The Kings would assert that they got deeper, more experienced and tougher this offseason.
Most analysts assessed them as becoming slower, older and, likely, worse.
They were roundly panned from legacy outlets to new media (for example, here, here, here, and, again, here), but perhaps the most troubling signs for the Kings were that a growing number of players seem less than enthused at the prospect of playing for their organization.
Linus Ullmark’s reported refusal to be traded to the Kings made sense given his desire to stay in the East and closer to his native Sweden. Mikko Rantanen and Brad Marchand had superior options in Dallas and Florida, respectively. Trade target Rasmus Andersson has reportedly zeroed in on one destination, and it’s the same one Mitch Marner chose over the Kings and other suitors, the rival Vegas Golden Knights.
But forget big names in the trade and free-agent market, the Kings are having an increasing amount of difficulty keeping their own players.
In consecutive offseasons, they’ve lost their top unrestricted free agents with Matt Roy walking to Washington and his former defense partner Vladislav Gavrikov rebuffing the confident Kings in favor of the tumult-laden New York Rangers.
In both cases, then General Manager Rob Blake –– Blake himself opted not to return after his contract expired last season –– expressed desire as well as varying levels of certitude in the players returning.
With Roy, he’d expected to accelerate talks near the Christmas break in 2023 and said the Kings were bidding until the closing bell for Roy’s services last summer. With Gavrikov, Blake outright said he was expecting him to sign a long-term extension in March only for Gavrikov to switch coasts on July 1, even after the Kings made multiple offers.
Gavrikov was not introduced formally and the Rangers puzzlingly canceled plans to make him available prior to training camp. He was voted the Kings’ top defenseman last year, but saw his role reduced significantly when Drew Doughty returned from ankle surgery. He also played noticeably fewer minutes than not only Doughty but Joel Edmundson during a first-round fold against the Oilers in which the Kings lost four straight games to be eliminated for a fourth straight time by Edmonton.
That wasn’t dissimilar to promising defenseman Jordan Spence, 24, who was persona non grata in the playoffs and headed for a diminished role until Holland shipped him to Ottawa. He joined Gavrikov as the latest in a series of valuable Kings rearguards that have netted limited return or none at all.
Their next order of business will be re-signing leading scorer Adrian Kempe. New GM Ken Holland said he met with Kempe’s agent, CAA’s J.P. Barry, at the scouting combine, and said he would soon be looking to extend Kempe.
Kempe was asked about the extension during his final media availability of the 2024-25 cycle, saying at first that the talks might go into the regular season but later saying his ideal preference would be signing a deal as soon as possible.
“I want to take the next step with this organization, I want to take it back to winning. The identity and the –– I think we’re doing the right things,” Kempe said. “We sat here after the last four seasons and said the same things, but it really felt like we had something (good) going on this year.”
Whether or not the Kings can sustain or improve upon last year’s finish, among the best in franchise history with 48 wins and 105 points but dampened massively by a playoff flameout, remains to be seen.
Holland said the acquisitions of Cody Ceci, who struggled against Edmonton as a member of the Dallas Stars in last year’s playoffs and was let go by the Oilers a year earlier, and Brian Dumoulin, a player who was traded cheaply last summer but sought-after at both the trade deadline and July 1 FA opening, gave the Kings a bigger, more defensive-oriented blue line with five penalty-kill contributors.
“I think it makes (the defense corps) different; we believe it’s going to be better,” Holland said, adding that “the trading front, from our perspective, not being, really, somewhere to go” regarding any further acquisitions.
In the past 13 seasons, Roy and Gavrikov were the only players to unseat Drew Doughty as the Kings’ top defenseman. Both departed in free agency. Sean Walker and Helge Grans were sent along with a second-round pick to dump approximately $6 million in salary over two years, in large part to re-sign Gavrikov to a short-term deal. Sean Durzi was jettisoned in the leadup to the Pierre-Luc Dubois catastrophe, effectively leaving the Kings with nothing to show for him.
Gavrikov, 29, has been very durable, missing just 19 games across six seasons, the bulk of which came not due to injury but because of a complicated situation where he was held out of action pending one trade that fell through and, later, another that sent him to the Kings. Despite his seven-year term, he’ll be 36 when it expires, a year older than Ceci, 31, and the same age as Dumoulin, 33, will be when their shorter-term pacts expire.
Holland posited that Kings management was looking to refine and improve around the edges, small bumps in different areas that aggregated to something greater. He also pointed out that the character of the players brought in, emphasizing Dumoulin perhaps more than the other four players he signed on July 1, would be an asset.
“We’re moving good people into the locker room,” Holland said. “We’ve moving in pros, we’re moving in good people that we think will help us on the ice, but will (also help us have) a team with real good chemistry off the ice.”