Expansion Draft Preview: Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are navigating through a long rebuilding process.

They’ve missed the playoffs in three consecutive seasons and they haven’t won a playoff round since their Stanley Cup victory in 2014.

The Kings were one of the league’s best during the first half of the 2010s but going all-in year after year resulted in them having a bare farm system and an ugly salary cap situation. Now, after a few years of unloading contracts and focusing on the draft, the Kings have stockpiled a strong system and appear ready to turn a corner.

Thanks to them having so much young talent, this will be an easy expansion draft for the Kings to navigate.

Eligible Forwards

@Anze Kopitar, @Dustin Brown, @Alex Iafallo, @Adrian Kempe, @Brendan Lemieux, @Andreas Athanasiou, @Austin Wagner, @Blake Lizotte, @Lias Andersson, @Trevor Moore, @Bokondji Imama, @Carl Grundstrom, @Martin Frk, @Matt Luff

Eligible Defencemen

@Drew Doughty, @Olli Maatta, @Sean Walker, @Christian Wolanin, @Kurtis MacDermid, @Kale Clague, @Matt Roy, @Jacob Moverare, @Austin Strand

Eligible Goaltenders

@Calvin Petersen, @Jonathan Quick, @Troy Grosenick

Exempt Players

@Tyler Madden, @Arthur Kaliyev, @Alex Turcotte, @Quinton Byfield, @Gabriel Vilardi, @Rasmus Kupari, @Akil Thomas, @Samuel Fagemo, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, @Michael Anderson, @Sean Durzi

What should they do?

The big decision for L.A. will be to prioritize keeping their blueline intact or protecting some middling young forwards.

The Kings have three players who are obvious choices to protect: Anze Kopitar, Alex Iaflallo, and Drew Doughty, who owns a no-movement clause. In net, they’ll also likely go with Cal Petersen, who seems to be the goaltender of the future.

The majority of L.A.’s important forwards, such as Alex Turcotte, Quinton Byfield, and Arthur Kaliyev, are exempt from being selected. That means the Kings could opt to do the eight-skater protection scheme and instead prioritize protecting defencemen. The decision comes down to whether L.A. would rather protect somebody like Sean Walker or Olli Maatta over a forward like Trevor Moore or Lias Andersson.

My guess is that the Kings protect Kopitar, Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, Dustin Brown, Doughty, Maatta, Kale Clague, and Matt Roy. That would leave Seattle with a middling forward, such as Lias Andersson, Brendan Lemieux, or Trevor Moore as their choice from L.A.