2025-26 Kings Seasons In Review – Partial NHL Seasons

The Seasons in Review series rolls on here with players who spent the full 2025-26 campaign in the NHL but did not play every night.

Including five players in this mix here. There are guys who did not play in the AHL but there were varying degrees of lineup inclusion and impact with the Kings. All five players on this list played NHL games and all five players on this list were a healthy scratch at one point in the season. There were also some injuries of varying degrees that impacted availability.

Lots of different outlooks going forward here as well, which comes with the territory of not being an NHL regular. A look at those five players, how they performed last season and where the could wind up going forward.

Samuel Helenius
NHL Statline – 53 games played, 5 goals, 4 assists, -6 rating
NHL Playoff Statline – 4 games played, 0 goals, 0 assists, -2 rating

During the first 30 games the Kings played this season, Helenius only suited up three times. He played twice in October, when Anze Kopitar was out with an early-season injury, and he played once in November. He was a healthy scratch in the other 27 games.

From December 13 through the end of the season, Helenius played in 53 of 55 games and one of those games he missed was due to an injury. From that point on, Helenius was a lineup regular, centering the team’s fourth line. It was a similar progression to what we saw last year as well. In 2024-25, he began the year in the AHL but once he came up, he rarely exited the lineup. Helenius played each playoff game in both 2025 and 2026, playing a fourth-line role.

Helenius led the Kings in hits per/60 and across the entire NHL, he ranked fifth in that metric among players with at least 50 games played. Overall, Helenius played a fairly safe and responsible game. His on-ice 2.13 expected goals against, per/60, was the best on the team among lineup regulars up front and at times, he was trusted on the ice in late-game situations when the Kings were leading.

Overall, though, Helenius has areas in need of improvement. Points are not the end all, be all for evaluation of a fourth-line player but Helenius was one of the team’s lowest-producing forwards, even on a per/60 basis. That goes both in terms of individual chances for, on-ice chances and offensive production. He won just over 45 percent of faceoffs, which was a slight step back from 2024-25 and was the lowest number of all Kings centers. Not every player needs to score to find a role, but if you don’t, you’ve got to contribute in several other ares. Helenius did some of that but needs to find other areas to impact the game to become a no-doubt, lineup regular.

In the postseason, I thought Helenius was as dangerous offensively as anyone was. Not in terms of say his overall impact over the course of a game but in terms of raw opportunities. Helenius had six scoring chances and three high-danger chances against Colorado, all at even strength. When you put those numbers into a per/60 basis, they were by far the highest on the team among those to play in all four games. It’s a positive, but also he did not score on any of those looks. Doing so could have changed the course of the series, especially in Games 1 and 2, when he had multiple Grade-A chances.

It wasn’t a bad year for Helenius, but he finds himself in a similar position to where he was last summer.

2026-27 Status – I think that the Kings would like to see Helenius be the team’s fourth-line center going forward. As of today, I’d pencil him into that spot in the lineup. However, he’s still got improvements to be made. Helenius has not contributed on special teams thus far in his NHL career and winning well below 50 percent of faceoffs won’t help him to earn more minutes on the penalty kill or in late-game situations. There are really good traits with Helenius and he’s still a young player. I think he’s an NHL player, but still needs to make some strides in order to be an NHL regular on a full-time basis for a playoff team.

Andrei Kuzmenko
NHL Statline – 52 games played, 13 goals, 12 assists, -4 rating
NHL Playoff Statline – 1 game played, 0 goals, 0 assists, even rating

With the way Kuzmenko played after he joined the Kings at the 2025 trade deadline, there was a ton of optimism in his return on a one-year contract. Kuzmenko was a terrific fit alongside Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe and he was a revelation on the power play, substantially improving the production of that unit.

Unfortunately for both Kuzmenko and the Kings, there was not a carryover into the 2025-26 season. Kuzmenko had his moments and his production of right around a half point per game wasn’t awful on a team that didn’t score a ton of goals. He led the team with eight power-play goals though the overall effectiveness of that unit was not what it was when Kuzmenko joined the team the season prior.

