Kings acquire defenseman Kyle Burroughs in exchange for forward Carl Grundstrom

The LA Kings have acquired defenseman Kyle Burroughs from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for forward Carl Grundstrom. The trade is 1-for-1.

Burroughs is a 28-year-old defenseman who played last season with San Jose. He’s cracked the NHL on a full-time basis over the last three seasons after spending five in the minor leagues, first in the ECHL and then the AHL. Depth on the front end going out, depth on the backend coming in.

More on the deal below.

Instant Analysis –
Let’s start with the trade itself.

This is a 1-for-1 swap, with the Kings acquiring a bottom-pairing defenseman in exchange for a fourth-line forward. The reality on Grundstrom is that he is probably slated to make more money this season than the Kings see themselves spending on a fourth-line winger this season, especially when considering that the Kings have internal options on league-minimum contracts ready for an NHL opportunity. Burroughs makes less money and fills a different role. Depth player for depth player, hopefully a swap the Kings can benefit from.

On Burroughs, the Kings are acquiring one of the NHL’s most physical defensemen. With 233 hits this past season, Burroughs ranked fourth in the NHL in that category amongst blueliners. He logged 19:09 per game on a bad San Jose team and as such, posted one of the league’s worst +/- ratings, while also contributing as a second-pairing penalty kill guy. At 5-on-5 this past season, Burroughs logged the second most minutes on the Sharks among defensemen and on a team that shipped out goals, the numbers aren’t……..great. If you dive into the 2023-24 numbers exclusively they’re a bit gnarly, but keep in mind he played higher in the lineup on one of the worst teams in NHL history, in a higher role than he’d play in Los Angeles. In his time with Vancouver, while he did not produce a ton of offense, he ranked inside the NHL’s Top-40 in terms of goals against per/60 during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, out of more than 200 blueliners to log more than 1,000 minutes. In the right role, on a team that was just average, he was a low-event, physical defenseman. Not a point producer but kept the puck out of his net at a nearly identical clip to Mikey Anderson. In the right role on a team that could be better than that, without a ton of expectations…..willing to take a bet on a better statline.

This appears to be a depth acquisition for the Kings. The picture we see right now on the backend for the Kings is Drew Doughty as the team’s undisputed RD1, with younger players in Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke set to play behind Doughty. There’s the pending unrestricted free agency of Matt Roy and his return has not been ruled out. There’s a Plan B though if Roy signs elsewhere with the pair of young, up-and-coming defensemen. It’s not immediately clear where Burroughs factors into that picture. Could certainly see him on the roster as the seventh defenseman, a chance of pace option on the backend, as a guy who has played in the league and is more than capable of stepping in. Could see him, potentially, winning a third-pairing job with a strong training camp. His contract is also structured to where he could be assigned to the AHL and not cost the Kings anything against the cap, coming in at $1,100,000 for two more seasons, just below the maximum amount that can be assigned without staying on the cap. So, there are not any ties that would force the Kings to make a particular move here.

Regarding Grundstrom, the Kings liked what he brought, for sure, but at the end of the day, it was unlikely he would have fit in this offseason. Not that the team didn’t want him and not that he didn’t want to stay, but his contract this past season was for $1,300,000 and his qualifying offer would have come in at the same number. The Kings have younger players like Akil Thomas and Alex Turcotte who are pushing for a bottom-six roster spot and the Kings are in search of adding higher-end players to the lineup as well. In order to do that, you need guys towards the bottom of the lineup who can contribute at smaller cap hits. For the Kings, saving that amount of money in cap space by potentially using a younger player or a cheaper veteran allows them to add elsewhere.

I was always a big Grundstrom fan, personally. I worked with Ontario when the Kings acquired Grundstrom from Toronto and saw him grow and develop from 2019 until now. A good guy who can play the game. I loved his combination of physicality and a heavy shot and when he was one, you saw a potential middle-six winger. I just don’t think we saw that enough and ultimately, Grundstrom settled in as an effective fourth-line player. Nothing at all wrong with that and he was a contributor, but that next step just didn’t come as it was perhaps expected to. Wishing him all the best in San Jose. On a team with fewer options and lower expectations, I’m hoping Grundstrom goes in and plays higher in the lineup. He could get the opportunity to do that in Northern California that never came in Los Angeles. Here’s to hoping he does.

From the team’s official release –

The LA Kings have acquired defenseman Kyle Burroughs from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for forward Carl Grundstrom.

Burroughs, 28, notched a pair of goals, eight points (2-6=8) and 71 penalty minutes (PIM) in an NHL career-best 73 games for San Jose last season. The 6-0, 193-pound blueliner has played in 168 career NHL games over parts of four seasons split between San Jose, the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche, collecting five goals and 14 assists for 19 points (5-14=19).

A seventh-round selection (196th overall) of the New York Islanders in the 2013 NHL Draft, Burroughs is a veteran of 324 career American Hockey League (AHL) games, accumulating 18 goals and 86 points (18-68=86) over parts of seven seasons with the Colorado Eagles and Bridgeport Sound Tigers. He has added one goal and four assists (1-4=5) in nine career Calder Cup contests. The Vancouver, B.C. native’s best professional season came in the 2017-18 campaign with Bridgeport where he set career-highs in games played (75), goals (6), points (25) and plus-minus (plus-16).

Prior to turning pro, Burroughs played five seasons (2010-15) of junior hockey with the Regina Pats and Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League (WHL).