First Reactions – Kings Reportedly Sign Mats Zuccarello, Corey Perry (one-year) & Erik Haula (two-years)

The LA Kings have made several signings today, with more to come. Starting with analysis of the biggest three moves they’ve made thus far, with reported contract information, all at the forward position. The Kings added forward Mats Zuccarello and Corey Perry on one-year contracts, with forward Erik Haula signing a two-year deal. Forward Scott Laughton has also reportedly signed with the Kings, but contract details have not yet been disclosed.

Several additional moves were made today as well and I’ll get into those a bit later on, as well as more of a look at how all of these moves impact the Kings as a collective, rather than individual assessments, which is what I’ve got here below. I think the Kings, overall, took a much lower-risk approach than last season but the upside is also higher. Free agency typically comes with overpayments, both in dollar figures and term. The Kings were in that boat last summer for sure. Not the case this time around and I think the approach this summer was substantially better with the contracts signed today.

Mats Zuccarello – 1 Year, AAV: $1,000,000
Now there’s a move. Zuccarello had 54 points in 59 games last season with the Minnesota Wild. In terms of an offensive acquisition, there really weren’t a ton of gamechangers available on the market but for a one-year deal, Zuccarello feels about as close as you could find. He was nearly a point-per-game last season, he meshed well with high-end players in Minnesota and adds value on the power play, which was a struggle for the Kings a season ago.

I’ve got to say, I really like this deal.

I’m actually really not sure how he was available on a one-year contract with a base salary of $1,000,000 plus bonuses. A player who was just shy of a point-per-game pace on a team-friendly contract. Feels like one that contending teams up against the cap would have been all over. If the salary was higher I’d still have really liked that contract. It’s an absolute steal at this rate.

Zuccarello is certainly not a long-term fit here – he’s 38-years-old – but there’s incredible value here, regardless of what the bonuses are. He was close to a point-per-game pace last season in 59 games played and his production on a per-game basis actually improved last season from 2024-25. He’s posted back-to-back 54-point seasons, coming in fewer games in 2025-26, which followed a pair of seasons over 60 points and a career-high 79 points the season before that.

Ken Holland and Peter Laviolette both made very clear that the special teams need to improve. Zuccarello had 21 of his 54 points on the power play last season, a total which would have led the Kings last season. He’s been a consistently effective player on the man advantage over the years and the Kings need to improve that unit.

At all strengths last season, Zuccarello led the Wild in passes to the slot. It’s a metric I really like. Zuccarello is a playmaker who gets the puck into the most dangerous area on the ice. That’s the kind of player who clicks with high-level offensive players and the Kings are suddenly collecting a lot of them on the wings.

In terms of the lineup, it’s unclear exactly how things will shake out, but Zuccarello played a top-six role in Minnesota and would most certainly do so with the Kings as well. He’s not a player I had on my radar, to be honest, but if the Kings are not able to get a top-six center via trade, Zuccarello adds a short-term option offensively who can play on the wings, offering a ton of playmaking and skill, while the Kings could potentially use a player like Adrian Kempe or Alex Laferriere at center.

Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images

Erik Haula – 2 Years, AAV: $3,500,000
Feels like an pretty good fit here. The Kings needed a third-line center and Haula has been a quality third-line center.

From an offensive perspective, while 2024-25 was an outlier, Haula has collected at least 35 points in four of the past five seasons. He’s got one season in his entire career at below 0.5 goals per/60 at 5-on-5 and the Kings had multiple outgoing regulars (Kopitar, Perry, Kuzmenko) who did not exceed that total last season. His 1.69 points per/60 in all situations ranked ahead of several Kings regulars as well, including guys like Trevor Moore, Joel Armia and Scott Laughton.

