Kings sign forward Warren Foegele (3 Years, AAV: $3,500,000) & defenseman Joel Edmundson (4 Years, AAV: $3,800,000)

The LA Kings have signed forward Warren Foegele to a three-year contract, carrying an AAV of $3,500,000, and defenseman Joel Edmundson to a four-year contract, carrying an AAV of $3,800,000.

Foegele had a nice season in Edmonton, cracking 20 goals and 40 points during the regular season, chipping in an additional six points (2-4-6) on the Oilers run to the Stanley Cup Final. Foegele is a good player who finally put the numbers together offensively this past season. He’s got pretty solid size, he’s a pretty good skater and he drives possession and chances for his team. Comes in at a very manageable number to play a top-nine role with the Kings, with the plan being for him to hopefully click with one of Kopitar, Danault or Byfield.

Edmundson will likely slot onto the third defensive pair for the Kings, rounding out the group of six defensemen the Kings are expected to dress on opening night. He’s got all of those buzzwords you hear about hockey players, with his size, experience, toughness……etc, which is why several teams made offers to bring him in. He’s played in a pair of Stanley Cup Finals in the last five years and plays a position the Kings needed to upgrade here this summer.

More on these signings below.

Instant Analysis –
Question – After the big three in Edmonton of McDavid, Draisaitl and Hyman, which forward ranked fourth in terms of even-strength points this season?

I would not have guessed Warren Foegele, but the answer is Warren Foegele.

Foegele had pretty much all of his production this past season at 5-on-5. With the Oilers, the top power-play unit played almost all of their minutes in man-advantage situations. Don’t need to explain that one after three straight playoff series. So, if you’re not producing at even strength for the Oilers, and you’re not one of the five guys on the number-one unit, you’re probably not going to have very good numbers in Edmonton. Of Foegele’s 20 goals, 18 of them came at even strength. Of his 41 points, 38 of them came at even strength. Despite not being given power-play time, Foegele was quite productive.

If you look at the body of work, you’d probably be inclined to think that Foegele simply rode the coattails of one of Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. And, while he played with those guys a bit, his most regular linemate in 5-on-5 situations was Ryan McLeod. McDavid was Foegele’s seventh most-regular linemate. Draisaitl was his second most-regular linemate but it was 387 minutes with compared to 611 against. He was a complementary player to those guys but he spent a lot of his time apart as well. It’s a good thing to be able to play with good players and Foegele did that. It’s important not to simply be tied to those guys, though, because Draisaitl doesn’t play for the Kings. The Kings don’t have a 100-point center. Foegele has shown an ability to find success in both situations and should get a larger role with the Kings than he did with the Oilers.

This signing checks the first box of what the Kings were looking for in free agency. Foegele is coming off a breakout season with the Edmonton Oilers, scoring 20 goals and eclipsing 40 points. It wasn’t a massive jump, necessarily, but Foegele took a step forward from a 15/30 guy to a 20/40 guy. That’s the jump that gets you into this kind of range and gets you into this kind of role going forward. The Kings are targeting Foegele to play in their Top 9 this season. The same way they’re targeting Tanner Jeannot to play in the Top 9 but look for Foegele to be a bit more of an offensive player. He’s never had the type of opportunity to play higher in the lineup he should get with the Kings.

If there’s perhaps a hang up with this signing, it’s adding a player who is coming off a career year. Happens in the NHL, for sure, and it doesn’t always work out. Foegele saw an uptick this season in his production, certainly, but he scored 20 goals with nearly an identical shooting percentage to what he had in 2022-23, . His shot attempts and scoring chances both took a nice upturn on a per/60 basis, combined with a minor increase in high-danger chances. His total points per/60 was basically what it was in 2022-23. Played a full schedule, was used in a larger role, produced more, grew offensively. Can he replicate that type of production with the Kings? That’s the intention, but he’s only done it once in his career. I think the contract mitigates that risk, on a reasonable deal, but there is risk when a player has only done it in a contract year.

Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images

On Edmundson, LD3 is one of two positions I expected the Kings to target today and Edmundson is an experienced, left-shot defenseman joining the mix on the LA blueline.

With the way they’re structuring their roster this season, following the departure of Matt Roy on the right side during unrestricted free agency today, it leaves a pair of younger defensemen on the right side of the back end. Both of those players – Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke – are of the offensively-minded variety. Assuming the Anderson – Doughty pairing remains untouched, the Kings have Vladislav Gavrikov to partner with one of their younger defensemen but lack a second, experienced option on the backend. The Kings did not seem willing to play with four, right-shot defensemen last season so they needed to add a left-shot player with a defensive focus. Today’s signing fills that spot with a player who has been in the league for a while now and should provide an experienced complement to either Clarke or Spence.

Edmundson cracked the 500-game mark in the NHL this season, on top of 82 career games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as he completed his ninth full NHL season. Edmundson is a Stanley Cup Champion with St. Louis in 2019. He played in the Stanley Cup Final with Montreal two seasons later in 2021. He’s the type of player everyone seemingly wants to acquire at the trade deadline, a defensive-minded defenseman who has won before, who has experience and who brings a style of play that seems to be valued in the postseason. Edmundson checks those boxes. For the Kings, they needed a more experienced LD3 and Edmundson brings that to the table.

