Prospective Look at Los Angeles

It's an interesting situation in Los Angeles going into the off-season. What could possibly be done to this team that can get it into the playoffs next season? It's a fairly long and arduous answer and it looks like it will take a fair bit of work to get it done, but the possibility is there for it to be done in the next couple seasons. So saying that, will the Kings be able to field many players who will be good pool players?

First of all, we should look at who they have coming back next season and then we'll drop some ideas down the line. Up front, the Kings have four bright, young players who have a lot of talent. Kopitar, Frolov, Brown and Cammalleri are all full of potential and getting some good support up front would be key to unlocking all that potential. Also, health does provide a concern with the top players, as Kopitar was the only one of the four who managed to play a full 82 games this season.

At the back, the three defensemen listed below are all signed on for the long-term and provide a good backbone for a blueline corps, so there is a good foundation to build on. It is likely that the team will re-sign Rob Blake for another year, but the price tag could be a bit of a concern. Blake made $6 million last season, which is awfully steep for a guy who missed 11 games and only managed 31 points.

In goal, the team used a small army to guard the crease this season, mostly due to inconsistency and injury. The team used six keepers through the year and five of them are signed on for next season, while Erik Ersberg seemed to be in the team's future plans and still needs to be re-signed. This should be the season where Jonathan Bernier takes the reins of the team and makes the number one job his, so he's on the list of guys for next season. If Bernier gets the job, he could provide a pool team with some good support goaltending points through the year.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Anze Kopitar	Lubomir Visnovsky	Jason Labarbera
Alexander Frolov	Tom Preissing	Dan Cloutier
Dustin Brown	Jack Johnson	Jonathan Bernier
Mike Cammalleri
Derek Armstrong
Michal Handzus
Kyle Calder
Ratis Ivanans
Matt Ellis

The 14 players on the list above are valued at an approximate value of $34.1 million and they have dropped free agent weight (for the time being) of Rob Blake at $6 million and Ladislav Nagy at $3.75 million. With production dropping from Blake and Nagy in the past few seasons, the team should hope that they can retain their services with some sort of depreciation discount. Doesn't sound very likely, I know, but they should at least try.

A restricted free agent that is on the books that may get another look is Patrick O'Sullivan, who only earned a minimal $850,000 this past season, will look for a raise after notching 53 points in all 82 games. He could very well be a good sleeper pick for next season.

The Kings will enter Draft Day on June 20th with the second overall pick. It's a pretty handy situation to be in, but the Kings would be much better suited with the first pick overall, as they could use Steven Stamkos more than another big defenseman. I wouldn't put it past Kings GM Dean Lombardi to trade up and get the franchise prospect or even listen to offers to trade their pick down for a player or two that could help next season. The Kings will benefit from a player that could very well make the jump into the league next season, so they do hold a lot of cards in their hand before they actually land on the clock.