The Los Angeles Kings are still in search of a top goal scorer to help out Adrian Kempe and Quinton Byfield. They have long been rumored to be a Pittsburgh Penguins forward going back to the NHL Trade Deadline and those rumors have persisted into the summer.
The Penguins are a team that is probably rebuilding or, at the very least, open to trading certain players for assets that can help down the road. One of the players that could be traded is Rickard Rakell, who had a career season recently with the Penguins.
This past season, Rakell had 35 goals and 35 assists, which were both career-highs or tied the career-highs in the instance of assists. Recently, Sonny Sachdeva of Sportsnet put together a list of five potential trade destinations for Rakell and Bryan Rust, with one of those teams being the Los Angeles Kings.
"GM Ken Holland has addressed the areas that burned the team most last time out, bringing in Corey Perry and Joel Armia to bolster the bottom six, and adding Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin as a new third defence pair. Still, those additions don’t exactly put L.A. in position to take down McDavid and Co., or any of the other contenders around the league, for that matter."
That last sentence is exactly why the Kings should be interested in a player like Rakell. They added depth to the roster but it isn't going to put them over the top of Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers or even Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Pittsburgh Penguins will need to bring down their asking price for it to make sense with the Los Angeles Kings
Rakell has been reportedly available for a while now, and the only reason he hasn't been traded is that no one has been able to meet the Penguins' asking price. The Kings certainly don't need to overpay, but they might have the right combination of younger players and draft picks to get something done.
The Kings still need to do something to beat the Oilers and Golden Knights of the Western Conference in the playoffs next season. They will have time and may need to wait until the trade deadline to get something done but Rickard Rakell should be one of those players they monitor closely because he would be a great fit.