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Doughty Wants The Kings To Make Win-Now Moves

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When Drew Doughty inked his then record-setting eight-year, $88MM contract, he wasn’t signing up for a rebuild but that’s what the Kings have been doing lately.  Speaking with reporters in an end-of-season media conference (video link), the veteran called on GM Rob Blake to make some significant additions to the roster this summer:

Doughty is certainly correct in that the Kings have ample cap room; per CapFriendly, as they have a little over $20MM in space with no high-priced players to re-sign.  That’s one of the benefits of having a roster that features several prospects on low-priced entry-level deals and as those will be getting expensive quicker, the time to strike for win-now veterans may very well be in the coming months.

Minor Transactions: 05/10/21

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With three of the four major European leagues having wrapped up their postseasons and the NHL and AHL winding down their regular seasons, there are a vast number of players now looking ahead to next season. While most players under contract in North America are still months away from free agency, there are many overseas that are free to move and decide on the next step in their careers. Here are some of those recent moves with NHL implications:

  • A pair of notable forward prospects have found their new home for the next several seasons. Liiga club KalPa has announced multi-year contracts with 2020 draft picks Kasper Simontaival and Jaromir Pytlik. Simontaival, a third-round selection of the Los Angeles Kings, is no stranger to the Finnish pros. The local product has spent time in the Liiga with Tappara over the past few years, but is seemingly looking to move on from his developmental club. Simontaival appears willing to take his time developing at home, signing a three-year deal with KalPa, but has already shown some potential NHL-caliber offensive skill. Pytlik, a fourth-round pick of the New Jersey Devils, is new to Finland but just eager to play after waiting for the OHL all season, only playing in a handful of international tournament games and Czech second-tier games. The big, two-way forward has signed a two-year deal with KalPa and will look to contribute in all scenarios for the club.
  • 2021 NHL Draft prospect Fyodor Svechkov has been traded in the KHL, or rather sold. Lada Togliatti announced today that they have moved their young standout to powerhouse SKA St. Petersburg in exchange for “monetary compensation.” Svechkov signed a three-year extension with Lada before this season, meaning SKA will have him under contract through the 2022-23 season. Given his draft stock, that may be all they get. Svechkov is projected by many to be a first-round pick this summer and helped his case by dominating the Russian junior and minor league ranks this season. The skilled and versatile forward could be an early selection that a team may want to rush to North America as soon as possible. SKA will have to find a spot in their veteran roster for Svechkov sooner rather than later if they want to maximize their investment.
  • Has Igor Bobkov had enough of dominating the KHL? The Gagarin Cup-winning goaltender has been granted a contract termination by the recently-crowned champions, Avangard Omsk announced. A well-respected and well-compensated KHL netminder, it stands to reason that this move likely points toward Bobkov giving the NHL another shot. A 2009 draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks, Bobkov spent two seasons in the OHL and three seasons in the pros, split between the AHL and ECHL. Unhappy with his role and trajectory, Bobkov returned to Russia in 2015. Since then, he has become a three-time KHL All-Star with a career .923 save percentage and 2.09 GAA, including a GAA of 2.01 or lower in each of the past three seasons. The 30-year-old is one of, if not the best goalie in the KHL right now and could be eyeing a return to the NHL with a more established resume and plenty of gas in the tank.

Dustin Brown Out Rest Of Season

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The Los Angeles Kings are technically still alive in the West Division playoff race, but will have to complete the final five games of the season without Dustin Brown. The veteran forward has been ruled out for the rest of the year with an upper-body injury he suffered earlier in the year. The Kings released a statement indicating that he will “continue to undergo treatment and rehabilitation.”

Brown, 36, has had a very strong season for the Kings, scoring 17 goals and 31 points in 49 games. That matches the goal total he had last year in 66 games and actually leads the kings, three ahead of Adrian Kempe. He was part of both wins against the Arizona Coyotes this week that kept the Kings’ playoff hopes alive, playing 17:41 on Wednesday. That will end up being his last appearance of at least the regular season.

