LA Kings ink their final RFA

After an offseason worth of waiting, the LA Kings and Sean Durzi have come to an agreement:

DURZ!

We have signed @seandurzi to a two-year extension 👇

— LA Kings (@LAKings) September 15, 2022

The 23-year-old right-shot defenseman signed a two-year deal with an average of $1.7 million.

After putting up 16 points in 13 games with the Ontario Reign in 2021-22, the LA Kings brought Durzi up due to a rash of injuries to their blueline. In LA, Durzi had 27 points in 64 games and quickly adapted himself to the NHL level.

The signing comes less than a week after the Kings signed fellow RFA defenseman Mikey Anderson to a one-year, $1 million deal.

Durzi will be among those vying for an NHL spot on the defense corp. The team has said that a right-shot defenseman is likely to play on the left side, and that could mean Durzi.

Here’s a rough look at the blueline heading into training camp:

Of course, the Kings are likely only to keep seven of those names, and it’s a pretty safe assumption that Anderson, Drew Doughty, Sean Walker, Matt Roy, and Alex Edler are all sticking around.

Of the rest, Tobias Bjornfot and Jordan Spence do not have to clear waivers to be sent to the AHL, making them the “easiest” to be sent down. However, Bjornfot has played over 100 NHL games over the past few seasons, and Spence showed well in his NHL debut last season, so neither of those is guaranteed to end up in Ontario.

Brandt Clarke could get his nine-game showcase before the team has to decide to send him back to the OHL or keep him in LA (the AHL is not an option for Clarke).

All in all, this is a good problem to have as there are options a-plenty. It should make training camp that much more exciting.