On Friday night, general manager Ken Holland made his first pick as a member of the LA Kings franchise and elected to go with right-handed defenseman Henry Brzustewicz. He is an impressive player who has spent the past two seasons with the London Knights.
This past season Brzustewicz made a big jump with his offensive production as he finished with 42 points in 67 games. It remains to be seen when he will make the jump to the NHL and is probably a few years away but the selection does give the Kings a plan to move one of their defenseman this offseason.
LA Kings' first round selection signals they are ready to move on from Jordan Spence
There have been rumblings for a few weeks now that Jordan Spence is available in a trade, and Ken Holland all but confirmed the reports earlier this week that they were looking to move the young defenseman. It wasn't necessarily that he struggled or wasn't a good fit, but rather they don't really have the minutes to give him on this defense with Drew Doughty and Brandt Clarke ahead of him.
In that situation, it makes sense to get value for the player and hopefully help them improve other parts of the roster. Spence has one more year left on his contract before becoming a restricted free agent next summer.
While the Kings may want to trade Spence, they don't necessarily need to give him away. They have the luxury to let this play out and get the best possible deal. In that situation, this may go into the season where Spence becomes even more valuable closer to the trade deadline.
In the end, I don't expect it to play out that way and a deal probably could get done sooner than that. For the Kings, they have to feel better about moving him now that they have a prospect like Henry Brzustewicz in the organization.