The Kings, who sit at 21-24-6 on the season, are eight points back of the St. Louis Blues with five games left, meaning they likely won’t make the playoffs for a third consecutive season. The team hasn’t had a winning record since 2017-18, John Stevens’ only full year as head coach. Brown has been effective but will turn 37 in November and has just one year left on his current contract, meaning the end of his time in Los Angeles is coming soon, one way or another.

KHL Off-Season Opening Day Round-Up

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The KHL off-season opened today and the league did not waste any time in making moves that have meaning to NHL fans. A number of familiar names have hit free agency today and some are already agreeing to new deals. Meanwhile, others are being traded on the first day to do so, including the rights to some players currently in North America. Keep up with all of today’s action as the KHL’s clubs get their summers started early with significant moves:

  •  One of the first players to sign with a new team early this morning was former NHL forward Teemu Pulkkinen. A Detroit Red Wings draft pick who also spent time with the Minnesota Wild, Arizona Coyotes, and most recently the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017-18, Pulkkinen will be entering his fourth season in the KHL and is already on to his fourth different team. After splitting this season between Dynamo Moscow and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, collecting 30 points in 46 games, Pulkkinen has signed a two-year deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk. The 29-year-old has scored at a .67 per-game clip in his KHL career and shows no signs of slowing down.
  • SKA St. Petersberg and Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod have made an interesting futures swap, trading the rights of two current NHLers. Torpedo received the rights to Edmonton Oilers winger Jesse Puljujarvi (as well as minor league forward Danil Voyevodin) while SKA landed the rights to young San Jose Sharks goalie Alexei Melnichuk. The deal is tricky on a number of levels; while Puljujarvi is undoubtedly the biggest name in the trade, it is Melnichuk who commanded the larger side of the return. It was also KHL powerhouse SKA who received the prospect netminder and gave up the established scorer. This could be a simple case of different likelihoods of those player rights having any value. While Puljujarvi previously left the Oilers for Europe, he has finally found his NHL stride in his return this season and is unlikely to leave again. Even if he does, Puljujarvi may just return home to the Finnish Liiga as well. On the other hand, Melnichuk was born and bred in the SKA system and the team may have some insight into his future plans. The 22-year-old keeper is valued by the Sharks and even made his NHL debut this year in his first season in North America, however his AHL play has underwhelmed and he doesn’t look like a realistic full-time NHL option for San Jose next season. If the young goalie grows tired of playing in the minors in North America, he would probably be happy to jump back to his old team and take on a starting role in the KHL.
  • Former Boston Bruins forward Joonas Kemppainen has signed a one-year extension to remain with SKA. The Finnish power forward didn’t work out in his lone NHL season back in 2015-16, recording five points in eleven games with Boston, but has been a productive player in the KHL for five years now. That includes a 15-goal, 29-point campaign with St. Petersberg this year that earned him an extension. The 33-year-old veteran is not a candidate to ever return to North America, but still has plenty to offer in Russia.
  • Vladimir Zharkov feels like ancient New Jersey Devils history at this point, but the former top prospect continues to produce in the KHL. Zharkov, 33, spent four seasons with the Devils early in his career and was a nice fringe piece, but lacked starting upside. In the KHL since 2012-13, Zharkov has become a reliable two-way forward and locker room leader, spending many years with top programs like CSKA Moscow and Salavat Yulaev Ufa. Now he’s off to the top team in the league, signing a two-year deal with recently-crowned Gagarin Cup champions Avangard Omsk, replacing the veteran presence of the departed Ilya Kovalchuk.
  • Torpedo jumped right back into the action, signing an exciting forward to a one-year deal. Marek Hrivik gave his all to a career in North America, developing in the QMJHL and spending six seasons primarily in the AHL for the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames. However, he never could earn a full-time opportunity and returned home to Europe in 2018. Even then, his first go-round in the KHL did not go all that well. However, after back-to-back stellar season in Sweden, he is ready to give it another try with Torpedo. Hrivik totaled 81 points in 90 games with the SHL’s Leksands IF these past two years and if that can translate to the KHL then the 29-year-old could become a star in Russia.
  • Another trade involving NHL property has landed, but this one could have more immediate dividends. Defending champions Omsk have acquired the rights to Boston Bruins prospect forward Peter Cehlarik from Yaroslavl in exchange for the rights to Anaheim Ducks defenseman Kodie Curran. Cehlarik, 25, is already in Europe, having left Boston this past off-season to join Leksands IF in Sweden. Cehlarik always showed great promise in the AHL, but couldn’t translate it to the NHL for the Bruins. After recording 20 goals and 40 points in 45 SHL games this season, Cehlarik may want to return to Boston, who continues to hold his rights, in an attempt to prove himself once more. However, the talented winger could be tempted to join the KHL’s current kings this off-season instead. As for Curran, 31, he already did his stint in Europe and made his return to North America. The Calgary native spent the previous four seasons in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden before earning his first NHL contract with the Ducks this past off-season. While he hasn’t see any action in Anaheim just yet, he has 11 points in 17 AHL games this season and his one-way, $1MM contract still has another year remaining. However, if Curran is still not being utilized by the Ducks after next season and doesn’t draw any other NHL offers as a result, he has a new home to return to in Europe in Yarolslavl.
  • After signing his entry-level contract with the Carolina Hurricanes, Pyotr Kochetkov has inked another deal – a one-year extension with Torpedo. The 21-year-old landed in Novgorod late in the season, but excelled down the stretch and in the postseason with save percentages of .931 and .932, respectively. Kochetkov could very well be in line for the starting role for Torpedo next season while playing on loan from Carolina.

