Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Outlook: Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles must keep top defensemen away from the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Los Angeles Kings are currently on the outside looking in on the playoff field. While only two points out of a playoff spot, its tough to say if LA will be buyers or sellers at the deadline. The Kings roster needs to start getting younger but they don’t want to give up the Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty window either. Not only does Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi have that to worry about, he must also focus on the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft.
Los Angeles must find a way to keep their top four defensemen in the fold. The perfect way to do that is protecting four forwards, four defensemen and one goalie. The automatic locks on defense are Doughty, Alec Martinez and Jake Muzzin. If the Kings go the other route and protect seven forwards, that would be a big mistake. Which would mean letting go of 24-year old defenseman Derek Forbort. Forbort logs big time minutes for the Kings and plays in all situations. If LA ever left him exposed, the Golden Knights would get one hell of a player.
At forward it’s pretty clear the Kings will keep Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli. I honestly don’t see Los Angeles keeping any other forward on their roster besides these four. Lombardi won’t lose sleep on this one.
Then in-goal LA is going to keep Jonathan Quick. A reason why the Kings are where they are is the injury that sidelined Quick game number one in the regular season. However, the Kings will get back their starting netminder sometime in March which is very good news for Kings fans. Backups Peter Budaj and Jeff Zatkoff have done a decent job in Quick’s absence.
With that being said, who will the Vegas Golden Knights take? I think the Golden Knights need an experienced player that’s won a few Stanley Cups. Vegas could decide to roll with Kyle Clifford but I have another player in mind. Dwight King would be great fit for the expansion franchise.
King is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, which means the Golden Knights must sign him before he hits free agency July 1st. The 27-year old is a big man at 6’4 and weighing 232 pounds. One of the knocks on King is his inability to use his size on a consistent basis. However when he does use his size, he can be an intimidating force on the ice. He will go into the grimy areas along the boards and go to the front of that where most of his goals come from. King has a bit of offensive ability but this year only has eight goals and six assists. In 2013-2014, King had an incredible season on a bottom line role scoring 15 Goals, 15 Assists and 30 Points.
Not to mention, King is also a two-time Stanley Cup Champion and has knack of scoring in the clutch.
As a result, the Golden Knights know they have a potential locker room leader and a teacher for younger players with King in the fold. General Manager George McPhee knows they have a long way to go before the expansion draft but this would be another solid addition to the Golden Knights bottom six.
Golden Knights Prediction: Dwight King