The core of the Kings over the last 2 years has included Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe, and Mikey Andersen. Over the last 2 years, the Kings have made trades that saw players traded away or sign elsewhere in free agency, and now, looking back, understanding whether the Kings are better with or without those players.

2025-26 Departures

While the biggest trade of the 2025-26 season for the Kings was the Artemi Panarin deal, there were a couple of players traded away this season. The first being Phillip Danault, who was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in December, and the Kings received a 2026 Second-round pick. Danault played for the Canadiens from 2015-16 to 2020-21.

This season, Danault played 30 games for the Kings before being traded, during which he recorded 5 assists and 5 points. While he is a defensive-minded player, Danault requested a trade, which the Kings granted. Phillip Danault played 45 games for the Canadiens in the regular season, recording 6 goals and 6 assists for 12 points. The Canadiens are also currently in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and Danault has played 9 games and has 2 assists.

While the Danault trade was the first departure for the Kings, they would wait until the night of the trade deadline to make their next move. That move was trading away Warren Foegele to the Ottawa Senators, in return for a 2026 2nd-round pick and a conditional 2026 3rd-round pick.

Warren Foegele played in 47 games for the Kings this past season, registering 7 goals and 2 assists for 9 points. After being traded to the Senators, Foegele played in 21 regular-season games, recording 6 goals and 2 assists for 8 points, and in all 4 playoff games with the Senators, but did not register any points.

The last departure from the 2025-26 season occurred at the NHL Trade Deadline, when the Kings traded Corey Perry to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for a 2028 2nd-round pick. While on the Kings, Perry played in 50 games, scoring 11 goals and having 17 assists for 28 points. Then, after being traded to Tampa, Perry would play in 22 regular-season games, scoring 6 goals and recording 3 assists for 9 points. Perry would play in all 7 games between the Canadiens and the Lightning but would not register any points.

While the Kings traded away 3 roster players in the 2025-26 season, it is too early to tell whether those trades will benefit the Kings or come back to haunt them later.

2024-25 Departures

Now, going back to the 2024-25 season, which was one of the most successful recent seasons for the Kings. With that season now complete, we can see whether the trades/transactions the Kings made either did or did not pan out in the 2025-26 season.

The first player to depart from the Kings was Jordan Spence. The 24-year-old defenseman was traded to the Ottawa Senators on June 28th, 2025, and in return, the Kings received the 67th overall pick in the 2025 NHL draft and a 2026 6th-round pick. In the 2024-25 season, Spence played in 79 games with the Kings, recording 4 goals, 24 assists for 28 points, and 1 goal in 5 playoff games.

Since being traded, Jordan Spence played in 73 games with Ottawa, scoring 7 goals and tallying 24 assists for 31 points. Spence, now 25, took a major step forward for the Senators and has become a reliable starting defenseman. In Game 2 between Ottawa and Carolina, Spence clocked 39:01 total minutes on ice, showing that his game is only going to get better.

The other 2 players who left the Kings did so during free agency. Vladislav Gavrikov signed a 7 Year $7 Million AAV Dollar deal with the Rangers, and Tanner Jeannot signed a 5-year $3.4 Million AAV deal with the Bruins.

Gavrikov registered 5 goals, 25 assists, for 30 points in 82 games, and he added 2 assists in the postseason for the Kings. In his first season with the Rangers, he played 82 games, scoring 14 goals and tallying 21 assists for 35 points. While the Rangers missed the postseason, Gavrikov showed his true value, scoring a career-high 12 goals in his first season.

Tanner Jeannot, in his one season with the Kings, played in 67 games, scoring 7 goals and registering 6 assists for 13 points. He would not play for the Kings in the postseason. During the 2025-26 season with the Bruins, Jeannot played 77 games, scoring 6 goals, recording 16 assists for 22 points, and adding a postseason goal.

While the Kings had their best season in 2024-25, the loss of Jordan Spence may prove critical, as he is only 25 and playing serious minutes for the Senators. While Gavrikov had a career-high in goals, the Kings during the 2025 free agency period were not able to afford him. The Kings during the 2025-26 season would replace Spence and Gavrikov with Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin.

2023-24 Departures

The 2023-24 season saw quite a few Kings players traded or sign with another team in the offseason, and with 2 seasons played since then, the stats can show whether the Kings are better with or without them.

The first player is Viktor Arvidsson, who left the Kings and signed a 2-year, $4 million AAV deal with the Edmonton Oilers. Arvidsson's last season with the Kings was cut short by injuries, as he played only 18 games and recorded 6 goals and 9 assists for 15 points.

Viktor Arvidsson has played for the Oilers over the last 2 seasons and is now with the Bruins. During his time with the Oilers, he played 67 games, scoring 15 goals and 12 assists for 27 points. He would also have 7 points in 15 postseason games with the Oilers. Arvidsson was then traded from the Oilers to the Bruins, and in his first season with the Bruins, he registered 25 goals, 29 assists for 54 points in 69 games, and 2 goals in the playoffs.

The next player to leave the Kings in 2023-24 is Pierre-Luc Dubois, who, in the 2023-24 season with the Kings, scored 16 goals, tallied 24 assists for 40 points, and added 1 goal in the playoffs. Dubois was then traded to the Washington Capitals in exchange for current goaltender Darcy Kuemper. Since the trade, Dubois has played in 111 games, scoring 25 goals, 60 assists, and 85 points in the last 2 seasons with the Capitals.

A player who left the Kings during the offseason of the 2023-24 season and joined Dubois in Washington. That player is Matt Roy. Roy was a Kings draft pick and was there from 2018 to 2023. In his final season with the Kings, Roy had 5 goals, 20 assists for 25 points. Roy would sign a 6-year, $5.7 Million AAV deal with the Capitals, and in the last 2 seasons, Roy has played 148 games, scoring 5 goals and tallying 28 assists for 43 points.

Another player who left the Kings in the 2024 offseason was Blake Lizotte, who played on the Kings' bottom 6. Lizotte left the Kings and signed a 2-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and earlier in the 2025-26 season, he signed a 3-year extension with the Penguins. While Lizotte was not a goalscorer for the Kings, he played a meaningful role on the penalty kill and in other defensive situations.

The remaining players are Cam Talbot, who left the Kings in free agency to join the Detroit Red Wings; Arthur Kaliyev, who was claimed off waivers by the New York Rangers; and Carl Grundstrom, who was in the deal that saw the Kings receive Kyle Burroughs from the San Jose Sharks.

Who Do The Kings Miss The Most?

While all of these former players made an impact on the Kings during their time, some of the moves that were made benefited the Kings and their future. The Dubois trade was crucial for the team today, as Kuemper is still with the Kings. But there are a couple of players the Kings may already regret trading or losing in free agency.

The first is Jordan Spence, a young defenseman who is slowly gaining more minutes and who the Kings would benefit from having on the team today. The Kings may also regret losing Vladislav Gavrikov. While he put up career-best numbers for the Rangers, if the Kings had kept and signed both defensemen, they would be in the lineup instead of Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci.

Another player the Kings may regret losing is Blake Lizotte, and his penalty-killing ability, especially after the 2025-26 season, when the Kings' penalty kill ranked 30th and the Penguins' penalty kill, on which Lizotte started, ranked 6th.

Overall, none of these moves or trades could have been predicted, and in the future, more of these free agency losses and trades will likely result in some regret for the Kings, but they also prompt the question of what the Kings would look like today had they not lost these players.

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