Kings In Discussions With David Hrenak; Blake Lizotte Unlikely To Play This Weekend

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  • The Kings have been in discussions with unsigned prospect David Hrenak, reports John Hoven in a piece for LA Kings Insider. The 22-year-old goalie wrapped up his college career with St. Cloud State this season, posting a 2.66 GAA with a .904 SV% in 27 starts and is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in mid-August if he doesn’t sign.  Los Angeles Director of Player Personnel Nelson Emerson noted that they have two other youngsters in need of playing time (Matt Villalta and Jacob Ingham); with only two minor league affiliates, finding ample time for all three youngsters to play if Hrenak could be tricky.
  • Still with the Kings, center Blake Lizotte is unlikely to play this weekend due to an upper-body injury, notes Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider. His second full NHL season has been a struggle as the 23-year-old has managed just three goals and seven assists in 41 games which is hardly an ideal stat line for someone that is in need of a new contract for next season.

Christian Wolanin To Be Group VI UFA

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When the Los Angeles Kings acquired 26-year-old defenseman Christian Wolanin from the Ottawa Senators on March 29, they had a chance to make the deal last beyond just this season. Playing on an expiring contract this season, Wolanin appeared likely to be a restricted free agent this summer. However, there was a chance that he could instead qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency, a status reserved for players 25 and older with three or more professional seasons but with fewer than 80 NHL games played. Yet, due to the shortened 2020-21 season, that games played total was actually reduced to 71 total games played for Wolanin, making it even less likely that he would end up as a Group VI UFA. He entered the season with 43 games played and as a starting defenseman for Ottawa it seemed fairly obvious that he would play the necessary 28 games if he stayed healthy.

