Either way, with the draft only a few weeks away and free agency coming soon after, this search will need to wrap up before too much longer.<\/p>\n
Re-Sign Clarke<\/p>\n
One of the more intriguing players coming off their entry-level contract this summer is defenseman Brandt Clarke<\/a>.\u00a0 His numbers, though certainly improved, don\u2019t necessarily stand out.\u00a0 But that\u2019s what makes his case a little more intriguing.\u00a0 Thus far, he has shown flashes of the offensive upside that made him a top-10 pick back in 2021.\u00a0 However, the playing time hasn\u2019t been all that high for the most part.\u00a0 That makes trying to find the right price point a little tougher.<\/p>\n On the surface, this appears like one of those cases where the team would probably want to do a long-term deal while Clarke\u2019s camp might prefer a short-term one.\u00a0 A long-term agreement would involve a lot of projecting as Clarke wouldn\u2019t be signing a contract that views him as a 40-point player; he\u2019d need more incentive than that to sign.\u00a0 Holland would need to be confident that Clarke has another level to get to, perhaps the 50-point plateau.\u00a0 That\u2019s when the bigger money would start to come in, potentially in the $8MM to $9MM range.<\/p>\n On the other hand, going with a short-term deal would provide some more certainty in the long run (which is probably more appealing to Clarke if he things he has another gear offensively and can handle a bigger role) with a bit more cap flexibility in the short term as well.\u00a0 AFP Analytics projects<\/a> a two-year pact to run somewhere in the $5MM range.\u00a0 Clarke would be giving up some short-term earnings with the hopes of a bigger payday a couple of years from now but the potential reward could outweigh the risk.\u00a0 Holland may be trying to convince him otherwise in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n Add A Top Center<\/p>\n For a while now, one of the bigger weaknesses the Kings have had is finding a high-end second center to play behind Anze Kopitar<\/a>.\u00a0 Now, the need is intensified.\u00a0 Not only do they not have the second pivot still, but now they don\u2019t have Kopitar either after the Slovenian announced his retirement after 20 seasons with the franchise.\u00a0 Now, instead of needing one impact center, they arguably need two in a market that doesn\u2019t have a lot available.<\/p>\n I say arguably as Quinton Byfield<\/a> has spent a lot of time down the middle in recent year.\u00a0 It stands to reason that they\u2019ll be counting on him to take a step forward next season and be entrenched as one of those two while hoping that he can get better at the faceoff dot to become more reliable.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s the easy one.<\/p>\n Replacing Kopitar, a legitimate two-way presence, isn\u2019t going to be anywhere near as easy.\u00a0 The UFA market doesn\u2019t have any middlemen of that caliber and there aren\u2019t many top centers available for trade.\u00a0 Dylan Larkin<\/a> is someone Holland is quite familiar with but while he may want out, there\u2019s no guarantee Detroit will deal him.\u00a0 Robert Thomas<\/a> was in play at the deadline but the asking price was too steep for anyone to meet.\u00a0 If he doesn\u2019t sign an extension, perhaps Nico Hischier<\/a> would be in play but again, the price tag (acquisition and extension) would be hefty.<\/p>\n One of the challenges Holland will face on that front is that they don\u2019t have a ton of notable trade chips.\u00a0 They moved one of their top trade chips in Liam Greentree<\/a> to the Rangers as part of the Artemi Panarin<\/a> trade, weakening an already weaker prospect pool.\u00a0 They at least have all of their first-rounders available but there\u2019s a very good chance that teams with deeper systems get into the bidding, ones that can probably put together better packages than the Kings can.<\/p>\n If they aren\u2019t able to land an impact center, the next best option would probably be to try to re-sign Scott Laughton<\/a>.\u00a0 Acquired at the trade deadline from Toronto, he impressed down the stretch in a bigger role, picking up eight points in 21 games while logging over 15 minutes per night.\u00a0 Laughton isn\u2019t a big scoring threat but would give them a stable third-line pivot and essentially fill most of the role they brought in Phillip Danault<\/a> to do several years ago before moving him earlier this season.\u00a0 AFP Analytics projects<\/a> that Laughton could land a three-year pact worth around $4.1MM per season.\u00a0 If Holland thinks Laughton can be the solution on the third line, shoring up the depth isn\u2019t a terrible backup plan if they can\u2019t trade for a key center.<\/p>\n Bring In More Firepower<\/p>\n As much as their record was nothing to get overly excited about, the Kings allowed the seventh-fewest goals in the league this season.\u00a0 Their goaltending was quite sharp, to say the least.\u00a0 But while there is certainly a case to make that they need to upgrade on the back end, the biggest priority is to add more scoring.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t score under Hiller and didn\u2019t score much more under Smith.\u00a0 The end result was a 29th-place finish in goals scored with the lowest 82-game total they\u2019ve had since 2018-19.<\/p>\n A full season with Panarin should certainly help things, no doubt.\u00a0 But among players to spend the full year with the Kings, they had just one player reach the 50-point mark, Adrian Kempe<\/a> (who was rewarded with an eight-year, $85MM deal for his efforts).\u00a0 Needless to say, that\u2019s not good enough for a team that views itself as one that should be able to do a bit of damage in the playoffs instead of being first-round fodder.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/USATSI_25946738-241x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Clarke\u2019s first two seasons saw him play sparingly.\u00a0 One yielded a return to the OHL, the other saw him in the minors for the bulk of the campaign.\u00a0 In 2024-25, he played a regular role, albeit on the third pairing but still managed a respectable 33 points in 78 games.\u00a0 This season, he was able to up his point total to 40 to lead all Los Angeles defenders.\u00a0 While his ice time jumped up by over three minutes per night, he was still under 20 minutes per game.\u00a0 Notably, his ice time on the power play was largely split with Drew Doughty<\/a> despite Doughty managing just one power play point all season.\u00a0 Had Clarke played more like a true top-unit option, he likely would have had a few more points.<\/p>\n