With the 4 Nations Face-Off break upon us, the trade deadline looms large and is less than a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings are in a peculiar position leading into the trade deadline. They have been a consistently competitive team in the Western Conference but don’t carry the same offensive firepower as divisional opponents such as the Edmonton Oilers or Vegas Golden Knights, leading to early exits in the Stanley Cup playoffs. General manager and vice president of hockey operations, Rob Blake, for better or for worse, isn’t a stranger to big moves. Will he add more offense to balance the Kings out, double down on their pesky defense, or stand pat like he did last year?
Record
29-17-7, 3rd in the Pacific
Deadline Status
Conservative buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$4.516MM on deadline day, 1/3 retention slots used, 43/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2025: LAK 1st, LAK 3rd, LAK 4th, LAK 5th, LAK 6th, LAK 7th
2026: LAK 1st, LAK 2nd, LAK 3rd, LAK 4th, LAK 5th, LAK 6th, LAK 7th
Trade Chips
If the Kings’ front office believes they’re in a window of contention, Los Angeles could trade one of their first-round picks in 2025 or 2026. Since selecting Brandt Clarke as the eighth overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, the Kings have added 19 prospects to their organization via the draft, giving the flexibility to trade a higher-valued draft selection. Still, unless they trade some salary from the active roster, Los Angeles doesn’t have the financial flexibility to add a needle-mover thus negating most reasoning to move a first-round pick. 
Although the Kings’ organization has many prospects, the overall quality of those prospects is lacking. Since graduating the likes of Clarke, Akil Thomas, and Alex Turcotte to the NHL level, forward Liam Greentree is objectively the best prospect remaining giving Los Angeles every reason to retain him. Greentree was selected as the 26th overall pick in last summer’s draft and is the OHL’s third-highest scorer this year with 35 goals and 51 assists through 50 games.
Still, one thing the Kings’ pipeline has is goaltending depth. According to Scott Wheeler’s prospect rankings in The Athletic (Subscription Required), three of Los Angeles’ top-five prospects are goaltenders: Erik Portillo, Hampton Slukynsky, and Carter George. Portillo is the closest to NHL-ready with the latter two being several years away. Although goaltending depth is always important, no team needs three goaltenders for the future so the Kings’ could look to move either Slukynsky or George for more immediate talent.
Team Needs
1) Second Line Center: As much as Los Angeles would like Quinton Byfield to be a top-six center for years to come, it’s not working out that way. To Byfield’s credit, the Kings are controlling the puck more 5 on 5 when he’s on the ice, but his 43.6% faceoff success rate and his 88.4% on-ice save percentage in all situations show he’s more of a top-six winger. As mentioned, Los Angeles doesn’t have the cap space or the necessary capital to acquire a player like Dylan Cozens or Casey Mittelstadt, but they should be one of the team’s calling on Jake Evans or Trent Frederic. Both players would blend well into the Kings’ system given their defensive awareness and would allow their wingers more freedom and creativity on the offensive side of the puck.
2) Scoring Depth: Los Angeles has no problems keeping the puck out of the net. The Kings are fifth in goals-against per game, fourth in penalty kill percentage, first in shots-against, and ninth in save percentage. On the flip side, they are 20th in goals-for-per-game, 29th in powerplay percentage, and 28th in shots on goal. Again, given their available trade assets, Los Angeles would be better served looking into the trade markets for players such as Ryan Donato or Luke Kunin. The former’s perceived trade value has risen recently but it shouldn’t take a ’Kings’ ransom to pry him away from the Blackhawks.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.