Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Kings have received solid production on offense this season – and they’ve needed every bit of it. Only seven NHL teams have allowed more goals per game on average than they do.
Although the entire team can be criticized for LA’s defensive deficiencies, there’s a glaring problem in their net.
The Kings’ netminding this year has been so terrible.
GM Rob Blake waived and demoted veteran Cal Petersen – who is in Year 1 of a three-year, $15-million contract extension. He then turned to journeyman Pheonix Copley as longtime Kings goalie Jonathan Quick has also struggled mightily.
Copely is on a four-game win streak, and Los Angeles is second in the Pacific Division, so it’s not as if the Kings’ season has been a total disaster. However, leaning on Copely for the rest of the season seems like a huge gamble.
And the Kings are limited in spending: they have just $1.2 million in salary cap space at the moment, but Cap Friendly projects them to have approximately $5.7 million by the NHL’s March 3 trade deadline.
For that reason, expect the Kings to be a bidder on the goalie trade market. While the goalies mentioned below may not be prominent on the trade block, it makes sense for these teams to sell these netminders while they can still get decent value, especially if they’re on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
Here are three candidates that might be wearing a Kings jersey in a few months or sooner:
3. Thatcher Demko, Vancouver
Yes, this one is a long shot, as the Canucks likely won’t part ways with their top-paid goalie unless the return is gigantic. Perhaps Blake sees Demko as a cost-certain asset and someone who can thrive once he’s out of the fishbowl in Vancouver. If that’s the case, the Kings could shock the NHL by landing Demko and asserting themselves as a win-now organization. But it would cost them dearly, and they don’t have a lot of cap space next season. So a cheaper alternative to Demko is more likely.
2. Joonas Korpisalo, Columbus
A much more realistic acquisition for the Kings is the 28-year-old Korpisalo, whose numbers on a brutal Blue Jackets team aren’t that bad (.903 save percentage, 3.53 goals-against average). Korpisalo’s salary of $1.3 million is far more palatable for potential trade partners than a higher-profile goalie such as Demko.
Korpisalo will also be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, making him a pure rental for a team like the Kings. He’s not likely to become a superstar after he gets out of Columbus. Still, as we saw last year with the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche and their starting goalie, Darcy Kuemper, a team does not need the second coming of Ken Dryden in net to navigate their way through the post-season. Someone like Korpisalo could come into Los Angeles, go about his business in relative anonymity, and reward Blake for taking a chance on him.
1. Karel Vejmelka, Arizona
Another goalie on a terrible team is Vejmelka, the 26-year-old Czechia native with a .908 SP and 3.19 GAA in 23 appearances for the Coyotes this season.
This is only Vejmelka’s second NHL season, but he’s performed well enough to have earned a three-year, $8.175-million contract extension back in March. His $2.725-million cap hit makes him extremely attractive to teams needing help in net, and he has nothing in the way of a no-trade clause. The Kings could offer up a prospect or two from their development base and have Vejmelka under contract through the summer of 2025.
In sum, Korpisalo and Vejmelka are most likely to be the next Kings goalie of the three. Teams that normally might trade a backup are now more focused on a balanced tandem netminding approach, so high-level goaltending is virtually impossible to acquire. But the names we’ve mentioned might just be good enough behind the Kings’ offense to be productive enough to win LA a couple of playoff rounds and maybe more.
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