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Alec Martinez, Keaton Ellerby, Update: Carcillo a King

July 16, 2013, 5:32 PM ET [17 Comments]
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By Jason Lewis

Update: Looks like they have traded a conditional 2015 draft pick to the Blackhawks for him. Carcillo, 28, is coming off a Stanley Cup winning season with the Chicago Blackhawks and appeared in four playoff games. He played 23 games during the regular season and had just three points and 11 PIMs. However, I feel like it's a decent move that adds a little nasty to the Kings bottom line. That was something they sorely missed outside of Kyle Clifford. Question is, now the Kings have three players left to resign in Lewis, Clifford, and Jordan Nolan and just $2.27 million dollars to do so. He has an 825k cap hit for next season and is then a UFA.

It’s July 16th and the Los Angeles Kings have avoided any real headlines in the free agency period thus far. However, underneath the major headlines of compliance buyouts and Russian departures, the Kings defensive corps is gearing up for what could be a very competitive and heated roster spot battle come training camp.

Just yesterday the Kings inked the 25-year-old Michigan native Alec Martinez to a new two-year deal, which in turn got Martinez out of the sometimes messy and difficult world that is salary arbitration. Martinez had what you could consider a “sophomore slump” in his third season. His rough year however started even before the lockout ended, as the young defenseman took a puck to the face while playing with TPS in Finland and had to fly home for reconstructive surgery. After that he looked much more tentative, and his ice time and usage was cut as the season progressed. From the start of the season to the end, Martinez saw his average ice time decrease from nearly 20 minutes a night down to between ten and twelve minutes a night. He was also used sparingly in the playoffs, dressing just seven of the teams 18 games.

The Martinez signing comes in the wake of a plethora of Kings defensive signings, including the resigning of RFA Jake Muzzin, the release and resigning of Keaton Ellerby, and THE move of this free agency (sense the sarcasm) in picking up former Capital and plus-minus master Jeff Schultz.

On top of the three aforementioned moves, there has been some positive news coming out about veteran Willie Mitchell being ready to go for the 2013-14 season. Now I’m no math major, and I had to look at both hands for this one, but by my count the Kings will now have at least eight defenseman available on one-way contracts and nine if Mitchell is in fact healthy.

The Kings have carried seven defenseman for as long as I can remember, even using them in forward roles in the darkest of days (much love to you Peter Harrold). However, with four defenseman coming up for contract again next offseason (Green, Mitchell, Ellerby, Schultz) it feels a lot like winner gets a spot and loser goes home. The signing of Schultz, which is still a little puzzling in my opinion, was possibly brought on as an insurance policy for Willie Mitchell and to send a message to some of the younger guys to step their game up. That’s been a common theme in the King system, and it’s been prevalent since Darryl Sutter came on board.

Sutter has been pretty honest, as always, when it comes to player evaluation. For example, back in March he didn’t hold back on not being impressed by Martinez.

“He’s struggled. ... He has to be a big part of the solution if he wants to stay in the lineup. He’s a young player who hasn’t played much in this league. My job to teach them and make sure they’re prepared to compete. But if they don’t learn and they don’t compete they’re going to have trouble with me in terms of how much they play.”

Ref: LA Kings News Daily Blog

Past Martinez you get Ellerby, who played just five playoff games and averaged about 13 minutes of ice time a night during the regular season, and Jake Muzzin who was impressive in his 45-game rookie season but still has a long way to go to be an every day NHLer.

Stylistically, the Kings have two defensive minded defenseman and two offensive minded defenseman to fit into one or two spots. The new man on deck is obviously former first-round selection and a towering figure at 6-foot-6, Jeff Schultz. The former Capital, with a plus-50 rating and 23 points season back in 2009-10, is coming off a rough year where he had just three points and rode the pine for more than half the season. While it’s widely believed he won’t ever get back to the anomaly that was his 09-10 form, Schultz is still just 27 and has a lot of gas left in the tank.

One thing for certain however, competition tends to bring out the best in athletes. These aren’t guys who shy away from challenges easily. While Muzzin and Ellerby make the most sense to me personally, Schultz may be spurred on by the change of scenery and wow us all. Perhaps Alec Martinez takes his cut in playing time last year as a serious message to step up and wins a full-time job. That is why the world of sports is so fantastic, there is a story every year. Could this be the year of Ellerby/Schultz/Muzzin/ Martinez? Heck, maybe even Manchester rookie to be Derek Forbort or AHL veteran Andrew Campbell make a run at the spot. I’m certain it will all become more clear come training camp and preseason and hopefully the Kings can avoid the musical chairs game that was their defensive pairings last season. In the playoffs I think everyone saw how important it was to have depth and quality from top to bottom. The Kings have the pieces to have that top to bottom quality on defense, someone just needs to seize the opportunity.
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