Ilya Kovalchuk Signing Nixes Kings’ Plan
The recent signing of Ilya Kovalchuk has thrown a wrench in the gears of the Los Angeles Kings and their general manager (GM) Dean Lombardi. The Kings were said to have been very interested in the Russian sniper right down to the last minute. Now that he has been locked up, what do the Kings do?
This Offseason
This offseason, the Kings have done a whole lot of nothing, and much of that may be because they wanted to keep cap space open in the hope that they could land Kovalchuk. L.A. elected to stay with most of their forwards, deciding not to bring back Fredrik Modin, Jeff Halpern and Alexander Frolov. The only problem is that Lombardi has yet to bring anyone in to replace them.
Halpern and Modin did not play a great deal last season and therefore will not be huge losses to the organization. Frolov, on the other hand, played in 81 regular season games and all six of the Kings playoff match-ups.
Possible Changes
The Kings are still $16 million below the cap, and although they will likely not spend that much, they should head into next season a little bit closer to the league limit.
The Kings were in desperate need of a top-line winger, and with the cap space, it looked as though they were going to fill that hole. Now that Kovalchuk is off the market, Lombardi is going to have to get a little bit more creative with his signings. Losing Frolov means they have lost 19 goals and 51 points from their line-up. The easiest answer to this loss would be Alexei Ponikarovsky. Ponikarovsky put up 50 points last season between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Pittsburg Penguins. The only difficulty with signing the Ukrainian born winger is that he will not be an upgrade.
The trouble Lombardi now finds himself in is that the free agent market is littered with players just like Frolov and Ponikarovsky. Lee Stempniak, Bill Guerin, Maxim Afinogenov all offer the same things to the Kings’ GM, which is an average player that needs a superstar to really get them going. The only player available that may act as an upgrade is Paul Kariya, and it is unlikely that he will be willing to play anywhere that is not an immediate Cup contender.
Do the Kings Need to Make a Move?
The Kings are a young team that is expected grow into a solid Western Conference contender over the next couple seasons. They have young skill in Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Jack Johnson, and the incredible Drew Doughty. However, they are still two top-six forwards and two solid defencemen away from a legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup.
At this point, Lombardi has waited too long to make a major splash. Lombardi has two moves left to make this summer, however, and it is to sign a top-six forward and a bottom-six defenceman to short-term deals. The best suitor for the Kings at forward looks to be Lee Stempniak, who notched 48 points last season playing between the Maple Leafs and the Phoenix Coyotes. Stempniak showed that when the spotlight is not shined on him he is able to produce. In Phoenix, he averaged a point-per-game, but disappeared in the playoffs. On the defensive end, Marc-Andre Bergeron may be the answer. He is not an ideal first choice, but he can give you minutes on the power play and will come at a cheap price.
The loss of Kovalchuk is an unfortunate development for the young club. Unfortunately, Lombardi is going to have to wait until the next offseason to grab the missing talent needed to make a push for the finals.
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