Exit Interviews in the books for 2025.
Sharing key takeaways from today, as the Kings move into the offseason.
Several updates from this morning on injuries, contracts, future status updates and more, diving into those items below. For more on this morning’s news, as the Kings and Rob Blake mutually decided to part ways, CLICK HERE.
Injury Updates
– On the injury front, defenseman Drew Doughty estimated that he has around a month of rehabbing to do, to get his ankle back to 100 percent. Then begins what will be a long and intensive summer for himself of strength training, on top of his usual summer regimen, which has been significantly enhanced over the last few seasons.
“It’s going to start with just getting my ankle back to 100 percent,” Doughty said of his summer to come. “That’s going to take a lot of work with physio and stuff like that and hopefully that can get done in a month or so and get right into strength training.”
– For forward Tanner Jeannot, he missed the final 11 games of the season, in addition to the entire first round series versus Edmonton with a groin injury, as he confirmed today. Jeannot felt he could’ve been an option for the Kings in Round 2, if they got past the Oilers. As noted around a week ago, Jeannot had been skating on his own at TSPC and was ramping back up towards a potential return. Timeline just wasn’t quite long enough to get him in.
“I was doing everything I could to get back, I was really pushing and doing everything I could and I was pretty close,” Jeannot said. “It is what it is now, so just take the time in the offseason, get healthy and be ready to go for next year.”
Not every player was asked, but no one else highlighted an offseason surgery or a specific injury that hampered them during the postseason that requires any sort of work in the summer.
Pending Free Agents
Starting with the unrestricted free agents, the Kings had four who spoke to the media today.
Vladislav Gavrikov
The largest pending unrestricted free agent for the Kings is Vladislav Gavrikov.
At the trade deadline, Blake shared that he was optimistic about the prospects of an extension for Gavrikov, perhaps even before the end of the season. Naturally, that decision now rests elsewhere.
Gavrikov seemed very calm when discussing his contract status. He clearly stated there is no rush or deadline on his end when it comes to the possibility of re-signing with the Kings. He didn’t close the door, nor did he give any indication that a contract is close, but certainly indicated that there’s an open line of communication.
“Before the season, I let [the Kings] know I have no rush with that question, so we can wait until whenever,” Gavrikov said. “No one wants to talk about it, rushing it before the playoffs especially and during the summer, we have more time to think. I made it clear that we have plenty of time.”
Both in dollars and term, Gavrikov’s contract is likely the largest decision the Kings have to make this summer among internal free agents. Lots of factors in play here and I don’t think we gained a ton of clarity from today’s availability on where it might lead. With a change in general manager, I imagine that process now takes some time to play itself out and that seems to suit Gavrikov just fine.
Andrei Kuzmenko
Kuzmenko essentially agreed with Gavrikov in the “we’ll see” department.
His case is interesting. He spoke today about better understanding now what it takes to play in the NHL, after “three teams and five coaches”. Includes all 200 feet of the ice. His production with the Kings was terrific but he hasn’t had the consistency in his career to this point, as he has acknowledged.
Kuzmenko said today he liked his time in Los Angeles, liked the Kings organization, but that naturally his future is unknown.
“It’s a hard question, because I like LA, I like the organization, there’s a good relationship and with team there’s a good chance [to win],” he said. “I like it, but we will see what happens. We’ll see. This is hockey business.”
Tanner Jeannot
For Jeannot, he admitted his full focus was on his rehabbing and recovery. He hasn’t put a ton of thought into his pending UFA status at this time.
“I haven’t thought too much about it, I just was focused on when I could get back and to prove my value to the team here and go far in the playoffs,” he said. “I’m still getting over that. I’m going to be having lots of conversations with family and my agent. We really liked our year here and we’ll see what happens from here.”
Trevor Lewis
Lewis was asked if he planned to retire at the end of the 2024-25 season and indicated that he plans to continue playing.
“No, I don’t think so. We’ll see what happens in the summer, but I still feel good, so we’ll see what’s out there. I’d love to keep playing.”
Unclear if that comes with the Kings or another organization but for the 38-year-old forward, he does not plan to call it a career. Lewis reached the 1,000-game mark this season with the Kings, an important milestone in any player’s career and there is still the possibility of signing in his native Utah on the table. Hard to say. But Lewis was upfront that he does not plan to retire at this time, so we’ll see what happens there.
Additional Contract Discussions
Three other players to mention here – Anze Kopitar, Alex Laferriere and Adrian Kempe.
On Kopitar, he confirmed that he plans to return to the Kings for the 2025-26 season. Beyond that, he is unsure.
“Not yet, but I’m sure there will be a time in the near future where I see what I want to do,” he said. “I’ll be here next year for sure and then we’ll see what happens after that.
Kopitar implied last summer that his two-year contract extension would likely be his last. He left the door a bit more open than that today, I would say, but wasn’t committing either way. So, we could be experiencing the Anze Kopitar retirement tour, but we might not be. If and when that time comes, assuming it won’t be a secret.
On Laferriere, he is a restricted free agent for the first time since signing his entry-level contract.
He expressed a desire to be here for a long time but that commitment could come a few different ways. With a rising cap and Laferriere’s ceiling likely not yet reached, he could choose a couple of different approaches. He could choose to bet on himself with a short-term contract, signing for maybe a year or two, before perhaps cashing in bigger if his production improves with experience. Or, he could opt for more security, off a strong sophomore season, which would give him more money up front but perhaps cost him longer term down the road.
He didn’t tip his hand one way or the other, if he’s even thought about it yet as a first-time free agent.
