Offseason Table Setter – Contracts, Cap Space, Free Agents, Key Storylines

The offseason is here.

Earlier than it should be. But it’s here nonetheless.

I think the Kings enter this summer with fewer question marks than they did at this time last year, but with question marks nonetheless. The Kings have more players under contract and fewer contracts to get rid of, if you will. The biggest moves last season involved the need to sign forward Quinton Byfield, which came on the early side, with four veterans added either via trade or free agency on top of Byfield re-signing. The biggest move saw the contract of forward Pierre-Luc Dubois moved out in one of those four transactions. I don’t think there was much inclination that a Dubois trade was available to be made this time last summer, so naturally things can happen that we are not expecting. But there are more players under contract this summer, with more roles filled, than at this time last year. There’s also a new man at the helm, with Ken Holland coming in as the team’s new general manager.

To start, here’s an overview of where the Kings are at heading into the summer, looking at players who ended the season on the NHL roster –

Forwards (11) – Quinton Byfield, Phillip Danault, Kevin Fiala, Warren Foegele, Samuel Helenius, Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, Jeff Malott, Trevor Moore, Akil Thomas, Alex Turcotte

Defensemen (7) – Mikey Anderson, Kyle Burroughs, Brandt Clarke, Drew Doughty, Joel Edmundson, Jacob Moverare, Jordan Spence

Goaltenders (1) – Darcy Kuemper

UFA’s with NHL Games in 24/25 – Pheonix Copley, Vladislav Gavrikov, Tanner Jeannot, Caleb Jones, Andrei Kuzmenko, Trevor Lewis, David Rittich, Taylor Ward

RFA’s with NHL Games in 24/25 – Alex Laferriere

UFA’s w/o NHL Games in 24/25 – Joseph Cecconi, Samuel Fagemo, Reilly Walsh

RFA’s w/o NHL Games in 24/25 – Martin Chromiak, Cole Krygier, Jack Studnicka

Prospects To Be Signed By 2025 – Braden Doyle, Jack Hughes, Matthew Mania

By my count, thanks to Puck Pedia, that makes 18 players who the Kings need to make a decision on this summer.

Some will be very easy and some will be more difficult. But as you look at those names, what I see is a lot of uncertainty in one form or another. You could say that the Kings are very likely to retain Alex Laferriere and I agree 100 percent. What will his contract look like, though? That I do not know and it could go a number of different ways. What this list doesn’t have are a ton of sure things or slam dunks. I’d expect the Kings to retain RFA’s Laferriere and Martin Chromiak, who has upped his production each season thus far at the AHL level. Beyond those two, though, is there any name on that list you’d be 100 percent confident in returning? I certainly wouldn’t think so.

Puck Pedia provides several tools in calculating the amount of space the Kings are projected to have for the coming season. With a rising salary cap, with a cap ceiling that has already been confirmed, the Kings have substantially more space than usual, with fewer spots on the roster than usual to use that room. Kings President Luc Robitaille has said that the Kings will not spend just to spend but are committed to spending to that number in order to win. Therefore, there is no mention of an “internal cap” at this time, so using the NHL’s salary-cap ceiling for these projections.

With the 19 players above accounted for, the Kings currently have $5,250,000 committed to one goaltender, $23,213,334 committed to seven defensemen and $42,955,833 committed to 11 forwards. That adds up to a total of $71,419,167 in salary-cap hits for those 19 players entering the summer.

On top of that, the Kings have two additional cap charges at this time. Defenseman Brandt Clarke reached a performance bonus for the 2024-25 season of $212,500 (25 assists) and Puck Pedia currently has that transferring to the 2025-26 salary cap, though it is possible that could be covered under last season’s cap. There is also a $600,000 charge for Mike Richards, who will remain on the books until 2032.

So, when you factor all of that in, the Kings have a current projected cap hit of $72,231,667 against a salary cap of $95,500,000, which means $23,268,333 of projected salary-cap space for the team. Again, those figures account for the 19 players listed above, which would leave four spots on the roster to fill. Assuming all 19 of those players are kept on the active roster for next season, which is far from a guarantee, the Kings would need to add one goaltender, 2-3 forwards and one defensemen.

Heading into the summer, here are the four most pressing players and decisions to be made to round out the roster –

1. Key UFA’s – Gavrikov, Kuzmenko, Jeannot
2. Alex Laferriere’s New Contract
3. Internal Promotions
4. Over The Top External Acquisitions

1. Key UFA’s
Robitaille identified Gavrikov, Kuzmenko and Jeannot as the three key unrestricted free agents the Kings need to make decisions on this summer.

Gavrikov is the priciest, both in terms of salary-cap hit and term. Kuzmenko is the most interesting, considering his style of play and what feels like a wide-range of opinions on what his next contract might look like. Jeannot ranks behind those players in both areas, but like Kuzmenko carries an interesting resume that makes his next contract difficult to predict.

