Heading into the offseason, the Los Angeles Kings will have just over $18MM in cap space. Los Angeles will use some of that to retain defenseman Brandt Clarke, and could burn through much of the rest if they wish to retain Andrei Kuzmenko, Scott Laughton, and Mathieu Joseph.
In a new article on Mayor’s Manor, Scott Coffman opined that the Kings could look to move netminder Darcy Kuemper to open up additional breathing room and pursue a top-six center. Kuemper, 36, managed a 19-14-15 record in 50 games this past season with a .891 SV%. Additionally, he’s one year removed from being a Vezina Trophy finalist and one year remaining on his contract.
Despite Anton Forsberg‘s strong performance last season, Los Angeles lacks a reliable starting goaltender if they trade Kuemper. However, they could form a competent goaltending committee. Erik Portillo is signed through next season, and the Kings brought in another prospect, Hampton Slukynsky, after his collegiate season ended. It would be putting a lot of faith in a pair of unproven talents at the NHL level, but it might be a risk the Kings have to take.
Additional evening notes:
- Now that the Anaheim Ducks’ season has ended, it was expected that a few players could make their way to Switzerland for the IIHF World Championships. One of them has done just that, as it was announced that Mikael Granlund will be joining Team Finland for the remainder of the tournament. Although he didn’t play for his home country last spring, Granlund represented Finland well at the Olympic Games in February, scoring one goal and three points in six games.
- Earlier today, Jesse Montano of Guerilla Sports reported that Cale Makar, Josh Manson, Brent Burns, and Artturi Lehkonen are all nursing day-to-day injuries for the Colorado Avalanche. Despite Game 1 of the Western Conference Final being four days away, each of the injured members of the Avalanche is expected to play.
I hope the Kings fans know where LA is headed with Ken Holland in charge.
Yeah it’s no where good !
Luc & Ken Holland gotta GO!!
The more I thought about it the more I liked Kuemper for the Hawks. Yeah he’s 36 but only signed at 5.25 million for next year. He wouldn’t have to play a lot unless something happened to Knight and he’s surely better than Soderblom. Leaving Commesso to be #3 and first call up if something did. For taking the salary I would a modest pick swap. Hawks trade a 3rd for Kuemper and a 2nd and the Hawks take the contract. It’s not elegant but might work out for both teams. Could be interesting. Maybe even toss in Soderblom.
A lot of teams are looking for goalie help. He’s only under contract for 1 more year, I doubt it will require a sweetener to trade Kuemper. I’ll guess the 1 year of Evander Kane and his contract for a 4th rounder last year is roughly equivalent to what Kuemper will cost
Taking Kane back is very much a sweetener
You can have him for free if you take Ceci too!
The Kings will have to take some risks to have any chance of getting out of this without a full rebuild. Trade him and hope Forsberg and the bevy of young goalies shine. It’s a fair risk if they can land a legit top 6 center, although no idea who that could be.
I’m glad CBJ re-upped Charlie Coyle,he had a bounce back year with the Jackets,but Dude is 34. LAK needs to bring up their Reign players to see what they could do on the NHL stage. They need youth,not aging Vets,but since their GM loves old guys expect some more albatross contracts on some over-30 free agents/trade targets.
I’m going to swim against the tide here. How many teams have come to grief over the last several years assuming that the goalie who just had the good year will be perennially good, and the goalie who just had the mediocre year is no more than expendable?
The list of goalies who never even had an *average* year over the last generation is vanishingly small: Rask, Crawford, Lundqvist, Vasilevskiy, that’s about it. (Jury’s still out on Sorokin and Shesterkin, neither of whom have played more than five years as a starter.) All the rest are up and down. How many people really expected the likes of Gibson and Grubauer to have quality seasons, after years of mediocrity? IMHO, I wouldn’t be so quick to push in all my chips on Forsberg, and not quite so quick to unload Kuemper.
I expect Kuemper to bounce back. was good for most of the 1st half until Rantanen ran over him. The defense and special teams were atrocious for the majority of the season. Sign a 2nd line center, Laughton and upgrade the defense! For god’s sake , hire a Cup winning coach! Cassidy or Berube!