The Los Angeles Kings have taken great strides over the past month and find themselves at the top of the Pacific Division. With the team playing well, one would assume that the Kings make the playoffs. Not so quick.
Who is going and who is staying on the Los Angeles Kings?
The fact the Los Angeles Kings are playing well is not a surprise to anyone. They have a well-balanced team that competes every night and has three future Hall of Famers. What fans should think about NHL trade deadline day, and future UFAs of the Kings that could be moved. Players who could be UFAs include goaltenders Jonathan Quick and Pheonix Copley, forward Brendan Lemieux, and defenseman Alex Edler.
Of course, we would love for all of them to stay playing for the Los Angeles Kings. However, this season we could see all of them gone, a few trades, or one single trade being made. The bad news is these four could be entering the final month as a member of the Los Angeles Kings. The good thing? These players do have trade value and could bring prospects to help the success of the Kings.
We should not get ahead of ourselves. These players could stay and re-sign in the offseason, which would be great for the Los Angeles Kings. With that said, each of these players provides depth to another team loaded with prospects and is a valuable piece to the King’s organization.
With speculation that general manager Rob Blake was going to make a move to bring in left-handed defensemen, speculation seems to have softened. Blake is known to make his team stronger so we should look at players who could be coming rather than leaving.
There are tons of possibilities on who could be joining the Los Angeles Kings or leaving if Blake does make a move. Blake is also one to make a move that none of us have thought about as well. He holds all of the cards this trade deadline. Only Blake and his staff know which direction they are headed this season on trade deadline day. There are options to trade away talent, options to trade for talent, and the option of staying put and riding it out.
(photo: latimes.com; Helene Elliott) (photo: lakingsinsider.com; Zach Dooley)