Kuzmenko was healthy scratched at times throughout the season and his overall offensive output just wasn’t what it was the season before. The player was responsible for some of that, looking specifically at the game in Utah in December. I don’t think it’s fair to pin all of that on him, though. The Kings were one of the least productive offensive teams in the NHL and several players saw their production drop. Kuzmenko had chances higher in the lineup but after a dip, he was never really put back with the Kopitar/Kempe duo, which is where he was most successful the season before. I think he should’ve been tried there again. He was also injured just before a coaching change that saw the team score more goals, so you wonder if he might’ve benefitted at all there.

In total, Kuzmenko only scored five even-strength goals, the same number that Helenius and defensemen Drew Doughty scored. His underlying numbers had a slight dropoff but it wasn’t anything crazy. He had fewer high-danger chances playing 5-on-5 but only Kevin Fiala and Artemi Panarin averaged more puck possession in the offensive zone, per/60, than Kuzmenko. He was also the best player on the team, per SportLOGIQ, in controlled zone entries via the pass.

Overall, Kuzmenko is a tricky evaluation. With bias, I could write a very positive or a very negative evaluation, all using true statements, stats and observations. Trying to do so objectively is harder, because there’s a lot in both directions. Ultimately, the end results were disappointing. Suppose the ultimate evaluation comes down to where you place the blame for it.

2026-27 Status – Kuzmenko summed up his future in two words during exit interviews – “we’ll see”. It was not the season that Kuzmenko or the Kings were hoping for and after signing a one-year contract last summer, it remains to be seen what the future holds. Ken Holland certainly left the door open to a return, saying he planned to connect with Kuzmenko’s representation once he hired a head coach and solidified the team’s direction going forward. I could see another one-year contract making sense if the Kings want to operate with something closer to three scoring lines up front, maybe with Kuzmenko playing with Kevin Fiala, a combination that had some effectiveness with Alex Turcotte at center. Might also make more sense for both sides to part ways. As he said……we’ll see.

Jeff Malott
NHL Statline – 58 games played, 3 goals, 6 assists, -6 rating
NHL Playoff Statline – 4 games played, 0 goals, 0 assists, -3 rating

For the first time in his career, Malott spent the entire season in the NHL.

Before he signed with the Kings as a free agent in the summer of 2024, Malott had one NHL game to his name. He was a scorer in the AHL and a top-line player in that league but had never really progressed beyond that. Given an opportunity late in the 2024-25 season, he filled in admirably for an injured Tanner Jeannot and played regularly down the stretch.

In training camp, Malott was the team’s best player. After Corey Perry got injured in a summer skate, Malott seized an opportunity and made the team out of camp. He was in the lineup on opening night and continued to play regularly, even at times when Perry returned.

Among players with at least 50 games played, Malott ranked sixth in the NHL in hits per/60, one spot behind Helenius. The two played together regularly and delivered the style of hockey you’d probably expect from a fourth line. Where I thought he elevated himself over Helenius was in terms of what he was able to create offensively. He did not produce but he did create. Per Natural Stat Trick, Malott led the Kings in high-danger chances per/60 at 5-on-5 and was a top-three player in scoring chances.

He also skates very well for his size and I don’t think he gets enough credit for that. He still has the sixth-fastest recorded burst in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs and ranked in the 82nd percentile in the NHL this season in bursts of 22+ MPH. That does not factor in icetime and Malott played fourth-line minutes. He’d rank higher on a per/60 basis.

Ultimately, I am probably higher than most on Malott. His underlying numbers are good and he’s got a good combination of size and skating. I think he’s an effective fourth-line player, even in a season when he didn’t produce a ton. He’s not a flawless player and he might not be in the everyday lineup on true, contending teams. However, I thought he was pretty effective in his role this season and with where the Kings are at in the process, he would be that again for this team next season if he is re-signed.

2026-27 Status – Malott completed a two-year contract and is an unrestricted free agent this summer. As noted above, he was a good fourth-line player who offers a lot of the attributes you want from a player in that role. He rarely didn’t give you an honest effort and he skates well for his size. Lots of reasons for him to return, however the Kings do have others who are already under contract who could fill a similar role. I would imagine there could be some mutual interest in returning, however it doesn’t feel like a lock. Malott has shown himself to be a capable NHL player and should get a one-way contract this summer, whether in Los Angeles or elsewhere.

