Drew Doughty: “With all this cap room, yeah we’ve got to bring guys in”
Drew Doughty is tired of losing.
The Los Angeles Kings finished the season 21-28-7, well out of contention in the West Division. L.A. has now missed the playoffs in three consecutive seasons and they haven’t won a playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup in 2014.
At the Kings’ exit interviews earlier this week, the veteran defenceman challenged general manager Rob Blake to add more to the team’s roster over the off-season. Doughty stated that the team’s “core four” of him, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, and Jonathan Quick aren’t getting any younger and that they need reinforcements in order to compete.
“You’ve got two of the best players at their positions [himself and Kopitar], two-way, complete players at their positions, Doughty said. “With all of this cap room, yeah we’ve got to bring guys in. We’ve got to get better, that’s the bottom line, that’s what we need. Yeah, all the individual players need to get better over the summer, stuff like that. But, as a team, we just need to be better and get better. That’s not just on the players.”
The Kings have $61 million committed to their roster for 2021-22, which gives Blake about $20 million to work with this summer. L.A. will also have a handful of players on cheap, entry-level contracts, such as Gabe Vilardi, Alex Turcotte, and Arthur Kaliyev, so they’ll have quite a bit of flexibility over the coming seasons.
There’s more than enough room for the Kings to make a play at @Jack Eichel this summer, given their cap room and wealth of young talent. If they strike out there, the Kings could go after a top free agent, like @Taylor Hall or @Dougie Hamilton