Sports fans know that the one thing that could really help or really hurt their franchise is the salary cap. Teams can unload contracts and be free of that money or use it at their discretion to improve their team. The Los Angeles Kings are one team that is close to the salary cap, but also one that might not need that extra cap money. Capfriendly.com indicates that the 2018 projected cap hit for the Kings is $77.3 million and that their cap space, baring any trades or releases, is $2.154 million at the time of this article.
The problem is that the Kings have (currently) 21 of 23 players under contract. Not to mention the entry level contracts that prospects are on. The Kings are in good shape as far as the core of the roster goes. Anze Kopitar (6 years remaining), Dustin Brown (4 years), Jeff Carter (4 years), Tyler Toffoli (2 years), Drew Doughty (8 years), Dion Phaneuf (3 years) Alec Martinez (3 years), Jake Muzzin (2 years) and Jonathan Quick (5 years) are locked up for the next 2 years at least. Everyone of the players mentioned above have either a no trade or no movement clause. This does not mean that can’t be traded without a submission of teams to be traded to by that player and cannot be traded to just anyone.
Entry level contracts are a part of this as well. The Kings have several non-roster players on entry level contracts, including Cal Peterson (1 year left), Rasmus Kupari (3 years left), Gabriel Vilardi (3 years left) and Jaret Anderson-Dolan (3 years left). The Kings have 5 players without entry level contracts including Kurtis MacDermid (2 years left on RFA deal, Oscar Fantenberg (1 year UFA), Jonny Brodzinski (1 year RFA) Alex Lintuniemi (1 year RFA) and Zack Mitchell (1 year RFA). What will the future costs the Kings? We shall see.
(photo:thesportster.com)
(stats:NHL.com)
