The times they are a changin\u2019.<\/p>\n
The LA Kings entered free agency with what felt like a clear plan. Ken Holland made it pretty clear after the draft this weekend what he was looking to add and what he felt like the group was lacking in order to get over the hump in the postseason. <\/p>\n
He spoke about the importance of the \u201cblue paint\u201d, both offensively and defensively. He repeatedly referenced battles and how much more magnified they are in the postseason. He wanted the team to play bigger. Not necessarily be bigger, size wise, but to play bigger and that type of, I suppose truculence, could come in many different ways, from different types of players. Special teams certainly factors in here as well.<\/p>\n
You might not like some of the choices made, the contracts or some of the philosophical changes being implemented. Fine. It\u2019s different and this kind of change can\u2019t be proven successful or unsuccessful in July. I\u2019d like to see how they play out on the ice as well. But you should understand the need for change. We all have to see that. Because as much as the status quo can be comforting, with the devil you know, the fact of the matter is that while the Kings had an excellent regular season, on route to 105 points, they fell short in a couple of key areas against the Oilers in the playoffs for the fourth straight season. The Kings did not need an overhaul at the core but the team needed a different way forward, a different way over the hump. <\/p>\n
There are a few different ways to approach that, some attainable within the Kings control and some not. What the Kings did today was fully within their control and Holland believes that today\u2019s roster decisions bring that for the Kings in a number of different ways, a team that is a little bit better than it was in Game 6. <\/p>\n
Looking at things position-by-position, here\u2019s how the Kings approached their moves today and here\u2019s how the team could look come opening night, should everything proceed as intended.<\/p>\n
Forwards<\/strong> Looking at the forward group, I think the Kings pretty clearly improved today at the bottom of the lineup with the additions of Corey Perry and Joel Armia. <\/p>\n The deployment of players during the postseason was not sustainable, even if the Kings found a way past Edmonton in Round 1. It was clear that the Kings, right or wrong, needed to add a couple of veteran players to the fourth line in order to help that group thrive. <\/p>\n \u201cI think so,\u201d Holland said, when asked if adding Armia and Perry would be players who he believes would make the fourth line more trusted in playoff games. \u201cArmia was one of the top forwards in the National Hockey League in time on ice on the penalty kill, so let\u2019s say if they\u2019re on the fourth line, Armia can play on the penalty kill and Perry can play on the power play. I would say today, I\u2019m seeing Turcotte as a center, maybe let\u2019s say centering the fourth line, but he also this year played up on the first line. Turcotte\u2019s like a Swiss-army knife. He can play left wing, he can play right wing, he can play with the skill players, if he\u2019s down on the fourth line, he\u2019ll have Perry and Armia with him. Then, we\u2019ve got Helenius and we\u2019ve got Mallot and Lee, so we\u2019re expecting to go to training camp and have a real competitive training camp. You\u2019re going to need more than 13 forwards and six defensemen over 82 games, so we feel like we\u2019ve got 14,15 forwards\u2026\u2026the goal heading into this period of time, this free agency, was to try to make the team deeper, a little bit bigger, a little bit better, but it was a really good team last year and you try to build on that, and we believe we\u2019ve done that.\u201d<\/p>\n Later in the availability, Holland mentioned forward Liam Greentree as well coming into training camp once healthy and competing for a spot, so he\u2019s included as well in the group above. There\u2019s always one guy from off the board too who pushes for a job. So that\u2019s 16 guys for say 13 or 14 jobs coming into camp, once Laferriere eventually signs with the team. <\/p>\n Some battles towards the bottom of the roster and some time to work through the best mix of players from a chemistry standpoint. <\/p>\n Defensemen<\/strong> On the blueline, the Kings added Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci on the backend. I\u2019m not really sure how the pairs will shake out, so that\u2019s somewhat of a guess based on personnel and keeping consistency with pairs from last season. <\/p>\n Look, stylistically, this is a very different group than we saw last season. Going out are Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence, replaced by Dumoulin and Ceci. The player types coming in are veteran defensemen with a defensive-focus first, players who have gone through the playoff grind year-over-year and found some success in those situations. <\/p>\n In past seasons, we\u2019ve seen the Kings trend more towards a standard deployment with a first pair, a second pair and a third pair. Holland felt that with the players coming in and going out, there could be more \u201cbalance\u201d this season between the pairings this season. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we did was we got three lefties in Dumoulin, Mikey Anderson, Edmondson and we\u2019ve got three righties in, in Doughty, Brandt Clark and Ceci. Dumoulin can play left and right, if you get an injury to a lefty, Moverare can shoot up and Dumoulin can slide over, you\u2019ve got to have some depth. If you look at these guys in the playoffs, if you look at the icetime that Dumoulin played for New Jersey in the playoffs, I think one game they went to overtime or double I think he played 37 or 38 minutes, so he can log minutes if he has to. Cody Ceci played 22,23 minutes a game in in all three places this year or last year, Edmonton, San Jose and in Dallas. So, I would anticipate that the ice time is going to, when healthy, it\u2019s going to be more evenly, spread out.