LA Kings: Both offseason trades ranked within top-25 of league moves

The LA Kings made trades for Olli Maatta and Lias Andersson this offseason, and both moves are ranked within the NHL’s top 25 offseason acquisitions.

The LA Kings have essentially sat out the action of free agency. And that was to be expected with the 2020-2021 season being an evaluation year. The organization had some financial flexibility but acquiring a top-tier free agent may block a prospect from seeing regular playing time.

It’s been a boring offseason, to put it mildly, as we wait for the league to formally set the start date for the upcoming season.

However, the two moves that LA made received high praise. The team was in the market for a left-shot defenseman to pair with Drew Doughty, and they got one in Olli Maatta from the Chicago Blackhawks. The latter club was essentially looking for a salary dump, acquiring Brad Morrison, who will likely never see the NHL.

Here are NBC Sports’ Top 25 offseason moves (so far), with the Maatta trade coming in at number 22.

“A smart player that is solid defensively but lacks the speed or offensive ability to make a huge impact at both ends of the ice. He is not going to hurt your team, but the $4 million price tag is a little steep.”

Not sure that I necessarily agree with the last statement. Re-signing Ben Hutton or acquiring someone else to pair with Doughty would have cost at least $4M, so the price tag is just right here.

Besides, the Kings could still very well offer sheet someone like Mikhail Sergachev. I know many LA Kings’ fans would love to see that move, as the Lightning are struggling to make all of their offseason moves work.

But perhaps the move that no one saw coming was acquiring former 2017 seventh overall pick, Lias Andersson, as NBC Sports ranked it the 21st best move.

“Look, it’s a great gamble for the Kings and they have very little to lose here. Maybe it works out and they stumble upon another skilled, impact player to add to an impressive collection of prospects.”

The Kings leveraged the 60th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft for Andersson, who recently turned 22 years of age. For whatever reason, things didn’t work out in New York, and now he’s getting a fresh start in LA.

It likely helps that his dad is a European scout for the team as well. While not official, the latest suggests that Andersson will spend the entire 2020-2021 season in Sweden playing for HV71.

And again, depending on when the league sets the start date and number of games, that may change. He’s a restricted free agent after this season, with the expectation that he’d be in Los Angeles for all of the 2021-2022 season. Maatta still has two years left on his deal.