8 LA Kings Who Will Not Be Traded

The Los Angeles Kings have some glaring needs this offseason. Aside from finding a head coach, they're also in the market for a top-six impact player—preferably a center—to add some desperately-needed offense. They finished 29th in the NHL in goals per game.

So there will be some changes as GM Ken Holland assesses the market. Trades will be made, and some players won't be back.

But according to Eric Stephens of The Athletic, there are seven players that won't be going anywhere (we'll add an 8th at the end of the article). He suggests that there are no untouchables, though we figure that the first two players on this list are as close to that as one can get.

Adrian Kempe
Artemi Panarin
Quinton Byfield
Alex Laferiere
Kevin Fiala
Mikey Anderson
Anton Forsberg

Both Kempe and Panarin have full no-move clauses and just signed new extensions. Kempe is the heir apparent to the now-retired Anze Kopitar as Mr. LA King up front. Kempe will be going into his 11th season in LA, starting a new eight-year contract with a $10.625 million AAV.

Panarin starts new 2-year extension next season with Kings

Panarin was a huge trade addition this past season, and with the lack of reliable offense on this team, the 34-year-old will certainly be around for the two years he signed up for. Additionally, he specifically chose the Kings as his only prefered trade destination when it was clear that the NY Rangers were moving on from him. LA would have to have some nerve to ask him to waive his no-move even before his contract begins.

As for Byfield, the Kings are in a quandary. "They really need a star center to pair with Byfield. And Byfield taking the throne from Kopitar as the Kings’ 1C carries its own questions," writes Stephens. The tantalizing promise of more is there from the former 2nd-overall pick, and the Kings would be taking a big chance trying to move on from him now.

Fiala and Laferriere provide the secondary scoring that's needed behind Kempe and Panarin. As Stephens writes about the 24-year-old Laferriere, "(he) has the look of a player who will be with the Kings for a dozen years. He continues to give them a little of everything: hockey sense, scoring ability, physical play, etc."

On the defensive end of the rink, Anderson has been a rock for the Kings on the blueline for a number of years, and will remain so with five years left at a reasonable $4.1M AAV.

Forsberg took over the top job between the pipes down the stretch and into the playoffs. Stephens calls him "a satisfactory 1A or solid No. 2." In addition, it's hard to do better than his $2.25 million cap hit for that kind of role.

As for the 8th King who won't be traded, Stephens surprisingly puts Drew Doughty in the "Staying put, almost certainly" category, rather than "Not going anywhere". Let's just say that it would be hard to see the 18-year Kings veteran playing anywhere else.