Los Angeles Kings: Three much-needed offseason moves to make

The Los Angeles Kings season is officially over with the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs starting with the focus now turned to potential offseason moves.

The NHL regular season has concluded and the Los Angeles Kings will be going into the offseason with a multitude of questions. They finished the season with the second-worst point total in the league (71 points), only better than the Ottawa Senators (64 points).

Given where they finished in the league, the Kings should be better next season, but need to make some much-needed moves in order to make that happen.

First move: Shed salary cap space

The salary cap for next season is estimated to go up about $3.5 million, resulting in a salary cap total of $83 million for a roster. As of now, the Los Angeles Kings have 19 players under contract (according to Cap Friendly), with about $72.2 million in expenditures. The Kings have some high priced veteran players that they should consider trading away.

One player they should consider is Jeff Carter. He is under contract for just about $5.3 million and is an aging veteran. He only contributed 13 goals and 20 assists this season with a -20 rating. Last season he had the same amount of goals in only 27 games with a better rating.

Carter is well beyond his prime and would do better in more of a reduced role for a championship contender. The Kings would do well to trade him away and open up cap space considering they should start rebuilding for the future.

A second player they should trade away is Dion Phaneuf. He is signed for just about the same amount of money as Carter but contributes less offensively. He is a gritty defenseman but is paid way too much for not contributing enough.

It will be tough to move him due to his partial no-trade clause and no-movement clause. However, it is an option the Kings should explore in order to get younger and prepare for the future.

Second move: Find a new head coach

After the regular season ended, the Kings informed interim coach Willie Desjardins shortly thereafter that he would not be retained for next season. The search for a new Kings coach has begun and the question is who could it be.

A suggestion could be Todd McClellan, who has had success with the Sharks in the past and has widely been a good regular season coach, yet he has not won a Stanley Cup.

Another could be Alain Vigneault, who coached the Rangers when they met the Kings in the 2013-2014 playoffs, only to lose to them in the finals. Both coaches have led seasoned rosters in the past and would be good fits to fit a Kings team that desperately needs some direction.

Third move: Trade away Jonathan Quick

This may not be a popular move to make considering Kings fans adore their two-time Stanley Cup-winning goalie, but his stats and durability have taken a hit in the most recent years.

The two years before this current year it was his durability, and this year it was his stats. Through 46 starts this year, Quick had 3.38 GAA and .888% save percentage, which was horrendous. On the other hand, his counterpart Jack Campbell had 25 starts with a 2.30 GAA and .928%.

Campbell obviously played way better than Quick this year and should be considered the goalie of the future. In the least bit, he should at least get more starts than Quick due to his good play, if the Kings do not want to part ways with him.

The Los Angeles Kings will need to get a new head coach and make some tough decisions regarding their future during the offseason. In order to move forward, they have to focus on freeing up cap space and ensuring upper management makes the right decisions in order to build them up into a cup contender in the near future.