\u201d<\/p>\n On the Gavrikov front, Holland did not get into a ton of detail on why the two sides were not able to come to an agreement. If there\u2019s more to it, perhaps we\u2019ll find out for sure one day. But for today, <\/p>\n \u201cOn free agency day, players and the team are free to make decisions. So, we were involved in negotiations since I got here, I think before I got here, [with] Rob Blake and ultimately we couldn\u2019t find, obviously, anything that worked for both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n The difficult evaluation here is that I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll even know if they\u2019ll pan out until the postseason. Assuming the Kings return to the dance as they intend to, these are players who have succeeded in getting over the hump the Kings are currently facing. That\u2019s why Holland went out to acquire them, for Game 83 and beyond. <\/p>\n \u201cObviously Dumoulin and Ceci are both big guys, they can defend and make some passes, and so I think that we feel we\u2019ve got good depth on the back end,\u201d Holland said today. \u201cDrew Doughty coming back is a big piece of it, the growth of Brandt Clarke is a big piece of it and then we brought in two players who were, what I would call, pros. They\u2019ve been around the National Hockey League a long time and Dumoulin\u2019s got a Stanley Cup on his resume, or a couple, Cody Ceci has gone to the Stanley Cup Final with Edmonton and went to the Final Four this year, so they\u2019ve been under the pressures of Stanley Cup Playoff hockey, deep into the deep end of the playoffs, into the second and third and fourth rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n Goaltenders<\/strong> I think this one is probably the most straight forward, right? <\/p>\n Forsberg is a proven and established number-two goaltender who is capable of stepping in when needed, if there is an injury. Forsberg\u2019s best season was actually as a starter in Ottawa and he\u2019s been a serviceable backup or 1B option since that time with the Senators. Manageable contract with the two-year term and a cap hit of just over $2 million per season, which makes clear he is signed to play in the NHL, not in a battle, at least to start this season. <\/p>\n \u201cAnton Forsberg in goal, just tried to make a change in net and and have a real good 1-2 punch in net. We like David Rittich, he did a good job, but we made a decision to explore the market and made a decision to bring in Anton Forsberg.\u201d<\/p>\n Pretty cut and dry there. Wishing Rittich the best on Long Island, personally I hope he\u2019s really successful there. Kings opted to go in a different direction here this summer and Kuemper\/Forsberg will be the pairing for the Kings in net heading into next season. <\/p>\n So, with those five transactions, are the Kings done? <\/p>\n Not necessarily, but I wouldn\u2019t consider anything else to be probable either.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s something that presents itself, that could make the team better, the Kings won\u2019t use the moves today as a reason not to continue to upgrade the roster. In that case, they wouldn\u2019t be acquiring a player to fill a hole on the team, so to speak. They have their depth forwards added and they\u2019ve replaced the two defensemen who departed, as well as the backup goaltender. There aren\u2019t openings on the team, so to speak, so anyone else who comes in would need to be a clear upgrade, likely with a player moving out at the same time.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re mostly there,\u201d Holland said. \u201cOver the last two weeks, I talked to many, most of the general managers in the league and I think I said this the night of the draft about any potential trades, I see the trading front kind of from our perspective, not being really somewhere to go, but if the right trade pops itself up, that we think makes us different or better, we\u2019ll explore it, but as we sit here today, we\u2019ve got 14,15 forwards that we think can compete to be on the team and we\u2019ve got seven, eight defenseman that we think can compete to be on the team, but if somebody slips through the cracks, either through an unrestricted free agent, or there\u2019s a trade possibility, we\u2019ll certainly look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n So then, what\u2019s next, if not a further upgrade?<\/p>\n Alex Laferriere\u2019s contract as a restricted free agent and Adrian Kempe\u2019s contract extension, which he is eligible for as of today.<\/p>\n Laferriere was tendered a qualifying offer by the Kings and he is not eligible to be offer sheeted by another club, so this should be relatively straight forward. A short-term contract seems to be the most likely destination but he can only negotiate with the Kings. On Kempe, he is eligible to sign a long-term contract as of this morning. It wasn\u2019t the most timely decision for the Kings but now it becomes close to that. The Kings would naturally like to lock Kempe in as an important part of the core both short and long term. With the bulk of the team\u2019s offseason business in the rear-view mirror, Kempe and Laferriere are both priorities for the Kings over the next few months as the summer rolls on. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The times they are a changin\u2019. 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Kuzmenko \u2013 Kopitar \u2013 Kempe
Fiala \u2013 Byfield \u2013 Laferriere
Foegele \u2013 Danault \u2013 Moore
Armia \u2013 Turcotte \u2013 Perry
Malott \u2013 Greentree \u2013 Helenius \u2013 Lee<\/p>\n
Anderson \u2013 Doughty
Edmundson \u2013 Clarke
Dumoulin \u2013 Ceci
Moverare \u2013 Burroughs<\/p>\n
One opening, with David Rittich leaving the organization for the New York Islanders and one incoming, with Anton Forsberg coming in to partner with Darcy Kuemper. <\/p>\n