The Los Angeles Kings have turn into a consistent presence within the Western Conference as a team that contends for a playoff spot nearly yearly, but they’ve continued running into the identical ceiling.
That ceiling is the Edmonton Oilers, who’ve eliminated Los Angeles in 4 consecutive seasons in the primary round of the playoffs. The Kings know that they have to improve this offseason with a view to recover from that hump and get on the Oilers’ level, in addition to the opposite contenders across the NHL.
After all, the Kings did that by adding free agents, but retaining a few of their very own pieces hitting the market was also a must. They did just that on Friday night once they signed young forward Alex Laferriere to a latest three-year contract price $12.3 million, in keeping with NHL insider Frank Seravalli.
“Hearing #LAKings and RFA Alex Laferriere have agreed to terms on a brand new deal: 3 years x $4.1 million = $12.3 million,” Seravalli reported on X, formerly Twitter.
Laferriere was a restricted free agent this offseason, so the Kings were at all times accountable for his free agency. Nonetheless, Los Angeles might be thrilled to get a deal done and be certain that he might be with them for the foreseeable future.
The 23-year old is off to a superb begin to his profession over his first two seasons. After a 23-point rookie season, Laferriere racked up 42 points for the Kings in 77 games this season. He was also an enormous positive when he was on the ice, because the Kings outscored opponents by 22 goals with Laferriere skating.
The Recent Jersey native has only been a professional for 2 seasons, so it’s reasonable to assume that he could proceed to enhance over the course of this contract and turn into considered one of the highest scorers for this Kings franchise in the approaching years. In the event that they need to recover from the hump within the postseason, they may need him to live as much as that billing.