Every contending team in the NHL is going to have at least a few bad or regrettable contracts on their cap sheet, and the Los Angeles Kings are no exception. This isn't necessarily a reflection of overall player talent or quality, but it does show that some risky contracts can pan out better than others.
Yesterday, we looked at a ranking of the three best contracts that the Kings have on the current roster this offseason. Now it's time to look at the other side of the coin and analyze which contracts are the worst cap hits for the Kings going into 2026-27.
Here's a ranking of the three worst contracts on the Kings' current roster going into the upcoming 2026-27 season.
3. Drew Doughty, D (8 years, $11.0M AAV)
The first contract on this list, defenseman Drew Doughty, is on here largely because of his declining production and injury issues in this past couple of seasons for the Kings.
The saving grace for Doughty's cap hit is that he is going into the final year of his current contract. There is a pretty big gap between Doughty's contract and the other two cap hits on this list for the Kings.
It's understandable why the Kings signed Doughty to the contract that they did in this past decade, which was definitely worth it at the time. Doughty hasn't really slowed down on the ice until the 2024-25 season when he suffered a major ankle injury in the first half of that regular season.
Doughty has an $11 million cap hit, making him one of the highest-paid defensemen in the NHL. But with Doughty's age and declining offensive production, he's no longer performing at the level of someone who should be paid well over $10 million in AAV.
Doughty is clearly an established veteran who has earned the respect of players, coaches, and fans around the league in the last couple of decades, but his performance hasn't been up to snuff in the last few years.
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