Post by Los Angeles Kings on Jul 21, 2024 13:24:55 GMT -6
The Los Angeles Kings had their season come to an end at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Finals in 5 games. While ultimately disappointing, being back in the playoffs this year and making it to the final 4 is something for the franchise to be proud of. However, questions remain if they will be able to have the same success next year. The Kings organization is currently in a state of flux.
The big news of the off-season is the departure of some key names. Forward Sam Reinhart, defenseman Dougie Hamilton, and defenseman Travis Hamonic have opted to test unrestricted free agency. Deadline acquisition Brandon Tanev and the Kings were unable to reach terms on a new contract, and he’ll also be heading to free agency. The Kings were able to come to terms with forward Carter Verhaeghe and goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. Vladislav Namestnikov was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers for forward Trevor Moore and prospect Maveric Lamoureaux.
Reinforcements are coming:
Prospect Brock Faber is expected to make the club out of camp and should slot into a top 4 role. The Los Angeles Kings are expected to look to free agency to fill the hole of departing defenseman Dougie Hamiltion. Meanwhile, Robert Hagg, Maxime Lajoie and Christian Djoos will battle it out to fill the #6 and #7 positions on the back-end. At forward, expect Cody Glass to jump into the top 6 to fill the shoes of departing forward Sam Reinhart. The others in the top 6 are youngster Anton Lundell, Sean Couturier, Jake Guentzel, Carter Verhaeghe, and Evgeny Kuznetsov. The bottom 6, on the other hand, is completely up in the air and should be decided in training camp. The only lock is Julien Gauthier and 24 year old farm promotion Rasmus Kupari. The rest of the forwards fighting for a spot are Ryan Poehling, Kyle Rau, Clark Bishop, Jasper Weatherby, Beck Malenstyn, and John Leonard. There is also a remote possibility that the Kings will target a forward in free agency as well.
While shoring up the backup position with the Georgiev extension, the starting role remains in the hands of “Jordan Binnington is not good”. Binnington was not the cause of the King’s playoff elimination, they just faced a vastly superior team in the Vegas Golden Knights. However, Binnington at times has been dreadful, and become the blunt of numerous PFHL league memes. There has been some chatter about the Kings looking at replacements, but being in the last year of his contract at a substantial $6M, that’s a pretty big pill for another team to swallow. Any Binnington move would no doubt require 2 separate transactions, one to move out Binnington, and another to bring in a replacement. With limited options in free agency, it might be possible that Binnington is back for the final year of his contract. This might be also something the team addresses mid-season once they know Binnington and other goaltender contract asks.
With the Vegas Golden Knights loading up for another deep run, and other Pacific division teams falling by the wayside, one has to expect the Kings to be a lock for the playoffs again next year. Where the Kings land this year though is a lot more grey, and a step back isn’t out of the question. With a number of big name players on the last year of the contracts (MacKenzie Weeger, Sean Couturier and Jake Guentzel), there could be MANY changes this season.
