This spring, the Kings had two different general managers with one shared goal: re-signing defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov.
Yet neither Rob Blake, who conveyed near total confidence that an extension would get done, nor Ken Holland, who succeeded Blake and won four Stanley Cups in Detroit, could accomplish that top-line goal.
Gavrikov, 29, signed a contract for $49 million over 7 years with the New York Rangers on Tuesday, leaving the Kings with a gaping hole in their defense corps above the one left by the trade of Jordan Spence to the Ottawa Senators for draft picks last Saturday.
The Kings did address both vacancies with modest, veteran additions, committing the same $8.5 million that Gavrikov and Spence will make next season to veterans Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin.
Gavrikov arrived in Los Angeles ahead of the 2023 trade deadline in a late-night swap that involved franchise legend Jonathan Quick and two draft picks going to Columbus in exchange for Gavrikov and the since departed goalie Joonas Koripisalo.
He accumulated 62 points across 179 games in black and silver to go with a +47 rating. In 2024-25, he enhanced his value by moving to his off-side and playing right defense on the Kings’ top pairing in the absence of Drew Doughty for the majority of the campaign while Doughty recovered from a broken ankle.
Gavrikov’s formidable performance as part of a shutdown tandem with Mikey Anderson expanded a body of work that included similar heavy duty during his final partial season with the Blue Jackets. It also encompassed some strong efforts down the stretch that year for the Kings and a superb stint to start the 2023-24 season that was curbed by a knee injury he sustained during a December road trip.
During the course of negotiations, Gavrikov changed representatives from Daniel Milstein, a very popular agent among Russian players like Gavrikov, to Pat Brisson, a close associate of Kings executives Luc Robitaille and Marc Bergevin. Brisson also represented Blake during his playing career, as well as captain Anže Kopitar, but not even those connections salvaged the pact.
Blake had said that once the agent switch occurred, he felt confident a long-term deal would get done promptly. Yet Holland did not bring that ship into port despite having made additional offers beyond Blake’s, and he acknowledged on Saturday that Gavrikov would enter Tuesday’s opening of free agency without an extension.
Gavrikov won Olympic gold with the delegation of athletes representing Russia in 2018 and has garnered medals in international competition on three other occasions, winning silver at the World Junior Championships and bronze twice at the senior level.
But he’s never been beyond the first round of the NHL postseason, something he’ll seek to rectify once he reaches his new destination. The Rangers were conference finalists in 2022 and 2024, but missed the playoffs last year amid internal turmoil and defensive struggles.