In 2019 the Los Angeles Kings had what looked to be the kind of draft that kick-starts a rebuild.
With two first-round picks and two second-rounders, the Kings started building out an envied prospect pool.
From that 2019 draft, Alex Turcotte and Samuel Fagemo are fighting for fourth line spots next season, Tobias Bjornfot was lost to waivers for nothing and then there's Arthur Kaliyev.
After a solid 2022-23 season and strong training camp last summer, things looked to be on the up for Kaliyev.
Instead, the season was a complete disaster that ended in Kaliyev spending more time in the press box than on the ice in the second half of the season.
After a trade request by Kaliyev and Rob Blake's comment that Kaliyev, "didn't help us down the stretch" and that they'd need to figure something out with him, Kaliyev's time in LA seemed to be up.
Most people pegged the draft as an obvious time to move Kaliyev, but nothing materialized.
Now a few days into free agency, the Kings still hold Kaliyev's rights after extending a qualifying offer to him, but don't appear to have an obvious solution to his situation.
It's hard to know exactly why Kaliyev hasn't been traded. Maybe there's been no interest, or maybe no one's matched their valuation of Kaliyev, but the Kings need to find a solution soon.
Part of the problem is, the Kings don't have enough cap to package Kaliyev for help now. Their only option is trading for draft picks or a similar reclamation project.
Names like Oliver Wahlstrom or Philip Tomasino have been discussed, but if either side was interested it feels like that would be done already.
The Kings are in a tricky spot now with Kaliyev. Perhaps there's a potential Gabe Vilardi-like bounce-back season on the horizon for Kaliyev, but that feels unlikely.
Ideally the Kings find a trade partner soon, as the longer this goes on the lower Kaliyev's value becomes.