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Dwight King #74
Age: 25
Contract Status: $1.95MM AAV through 2016-17
Stats:
Other stats:
Corsi for: 58.5%
Corsi Relative: 2.0%
% time with forwards: Carter - 40.7% Stoll - 39.7%
Shooting % - 13.5%
Shooting % vs. career - +2.4%
His season
To me it's hard not to like what Dwight King brought to the table this season. However, he remains a somewhat polarizing figure amongst King faithful. But why? Overall, when you look at Dwight King he played around 15 minutes a night, logging both powerplay and penalty kill time. His 18 penalty minutes, all of which were minors, was second least on the team amongst forwards who played at least 70 games. He was also fifth amongst forwards in hits, and had a positive corsi percentage relative to the rest of the team. Granted, he did get some pretty cushy minutes, Dwight King all in all was a very good depth forward this year for the Kings. I think where people run into criticism with Dwight King is his usage. King was utilized on the Kings top line for nearly 40% of the season, so when you look at 15 goals it's easy to say "That's it?" On the other side of it you could say well of course he had 15 goals he was on the top line. Take it for what it's worth, King notched 10 of his 15 goals while skating on the third line with Jarret Stoll. Now you could potentially draw a conclusion that King should never have been on the top line and his lack of production shows that, HOWEVER, that has more to do with Darryl Sutter and how he uses King and less to do with Dwight King.
If you isolate King and take him away from his situation and linemates, 30 points and 15 goals from a sophomore player who started the year with under 100 games NHL experience is very good. I think we tend to forget that with players with the Kings these days. Despite having two cups under his belt, Dwight King is still just 157 regular season games into his NHL career. That doesn't even add up to two full regular seasons. Aside from the production levels which are very good for a third line player, Kings killed penalties, logged minutes on the powerplay, and was able to fill in for the top line in a pinch if need be. He plays a style of hockey that is absolutely made for what the Kings want. He is huge, difficult to play against, has a solid work ethic, and can play 200 feet. That is Kings hockey. It's also part of the reason why Dean Lombardi inked the big winger to a three-year deal at a somewhat high (relatively speaking) cap hit of $1.96MM AAV.
I broke down the deal a little bit here,
while also contributing plenty of Dwight King faces to scare the living daylights out of you. That alone is worth the click.
While most people want more from Dwight King, he is still relatively young. As far as a sophomore season goes this one was quite good. 30 points, 11 in the playoffs, good possession numbers, and an all-around good season with plenty of contribution. He also contributed one of the more controversial and important goals of the entire postseason for the Kings in Game 2.
Moving forward
The contract Dwight King was just awarded might be a bit of a defining moment for the young forward. He wasn't signed to a league minimum deal, he was given a decent keep and now has to move on with the expectation of living up to that pricetag. King has just turned 25 years old (July 5th) and their could still be a lot of growth in him. 15 goals is a great start, but now it comes down to King being able to contribute that sort of offense on a regular basis. If he can continue to be a 30-40 point contributor from the bottom lines, just under 2 million a season will seem like a bargain deal considering some of the baffling contract handed out by GMs these days. His spot on the team as a bottom line power forward is almost certainly safe for next year and likely the year after that. He does have a lot to prove still and it will be interesting to see how he does next year.
King is what he is, and he's fairly good at being that. A lumbering power forward who can contribute everywhere on the ice. That's practically a B already in my book. He puts his team at very little risk when on the ice, plays a good solid game, and he pots a goal here and there. Can he be more moving forward? Sure. There seems to be plenty of potential for it. As far as this season goes, I don't think there is a more solid B on the entire lineup. He wasn't outstanding, he wasn't JUST average.
Final Grade: B
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