As the dust settled on the March 7th NHL trade deadline, GM Rob Blake took questions from the media for about 20 minutes – – one of the longer availabilities of his tenure.
Although reportedly linked to several big trade targets like Mikko Rantanen and Brad Marchand, Blake opted for a much less splashy move: acquiring forward Andrei Kuzmenko from Philadelphia in exchange for a 2027 third-round pick. The Flyers also retained 50% of Kuzmenko’s expiring contract.
When asked about the deal, Blake said that Kuzmenko was brought in to help the power play and “to give it a different look”. As Kings fans know, LA’s 30th ranked power play needs all the help it can get. Blake underscored that he was looking for a draft pick deal, so mission accomplished on that front.
As to the rumors that the front office was going big game hunting, Blake was careful not to divulge any specifics but indicated that the team was “in on a lot of conversations on the offensive side of the game”. Draw your own conclusions, but it does sound like LA may have been trying to land a bigger piece at the deadline.
This would have required much more than draft picks to pull off so one can only speculate which pieces of the Kings’ current roster were in these conversations. Was young center Quinton Byfield actually being shopped, as several outlets had reported? In regards to defenseman Brandt Clarke, Blake reiterated that he “had no intention of trading” him.
Will the addition of Kuzmenko help the Kings break the curse of yearly first round playoff exits? That, of course, remains to be seen. The Vegas Golden Knights brought back Reilly Smith in a trade with the New York Rangers and also picked up veteran Brandon Saad off waivers on January 31st. For those accustomed to seeing Vegas fire off a blockbuster at the deadline, these moves seem somewhat underwhelming.
The Edmonton Oilers, who have owned the Kings in three straight playoff series, added Trent Federic in a trade with Boston. The tough 6 '3, 221-pound forward will bring even more of the physicality that has tormented the Kings the past three postseasons, but Edmonton did not shore up its goaltending that has been shaky of late.
As for the Central Division, the rich just got richer. The Dallas Stars traded for Mikko Rantanen and signed him to an eight year extension at 12 million a year. The Colorado Avalanche received Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders and defenseman Charlie Coyle from Boston. Between the 1st overall Winnipeg Jets, who added forward Brandon Tanev in a trade with the Seattle Kraken, and the two aforementioned teams, getting out of the Central alive is going to be brutal.
As Rob Blake stated during his media availability, LA’s goal is to make the playoffs and to get out of the first round. If one can assume that their opponent will be either Vegas or Edmonton, maybe this is the year they finally break out. LA has won two out of three games against Vegas so far this season, and have split the first two games with the Oilers. As good as the Oilers have been the past few years, they don’t seem to have the aura of invincibility that they once had. Even superstar Connor McDavid isn’t really having a “Connor McDavid” type of season. With Darcy Kuemper, the Kings would have a clear upgrade in net compared with the past three playoff series against Edmonton.
Maybe the 4th time's the charm?