Depending on what happens with winger Viktor Arvidsson, the LA Kings may be in the market for his replacement come July. David Perron may be the type of player who could fit nicely into a middle-six role should Arvidsson test the market.

It should be noted that Perron is coming off his worst season in quite some time, scoring 17 goals and 47 points in 76 games. The points total was his lowest since the 2018-19 season when he scored 46 with the St. Louis Blues. His 17 goals were the lowest since 2017-18 with Vegas. All that to say, it was a season to forget for the 35-year-old.

Looking at the graph on the right-hand side you can see the sharp decrease in value in the 2023-24 season. The question is whether this past season is the beginning of the end for Perron or if there’s reason to believe he can return to his 2022-23 form when he netted 24 goals and 56 points.

5-on-5 Play

Most of Perron’s drop-off last season came at 5-on-5. Per Natural Stat Trick he had the sixth-lowest amount of shot attempts per 60 minutes and third-lowest shooting percentage of his 17-year career. For his career, he’s managed a 12.8% shooting percentage at 5-on-5. Last season, he finished at just 8.1%.

Perron was less effective in generating scoring chances at 5-on-5 as well. Below from All Three Zones, you’ll see his struggles in 23-24 but was very good just the season prior in 22-23.

Something to consider is he spent most of 22-23 playing with Dylan Larkin, arguably Detroit’s best player. In 23-24, Larkin dropped to Perron’s third most common linemate while spending more time with JT Compher and Andrew Copp.

Power Play

The power play was still a strong suit for Perron last season. His 17 points when on the man advantage were just five fewer than the year before and he had his second-highest ixGF of his career, so he was still heavily involved in the Red Wings power play.

Most of Perron’s time on the power play in Detroit was spent on the left flank, where he utilized his excellent shot.

That said, he’s shown the ability to play the net front and be effective there as well.

If Arvidsson moves on, the LA Kings are left with one right shot forward in their top nine in Alex Laferriere and he saw very little power play time.

How does he fit?

I think putting Perron on a line with fellow Quebec native Pierre-Luc Dubois would get him back with a player capable of setting Perron up for scoring chances. In the tracking I did last season, Dubois led the LA Kings in slot assists and he was among LA’s best at creating scoring chances in the offensive zone per All Three Zones.

 

In addition, Perron isn’t afraid of the rough stuff. He picked up 55 penalty minutes last season and isn’t going to shy away from sticking up for his teammates (albeit crossing the line in doing so).

If you’re looking for a player who isn’t afraid to mix it up – yet actually able to play in a team’s top-six and on a power play, look no further than Perron.

Contract

But how much will he cost? We know the LA Kings are going to be up against it salary cap-wise. Well, the good news is Perron is coming off of a down year. Let’s take a look at Evolving Hockey’s contract projections for Perron.

At least according to Evolving Hockey, the most likely contract is a one-year deal worth $2.4M. Where do I sign? I’d even be open to the two years at 3.8M but I wouldn’t go any longer than that (and preferably the AAV comes in no higher than 3.5M).

Perron is a highly skilled right-shot winger with plenty of playoff success (61 points in 104 playoff games including 22 points in his last 21 playoff games) and isn’t afraid to mix it up.

We’ve been hearing a lot about how LA was too easy to play against. For a multitude of reasons, Perron doesn’t look like a whole lot of fun to play against.

Main Photo Credit: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

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4 thoughts on “LA Kings Free Agent Option: David Perron”

  2. It’s almost like writers are paid directly for some of these articles… but hey, it got a reaction out of me!

    So let me get this straight. You would give a 35 year old, declining player a two-year contract? I would rather take my chances with arvidsson. Perron is a known jerk, plus, don’t we need this spot for graduating prospects?
    Great article for Perron, terrible article for the kings…

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  3. I love your guys Thursday nights dialogue on LA Kings hockey. The pacific division has elite top centers such as McDavid, Draisaitl, Peterson, Eichel, soon to be elite Leo Carlson, soon to be elite Macklin Celebrini, soon to be elite Beniers, and even JT Miller. This means the Kings are stuck where they are unless they have an elite center that can play like Jack Eichel at minimum.

    My point is Perron is an interesting choice and I think he makes them better, but he alone won’t get them past Edmonton or Vegas. 21M in Cap spc for your top 3 center (none of whom are top 20 C in the league) the next two seasons means the Kings are stuck.

    Here’s why I’m wrong- you did say something interesting about Perron- MAYBE HE MAKES PLD BETTER. I actually agree. Let’s assume Perron’s addition gets PLD to play like he did when he was a Jet. It is self-evident that the Winnipeg PLD is a much better PLD than the LAPLD we’ve witnessed.

    I would still label the move to bring in Perron as a sideways move because the Winnipeg PLD couldn’t even tie Jack Eichel’s skate laces. The Winnipeg PLD is still not a top 20 C in the NHL. For reference see the first rd two years ago where the jets faced vegas.

    My take on how to win a cup with the Kings- blow the team up and do a full rebuild gets this team closer to a cup than they are now. It’s strange because the Kings are decently young. They have good forwards. And I think Byfield is decent. He has skill and is an nhl player, but he will never be as good a player as kopitar is right now and therefore cannot be labeled the center to build the team around given the elite centers the pacific division has cemented itself with. Clarke may be the Elite D to build the blue line with but we don’t know for sure. So if the Kings blow the team up you have to keep byfield and Clarke and Portillo.

    Let’s be honest….a full rebuild won’t happen under Blake. The move Blake should strongly consider doing is moving Drew Doughty. He is their best blueliner no doubt, but his contract is burdensome. I could see Carolina taking Doughty. I might even do a swap with Erik karlson of Pittsburgh.

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  4. Go BIG and sign soon to be UFA Sam Reinhart. This guy’s a beast and exactly the player the Kings need. Otherwise I’ve a feeling if he wins the cup Anaheim or Seattle or some other pacific squad will sign him.

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