LA Kings: Exploring a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning

Likely an outside scenario, there is the potential for the LA Kings to acquire a top-six winger from the Lightning.

While the LA Kings have made the plan quite clear that they plan to rebuild through the draft, the flat salary cap could offer several potential players becoming available that normally wouldn’t under normal circumstances. We recently looked at the Kings making a trade for LHD Nick Leddy, and today we’re honing in on a productive winger to add to the group.

As noted, the league’s salary cap will remain at $81.5M for the foreseeable future, so LA could pounce on a couple of teams that will have high AAV contracts on the trade block. The Kings are in a fantastic position, given how much talent they have in the prospect pool and financial flexibility.

But if they have the opportunity to grab a player like Alex Killorn this offseason, I think the Kings front office might have to consider all options. The Tampa Bay Lightning are one of the most cap-strapped teams in the league, with approximately $5.3M in available cap space this offseason. They have a boatload of unrestricted and restricted free agents to consider re-signing this offseason.

I recently spoke with Bolts By The Bay’s site editor, James Yarcho, about Tampa’s salary cap situation what it would take to get a deal done for Killorn.

“I’m thinking the guy they’re going to end up unloading, as much as it pains me, is Alex Killorn. He has three years left with $4.45M due each year and a partial no-trade that kicks in after this season.”

On the potential for a second-round pick not being enough but adding Trevor Moore in the trade:

“That might get it done, though I’m not sure they’d have much interest in Moore. I could see them sending him to work in Syracuse for a bit and treating him as if he is a prospect while giving Mathieu Joseph more work. I think that trade is close to something that could realistically happen even if Moore isn’t the exact guy in the deal, someone comparable could be.”

Killorn, 30, tallied his first 20+ goal season of his career this past year while guiding his team to, at the very least, the Eastern Conference Finals. He tallied 49 points on a 20.0 shot percentage, both career-highs. The Halifax native scored eight goals on the man advantage and has four goals with three assists in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. Needless to say, the Kings would be buying high.

Playing devil’s advocate, by the time the Kings are ready to compete again, Killorn’s contract may be close to expiring, and he’ll be approaching age 33. On the other hand, adding him now would provide an immediate boost to the team’s top-six forwards, and he would be a great mentor if placed on the second line with Gabriel Vilardi and Martin Frk.

The offensive lines might look like the following:

Iafallo – Kopitar – Brown

Killorn – Vilardi – Frk

Kempe – Lizotte – Carter

Grundstrom – Anderson-Dolan – Wagner

Killorn has veteran leadership that this mostly young group of Kings players needs, as demonstrated by the Lightning making him their alternate captain. Tampa would be getting a projectable player in Moore, who tallied 23 goals with 19 assists for the Toronto Marlies in the 2018-2019 campaign. Perhaps the 25-year-old breaks out with regular playing time?

What do you think about making a trade for Alex Killorn?