Russell Morgan 
It’s late February and blockbuster trades have already started to flash across our Twitter timelines. With the Rangers, Maple Leafs, and Islanders all bolstering their lineups with big moves, LA Kings general manager Rob Blake sets his sights on players across the league to help improve his team.
With the Kings seemingly among the group of teams we like to call ‘buyers’ as we draw closer to the Friday, March 3 deadline, Blake has laid the groundwork of a potential deal by completing some big summer tasks early on.
Mikey Anderson, LA’s number-one shutdown defenseman and potential future captain, signed an eight-year contract extension with an average annual value of $4.125 million. And breakout goaltender Pheonix Copley earned himself a one-year extension of $1.5 million, checking off two big boxes of summer work for the LA GM.
With those projects completed, Rob Blake’s future cap situation is more apparent, and now he can focus on potentially adding to his team via trade. Let’s take a look at a few names the LA Kings should have their eyes set on as the deadline draws near.
Deadline Wishlist
Nick Bonino – LW,C – San Jose Sharks
The bottom six is an area the Kings could address by adding a veteran presence to the mix of youthful forwards in the group. Sharks forward Nick Bonino, a pending UFA and a player with over 800 career NHL games and 105 playoff games under his belt could be a decent option.
We’ve seen Rob Blake trade for players who have familiarity with current Kings in the past, like the acquisition of Troy Stecher last season. A defenseman who came in with experience playing alongside Alex Edler in Vancouver. Bonino has some of that established chemistry with a couple of LA forwards in Viktor Arvidsson and Kevin Fiala when all three were together in Nashville from 2017-2020, and again with Fiala in Minnesota during the shortened 2020-21 season.
GOAL! 2-1 BONINO.
Amazing pass from Fiala on the rush to give Bonino the clear scoring chance. 13:58 left in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/5Z9fM401K2
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) March 14, 2021
Fiala and Bonino played over 200 minutes of 5v5 play together with the Predators posting a 53% corsi share and 55.12% expected goal share, and another 123 minutes of 5v5 time with the Wild grabbing a 53.02% expected goal share. LA players have needed time to adapt to Fiala, so adding someone used to his dynamic playstyle certainly helps.
Jakob Chychrun – LD – Arizona Coyotes
I won’t bore you with too much of what you’ve heard or what has already been talked about with Jakob Chychrun. But there is no doubt he still is and should be the number one target for the LA Kings and Rob Blake.
Besides goaltending, the left side of the blueline is a barren wasteland in terms of future prospects for LA. Tobias Bjornfot, the first-rounder from 2019 draft, has 100 NHL games of experience already but can’t find a consistent home in the lineup, and Kirill Kirsanov, the third-round pick in the 2021 draft, is staying in Russia for at least three more seasons.
Chychrun fills that need for a left shot blueliner and when healthy he is easily a top-ten defenseman in the NHL. He’s got an elite shot and is no slouch in the defensive zone either. Sliding him alongside the steady Matt Roy sounds like a match made in heaven. It’ll be a high price to pay to acquire Chychurn.
Jakob Chychrun absolutely wired home the game-tying goal. 🔝🧀 pic.twitter.com/De0oJCLHuI
— NHL (@NHL) February 7, 2023
While reports of players Brandt Clarke and Quinton Byfield off the table from the LA side, you’re possibly looking at a deal including names like Kaliyev, Turcotte, Kupari, Chormiak or Spence that would have to be added in order to sweeten the pot for Arizona. But he’s worth the price. And acquiring him would vault the Kings from a bubble playoff team to a Stanley Cup contender in the wide open Western Conference.
Calle Rosen – LD – St. Louis Blues
Another player who has some familiarity with a couple of LA Kings is left-shot defenseman Calle Rosen of the St. Louis Blues. If he doesn’t go after the big fish, Rosen wouldn’t be a bad consolation prize.
Having a breakout year for the Blues scoring seven goals and adding eight assists in 37 games, the 29-year-old, is quickly establishing himself as a legitimate top-four NHL blueliner after some extended time in the American Hockey League.
He was no slouch in the AHL either, securing a Calder Cup in 2018 playing alongside current LA Kings players Trevor Moore and Carl Grundstrom on the Toronto Marlies. And being named an AHL all-star along with his teammate Moore in 2019. But with only 75 career NHL games under his belt, Rosen waited for his name to be called and has made the most of it.
Nice PK shift from Rosen here. He anticipates the pass, intercepts it, leads the rush, draws a penalty, then sets up Moore.
The Marlies didn't score here, but they held onto the puck for well over a minute, and killed off the whole penalty. pic.twitter.com/ZCUkhfxHTh
— Kevin Papetti (@KPapetti) January 20, 2019
Rosen is signed for next year as well at a very inexpensive $762,500 AAV. If the Blues are heading toward a dreaded rebuild, acquiring future assets for the left-shot defenseman could be enticing for GM Doug Armstrong.
Other names connected to LA include defensemen Jack McCabe (CHI) and Vladislav Gavrikov (CBJ). While both are good players, McCabe at two more years with a $4 million AAV somewhat scares me for someone who hasn’t scored more than four goals in a season. And Gavrikov feels like too costly a piece for a Kings team that isn’t in the position to pay a high price for rentals. Maybe if an extension was tied to the deal, I could be enticed.
Featured Image Credit (Claus Andersen/Getty Images)