There are similarities between the situations the Los Angeles Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs found themselves in this offseason. Both teams had players who were going to be highly sought after in free agency but what they did with those players and how they reacted were very different.
For the Maple Leafs, the big free agent was Mitch Marner, and it seemed pretty clear that he would not be returning to Toronto. Instead of letting him leave with nothing in return, the Maple Leafs were able to work out a sign-and-trade with the Vegas Golden Knights, with Nicolas Roy going back.
Now, there is no confusing Roy and Marner, and they are not close to the same player but Roy is a serviceable center that will contribute next season for this team.
Meanwhile, the Kings were trying to re-sign Vladislav Gavrikov and fell short of that. They reportedly tried to get a sign-and-trade done with the New York Rangers, but nothing materialized, and Gavrikov left in free agency with the Kings, having nothing to show for it.
Kings had a much different response to replacing their top free agent
This is where the response from the two franchises diverges, and the Maple Leafs were much better at addressing this. With Roy heading back to Toronto, the Maple Leafs didn't have to reach or overspend in free agency.
They were aware they were not going to get the same caliber player back or find them in free agency, so they worked with what they had while focusing on re-signing John Tavares and Matthew Knies.
For the Kings, they elected to sign free agents Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin for multi-year deals, with the total AAV being $1 million more than Gavrikov's with the Rangers. Dumoulin will certainly be servicable and would be similar to what the Maple Leafs got with Roy.
However, the contract for Ceci seemed like a panic move by the Kings as they would overpay for a player who likely won't live up to the contract. They would have been smarter to look within the organization and see if a player like Jacob Moverare can fill that void on the third line.
Since the Kings signed Ceci, they don't really have any options for the foreseeable future if he doesn't work out. If they went with Moverare here, they at least would have saved that cap space and could use it during the season to trade for a player that would be a clear upgrade.
There is no question that teams don't want to lose their top players, but they can make it worse by the way they address the hole in their roster. The Maple Leafs were seemingly more calculated while the Kings rushed to fill a void that will be tough to navigate for a few seasons.