With just a few days until the NHL's trade deadline, Los Angeles Kings GM Ken Holland has revealed what his plan is with his roster.
Los Angeles Kings GM Ken Holland has been a busy man in the second half of this regular season. He acquired Artemi Panarin and has handled multiple key roster injuries such as Joel Armia, Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko.
But most recently, he and the rest of the Kings' brass decided it was time to let go of coach Jim Hiller, making the coaching change official on Sunday morning. D.J. Smith, who was the associate coach to Hiller, is now the interim head coach.
Holland held a press conference at Sunday's practice, explaining his thinking behind his decision, but also his plans for Friday's NHL trade deadline. By the sounds of it, he won't be extremely active with the phones.
"If on Thursday I added Panarin, it'd be a big deadline deal," Holland told reporters. "I happened to do it three weeks ago because we wanted him.
With that, Holland believes he doesn't need to make any grand roster changes following his trade for Panarin from the New York Rangers.
"We made a big deadline deal," he explained. "It's just not on the deadline, it's in advance of the deadline."
Further, the Kings' GM described the team's injury situation, with Fiala out for the year, as well as Armia and Kuzmenko out. He said when those players return, Armia is likely the soonest, and they would provide a boost like a deadline deal would.
Kevin Fiala, Andrei Kuzmenko and Quinton Byfield (Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images)Eventually, Holland addressed what may happen with the team's draft capital. Los Angeles has all its first-round picks for the next three drafts, and two second-rounders in 2026.
However, at least concerning this year's first-round pick, Holland doesn't want to take any chances.
"Given where we are in the standings, I don't anticipate our first-round pick being in play," Holland said.
Following Sunday's NHL fixtures, the Kings are seven spots off the bottom of the league's standings. Meaning, if the regular season ended today, not only would they miss the playoffs for the first time in four years, but they'd also have the seventh-best draft lottery odds.
Last year, the Buffalo Sabres had the seventh spot going into the draft lottery and dropped two places, earning the ninth overall pick. The Boston Bruins ended up with the seventh pick, taking center James Hagens.
Nonetheless, while Holland won't be looking to move his first-round pick of the 2026 draft, he said he'll "work the phones" to see what could be available going into Friday's deadline.
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