“I haven’t gone through it before, this is my first time going through it,” he said today. “Luckily I have a really good support staff that’ll help me get through that, my family and my agents. I’m going to have a lot of conversations with them. Obviously I love it here and want to be here for as long as possible.”
He was not committing either way and I could see why both ways make sense.
On Kempe, he is extension eligible on July 1.
Like most others, he hasn’t really thought a ton about it yet. But he expressed his long-term desire to be a King, to be in Los Angeles and to remain with the only franchise he’s been with for his career to this point.
“I haven’t thought about it that much yet, I’ll probably start now in the summer and creeping into next season probably, but I love it here, I’ve only been here, so I can only have this experience, but I want to stay here, I want to take the next step with this organization. I want to take it back to when we were winning……personally, I want to be here as long as possible.”
That’s all on that front.
Two injuries, four pending UFA’s, one pending RFA’s and two first-line players entering the last seasons of their respective contracts, with each of their reactions on the situation.
Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images
3 On The Playoffs –
– Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe expressed after Game 6 that this one hit the hardest of the four Round 1 defeats, because of the team the Kings felt they had. Several others agreed with the sentiment today.
Mikey Anderson – Since I’ve been here, this is probably the best team that we’ve had, from top to bottom. Guys had some really good years to help get us there, so it sucks to have that good of a group, the way that guys are in the room, that’s probably the tightest room we’ve had too. It makes it a little bit harder, for sure.
Phillip Danault – This one was definitely the one I felt the most comfortable in and the group that could go the furthest, that’s for sure. It’s very unfortunate, what happened. Definitely the group I was believing in the most, for sure.
Drew Doughty – This one hurt big time. In past years, I’m not going to say that we could maybe win, but this year, truly, I felt like we were going to win this series……everyone bought into what we were supposed to do and I think this is the best team we’ve had here in a long, long time. Unfortunately, it didn’t get done.
Trevor Moore – For sure. It felt like we had our best group this year. It felt like what we had, we controlled the pace of play, I thought, for the first four games. It just sucks. We just didn’t get it done and that’s that.
Pretty much all in lockstep. This was the best team the Kings had in four years and they didn’t get the job done. That’ll sit with them far beyond just today’s interviews.
– It was clear from today that Games 3 and 4 impacted Game 5, in one way or another.
Forward Phillip Danault referenced the overtime in Game 4 as really gassing the team out, with Games 3 and 4 overall being where Edmonton took over the series, into a decisive Game 5. He felt that the fatigue might’ve impacted Game 5, but the Kings were ready to go for Game 6.
“I would say just Game 5 only, in Game 6 we played well. You only play every two days, some guys react differently and you think in different ways, you’re not as sharp sometimes.”
Defenseman Joel Edmundson was asked how much the coaches challenge in Game 3 impacted the series. He dismissed that quickly but pointed to emotional and physical fatigue from Games 3 and 4 as impacting Game 5 as well.
“Going back to the challenge, it’s not how we lost the series, but I think Games 3 and 4, those were emotional losses for our group and when you lose games like that, it’s tough to fall asleep that night,” Edmundson said. “Couple hours of sleep and you’re playing the next day, it wears you down. I think those Games 3 and 4 definitely hit us hard. We had a chance to bounce back at home and Game 5 was probably our worst game. I think just the lack of sleep, the energy wasn’t there in Game 5, but going back there for Game 6, we came out pretty good and we gave ourselves the chance. Games 3 and 4 hurt us for sure.”
Quinton Byfield was naturally asked about the play in Game 4 when he had the chance to clear the zone, which could have nearly iced the game, but he wasn’t able to. He said he hasn’t stopped thinking about that play and it would probably stick with him all summer long.
“It sucks. In the moment there, my thought process in that was just that I didn’t want to ice the puck on the empty net, I tried to make the safe, smart play and chip it out and I didn’t get that out. I think that play there, I’ll be thinking about that all summer, honestly. If I make that play there, we’re up 3-1. That’s a tough one to swallow and I think all summer, I’ll be thinking about that. It’s something that could have been a what if and I’ve got to deal with that. I play for all the boys, all the time, and in that moment, I felt like I let them down and I let them down in the playoffs.”
The series was lost in Game 6, but it’s Games 3 and 4 that will sit with the Kings heading into the summer.
– Last playoff-based topic – Jordan Spence spoke pretty candidly about his own situation during the series.
He certainly wasn’t thrilled with his usage but he’s a terrific teammate and showed up to the rink with the right attitude, saying he came to the rink every day “trying to improve on the ice, trying to be positive and just mentally being there, mentally being ready to play.”
Spence saw his role pretty drastically reduced in the postseason. I felt he carried himself very well today. He had the platform to speak his mind, if desired, and he did so to an extent. He didn’t go at anyone in particular but he vouched for the season he had, expressing that he felt he had a good year and wished he had been able to contribute more in the playoffs, while expressing he’d like a bigger role going into next year.
He also made clear he wants to remain in Los Angeles.
“I really do want to be here,” he said. “For them to see that, if I could possibly play longer here, that’s where I want to be. I think I’m ready for the challenge, for them to give me more opportunity and I’m going to go back home train hard and see where it goes.”
Lots to unpack in there.
There was so much more from today that I will dissect over the coming days, especially once the videos are turned around and posted. Once those are up, will dive into Jim Hiller’s interview directly, along with each of the 18 players who spoke over the course of the two hours. Will share all of that over the next week, along with Luc Robitaille’s interview, which will come tomorrow at 2 PM.
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