On Gavrikov, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said that the organization and Gavrikov were discussing a seven-year extension back in March, around the trade deadline. That contract ultimately did not get signed and that was negotiated with Rob Blake as the team’s general manager. With new leadership on the way, it’s unclear how exactly both sides would proceed in that area. With a rising salary cap and Gavrikov agreeing to a two-year extension in 2023, his next contract will almost certainly cost more than his current salary-cap hit of $5,875,000. The question just boils down to how much more, when you factor in term. A shorter deal means a higher cap hit, but with less commitment. A longer deal likely reduces the cap hit, with the longer guarantee. If the Kings don’t re-sign Gavrikov, they’d likely need to add a Top-4 defenseman from elsewhere, which would require a commitment of another variety.

With Kuzmenko and Jeannot, the numbers that will be discussed will likely be lower than with Gavrikov. It didn’t sound like Kuzmenko had opened discussions yet on an extension, though Robitaille included him in this group of three UFA’s. There was some discussion with regards to Jeannot, but again, that was under Blake’s leadership in the GM role. These aren’t decisions that will impact the available amount of salary-cap space in the way that Gavrikov would, but still important players who need to be sorted out.

2. Alex Laferriere’s New Contract
Laferriere’s new contract will be a very interesting one.

Per AFP Analytics, Laferriere’s contract could carry a projected cap hit of around $3.8 million on a short-term contract (two years) or closer to $6.5 million on a long-term contract (seven years). His deal is one of the most likely on that list to get done, maybe even the most likely, but he could take a few different directions. With the cap set to rise next year and the year after, would a “bet on himself” type contract make sense, for maybe one or two seasons, betting his production increases to that of a 25 or 30-goal scorer and then cashing in as an RFA down the road? Or, coming off what was nearly a 20-goal season with a lot of upside, would he prefer to get more security now, making more money in Year 1 but perhaps less on the later years of his contract? Or maybe somewhere in the middle?

The Kings really like Laferriere and they see him fitting in a number of different roles. He’s one of the last guys you place in the lineup because he can play anywhere, with anyone. There’s value in that. Interested to see where things go on that front.

3. Internal Promotions
Not included on the list above are players who are signed to contracts now but did not finish the season with the NHL club.

The biggest name to look at here is Andre Lee, who made the team out of training camp and played in 19 games with the Kings in total. Lee signed a two-year contract extension back in March. 2025-26 is a two-way deal while 2026-27 is a one-way deal, with a salary-cap hit of $775,000. Lee showed he can contribute in a fourth-line role, offering the size and physicality the Kings have sought to play at the bottom of their lineup. He brings a league-minimum salary-cap hit as well, which leaves more money to be spent elsewhere. Lee is not a lock for next season, but he could either fill one of the open spots or replace someone, certainly.

Two other names to look out for – Erik Portillo and Liam Greentree.

Portillo signed a three-year contract extension last summer and carries a cap hit of $783,333 on a one-way contract for both the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons. Portillo was expected to claim the lion’s share of the work in the AHL, while filling in as needed at the NHL level. He did some of that on both fronts, but an injury ended his season in mid-February. In a perfect world, the Kings would have loved to see Portillo have a healthy and productive season that made him the leading candidate to be the backup goaltender with the NHL club entering next season. The numbers make sense, salary wise, but for a team that doesn’t want its starter playing 65 games next season, how confident do you feel in handing that role to a player with one career NHL start, albeit one with as much potential as Portillo has? I think the Kings will likely sign at least one veteran goaltender to compete for the backup job, but Portillo, assuming full health, should be in that mix as well.

For Greentree, he’s a huge wild card but you have to think about him as a potential NHL player after one of the best junior seasons in recent memory from a Kings prospect. The problem, if you will, is that Greentree is too good for the OHL but is not eligible to play in the AHL. He actually missed that cut by, literally, one day. If Greentree was born on December 31, he’d be AHL eligible. He was born on January 1, though, and is not. It’s a dumb rule but a rule nonetheless. Coming of a 119-point season, Greentree finds himself in a similar place to where Brandt Clarke was in 2022-23, in a state of limbo. He’ll come to NHL training camp with eyes on making the team. He just might impress enough to do that and he comes in at an entry-level contract price. Clarke wound up playing nine NHL games and five AHL games before joining Team Canada at the World Junior Championships and eventually returning to the OHL for the second half of his season. No guarantees for Greentree, but that type of path could at least be on the table. If not, unfortunately he would be unable to play a full season in the AHL.

4. Over The Top External Acquisitions
The Kings will sign players on July 1, no doubt about that.

The question is who and how big. Every team makes moves on the first day of free agency. The Kings, with ample cap space to work with, could shop anywhere in the free agency market they’d like to. Same goes for potential additions via trade, as the Kings have shown a willingness to do aggressively over the last few summers. Some of those moves have worked out, others certainly have not. But you can’t say the Kings haven’t tried to upgrade the roster over the summer.

Much of the conversation likely boils down to what the Kings do with their more highly-touted free agents internally. There could also be outgoing trades that free up additional cap space. If the Kings want to go big-game hunting they can. If not, they don’t have to. But they can. For a team that needs to get over a hump that continues to grow taller, those options should be on the table.

There’s your offseason ahead, Insiders. Lots of room to work with, as we approach the offseason.