The Los Angeles Kings have signed restricted free agent Alex Laferriere to a three-year, $12.3M contract, per insider Frank Seravalli. The deal comes with a $4.1M cap hit per season. The deal includes a $3.5M salary for year one and $4.4M salaries for years two and three, per PuckPedia. The Kings extended a qualifying offer to Laferriere on July 1, and it took exactly one month for both sides to come to terms on a new deal.
Coming off his second season in the league, the 24-year-old right winger posted a solid 19 goals and 42 points in 77 games. He also produced a plus-22 rating, 124 hits and 43 blocked shots while averaging 16:22 of ice time per night. He added three assists in six playoff games.
A third-round selection in the 2020 draft (83rd overall), the New Jersey native quickly established himself as one of the franchise’s key prospects. After being drafted, Laferriere spent two seasons in the NCAA at Harvard University, where he put up 73 points in 69 games. He then made his pro debut in the AHL with the Ontario Reign at the tail end of the 2022-23 season.
That was all the minor league experience the 6-foot-1, 205-pound winger needed. The following season, he broke camp with the Kings and appeared in 81 games as a rookie, posting 12 goals and 23 points. He took a major step forward offensively this last season (doubling his point total), and it’s reasonable to expect continued growth.
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