For any fans following the Los Angeles Kings this offseason, they are well aware of the odd decisions made by Ken Holland in his first offseason as general manager with the team. It is hard to make the case that they are better now when considering the losses and the moves they made to try and replace those holes.
The Kings would be one of the more active teams as they signed five free agents, but quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality. Recently, Adam Gertz of Bleacher Report handed out grades for each team's offseason and summed up what the Kings have done pretty well with a failing grade of 'F':
"Letting Vladislav Gavrikov go and trading Jordan Spence only to replace them with Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin on long-term contracts is nasty business, and it's also foolish business.
Corey Perry might still have something to offer at forward, but this is still a middle-of-the-pack offensive team and now its defense—its one big strength—is arguably worse than it was."
Players are not as bad as contract lengths when looking at the moves the LA Kings made
It is tough to blame the Los Angeles Kings for missing out on some of the top free agents because they might not have even had really a chance to add them. Mitch Marner was a sign-and-trade with Vegas and he didn't even reach free agency while Brock Boeser signed shortly after free agency began to return to Vancouver.
Even the loss of Vladislav Gavrikov might not be something that Ken Holland can fully be blamed for, depending on what contract he offered. The fact that Rob Blake let Gavrikov get as far into the season without a new deal was a big miss and probably why their top defenseman felt the need to join the New York Rangers.
Where Holland and the Kings are to blame is the length of the contract that they gave Dumoulin and particularly Cody Ceci. If the Kings wanted to bring in veterans as bridge players, that would be logical because there wasn't another Gavrikov available in free agency, and adding veterans to replace the production for a season or two is something teams do all the time.
However, now that both players are under contract for four seasons, the Kings really can't do much when opportunities to improve the defense present themselves. If Bowen Byram or Rasmus Andersson are made available in a trade by their respective teams, the Kings have no way to create a spot for those players.
The LA Kings wanted to bring in veteran experience to build out their depth but they have now restricted themselves from really making any moves, especially on the defense, with the contracts they gave out this summer.