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NHL 2022 Off-Season Guide: The Los Angeles Kings

Los Angeles Kings

(Mark Terrill / Associated Press)

Los Angeles Kings
With the addition of Kevin Fiala where do the Los Angeles Kings go from here? (Mark Terrill / Associated Press)

Raise your hand if you had the Los Angeles Kings as a playoff team this season. Yeah, me neither. And it looked like a pretty good stance to be on, especially when they lost captain Drew Doughty to LTIR. However, the youth movement, along with some veterans and a total collapse from the Vegas Golden Knights saw the Kings go seven games in round one against the Edmonton Oilers before gracefully bowing out of the playoffs, and it looks as if they are preparing to challenge the Pacific again with the recent trade of Kevin Fiala from the Minnesota Wild.

The Roster

Take the experience of Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick, and Anze Kopitar (all Stanley Cup Champions) out of the team and the Los Angeles Kings have one player over the age of 30 as of writing. That is defenseman Alexander Edler who is 36 years old and a UFA this off-season. The Kings are getting younger, but still have a nice mix of experienced heads. They shocked the hockey world by making the Playoffs and forcing the uber talented Oilers to seven games. Plus, they did all that without captain Doughty.

What that did was give rise to the youth movement, especially on the defensive end. Jordan Spence, Mikey Anderson, and Sean Durzi all proved to be more than capable, yet all are still under 23 years old. Sean Durzi, a 2018 second-round draft pick, was the beneficiary of the Doughty injury with power-play time increased and 15 of his 27 points coming with a man advantage. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Kings continue this development, should Doughty return next season. Durzi, along with Anderson, is an RFA and will have done his next contract no harm with his performances.

Team Needs

Finding Quinton Byfield in a position to maximize his potential will be a major off-season necessity for the Kings heading into next season. His most common line-mates in 2021-22 were Gabriel Vilardi and Dustin Brown, which never seemed to click. In the playoffs, he found himself paired with Arthur Kaliyev the most as the Kings limited minutes for their more inexperienced players. There were glimpses of what could be, but nothing substantial. I can’t help but wonder if following the New York Rangers’ approach with the kid line might work for the Kings. After all, you are kind of hoping Byfield is the heir to the Kopitar throne.

Most of the Kings’ needs are going to be centered around young players, like Byfield and Akil Thomas. How to get them valuable minutes while still trying to challenge seems to be the message from management given the recent capture of Fiala. While a nice addition to challenge now, it is important the Kings don’t lose focus on what is coming through the pipeline for them and just how talented they could be.

Cap Situation

The Los Angeles Kings head into the off-season with just under $12 million in cap space after the Fiala move and several players to negotiate with. General Manager Rob Blake has seven UFA’s to re-sign, including Durzi, Anderson, and Adrian Kempe, and four UFA’s to make decisions on, including Troy Stetcher, Olli Määttä, and Andreas Athanasiou. There are enough prospects in the pipeline to let those UFA’s walk and free up money to make a further play in the UFA market.

Rickard Rakell would be an interesting option. Formerly of the neighboring Anaheim Ducks, the winger joined the Pittsburgh Penguins at the trade line as a rental, but picked up an injury early in the playoffs. With the Penguins having numerous UFAs to sign, Rakell could be an odd man out, finding his way back to SoCal in the process.

The Draft

After trading a first-round pick for Fiala, the Los Angeles Kings have a pick in every round from two to six. The plan will be to replenish that prospect pool, which will likely take a beating over the next few years, either through call-ups or trades. With 51 being their first pick, the Kings will be hoping to repeat their relatively good luck with second-round picks. Akil Thomas (2018) looks ready, while Brock Faber (2020) was used as bait in the Fiala trade.

Given the lack of top-tier prospects in this draft, it was interesting to see the Kings give up a first (19th overall) that could have gotten them Danila Yurov (who could be on Minnesota’s radar) or Nathan Gaucher to push their chips in to challenge. I wonder if this being the last year of Jonathan Quick’s contract had anything to do with it.

Conclusion

The Pacific is getting better. With the Los Angeles Kings barely scraping into the playoffs in 2021-22, there had to be nervous energy about being able to repeat that. Enter Kevin Fiala. With the Calgary Flames still waiting on a decision from Johnny Gaudreau and the Vegas Golden Knights up against the Cap, it seems GM Rob Blake sees an opportunity.

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