West Notes: Killorn, Krutil, Kings

Ducks winger Alex Killorn was one of the top wingers available in free agency this summer on the heels of a career year that saw him put up 27 goals and 37 assists with Tampa Bay.  That helped him earn a four-year, $25MM deal with Anaheim, the priciest deal given to a forward on the open market.  Speaking on a recent episode of the Raw Knuckles podcast (video link), he indicated that while the Canadiens weren’t among the teams to show interest in him two months ago, he would like to spend a season with Montreal to end his career.  Killorn played his minor hockey in Quebec before going the collegiate route.   His new contract runs through the 2026-27 campaign and if he was to play beyond that, he’d be entering his age-38 season where he’d almost certainly be playing on a one-year deal at that time.

More from the Western Conference:

• Blackhawks prospect Michael Krutil has been loaned out for a month from Sparta Praha to Ceske Budejovice, per an announcement from Sparta. The move was made to give Krutil some extra playing time.  The blueliner was a fourth-round pick by Chicago back in 2020 (110th overall) and split last season between the two top levels in Czechia, getting into 39 games combined.  This is the final year that the Blackhawks will hold Krutil’s rights so he’ll need a big year if he wants a shot at earning an entry-level contract.
• Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider highlights the significant change in direction the Kings have taken between the pipes. After spending more than $12MM on the position on opening day last season, they have three netminders on one-way contracts totaling just $3.375MM – holdover Pheonix Copley plus newcomers Cam Talbot and David Rittich.  As a result, they’re just one of two teams – Buffalo is the other – pegged to spend more than 60% of the cap on their forwards and over 30% on the back end.