With the NHL season now less than a week away, we continue our look at what each team has done this summer and what to watch for in the year to come. Next up is a look at the Los Angeles Kings.
Last Season: 45-29-8 record (98 points), fourth in the Pacific Division (lost to Vegas in the first round of the playoffs)
Remaining Cap Space: $4.1MM per CapFriendly
Key Additions: F Ilya Kovalchuk (free agent, SKA St. Petersburg, KHL)
Key Subtractions: F Andy Andreoff (trade with Tampa Bay), D Christian Folin (free agent, Philadelphia), D Kevin Gravel (free agent, Edmonton), F Torrey Mitchell (free agent, Lausanne, NLA), F Tobias Rieder (free agent, Edmonton)
[Related: Kings Depth Chart From Roster Resource]
Player To Watch: F Dustin Brown – This time one year ago, Brown had lost the captaincy and was viewed as one of the worst contracts in the league. He was coming off of his fourth straight season where he failed to surpass the 15-goal and 35-point mark which is poor value for someone with a $5.875MM cap hit.
Then last season happened and everything turned for the better. He went from being a middle-six forward to averaging the second-most ice time for any Los Angeles forward while setting a new career high in points with 61. Now, even though there are still four years left on his deal, it certainly doesn’t look too bad now.
Is his boost in production a sign of things to come or a one-year aberration? If it’s the former, the Kings should be able to really bolster their offense with the addition of Kovalchuk and the expected return to health of Jeff Carter. If he goes back to his previous output though, suddenly there’s an opening on their top line that needs to be filled while they will go back to being a middle of the pack attack. While his performance last season was a pleasant surprise, it also means that the spotlight is back on him once again.
Key Storyline: Kovalchuk’s NHL retirement that wasn’t really a retirement has come to an end as he has made the jump back to the NHL. Despite the fact that he’s 35 and hasn’t played an NHL game since 2013, the Kings wasted little time locking him up to a three-year, $18.75MM contract, beating out several other teams in the process.
Clearly, Los Angeles is banking on Kovalchuk stepping in and playing a top role right away. However, will an adjustment period be required for him to get re-acclimated to playing on the smaller surface? Early indications are that he should be a key contributor on the power play but as an older player, can he keep up with five-on-five play? Fortunately, he won’t be counted on to carry a line which should afford him the opportunity to ease into things if he needs to.
Instead of trying to bring in a few players to shore up various parts of their team, the Kings put almost all of their cap space into signing Kovalchuk. (The $4.1MM figure cited above is with a roster size below the minimum; they’ll be closer to around $2MM once it fills out.) Did they make the right call by opting to put all of their eggs in one basket? If not, don’t be surprised to see GM Rob Blake looking for more scoring help as the season progresses.
Overall Outlook: The Pacific Division projects to be quite a tough battle and as a result, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that division land both Wild Card spots. That should bode well for the Kings who likely won’t contend for the division title but should fall squarely into that second tier. Assuming they stay relatively healthy, they’re in decent shape to make the postseason once again.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.