At this point of the year, teams are trying to bring together a game plan for how they want to approach the offseason and what the expectations should be for the upcoming season. For the Los Angeles Kings, their expectations have been pretty clear, and that is to add to the roster and build a team that can compete for a Stanley Cup.
They have some cap space that will allow them to bring in a big-time free agent, like Mitch Marner, but they could also look to make some impact moves in a trade. Since their focus is to win now, they might be more willing to trade draft picks, and this would align with teams who want to build for the future.
The biggest hurdle, though, may be to convince teams that they should be building for the future because the last thing they want to do is give up on a season that is still months away. If I am general manager Ken Holland, these are four teams that I would be calling first to see if they would be interested in making a trade before the 2025 NHL Draft.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are one of the teams that should be in a rebuild but with veterans like Sidney Crosby at the end of their career, they may not be willing to dive into a complete rebuild. They are going to be cautious with their approach and probably trade some veterans, but not so many that it doesn't give them a chance at the playoffs.
This offseason, they hired a new coach in Dan Muse and have two first-round picks already so it appears they are setting the franchise up for success once Crosby calls it a career. Another first-round pick, or any draft picks, could help in that process.
For the Los Angeles Kings, they should be looking at players like Rickard Rakell as potential trade targets. He is an older veteran who just had a career year with 35 goals, but is 31 years old. Rakell probably won't still be producing at this level in a few seasons, so trading him now would make sense.