In terms of style of play, he’s a first guy over the boards on the penalty kill kind of player. He led Toronto in shorthanded TOI during its first-round series against Boston and was third in even-strength minutes played among blueliners. Edmundson has the prototypical size, weight, reach, strength……all of those intangibles teams like to see in their lineup. When you have younger, offensive defensemen coming up, you need to have those types of partners to put them in a position to be successful. As much as I’ve seen it, a Spence/Clarke pairing is not going to work. Both of those players need a partner to take care of the defensive side of the puck, a partner with size and experience. Vladislav Gavrikov presents one option and Joel Edmundson now presents the other.

Part of the downside here is that there’s not a ton of offense in Edmundson’s game. Very little, really. He’s hit 20 points once in his NHL career and it was exactly 20 points, one time. Edmundson actually does have a hard shot – he ranked in the 91st percentile in hardest recorded shot, the 93rd percentile in shots between 90 and 100 MPH and the 98th percentile in average shot speed. It just hasn’t really translated into a ton of offensive production. The possession metrics are not what you would deem an analytic darling either. His numbers when playing on contenders have been decent enough. His numbers on teams that haven’t been contenders have been much lower. It’s also a lot of commitment to a player who will play on the third defensive pairing. Four years and nearly $4 million AAV is a big commitment both in term and in dollar amount per season. The Kings have the salary-cap room to make the move, that’s not really an issue, but it is a lot to commit to that spot in the lineup.

Seems to be a pretty clear mantra for the Kings this offseason. Size, grit, toughness, physicality. Every addition the Kings have made has fit that mantra so far. Edmundson is an upgrade on the LD3 position for the 2024-25 season, regardless of your thoughts on the contract.

From the team’s official release –

Foegele, 28, skated in all 82 games for the Edmonton Oilers last season, setting NHL personal bests in games played, goals (20), assists (21) and points (41) to mark his sixth consecutive season eclipsing the double-digit goal total. He was one of five Edmonton skaters to hit the 20-goal mark while his 41 points placed eighth among all skaters. The 6-2, 204-pound forward added three goals and eight points (3-5=8) in 22 Stanley Cup Playoff games, including five (2-3=5) in the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals.

Originally drafted in the third round (67th overall) by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2014 NHL Draft, Foegele has accumulated 80 goals and 163 points (80-83=163) in 431 career NHL games over parts of seven seasons split between Edmonton (2021-23) and Carolina (2017-2021), including campaigns (2021-22; 2023-24) where he skated in all 82 regular-season contests. He has also added 12 goals and 24 points (12-12=24) in 80 career Stanley Cup Playoff contests.

A native of Markham, Ontario, Foegele appeared in one season for the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League (AHL), where he set professional career-marks in goals (28), points (46), shorthanded goals (4), game-winning goals (9) and plus/minus (plus-22). Foegele has three helpers in eight career Calder Cup Playoff outings.

Prior to his professional debut, Foegele notched 17 points (5-12=17) in 39 games for the University of New Hampshire (NCAA) before joining the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) where he tallied 111 points (40-71=111) in 113 OHL games over parts of two seasons between the Kingston Frontenacs and Erie Otters. Foegele posted 13 goals and 26 points (13-13=26) in 22 OHL Playoff outings to help guide the Otters to an OHL Championship in 2017. His 26-point (13-13=26) playoff run earned him the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as the OHL’s Most Valuable Player in the postseason.

Edmundson, 31, joins the Kings after splitting the 2023-24 campaign with the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs, recording six points (1-5=6) in 53 combined regular-season games. The 6-5, 225-pound blueliner added one assist in seven Stanley Cup Playoff outings with Toronto.

A Stanley Cup Champion with St. Louis in 2019, Edmundson is a veteran of 530 career NHL games split between the Maple Leafs, Capitals, Montreal Canadiens (2020-23), Carolina Hurricanes (2019-20) and St. Louis Blues (2015-2019), accumulating 29 goals and 110 points (29-81=110) with a plus-21 rating and 461 penalty minutes (PIM). Edmundson has added 22 points (6-16=22) in 82 career Stanley Cup Playoff outings, including seven (1-6=7) in St. Louis’ 2019 championship run. His best individual campaign came during his lone season with the Hurricanes 2019-20 as he matched his career-best in goals (7) and set new career-highs in both assists (13) and points (7-13=20).

A second-round selection (46th overall) in the 2011 NHL Draft by St. Louis, Edmundson began his professional career playing parts of three seasons with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL), posting eight goals and 12 assists (8-12=20) with a plus-12 rating in 100 career AHL games. Prior to his professional debut, the veteran blueliner played junior hockey for the Moose Jaw Warriors and Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League (WHL), recording 68 points (15-53=68) in 190 career WHL games. The Brandon, Manitoba native represented Canada at the 2018 World Championship in Minsk, Belarus, tallying one goal and three assists (1-3=4) with a plus-11 rating, the second-best among tournament defensemen.