Quoting: BeterChiarelli
The immediate problem with trading guys like Brown and Quick is their age and price points. These are expensive players actively regressing due to their age that will not be worth their value at the end of their contracts. Carter falls into this category too. The optimal route for getting them off the books would be compliance buyout during the next lockout. I don't think that there is substantial value to be had from any of those three.
I gotta disagree to an extent here, and that's with regards to Brown. He's been actively their best winger for the past 2 years, and has shown a resurgence instead of a regression. It remains to be seen if Quick is regressing as the year he had last year is nothing more than an anomaly at this point. If he has another bad year, then I think it's safe to say he has regressed. Carter is where I do agree, but I'm hoping he's primed for a bounce-back year if the Kings actually do move him to the wing, which has been a topic of discussion amongst the team brass.
Their drafting has actually been really solid the past couple of years, enough to bring their prospect pool up into the top-10 of the NHL, according to a decent amount of experts. Beyond the first rounders, Jaret Anderson-Dolan is going to be fighting for a role this year and projects to be a really solid 3rd line center with significant leadership capabilities and grit (think Kyle Clifford as a center, with more skill but less fighting). In addition to that, Akil Thomas lit up the OHL last year. While he won't make the team this year and can't play in the AHL, look for him to make an impact in the 2020-2021 season at the professional level. Finally, adding Kaliyev to the crop of prospects this year has added an elite-level scoring piece that the Kings haven't had in ages, if they can develop him properly. If Matt Luff, Mike Amadio, and Austin Wagner can turn into full-time NHL'rs, the Kings could turn around their bottom-6 scoring woes/depth pretty quickly with some speed and talent the team hasn't seen in a decade +.
On the defensive side, Durzi, Clague, Brickley, and Mikey Anderson are all very close to making the leap, and I expect Bjornfot will push for a roster spot as early as next (2020-2021) season. The Reign defensive depth is very raw, but is loaded with proper NHL-level prospects. Add into that the surprise development of Markus Phillips for added depth in the AHL, the great rookie campaigns for Sean Walker and Matt Roy in the NHL, and the toughness element in Kurtis MacDermid as a 6/7th defenesmen, the Kings really are only missing that Byram-level defensive prospect to take over the mantle of Drew Doughty. But with Doughty still only 29, that's not an immediate concern for the team.
As far as coaching, nothing can be worse than WD last year. Maclellan was actually fairly effective when he took over for the Sharks, a team that was in a similar position as the Kings: One with a significant age gap between the star players and the prospects. He was able to gel them together very well, so I have decent hopes for the Kings. The management team definitely had a gaffe to start, with the Kovalchuk signing and assuming the team was still a contender, but once that belief was quickly killed, Blake made some very savvy moves. He flipped Tanner Pearson into a decent draft pick (after trading Hagelin to the Caps), got a return that seems to be pretty decent in Grundstrom, Durzi, and Bjornfot by trading Muzzin, and traded nearly all of the UFA's before the deadline to ensure they got something for the talent that wouldn't be returning this coming season. With the Phaneuf buyout, he's positioning the team to become younger on the blue-line, and hopefully JAD/Kupari get significant NHL time this season to make the front younger as well.