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. Recently, I've been looking at which contracts the Kings could potentially trade for, broken down by division, and this article will focus on contracts from the Central Division.
So this article won’t include players that the Kings could likely get for cheap but instead players with whom the Kings could get assets for taking. It also won’t include contracts that are just too long or have too much money attached to them, like Brent Seabrook’s contract. So here are three players in the Central Division that the Kings could use cap space to acquire, in exchange for assets.
MATHIEU PERREAULT (WINNIPEG JETS): $4.13M for one year
The Jets are in serious need of help on their blue line and while they may have over $15 million of cap space available, that’s only dedicated to 13 contracts on their roster. Perreault had just 15 points in 49 games this season and isn’t playing anywhere near as many minutes as he was a few years ago. Winnipeg may look to offload the contract, though they are short on mid-round picks over the next two drafts, which could make a deal a bit tricky.
ZACK SMITH (CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS): $3.25M for one year
Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik are two key restricted free agents on the Blackhawks still in need of a contract, not to mention that Chicago needs a goalie as well and has under $8 million remaining to get it all done. Smith had just 11 points in 50 games this season and if the Blackhawks are able to shed his contract, they’ll probably jump at the opportunity. The Blackhawks could go the route of a buyout, however, considering it would likely only cost a mid-round pick to move Smith, that may be worthwhile.
ALEXANDER STEEN (ST. LOUIS BLUES): $5.75M for one year
The Blues are less than two weeks away from losing their star player in free agency and one of the key ways to create cap space would be shedding Steen’s contract. The major issue is that he has a full no-trade clause meaning he’d need to approve of a deal and it would be a hard sell for him to go from a contender in St. Louis to a rebuilding Kings group. We’ve seen the exact value of this trade if it does happen with the Marc Staal deal as a comparable, meaning a second-round pick would most likely be the asset attached to Steen in a deal.
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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?
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