The first sign that Wolanin may fall short of the games played requirement for further team control came during a streak of ten games earlier this season when Wolanin was benched by the Senators. With the likes of Mike Reilly and Artem Zub establishing themselves as blue line fixtures for Ottawa early on, Wolanin slid out of the top four and then out of the lineup entirely. Perhaps sensing that he would not become an RFA if he stayed in Ottawa all season, the team first waived Wolanin and then began floating his name to other teams who might have more interest in playing him. Still, by the time he was dealt in late March, Wolanin had played in a few more games for the Senators following his benching and remained just 13 games shy of the games played mark with more than a month left in the season.

Well tonight, the night of April 28, marks nearly a month since Wolanin landed with the Kings in a deal for forward Michael Amadio. In that time, Wolanin has played in just three games for Los Angeles. More importantly, tonight’s match-up between L.A. and the Anaheim Ducks also marks ten games left in the regular season for the Kings. In order to retain control over Wolanin beyond this season as an RFA rather than allow him to walk as a Group VI UFA, the defenseman needed to be in the lineup tonight and for each of the team’s remaining games. Wouldn’t you know it, the Kings dressed seven defensemen tonight – none of them named Christian Wolanin. The 26-year-old will hit the open market this summer, despite all expectations to the contrary entering the season.

It seems that the Kings, like the Senators, are not all that bothered by losing Wolanin. L.A. is technically still in the playoff mix in the West Division, but are well outside the picture. They would not have been making much of a sacrifice by playing Wolanin over another defenseman, just as the bottom-dwelling Senators might have done. In that same vein, this result also serves to benefit the man himself. Having spent time on two teams who did not value his contributions, he can now seek a superior fit for next season. Sure, Wolanin is unlikely to get the $1MM qualifying offer that he would have been owed if either Ottawa or L.A. had wanted to keep him for one last year, but this way he can move on with the next stage of his career and have some control over what happens next. The former North Dakota standout still has some upside to his game and just needs to find a team willing to give him a chance.

Quinton Byfield Recalled To Taxi Squad

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Though they made a valiant effort this season, the Los Angeles Kings have fallen out of the playoff race in the West Division once again. The team has gone 3-7 in their last ten and now sit seven points behind the Arizona Coyotes with the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues in between. With that in mind, it’s time to give some playing time and experience to their young prospects, most notably Quinton Byfield.

The second-overall pick has been recalled to the NHL taxi squad for the first time this season. He is coming up from the Ontario Reign along with Lias Andersson, while Boko Imama has been reassigned back to the AHL.

Despite being just 18 and not usually eligible to play in the AHL, Byfield has been able to spend the entire season honing his craft at the professional level with the Reign thanks to the OHL’s shutdown. That gave the 6’4″ center a chance to get his feet wet at the minor league level without as much pressure, and he responded with eight goals and 20 points in 30 games. While that’s not putting him on any leaderboards, Byfield’s long-term development is the important thing here and he has shown steps already.

He scored just one goal through his first 15 games for Ontario but then went on an impressive five-game scoring streak in late March. While there is still inconsistency in his play, a chance to taste the NHL at the end of this season will only help him down the road.

For those Kings fans worried about burning the first year of his entry-level contract, Byfield would need to play in more than seven NHL games down the stretch to have it kick in for 2021-22.

Minor Transactions: 04/20/21

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As seasons continue to come to a close in Europe, moves are being made that have NHL ramifications. Some hint toward a player making the jump to North America, while others cement the opposite, and still even more remain ambiguous. Today in particular, a number of NHL prospects have left their current clubs, opening up possibilities for what move may come next:

