Fresh on the heels of forward Nick Shore and the Kings agreeing to new one year contract, with an average annual value (AAV) of $925,000, we have updated our look at the team’s current salary cap situation.
2017-18 LA Kings Projected Opening Night Roster (with important notes at the end of the article)
| Cammalleri | Kopitar | Brown |
| 1,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 5,875,000 |
| Pearson | Carter | Toffoli |
| 3,750,000 | 5,272,727 | 4,550,000 |
| Kempe | Dowd | Brodzinski |
| 894,167 | 650,000 | 950,000 |
| Clifford | Shore | Lewis |
| 1,600,000 | 925,000 | 2,000,000 |
| Nolan | Andreoff | |
| 950,000 | 677,500 | |
| Muzzin | Doughty | |
| 4,000,000 | 7,000,000 | |
| Martinez | LaDue | |
| 4,000,000 | 1,500,000 | |
| Forbort | Gravel | |
| 650,000 | 950,000 | |
| Folin | ||
| 850,000 | ||
| Quick | Kuemper | |
| 5,800,000 | 650,000 |
The above 23-man roster would come in just shy of $66.8M (including the $1.57M penalty the Kings are paying next season for terminating Mike Richards’ contract and the $833K cap penalty for buying out Matt Greene). With a cap ceiling of $75M for next season, that would leave GM Rob Blake about $8.1M to play with for roster upgrades (and you have to solve the Gaborik Riddle).
CONTRACT UPDATES: (7/14/2017)
LA Kings have signed defenseman Kevin Gravel to a one year extension, AAV of 650k.
They continue to save money https://t.co/CtkCEwXWvT
— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) July 14, 2017
Guess what?
You get a contract too!
Kings sign Michael Mersch, one year extension at 650k.
Blake & Co. piling up the savings.
— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) July 14, 2017
LA Kings are putting finishing touches on a new 1-year deal with defenseman Paul LaDue. 875 AAV
— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) July 14, 2017
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
– So… Marian Gaborik? True, the above information assumes he begins the season on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR). If/When he returns, one of the above roster players would have to go, due to the league-mandated 23-man roster limit. At that time, the Kings would also need to add his $4.875M AAV back into their total and still be under the $75M cap max. Just for some easy math, if you add Gaborik back in and drop one of the bottom six forwards (of which, most have deals valued at less than $1M), the Kings adjusted cap value would be about $70.7M; giving them just over $4M to play with.
– Jonny Brodzinski’s salary above is our estimate for his new contract that should be announced in the coming weeks. He is coming off a two-year Entry Level deal that had a cap hit of $808,750. Same thing for Paul LaDue and Kevin Gravel, those are estimated amounts for their new contracts. Gravel is coming off a deal with a cap hit of $667k, while LaDue was the most expensive of the group; he was holding a deal with an AAV of $925k. His new deal could come in higher than we’ve projected, depending on the term agreed to.
– Oscar Fantenberg is another option on defense. However, we project him to open the season in AHL Ontario. He does not require waivers to be sent down, nor will his contract count toward the cap in that situation.
– Three prospects will also be given serious consideration for roster spots coming out of training camp in October, Justin Auger and Michael Mersch at forward, along with defenseman Kurtis MacDermid. It is important to note that all three would require waivers to be sent back to AHL Ontario. Thus, the Kings will either need to risk them to waivers, trade them, or move out other players to make room for them on the NHL roster. Because of their contract values (they’ll be signed to deals later this summer for less than $900k per season), their contracts do not impact the team’s NHL salary cap unless they make the team. Which also means, if they make the Kings opening night lineup, they’ll likely be replacing a more expensive player (i.e. Shore, Andreoff, and/or Nolan), which would only improve Blake’s cap position even further.
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About John Hoven
Other than Colorado, Arizona and Vegas, Name a worse top line in the West? It’s an average team and with Dallas bolstering and Winnipeg healthy, the Kings aren’t making the playoffs again.
So you’re saying the Kings will have the 4th-worst top line in the West? By your own logic, they have the best 2nd line in the West, maybe even in the NHL. That 70s Line is the top line. Yes, Kopi’s line will start games, but that doesn’t actually make them the best line.
I don’t like the Cammalleri signing, but the only 2 reasons the Kings missed the playoffs last year were that Kopitar had his worst year and Toffoli was injured for a long time. If Kopitar has an average (by his standards) year and Toffoli stays healthy, they’d definitely make the playoffs.
agree with big mouth. that bottom 6 is just pathetic
Luc Says, there’s only ONE reason the Kings didn’t make the playoffs last year and that’s because of Quick’s injury. Even with Kopi taking a turd and Toffoli out for his stint the Kings most likely make the playoffs with Quick in net for the year.
Disagree Big Mouth, You don’t have to have the most prolific scoring lines in the division. The Kings can have average scoring as long as they’re shutting down the opponent’s top lines. Average offensive years for the Kings forwards gets the them well into the playoffs and a good chance at the cup as long as they continue to keep playing defense like they have.