Last season's Slava Voynov debacle continues to haunt the Los Angeles Kings. And while the franchise has taken steps to move past the ugly episode, both on and off the ice, and the team has taken major strides in recent weeks after starting this season on a 0-3-0 skid, it sure sounds like Kings GM Dean Lombardi remains determined to acquire a defenseman ahead of the 2015-16 NHL season's trade deadline.
"The Los Angeles Kings are among the teams in the market for a second-pair defenseman, and multiple sources have told TFP they'd like to acquire one by the Feb. 29 trade deadline," a report from The Fourth Period reads.
Of course, Lombardi's got in-house business to take care of before he can consider the acquisition of other assets. No. 1 center Anze Kopitar's contract extension, expected to be eight-years and carry an AAV somewhere between $9.75 million and $10 million, will be finalized sometime in the near future, according to numerous reports.
And there's been suggestion that once Kopitar is locked up, recent addition Milan Lucic will be next on the docket. Lucic, acquired from the Bruins ahead of the 2015 NHL Draft, is currently without a contract for next season.
But once those deals are done, it seems Lombardi's focus will become shoring up a defenseman that's not been bad, as much as it's been inconsistent. Brayden McNabb is still learning the ins and outs of being an everyday NHL defender. Ditto Jamie McBain. Drew Doughty can't be the end-all, be-all for the Kings on the backend for the entire rest of the season. Or his career.
Reinforcements will help both by the infusion of talent and by taking some of what's already been piled high on Doughty's plate.
Of course, with the salary cap situations across the NHL tight, a deal won't be easy to pull off. Per TFP, big, bruising Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien is a player the Kings are expected to "keep tabs on," though the report also suggests that talks between the two teams have been preliminary at best to this point.
Byfuglien, a multi-talented blueliner who has spent entire seasons of his career at forward, would bring a unique athletic element and temperament to the Kings backend. He's in the final year of his deal with the Jets, who are also dealing with contract situations involving captain Andrew Ladd and young defenseman Jacob Trouba, so it wouldn't be surprising to see Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff ship out Byfuglien for whatever assets he can garner.
For the Kings, it would be a rental situation, but considering Byfuglien's style of play and what the Kings ask of their defenseman, it could certainly be the kind of relationship that begs to be extended - assuming Lombardi can find the resources for a trade and/or the room for another contract.
