Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Can The LA Kings Be Fixed?

03/27/2019 at 9:35am EDT

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

How old are the Los Angeles Kings? Well, they have eight players in their 30’s, and a 29-year-old in Drew Doughty who next season will unwrap his eight-year, $88 million deal.

But, that’s not really the problem. This is: Of those eight 30-year-olds, seven have at least two years remaining on their contracts.

Like any team near the bottom of a 31-team National Hockey League, general manager Rob Blake is looking at his roster and plotting on how he can inject some youth and speed. And he’d better hurry — the Kings were statuesque in an 8-4 loss to Edmonton Tuesday night, outskated by an Oilers team that is at best middle-of-the-pack fast, and buried by dueling hat tricks by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl.

So, as Blake took a stern look at his club Tuesday, we did as well, looking for ways this Kings team can crawl out of the Pacific cellar. Here’s what we found:

• Anze Kopitar — Keep him. Six years remaining at $10 million per, and the question here is, are the Kings paying him for something he used to be? Or something he is?

continued

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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