the franchise for future success. Rakell was a first-round pick. Gibson and William Karlsson (now with the Vegas Golden Knights) were second-round selections. Andy Welinski was taken on the third. Manson was the diamond in the rough, going on the sixth round.

It’s also been possible to see one generation beyond the Ducks’ next generation, with the injury-depleted team relying this season on rookies such as defensemen Welinski, Jacob Larsson and Marcus Pettersson and forwards Max Comtois, Kiefer Sherwood, Sam Steel and Troy Terry.

So the Ducks’ future looks bright even if the present is cloudy.

The same cannot be said of the Kings, who haven’t developed their next generation at all. Sutter didn’t like playing inexperienced players and railed at rookie mistakes, and Lombardi obliged him by signing or trading for veterans such as Robyn Regehr and Vincent Lecavalier.

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NHL postpones playoff games for Thursday and Friday When the inevitable happened and the Kings ceased to be a Cup contender, their lack of depth was painfully obvious. Defenseman Jake Muzzin and forwards Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson once appeared poised to take their next steps, but their careers have stalled. They have not progressed.

The Kings’ draft classes have been spotty at best. Other than Alex Iafallo, who among the youngest Kings fits well into the new NHL? The Kings signed Iafallo to a two-year, $1.85-million contract in April 2017 after he spent four seasons honing his craft at Minnesota-Duluth, a potential gem in the making.

But the Kings’ desperate search for scoring punch led them to sign Ilya Kovalchuk, a 35-year-old who last played in the NHL in 2012-13, to a three-season, $18.75-million contract during the offseason. Blake could be commended for original thinking, but it was a patchwork move at best.

For now, expectations must be tempered for the Ducks and the Kings. The glory days are in the past. Now the race is on to see which team recaptures them first.