Kings' front office finding ways to stay busy during recent win streak
The Los Angeles Kings have come on so strong of late that general manager Dean Lombardi decided it was time to keep it going in both the long-and short-terms.
Looking ahead, only two days after signing fourth-line center Jordan Nolan to a three-year contract extension, Lombardi signed Kyle Clifford to a five-year extension. A few hours later, Lombardi traded a conditional first-round pick and prospect Roland McKeown to the Carolina Hurricanes for defenseman Andrej Sekera.
The moves to sign his fourth-liners indicated that he's looking to shore up the salary cap, which has been problematic given the situation with Slava Voynov.
But the move to trade for Sekera indicated that the Kings are gearing up to defend their Stanley Cup title and compete now.
"What they have accomplished and how they keep fighting through, it's almost like you owe it to them," he said on a conference call Wednesday afternoon. "The one thing about this team, I think from what they've accomplished the last three years and the way they appear to be responding here the last couple weeks, the players, I've always said, dictate a lot of what you do."
An eight-game winning streak has the Kings back in the playoff hunt, but had the team continued its inconsistent play, Lombardi might have ended up being a seller instead of a buyer. The way the Kings have fought their second-half battles in previous seasons clearly gave Lombardi the incentive he needed to be proactive.
"Given how far they've gone the last few years and the way they responded to adversity, I think that lends itself to being more aggressive," he said. "If this was a team that maybe had gone out in the first round the last couple years or whatever, you back off...
"If they hadn't done what they've done here in the last three years, like I said, they deserve it."
Kings G Quick credits solid game planning for recent turnaround
The defensive group has struggled all season, starting with the departure of two-way veteran Willie Mitchell and myriad of injuries they've been hit with. Both Robyn Regehr and Alec Martinez have been out twice, and the Lombardi signed Jamie McBain for the league minimum.
It's easy to point to Drew Doughty's exorbitant ice-time numbers and think the unit is weary, but Doughty would play that much regardless, because he impacts the game in so many ways. But with Martinez out, they're lacking one of the best two-way d-men. A top-four defenseman with versatility and the ability to move the puck, like the left-shooting Sekera, is a significant boost to the unit.
"I think it's the one area of the team that we felt was the one area that could be targeted in terms of an upgrade," he said. "He's very mobile, and even though he's not big, he certainly competes. He's a smart player."
However, the transaction was a gamble and there's no way around that. If the Kings don't make the playoffs, the Hurricanes will receive the Kings' first-round draft pick this year. Even if they do, Carolina still gets a first-round pick from the Kings, their 2016 pick.
It might be a lot to give up for a defenseman who may only be a short-term rental. The 28-year-old Slovakian will become an unrestricted free agent after this season and Lombardi has not yet talked to him to gauge his interest in signing long term. And he might not even have the cap space, given the fact that the Slava Voynov situation is far from resolved and the Kings have yet to come to terms with center Jarret Stoll or winger Justin Williams.
Lombardi has been known to bet against the house before and win. It's a gamble for his players, and he feels they forced his hand.
"We had to evaluate and analyze a lot of things. There are a lot of moving parts here," Lombardi said. "Yes, it's a steep price, factoring through the things we had to analyze with Voynov and things, but when it comes down to it, it comes down to your players."
