The Los Angeles Kings missed the playoffs again in 2020-21, finishing with a 21-28-7 record in the West Division. Once again, they had trouble scoring enough to keep up with the rest of their opponents, finishing 27th in the league with just 142 goals in 56 games. Anze Kopitar once again led the team in scoring with a strong 50-point season, but no other forward had more than 31.
It makes sense then that they will be looking for more offense this summer, and on Tuesday Darren Dreger of TSN tweeted that the team is hoping to add two top-six forwards through trade or free agency.
The first player that many minds will go to is Jack Eichel, who has been linked — however thinly — to the Kings for weeks. That is more speculative and based on how many young assets that Los Angeles has, but with teams calling the Buffalo Sabres recently, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear the Kings were one of them.
There’s more than just Eichel out there, though, and the Kings are going into the offseason with more than $20M in cap space after moving some pricey contracts in recent years. The team only retained just over $2.6M on Jeff Carter’s contract when they sent him to Pittsburgh and Alex Iafallo’s extension only increases his cap hit to $4M. There’s still concerning term on deals for the 33-year old Kopitar and 31-year-old Drew Doughty, but GM Rob Blake still has a little flexibility to use this summer.
Of course, there is also the possibility that the Kings already have their top-six options on the roster. Gabriel Vilardi averaged fewer than 15 minutes of ice time in his first full season and could be given more responsibility next season. Quinton Byfield also should take a step forward if given more than just six games to show his skills at the NHL level. Rasmus Kupari, Arthur Kaliyev and Jaret Anderson-Dolan are all high picks who could take developmental steps as well.
The excitement for Blake, though, is if he doesn’t have to move those high-potential players in order to acquire these so-called top-six forwards, the Kings could turn from one of the league’s worst offensive teams to one of its best in short order.
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