Additions, subtractions, and plenty of changes. That’s what was expected from the LA Kings this summer, and GM Rob Blake has provided just that with his myriad of roster moves of late.
We previously projected around 30% roster turnover from what the team iced last season, and that’s where things are headed. Rookies Alex Turcotte, Akil Thomas, and Brandt Clarke are expected to get plenty of NHL games in 2024-25. That in itself will be quite the change from the past few campaigns, where each prospect only saw spot duty at the big league level.
Over the weekend, Blake swung a deal with Tampa Bay to bring in bruising forward Tanner Jeannot, fresh on the heels of his one-for-one swap with Washington that saw the Kings acquire goalie Darcy Kuemper for the outgoing PL Dubois.
Then came Monday, Twitter’s favorite holiday – aka Free Agent Frenzy. Blake signed forward Warren Foegele away from the Oilers and appears to be closing in on a deal for defenseman Joel Edmundson.
It’s worth noting that our previous cap-related article allocated $4.5M for the Foegele spot, $2M for the Jeannot spot on the fourth line, and $3M for LD3 (Edmundson) — all while having about $2.5M more in unallocated money to sprinkle around, as needed. In the end, the three players acquired landed with deals right around expected, essentially validating the estimated plan.
As reported by Mayor’s Manor earlier today, the Kings also signed forward Trevor Lewis and goalie Pheonix Copley to one-year extensions. Both moves were expected and had been discussed on Kings Of The Podcast in recent weeks. Copley is targeted for AHL Ontario, where he’ll look to get back on track after losing most of the 2023-24 season to a knee injury. Lewis will return as a depth forward who will likely rotate in and out of the lineup. He’s also on pace to play his 1,000th NHL game, needing only 26 games to reach the significant milestone.
Lewis also sits ninth all-time in games played for the Kings franchise at 756 regular season games. He should pass Mattias Norstrom (780) and could conceivably get by Rob Blake (780). That would land the Utah native in sixth spot, quite the journey from being selected in the first round by LA back at the 2006 NHL Draft.
Putting it all together to analyze the Kings current salary cap situation, the below projection now really only needs a locked in deal for forward Quinton Byfield and defenseman Jordan Spence.
We previously published our prediction for the upcoming Byfield extension in an article shown below, where we did a deep dive on the options and where we think it will ultimately land — with the reasoning why too.
If the player’s box is in green below, that indicates the contract is already in place for next season, including Anze Kopitar’s new $7M contract kicking in. Byfield is still an estimate, so it’s highlighted in blue (as is the projection for Spence).
Edmunson is yellow simply because the deal hasn’t officially been finalized yet.
Additional Notes
A few quick things to add:
• Reminder, the above is merely a projected lineup, don’t spend too much time worrying about who is at LW1 vs. LW2. Of more importance is the fact they still have about $2M left over in this scenario. So, there could be money to adjust the roster in other ways before opening night.
• We’re still not projecting Blake Lizotte to return. However, he could easily be brought back on a lower-money deal and replace the box currently occupied by Andre Lee. More on that situation here.
• Arthur Kaliyev remains the x-factor in everything. He asked for a trade several months ago and things seemed headed in that direction. One didn’t materialize at the Draft last weekend. So, now what? He could still be moved — more likely for a forward in a similar situation (Shane Pinto, maybe?). Or, who knows. Maybe cooler heads prevail and he actually returns. All options are on the table for now. Look for more news on this coming soon, perhaps before fireworks start being lit in a few days.
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