The Kings diversified their holdings in this week’s NHL draft in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens that swapped the 21st overall pick for Nos. 26, 57 and 198.
Prior to the deal, the Kings held just four selections in the seven-round draft, and now have augmented that to six. They now own picks Nos. 26, 57, 118, 182, 198 and 214. The first-round pick originally belonged to the Winnipeg Jets and the second-rounder was initially the property of the Colorado Avalanche.
Round 1 of the draft will air on ESPN beginning Friday at 4 p.m. and Rounds 2 through 7 will unfold on NHL Network on Saturday, beginning at 8:30 a.m.
The Kings entered the festivities light on picks, having traded their third-rounder to Columbus in the Vladislav Gavrikov deal and their second-rounder as part of a salary dump that allowed them to re-sign him. They also lost their fifth-rounder in a separate 2023 trade deadline deal, which included the pick in a swap of enforcers (Brendan Lemieux for Zack MacEwen).
In addition to trading back, the Kings could have other options to reconfigure involving roster players and, on July 1, free agents.
In recent days, Travis Yost reported Viktor Arvidsson was expected to explore free agency and Pierre LeBrun reported that Matt Roy appeared increasingly likely to be heading elsewhere.
Those departures would leave the Kings with more than $22 million in salary cap space, per CapFriendly, to address the status of other pending free agents, most notably restricted free agent Quinton Byfield, and sign replacements for some outgoing players.