  • Los Angeles Kings prospect forward Martin Chromiak isn’t leaving anyone guessing. The 2020 pick has spent this season at home in Slovakia, but played in the OHL last year and has now returned to North American in short order with his season over. The AHL’s Ontario Reign, affiliate of the Kings, have signed Chromiak to an amateur tryout agreement for the remainder of the season, reports L.A. beat writer John Hoven. This could potentially lead to an entry-level deal for next season for Chromiak or could simply be the first step toward returning to the OHL or perhaps even the AHL next season. Either way, things are looking up for Chromiak, who unfortunately is most well-known right now for his precipitous drop in the 2020 NHL Draft. A near-consensus second-round pick entering the draft, NHL teams clearly disagreed with the draft pundits on Chromiak, who fell to L.A. in the fifth round. Now with a chip on his shoulder and a nice Slovakian season behind him, Chromiak is ready to prove himself in North America.
  •  Two Dallas Stars prospects could be on their way to North America shortly as well. Following their loss in the SHL quarterfinals, Farjestad BK has announced the departures of a number of players. Among them were the Stars’ 2018 and 2019 third-round picks, Oskar Back and Albin Eriksson. Both are big, strong, well-rounded forwards with several years of SHL experience and seem likely to be looking for a new challenge. Farjestad did not state definitively that the duo were set to sign their NHL entry-level contracts, but it is a safe assumption. More uncertain is what the next move might be for defenseman Linus Arnesson, who was also among the list of departures. Arnesson, 26, is still property of the Boston Bruins, who selected him in the second round in 2013. Arnesson spent a few seasons in the AHL early in his career before returning home to Sweden, but may be looking for a second chance after improved play in the SHL over the past four years. He may also just be looking to capitalize as a free agent in Sweden.
  • It was not all bad news out of Farjestad, as they did announce a new three-year extension with former Chicago Blackhawk Victor Ejdsell. The hulking center never quite did find his place in North America, but has been very productive for Farjestad over the past two years. At 25, a three-year deal does not eliminate the chances that Ejdsell could make an NHL comeback, but it does become more unlikely. A native of Karlstad, where Farjestad plays, Ejdsell called the team his “home” in the press release and may be committed long-term to the club.
  • Two coveted young players are leaving Swedish second-tier club MODO, but it is unclear what is next for either one. MODO has announced that William Wallinder and William Stromgren will not return to the team next season. Wallinder was the first pick in the second round of the 2020 NHL Draft, going No. 32 overall to the Detroit Red Wings. A big, but smooth-skating defender who played a major role for MODO as a teenager, Wallinder may already be prepared for the North American pros. Stromgren is a 2021 draft-eligible prospect with a similar late-first/early-second draft stock to Wallinder. The big sniper is more likely than Wallinder to stay in Sweden for another year or two, but could also be tempted to play in the CHL next season. The team who selects him in the upcoming draft will have a say as well.

COVID Protocol Related Absences: 04/19/21

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Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. While two teams have yet to report, here is today’s list for the remaining 29:

Colorado – Philipp Grubauer, Joonas Donskoi
Edmonton – Dmitry Kulikov
Montreal – Jon Merrill, Erik Gustafsson
Philadelphia – Jackson Cates
Toronto – Nick Foligno, Riley Nash, Ben Hutton

As a reminder, inclusion on this list does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the list is are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol

Players removed today: Bowen Byram, Colorado Avalanche

While the Kings and Wild are still question marks for today, as of right now the league has not added any new names to the CPRA list. Byram’s removal is also good news, as further proof that the Avalanche have avoided any widespread infection that could lead to numerous or lengthy absences. Only Grubauer and Donskoi are currently on the list for actual COVID-related reasons as well, as the remainder are all undergoing mandatory quarantine following trades or signings. More progress out of Colorado and the NHL could finally be looking at the first empty CPRA list of the season.

*denotes new addition

Kings Have Shown Interest In Jack Eichel

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Where he goes for that camp is going to be one of the storylines to watch for this summer.  Eichel has been in trade speculation for a while now but a trade in-season would have been tough to do for salary cap purposes.  Dreger reports that the Kings are one of the teams that have been interested in the 24-year-old.  They would be an interesting fit as they have young center prospects (including Quinton Byfield, Alex Turcotte, and Gabriel Vilardi) that would need to be part of the deal plus the cap space to afford his $10MM price tag.  Of course, should the Sabres make him available, there will be plenty of other suitors as well.

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