Kings Should Make Lightning Captain Their Number 1 Free Agent Target

The Los Angeles Kings have cleared cap space this summer by moving on from Pierre-Luc Dubois and have set themselves up to take a big swing in free agency.

That swing should be on Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos.

After the acquisition of Jake Guentzel, Stamkos is expected to hit free agency and the Kings should make him their marquee signing.

Stamkos' projected contract from AFPAnalytics is three years at roughly $6 million per year. After factoring in Jordan Spence and Quinton Byfield's extensions, it would be tight, but the Kings could make that work under the cap.

Stamkos would be an ideal fit for a few reasons. Firstly, he's still a highly productive player. He's 13th in points and 14th in goals over the last three seasons and finished last season with 41 goals and 81 points in 79 games.

Yes, his production would take a hit on a more defensive Kings team and not playing with Nikita Kucherov, but he would still put pucks in the net.

Crucially, he's a right-shot forward which the Kings desperately need too. With Viktor Arvidsson expected to leave they need a righty who can also be a threat on the power play and few players are more of a man advantage threat than Stamkos.

He's fifth in the league for power-play goals over the last three seasons with 49. Of course, some will point to the high number of power-play points, 49% of his points came on the power play last season, and be put off by that.

I wouldn't be. The Kings need help on the power play with Arvidsson gone and Stamkos is the kind of player who can transform a power play.

He's still a productive 5v5 player too. His 41 even-strength points last season would have placed him second on the Kings.

With Quinton Byfield moving back to the middle, Stamkos would be a perfect winger to help Byfield transition back to center.

Stamkos is a pure goal scorer who would benefit from playing with the play-driving Byfield who led the Kings in high-danger passes per-60 according to AllThreeZones.com.

A former center himself, Stamkos can also help Byfield in the faceoff circle. Despite moving to wing full-time, Stamkos still took over 600 faceoffs last season and won 56% of them.

Stamkos can take faceoffs on his strong side allowing Byfield to ease into full-time faceoff duties.

His defensive numbers have been problematic over the last few seasons, but Stamkos is an intelligent player who I'd be confident in buying into the Kings' defensive system and playing within their structure.

Stamkos is the second most productive player hitting the market this summer and would instantly boost the Kings' offense while also being a perfect fit with Byfield.

His timeline also fits with this Kings team. The Kings are clearly trying to make one last run with Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, particularly in Kopitar's last two seasons.

If Stamkos is willing to sign a three-year deal, he fits perfectly into that window without getting the Kings stuck into a long-term commitment.

They can make their run with Kopitar and Doughty and then free up space to re-tool around Byfield and Clarke after Kopitar, Doughty and Stamkos' contracts are up.

Stamkos also brings the winning culture Kopitar has admitted was lost over the Kings' long stretch of losing.

There's some risk in bringing in a 34-year-old forward, but Stamkos is a different player than most players his age and is worth a big run.