With an even better year from the former Minnesota Duluth standout in 2022-23, he’ll start gaining more attention league-wide as a defensive-minded shutdown artist. Mikey AndersonĢ022-23 salary: Unsigned RFA (Finished his entry-level contract, which had a $925,000 cap hit)
#ROLLING SKY BONUS LEVEL FULL#
He’s an alternate captain with a full no-move clause, is one of the last links to the Cup years and is still at the front of a team ready to cycle back up. Let’s see, Doughty is easily on the short list of the greatest defensemen – to be real, players – in Kings history. Drew DoughtyĢ022-23 salary: $11 million ($4 million paid out in a signing bonus) Consider that the Kings have what CapFriendly estimates is only $1.5 million of salary cap space after shelling out more than $55 million over seven years for Fiala and $22 million over four years to retain leading goal scorer Adrian Kempe.ĭo the Kings have to trade a defenseman at some point? Or can Blake, Yawney and head coach Todd McLellan manage their lot as effectively as they did in 2021-22? Let’s take a look. But there is also time to consider if a move must be made to alleviate a crowded part of the team. There is more than enough time for the Kings to get extensions done with both. Two of them – Mikey Anderson and Sean Durzi – do not have contracts as of now. Players want to be on the ice, however, and the return of Doughty and Sean Walker to the blue line will only ramp up the competition for ice time when camps open next month. Teams will say that you can never have too many defensemen and the Kings proved that theory last season. The depth was so great that Kings general manager Rob Blake could part with Brock Faber in his successful quest to bring in Kevin Fiala.īut only six can play at one time – unless you’re Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper and are a fan of rolling with seven defenders and 11 forwards. Nine defensemen remain and that’s not including high-valued prospects Brandt Clarke and Helge Grans, who’ll make their bids to force their way into the 2022-23 conversation. Meanwhile, Kale Clague is long gone and Christian Wolanin has moved on. Austin Strand is in Anaheim’s organization. Olli Määttä = signed with Detroit and Troy Stecher is now with Arizona. Teams never return in their entirety from year to year and the Kings have made alterations to the defense corps over the summer.
#ROLLING SKY BONUS LEVEL SERIES#
Through some wondrous mixing and matching by assistant coach Trent Yawney and yeoman’s work of the blue line to cover for the late-season injury to Drew Doughty, the club not only secured its berth but managed to take three games from eventual Western Conference finalist Edmonton in nearly winning its first postseason series since the second Stanley Cup triumph in 2014. The Kings used 14 players on their back end last season on the way to their first playoff berth since 2018. Changes are made due to performance or matchups. A former general manager once told me that a team needed 10 defensemen to get through a full NHL season.