Jacob Moverare
NHL Statline – 15 games played, 0 goals, 0 assists, -4 rating

For the first time in his NHL career, Moverare made the NHL roster out of training camp. It was his goal coming in and he was able to achieve that. Meant a lot to him to do so. Despite it, though, he played only 15 games this season, which is fewer than he played in the NHL in 2021-22, 2023-24 and 2024-25, despite beginning each of those three seasons in the AHL.

Moverare got the chance to play when others missed time. After he was a healthy scratch up until that point, when Drew Doughty got hurt in Ottawa on November 15, Moverare played seven straight games. He got a few games in January when the Kings went with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen and a few more games after that when Doughty and defenseman Mikey Anderson missed a bit of time.

That’s it, though.

Personally, I think the biggest thing against Moverare this season was that he didn’t offer anything different than what the Kings already had. He’s a safe and effective third-pairing defenseman. That’s not what the Kings needed, though. The group of six on the backend needed puck movement and Moverare doesn’t offer that. In terms of a performance-driven change, I think there were more than enough times when one could have been made, but it needed to be a stylistic change. That hurt Moverare, during a season when the defensemen were healthy enough to play pretty much the entire way through.

2026-27 Status – Moverare is an unrestricted free agent this summer. As a teammate, there are few better. In terms of his attitude in playing just 15 of 82 games, there are few better. However, you have to wonder if he might see a better opportunity elsewhere this summer. He has earned that right. The Kings also have a couple of players pushing in the AHL to be a seventh-defenseman as soon as this season. If Moverare wants to return there could be a similar role available to him, or perhaps a role that sees him start in the AHL, but I could also see him looking for a better NHL chance with another organization this summer. If he’s back, though, there won’t be any complaints about a player, who always gives you a pretty steady game.

Alex Turcotte
NHL Statline – 62 games played, 3 goals, 11 assists, -8 rating
NHL Playoff Statline – 1 game played, 0 goals, 0 assists, even rating

Over the first couple of months of the season, Alex Turcotte played largely in a fourth-line role. I felt his level of play suggested he should play more. In October and November, Turcotte averaged less than 10 minutes per game in icetime, playing lower in the lineup, but he was second on the team in high-danger chances per/60. He got to those dangerous areas about as well as anyone on the team.

On December 19, the Kings traded Phil Danault to Montreal, which opened up an opportunity for Turcotte to be this team’s third-line center. He had a bright start, with five points in seven games to begin January. The underlying numbers continued to show up. But the production just didn’t continue. His goal against San Jose on January 7 was his last goal of the season. He missed time due to injury twice down the stretch and never was able to full reestablish some of the brighter spots in his game from earlier in the season. He played in Game 4 versus Colorado but he wasn’t at 100 percent going into the playoffs.

You always notice things Turcotte is doing when he’s in the lineup. He’s a twitchy skater who has the tenacity you want in a third-line center. He has the hockey IQ to play with higher-skilled players and seemed to compliment Kuzmenko and Kevin Fiala well when the three of them played together. It’s hard to put a finger on why it just never clicked, but I always found myself wanting more from Turcotte, despite being a fan of the way that he plays.

I think for every player with tools and potential, there comes a time when it just has to come together. This felt like the year it could happen for Turcotte and it didn’t happen. Once the Kings moved Danault to Montreal, it became Turcotte’s opportunity to show that the Kings did not need to find a third-line center elsewhere. I still believe Turcotte can play regularly in the NHL but the role he should fill is open for the Kings and he is under contract. That they might want it filled by someone else isn’t where you wanted that story to go.

2026-27 Status – Turcotte has one season remaining on a three-year contract extension he signed with the team in the summer of 2024. Turcotte will be a restricted free agent at the end of that contract, so he’s under team control now and also going forward. He’s on a league-minimum contract and plays both center and wing, which is good versatility to have. However, as noted above, he was not able to take that next step last season and when that happens, it leads to unknowns. I think Turcotte can play in the NHL and he never cheats you on work ethic. I thought coming in that he was a 3C who the Kings had in a 4C role because of depth. Ultimately, though, he had an opportunity after Danault was traded to Montreal and wasn’t able to make the 3C role his own. With that in mind, it’s a summer with less certainly for Turcotte and his role moving forward.