First-year Los Angeles Kings general manager Ken Holland turned over part of the roster in this past free agency cycle earlier this summer in the 2025 offseason. The Kings added nearly a half-dozen proven and experienced veteran free agents earlier this summer to help add physicality and grit to the projected roster for this upcoming postseason in the West.
Holland and the Kings also parted ways with multiple key contributors on the roster from this past season in the Pacific Division via free agency this summer. Getting bigger and more physical, especially with more experience on the blue line, was a priority for the Kings' front office this offseason and going into the 2025-26 season.
While the Kings made some good and necessary moves to upgrade the projected roster for the upcoming campaign in 2025-26, LA also lost some players it would ideally want to have back in the fold.
Here are three former Kings players that LA fans should be happy are gone from the team, and two players they should want back with the franchise.
Players Los Angeles Kings fans should be glad are gone
Pierre-Luc Dubois, W
Power forward Pierre-Luc Dubois was the priority headline acquisition for the Kings in the 2023 offseason. Dubois registered 16 goals and 39 total points for the Kings a couple of years ago in the 2023-24 season. That was a drop from consecutive 25-goal and 50-point seasons for the Winnipeg Jets in the early 2020s.
Despite Dubois' playmaking and size around the net, he had a disappointing 2023-24 season for the Kings. Hiller and Dubois both knew he was struggling for the Kings a couple of seasons ago for LA.
In the 2024 offseason last summer, the Kings traded Dubois to the Washington Capitals for current LA starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
Andreas Englund, D
Defenseman Andreas Englund was signed by the Kings to their blue line during the 2023 offseason. He signed a two-year contract with the Kings to bring depth and size/physicality to the blue line going into the 2023-24 season.
After eight straight games last regular season with zero points and a negative or neutral plus/minus, Englund was placed on waivers and eventually picked up by the Seattle Kraken in the West.
Drew Doughty suffered a lower-body injury the last preseason for the Kings. Despite having the additional minutes to earn a bigger opportunity with the Kings' blue line this past regular season for Hiller and Co., Englund wasn't part of the top seven or eight defensemen in LA.
Ilya Kovalchuk, W
In the 2018 offseason, the Kings signed veteran star forward Ilya Kovalchuk to a three-year contract worth nearly $7 million in average annual value. Kovalchuk was brought in to help get the Kings over the hump for the postseason in the West.
Kovalchuk was one of the worst-value free agent signing contracts for the Kings in the past three decades for the franchise.
In the 2000s and early 2010s decades, Kovalchuk was a consistent 40-goal scorer for the Atlanta Thrashers and helped the New Jersey Devils reach the Stanley Cup Finals in the early 2010s. Kovalchuk was a three-time All-Star for the Thrashers in the 2000s.
After being swept in the first round of the playoffs in 2018 in the West by the Vegas Golden Knights, the Kings needed a boost offensively to spark the top nine forwards. Kovalchuk was a valuable free agent signing who made sense for the Kings to boost their offensive scoring production for the next season in the Pacific Division.
Despite being the fourth-highest-paid player on the Kings' salary cap table roster in the 2018-19 campaign, Kovalchuk only scored 34 points and was a -26 that season for LA.
Former players Los Angeles Kings fans wish never left
Tyler Toffoli, C
Former Kings, Devils, and Winnipeg Jets center Tyler Toffoli is among the most skilled and physical power forwards in the Pacific Division for LA's Northern California foe the San Jose Sharks. Toffoli scored a game-winning goal and helped the Sharks beat the Kings twice in the span of a few weeks last season in the fall.
Last season, Toffoli scored over 20 goals and 54 total points for the Sharks in the Pacific Division. He was the only 30-goal scorer and one of just two Sharks players on the top two lines up front with over 20 goals this past season.
Toffoli was a key contributor on the Kings' Stanley Cup team in the mid-2010s in 2014. He was a critical fit in the Kings' system, bringing physicality and skill to LA's top nine forward core group in the 2014 postseason in the playoffs.
For a Kings team that needed more physicality and scoring depth offensively for the forward core unit, Toffoli's skill set and familiarity with playing in LA for multiple years in the 2010s, early in his career in the NHL would make sense as a hypothetical fit for this squad.
Vladislav Gavrikov, D
Earlier this offseason, the Kings' front office showed interest consistently to re-sign defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov for a new contract after the 2024-25 season. Gavrikov seemed like a player Holland and the Kings wanted to keep around heading into the future for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
Gavrikov was able to get a pay raise after putting up great numbers for the Kings top-four core on the blue line this past season. He signed a seven-year contract worth $7 million in average annual value with the New York Rangers this past free agent cycle earlier this summer.
He was the only Kings' player to have 25 assists, at least a plus/minus of +25, and 140 blocked shots on the blue line.
Since the Kings wanted more physicality and consistent scoring production from the top six unit on the blue line this offseason, Gavrikov would've been nice to return for another season in the 2025-26 campaign for this defensive group.