The Los Angeles Kings have quite a bit of cap space remaining and it could be a good move to use that cap space to take back some bad contracts, in exchange for assets. Over the next week, I’ll look at which contracts the Kings could potentially trade for, broken down by division. This article will focus on contracts from the Metropolitan Division.
So this article won’t include players that the Kings could likely get for cheap (Ryan Dzingel, James van Riemsdyk, etc) but instead players who the Kings could get assets with for taking. It also won’t include contracts that are just too long or have too much money attached, like Andrew Ladd’s contract. So here are six players that the Kings could use cap space to acquire, in exchange for assets.
JOHNNY BOYCHUK (NEW YORK ISLANDERS): $6M AAV for two years
Boychuk is the first of many contracts between the two New York teams on this list and one that the Islanders will certainly want to move, given their cap crunch. Boychuk is still a serviceable defenseman but the issue is he’s being paid two or three times what he’s worth. The issue I see with the Kings taking this contract is that they’d probably want some key assets in return and the Islanders don’t have the draft picks or prospects to do it. You never know, maybe they could swing a deal here but considering Boychuk has a partial no-trade clause as well, I’d say this isn’t the most likely contract on this list to be taken.
CAL CLUTTERBUCK (NEW YORK ISLANDERS): $3.5M AAV for two years
Clutterbuck was a key part of the Islanders’ fourth line over the last couple seasons but with Matt Martin unlikely to be re-signed, the team will have to rework the fourth line anyways. Clutterbuck is making far too much money but would be a fairly easy contract for the Kings to take. I could see the Islanders looking to attach Nick Leddy to the Clutterbuck contract as an asset, which I’d be pretty okay with. The Islanders need a left-handed defenseman who can play big minutes and they could use Leddy for a season or two while prospects like Mikey Anderson, Tobias Bjornfot and Kale Clague develop. Plus, they’d likely be able to flip him at the 2022 trade deadline with retained salary for assets.
THOMAS HICKEY (NEW YORK ISLANDERS): $2.5M AAV for two years
Hickey is another one of the contracts that the Islanders will probably be looking to move. The difference with Hickey is that he is making less money but in turn, likely isn’t an NHL defenseman anymore. I’d imagine if the Kings and Islanders were swinging a deal for Hickey, like is the case with Clutterbuck, Leddy would be the main asset that New York’s trying to send back the other way.
LEO KOMAROV (NEW YORK ISLANDERS): $3M AAV for two years
Komarov is a similar player/contract to Clutterbuck, but is making slightly less. He can still play in a bottom-six role, though whether he’d get a permanent spot in the Kings’ lineup would probably be up in the air. I’m not sure which player the Islanders would prioritize moving but no matter who it is, I’d imagine Leddy is part of the offer.
BRENDAN SMITH (NEW YORK RANGERS): $4.35M for one year
Smith has a year remaining on his contract and the fact is, the Rangers need some cap space. They still need to re-sign Ryan Strome, Tony DeAngelo, Alexander Georgiev, Brendan Lemieux and potentially Jesper Fast. If the Rangers could clear space by moving Smith, it would go a long way. They do have some extra mid-round draft picks in this year and next year’s draft but I doubt that would be enough to move Smith. Plus, I think if the Rangers tried to move a contract, it might be the player below.
MARC STAAL (NEW YORK RANGERS): $5.7M for one year
Staal has been talked about as a buyout candidate for a while now and this year is no different. However, he’ll still have a fair amount of money counted against the cap this season ($3.6M), which doesn’t help the Rangers all that much. Maybe the Kings could swing a deal here to take Staal’s 5.7M cap hit off the books to give the Rangers some breathing room to sign their key players. The key issue is that Staal does have a full no-movement clause, which he’d have to waive in advance of any trade. However, if he did, this could be a move the Kings could realistically try to make.
*UPDATE: It looks like the Detroit Red Wings have already beat the Kings to this one, as the Rangers have reportedly traded Marc Staal to the Red Wings, according to The Athletic's Joe McDonald.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Kings Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_LAKings for updates on articles, Kings news, etc. We're starting right from scratch, so any followers would be appreciated!***
Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Which player do you think is the most likely option for the Kings to acquire in exchange for assets?
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»