Over the last month or so, I've been writing player profiles which look at each player on the Kings and assess how they performed this year. I was planning for the Sean Walker article to be the last in my 'Reviewing the season' series, but I decided on one more to wrap it up. This article will look at each player who was traded by the Kings this year and how they performed with the team this season before being moved.
*Note: As was the case with the individual player profiles, I’ll only be looking at players who played at least 15 games with the Kings this season before being dealt.*
JACK CAMPBELL
Campell’s numbers with the Kings were down significantly this season but he still made for a decent backup goalie. He dropped from a .928 save percentage to a .900 save percentage in 20 games and had an 8-10-2 record. With Cal Petersen waiting to make the jump to the NHL, dealing Campbell made sense.
KYLE CLIFFORD
Clifford is consistent in his game and continued to bring grit to the bottom-six for the Kings. He had six goals and 14 points in 53 games at the time he was traded and had a very strong corsi for percentage of 54 per cent. That said, he was on an expiring contract and despite what he brings, he probably wasn’t going to fit into the team’s rebuild.
ALEC MARTINEZ
Martinez left a huge hole on Los Angeles’ blue line after being moved at the trade deadline. He was playing about 21:30 per game and was the only defenseman on the team whose role was anywhere near as large as Drew Doughty’s. He was counted on defensively and was the team’s best left-handed defenseman by a huge margin.
TYLER TOFFOLI
Toffoli was having a very strong year for the Kings and was on pace for 25 goals and 48 points per 82 games at the time he was traded. He had the best corsi for percentage on the team, at an outstanding 57.6 per cent and also led the team in expected goals for percentage at 57.3 per cent (according to NaturalStatTrick.com). They got a great return for him but his departure was certainly a big short-term loss for the Kings.
- BONUS: IlLYA KOVALCHUK -
Kovalchuk wasn’t traded but he did spend the beginning of the year with Los Angeles before his contract was terminated. He only played 17 games for the Kings this year and while he started quite well, he then went through a stretch of nine games with no goals and just two points, had terrible underlying numbers, wasn’t being used much at even strength and it became clear things weren’t going to work out. He was already 36 years old and given the direction the Kings were going in, he wasn’t a fit.
***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):
Who was having the best season at the time they left the Kings?
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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