Before the season began, very few prognosticators expected the Los Angeles Kings to be within a few points of the Pacific Division crown at this point. More than halfway through the season, the Kings are just four points behind the Vegas Golden Knights and sitting in a divisional playoff spot with a 23-16-7 record. Their group has been led by a rejuvenated Drew Doughty a still-elite Anze Kopitar and a few new characters, like Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault.
If there’s something the group could use, it’s a left-shot defenseman, writes Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet in his latest 32 Thoughts column. The scribe asked Kings GM Rob Blake directly about Jakob Chychrun, but couldn’t coax an answer out of him despite the obvious fit. Chychrun’s name has been bandied about by Kings fans ever since the Arizona Coyotes made it clear he was available, given how well he’d fit into a top-four role to support Doughty and the otherwise rather inexperienced defense group.
In Sunday’s game, for instance, the Kings had a back end that included Tobias Bjornfot (81 career games going in), Sean Durzi (27), Austin Strand (15), and Jacob Moverare (1). Olli Maatta was the only defenseman other than Doughty with even a full season under his belt, and his future with the Kings is murky at best. The 27-year-old is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and has been rather pedestrian since arriving in 2020. Chychrun, with a contract that lasts another few years, would make obvious sense but he’s a pricey target and not the only left-shot available.
Ben Chiarot’s name has been thrown around in trade talks for months, and he would represent the “size” element that the Kings are looking for. The Montreal Canadiens defender stands 6’3″ and is one of the most physical defensemen in the league in front of the net. He also obviously has familiarity with Danault, as the two were often on the ice at the same time against the opponent’s best players during Montreal’s playoff run last year.
The Seattle Kraken will have to soon make a decision on what to do with Mark Giordano, who is a pending free agent but also the team’s first captain. Kraken GM Ron Francis told Ryan S. Clark of The Athletic that they’ll have a face-to-face talk with Giordano at some point in the near future to determine what he wants to do. The 38-year-old represents a much different option than someone like Chiarot, but would add a ton of experience to a young defensive group in Los Angeles.
One other interesting thing that Blake noted to Friedman is that the team is comfortable going into next season with Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen both on the roster, despite an expensive extension kicking in for the latter. Combined, they would carry a cap hit of $10.8MM, but Blake notes that because of some entry-level bargains on the roster, they’d be able to afford it for the one year remaining on Quick’s deal.
