Kings Extend Qualifying Offers To Bjornfot, Fagemo, Madden & Thomas + Ward Signs One-Year Extension

The LA Kings have announced that the following players have received qualifying offers for the 2023-24 season –

Tobias Bjornfot ($874,125)
Samuel Fagemo ($787,500)
Tyler Madden ($874,125)
Akil Thomas ($787,500)
*All figures per Cap Friendly

*Update – The Kings have also signed forward Taylor Ward to a one-year, two-way contract extension. Ward’s deal carries a cap hit of $775,000 at the NHL level and $95,000 at the AHL level. So, while he was not among the players qualified, that makes five returning players of the RFA’s.

The list for the Kings got a little bit shorter this week, with forwards Rasmus Kupari and Gabriel Vilardi removed from the contract to-do list, as both players were moved to Winnipeg as part of the trade that brought forward Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Kings. More on that deal here for a refresher.

First things first, a qualifying offer is not a signed contract today. It’s a signed contract when it is in fact signed by the player. All qualifying offers are one year in length. A player does not have to accept a qualifying offer, but should a player accept it, the team is required to honor it. A player who rejects a qualifying offer remains a restricted free agent with their existing team. Cap Friendly offers a great breakdown of what goes into a qualifying offer HERE, including a calculator to see what an offer would look like for a Kings player or any other restricted free agent around the NHL. All players who were not tendered a qualifying offer today become unrestricted free agents.

Looking at the players who were qualified, the biggest name in the bunch is likely Tobias Bjornfot, who was one of three younger defensemen mentioned by General Manager Rob Blake on Wednesday when speaking about younger players who are likely to fill out the end of the roster. Despite featuring in just 10 NHL games this past season, Bjornfot is quite experienced for his age, after he led Kings blueliners in games played during the 2021-22 season. Among players who were selected in the 2019 NHL Draft, Bjornfot ranks 14th in games played and second amongst defensemen, exceeding his draft status to date. Factoring all of that in, his eventual contract will be interesting. Bjornfot’s qualifying offer is for $874,125 at the NHL level.

Additionally, forward Samuel Fagemo has now skated in NHL games over the past two seasons and should be a player who comes to camp and battles for a roster spot. If it hasn’t resonated by now, the Kings need young players on entry-level deals to come in and compete for roster spots which are now available. Consider Fagemo one of the players towards the top of that list with an opportunity to do so. His qualifying offer is lower than Bjornfot’s, at $787,500.

Regarding the two additional players who did receive qualifying offers, Madden and Thomas have shown promise at the AHL level and merited another season with the organization to hopefully work towards taking the next step. Thomas, a second-round pick by the Kings in 2018, has had his career derailed by injury, around some solid production when in the lineup. Madden has taken the step into a top-six role in the AHL, with an NHL callup last season, though he did not play. Two to keep an eye on, likely in Ontario to start, but moving forward potentially into the NHL picture.

On Ward, he has 36 points from 87 AHL games over the past two seasons, after he signed a one-year, entry-level contract. Ward is old by prospect standards – 25 years old – but young by professional standards, as he’s played just one full season plus a handful of games on an ATO out of college the year before. Another year for him to grow and develop, and another year for the Kings to assess the progress.

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images

With qualifying offers being the first piece of contract-related news, there is a new lens that we have to start using when evaluating transactions, at least for the 2023-24 season. The LA Kings are extremely tight against the salary cap right now and when looking at filling out the bottom of the roster, every dollar counts. The Kings currently have just over $4.5 million in space and have just 15 skaters and a goaltender signed. Rob Blake shared that the Kings may not be a 23-player team this season and that means the Kings have to be creative in certain areas. Going off a 21-man roster, which would be where the Kings max out right now without another transaction, that’s right around $900,000 per player on average. If you want to count Brandt Clarke and Jordan Spence in those projections, it increases to $951,111 per player, with three skaters and a goaltender needed. We don’t know what Tobias Bjornfot’s contract will be, but you work him in as well, potentially, and it becomes clearer. Either way, decisions need to be made and even when decisions feel like pinching pennies, they could be important ones towards icing the best possible roster on a nightly basis.

The most prominent players who did not receive a qualifying offer today are Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Zack MacEwen. There are a couple of reasons that would make sense as to why that was the case.

The first reason why those players are interesting conversations is that both are arbitration eligible. Arbitration is a tricky process, during which team and player submit what they respectively believe they are worth and a neutral arbitrator decides. So, should an arbitration-eligible RFA be qualified, reject that offer and elect to go to arbitration – as is their right through the CBA – they could potentially be awarded a contract that exceeds what the Kings would be comfortable paying that player. A player electing arbitration does not necessarily mean it goes that far, the two sides can negotiate in that time, but with the Kings being as strapped for cap space as they are, it could potentially result in a situation that doesn’t work for the team and that presents risk.

Secondly, per CapFriendly, MacEwen would have been entitled to a qualifying offer of $971,250 this summer should the Kings have opted to qualify him. That’s certainly not unreasonable by any means, but if you go off of those averages listed above, it’s over that number, which means the Kings would need to cut money elsewhere. Knowing that the Kings need a goaltender to complement Pheonix Copley, who could cost more than $900,000, decisions like that have to be factored in. Managing cap space every day this season will be important and even with a player they might like, there has to be compromise when it comes to the fourth forward line and third defensive pairing. Could the Kings negotiate a contract with a lower cap hit for a player like Anderson-Dolan, MacEwen or someone similar? Absolutely they could. But, when it comes to rounding out the roster, the Kings have to manage risk. The Kings can’t keep everyone and will have to adjust accordingly.

On the list of players who were not qualified, a couple were already known or at least reported to be headed elsewhere. Goaltender David Hrenak has already signed a contract overseas with Bili Tygri Liberec of the Czech Extraliga, which is ironically enough where new Kings draft pick Jakub Dvorak plays. Additionally, reports have speculated that forward Lias Andersson could sign in Sweden, which he is now free to do. Two great people who you wish all the best to moving forward.

With a couple of the other players who were not qualified, a couple of tough decisions in there. Players like Aidan Dudas and Matthew Villalta were draft picks who took strides in the AHL with Ontario and were high-character players but did not crack the NHL level. Others like Jacob Ingham were derailed by injury. Always the possibility of a contract not related to the qualifying offer, or an AHL deal, for select players in the non-qualified group, so we wait and see.

Busy week ahead, Insiders! More to follow.