A deep dive into the Kings' salary cap structure

Quick has been a fixture between the pipes for the Kings for more than a decade. Heading into last season, his contract looked like a considerable overpayment for someone that was expected to be pushed down into the second-string role. However, he then went out and became the 1A option once again which changes the outlook of his contract considerably. Quick will be 37 when his next contract is signed so he will likely be going year to year moving forward but if he can even keep a grab of a platoon spot, he should have some interest on the open market in the $3.5M range next summer. Will he be willing to leave Los Angeles, however?  That one remains to be seen.

Signed through 2023-24

F Viktor Arvidsson ($4.25M, UFA)
F Carl Grundstrom ($1.35M, RFA)
F Anze Kopitar ($10M, UFA)
F Blake Lizotte ($1.675M, RFA)
D Jacob Moverare ($762.5K, RFA)
D Matt Roy ($3.125M, UFA)
D Sean Walker ($2.65M, UFA)

Kopitar has been the top center for the Kings for most of his 16-year career and even if he hasn’t produced at the level of a high-end pivot, his defensive play has made him a true number one. However, he’ll be 37 two years from now and the days of him logging over 20 minutes a night should be done by then. His next contract could very well be his last and should be either two or three years with an AAV closer to the $6M mark as long as he can still play at a second-line level by the end of the 2023-24 campaign.

A new team was just what Arvidsson needed as he had a nice bounce-back year after a pair of quiet seasons at the end of his tenure with Nashville. He fit in nicely on the second line, one that was very effective defensively, good offensively, and carried plenty of possession. Continuing that combination for the next two seasons would give him a good chance of adding another million or so on his next contract. Lizotte just wrapped his first full NHL season on the third line which understandably resulted in a short-term second contract. He’ll need to establish himself as capable of playing a bit more than 12 minutes a night by 2024 as otherwise, he could be one of those arbitration risks that teams are opting to walk away from more frequently. Grundstrom has provided the Kings with plenty of physicality, albeit in a limited role and with the look of their roster right now, his short-term fortune isn’t likely to change.  That could put him in the same situation Lemieux was last month, getting non-tendered to avoid arbitration.

Roy has never been a particularly flashy defenseman which is what made this deal – originally a four-year pact – a bit of a head-scratcher at the time. However, he continues to be a reliable role player and he stepped up quite nicely when injuries arose last season. As is the case with Bjornfot, his limited offensive upside will limit the price tag of his next contract but there’s room for him to add a little more to his current AAV. Walker missed all but six games last season due to a knee injury and has been used as a fifth defenseman when he has played over the last couple of years. As teams look to trim costs by going with more cost-effective depth players, that could be a challenge for Walker unless he can step into a top-four role. Moverare is now waiver-eligible and with him signed for two years at the minimum, he’s a risk to be claimed off waivers so he’ll likely enter the season as their seventh defenseman although that’s not great from the perspective of his next contract.

Signed through 2024-25

F Alex Iafallo ($4M, UFA)
G Calvin Petersen ($5M, UFA)

Iafallo is the ideal winger in the sense that can play different roles and succeed in all of them. That type of versatility can be quite valuable to a team and he has done well in that role with the Kings. On the other hand, with some wingers feeling the pinch in recent UFA contracts, this also now looks like a bit of an above-market contract. The financial landscape should change by the time this deal is up though so the valuation of the contract might be different a couple of years from now.

Petersen signed this contract a year ago as an extension to his now-expired deal so this will be his first year with the weight of expectations that a deal like this carries. Instead of being a second option making less than a typical backup, he’s now tied for 14th in AAV among all NHL goaltenders despite having just 91 career regular season games under his belt. If he can wrestle back the starting role and play 50-55 games a season, they’ll get good enough value out of this deal but that’s a bigger question mark now than it was a year ago.

Signed through 2025-26 or longer

F Phillip Danault ($5.5M through 2026-27)
D Drew Doughty ($11M through 2026-27)
F Kevin Fiala ($7.875M through 2028-29)
F Adrian Kempe ($5.5M through 2025-26)

Fiala had a career year with Minnesota last season, reaching 85 points. For context, his previous benchmark was 54. The Kings clearly believe the breakout is a sign of things to come after acquiring the 26-year-old and immediately handing him this contract. Danault was a bit of a surprise signing last summer since they have so many prospect centers but he displayed a scoring touch that was rarely seen in Montreal while being one of the top defensive pivots in the league. Kempe also had a career year in 2021-22, scoring 35 goals after his previous best was 16 set back in his first full season. He doesn’t need to score 35 to justify this price tag but they’ll be expecting 25 per year on average with his usual defensive play to get good value on this deal.

Doughty missed the second half of last season and the playoffs due to a wrist injury but before that, he was still playing at the level of a high-end top defenseman. But the issue for the Kings here is that there’s no way that he can provide surplus value on this deal. Even at his best, this is still at least a couple of million above market value and as this contract progresses and he eventually has to start playing a little less, it will start to hurt more than it has so far. But in terms of on-ice play, his return will certainly be welcomed as an all-situations player that, for now, can still log top minutes.

Buyouts

D Dion Phaneuf ($1.0625M in 2022-23)

Salary cap recapture

F Mike Richards ($900K in 2022-23, costs dip gradually down to $400K in 2031-32)

Retained salary transactions

None

Still to sign

D Michael Anderson
D Sean Durzi

Anderson has done well defensively while logging top-four minutes over his first couple of seasons. There’s a case for him to be closer to the $2M mark on a two-year deal but with the Kings having very limited cap space, they’re likely to push for a one-year pact that will be a bit less than half of that number. As for Durzi, he has been more of an offensive threat and those numbers always look nice in contract talks. With just one NHL campaign under his belt, Los Angeles is also likely to push for a one-year pact to keep the cap hit down. The good news is that they might be able to get those deals done and stay below the cap if they’re one-year pacts. The bad news is that they’ll be handing both of these players arbitration eligibility next summer.

Best Value: Moore
Worst Value: Doughty

Looking ahead

Once they re-sign those defensemen, the Kings are going to be capped out which is going to limit their in-season movement, especially if injuries strike early on. Things look better from a long-term perspective, however.

With their young players being eased in, no one should be landing a big-money, long-term contract that bypasses the bridge deal altogether. That will give this core a bit more time together with the hopes that those youngsters will play themselves into bigger roles as the veterans see their contracts expire. It’s unlikely that GM Rob Blake will have enough financial flexibility to make another Fiala-like move in the next couple of years but there shouldn’t be any cost-cutting moves on the horizon either.