Decrease Kiss Directed on the expiration date of the NHL on Friday, requiring a significant decision to relaunch their thrust in playoffs and improve their chances of progress beyond the first round of the playoffs for the first time since the spring of the 2014 Stanley Cup.
What they have in place can prove to be a little more than a minor upgrade, acquiring the Russian striker Andrei Kuzmenko and a choice of seventh round in the draft of this summer of the philadelphia flyers in exchange for a choice of third round in 2027.
Kuzmenko, 29, scored 39 goals and 35 assists for Vancouver during his first NHL season in 2022-23 and 26 of his 67 career goals occurred in play, where the Kings had trouble. But this season, which he separated between Calgary and Philadelphia, he has only six goals and 14 assists.
However, adding a shot on the right and the physical presence of Kuzmenko in the fold could wake up the Kings offensive. In addition, flyers are responsible for half what remains on its $ 5.5 million contract, which expires this season. It is therefore a business that has little risks. However, he could only provide a minimum reward, and this could arise on the heat of the Director General Assieged Rob Blake, who is in the last months of his contract.
Since the replacement of Dean Lombardi, who guided the Kings to a pair of Stanley Cup titles, Blake has taken the team to four appearances in the series in seven complete seasons. But the kings were eliminated in the first round each time. He probably needs a deep race in the playoff series this spring to keep his job.
The Kings, leading a sequence of five defeats of five games of one season, entered the match on Saturday with the third of Saint-Louis in the Pacific division, with a three-point lead against Calgary in the battle for the third and final of the playoffs. They are also 26th in the 32 team league by scoring and third from the last of the efficiency of the power game.
To correct that they were supposed to look for a dynamic attacker from the first six on the deadline, with published reports binding them to Kyle Palmieri des Icelanders and Rickard Rakell of Pittsburgh. They did not obtain either, but they also kept the talented twentySomethings Quinton Byfield, Jordan Spence and Brandt Clarke, whose names had all surfaced in commercial rumors.
THE DucksSeven points of view of their first place in the playoffs since 2018, were not active on the deadline, but they moved early Friday by acquiring the defender Oliver Kylington of the Islanders in exchange for considerable future. One day earlier, the team added Herm Traff on the right Herm Traff and a conditional choice in the second round at the draft of this summer of the Devils of New Jersey in exchange for defender Brian Dumoulin.