Haula killed penalties routinely throughout his career and gelled nicely with Kings forward Joel Armia at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. That could potentially be two-thirds of your third line entering next season and maybe your top pair on the PK. Of the 109 forwards to play at least 100 minutes while shorthanded last season, Haula ranked seventh-best in goals against per/60. If guys like Haula and Armia can be a penalty-killing unit, it potentially opens up the team’s more offensive players to devote more to those situations. The Kings struggled all season on the penalty kill and getting some help there is certainly a boost. If there’s a negative in that area, though, it’s that Haula took 26 minor penalties last season, the most on the Predators per SportLOGIQ, with several of the “undisciplined” variety. Can’t kill penalties if you’re in the box, so that’s an area to monitor.

Haula is an older player but he continues to have strong measurables. Per NHL Edge data, Haula is a strong skater, who ranked in the 64th percentile among forwards in highest-recorded speed and the 76th percentile in speed bursts over 20 MPH. Not burning numbers, but above average numbers. Above average seems to be a constant here. As I look for information and statistics on Erik Haula, he rarely tops the charts in a metric and he rarely ranks towards the bottom either. He was a top, say, 7-8 player on the Predators last season in so many of those underlying categories. For the role he’s coming into here, that’s who the Kings are getting.

So, Haula has produced offensively and he’s got a solid physical profile. Rounding him out are some of the intangibles you like to see from a third-line center. Per SportLOGIQ, Haula ranked third among Nashville forwards last season in defensive plays per/60, with regular Selke candidate Ryan O’Reilly one of the two above him. Haula is just shy of 53 percent in the faceoff dot over the last five seasons and with Anze Kopitar retiring and Laughton departing, it’s a skill the Kings could benefit from – situationally speaking – in this position.

Corey Perry – 1 Year, AAV: $1,000,000
Ten games into Corey Perry’s NHL career, you wondered if the Kings acquired 2009 Corey Perry or 2025 Corey Perry. He scored five times in his first six games played and seven in his first 10. Perry turned back the clock and contributed immensely on special teams and in 6-on-5 situations, playing a netfront role that led to tons of goals in and around the blue paint. It felt like the Kings played a one-goal game every night and Perry was a direct factor in salvaging points or flipping one point into two.

The offensive production eventually tailed off, as Perry then went 21 games without finding the back of the net, but he responded with 13 points (4-9-13) in his next 12 games played. The points came in bunches, certainly, but if you put Perry down for 11 goals and 28 points in 50 games played at the start of the season, playing largely in a fourth-line role, I think you’d taken than all day long. When you add in the intangibles that he brings and the presence in the locker room, the Kings got a ton of value out of Perry’s five months with the organization.

The ultimate fit for this coming season is likely at the RW4 position, but I think it remains to be seen in some ways too. Do the Kings wind up moving a winger to the middle, which shuffles the deck on the wings? Or, do they add another center into the mix, which would keep the players on the wings in the positions they presently occupy? We don’t know the answer there and likely won’t today. I think those answers are more likely to come via trades than free agency, so we’ll have to wait and see how that shakes out. We’re three months from Opening Night, so the roster can still change. Might not. But there are several players still on the trade market who could factor in.

This is a contract that essentially comes in with similar intentions, just with different expectations for the Kings. The Kings viewed themselves last summer as a contending team, adding around the margins with players like Perry, who excel in the playoffs and gave the coaching staff a fourth line that was more trusted throughout the course of a playoff run. That vision never materialized and Perry became a valuable trade chip. I think that with Anze Kopitar retiring and the impact Perry had on younger players like Alex Laferriere, you can see the value in bringing him back to fill a similar role. Then, if the Kings find themselves in a similar position come March, Perry will have value to contending teams looking to win a cup, as he did this past spring.

Long story short, Perry really liked his time in Los Angeles and the Kings liked what he brought. When Perry left for Tampa Bay, the door always felt very open on a return. I don’t find myself surprised in any way to get this news and I think the value that Perry brings is pretty apparent. Very little risk in this move and there’s multiple different avenues to see the upside as the season unfolds.

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