The past three Kings seasons were defined by additions, but they may now be facing a pair of vital subtractions.
Defenseman Matt Roy and winger Viktor Arvidsson will be eligible to become unrestricted free agents on July 1 if agreements aren’t reached before then.
Roy proved his worth through steadiness and consistency, missing just one game in the past two seasons, for the birth of his child. Arvidsson may have better established his value through absences: in the 2022 playoffs against Edmonton when the Kings lost in seven games and across most of last season, when the Kings sorely missed his skill and aggression.
Arvidsson’s two back surgeries in the span of a year and a half will certainly be at the forefront of decisions about his future. Both Arvidsson (31) and Roy (29) are at ages where their prospects of a subsequent long, lucrative contract after this one would be in question.
“I love this team; I love the guys on the team. L.A. is a great city, a great place to stay, and I’d be more than happy to stay,” Roy said. “Obviously, it’s a business for the team and myself, so we’re kind of going into the summer open-minded.”
“[This contract] is very important. Age-wise, I’m at that point in my career where some term and stability would be great for my family. That’s a key factor for me,” he added.
In 2023-24, Roy finished second on the team in plus-minus rating (plus-21), one tick behind Mikey Anderson, despite scoring a modest 25 points and mostly due to his sound decision-making. Arvidsson, in addition to scoring 15 points in 18 games, helped earn the Kings a 13-5-0 record in games he played. That represented a .722 winning percentage, a figure that plummeted to .484 without him.
Entering last season, the plan was to check in with both players around Christmas and, absent an extension, again at the trade deadline. Roy was earning $3.150 million against the salary cap, with Arvidsson consuming $4.250 million of cap space, figures that were at least slightly under market value for their respective contributions.
Yet Arvidsson’s injuries –– he missed 64 games between back surgery and an unrelated lower-body injury –– overshadowed any potential negotiations, he said. Meanwhile, the Kings, who squeezed their cap tightly in a dizzying series of moves to add Pierre-Luc Dubois and re-sign Vladislav Gavrikov at relative premiums, encountered their own unanticipated setbacks as they descended into an abyss in January, leading to the sacking of former coach Todd McLellan.
“We were just looking to check in around Christmas or New Year’s, which we did,” Roy said. “Unfortunately, we had a tough January and then everything went down with Todd and all that stuff. That put a hold on everything. We all decided to wait until the summer.”
Arvidsson said he hadn’t fully assessed his goals as far as value and term, and that those conversations would take place in the weeks to come. Roy is represented by Richard Evans and Arvidsson by Kurt Overhardt.
“Me and my family, we’re open-minded, we’re going to talk through things over the summer,” Arvidsson said. “We’ll see what the Kings want to do and evaluate how that situation sounds.”
Both players brought distinctive intangibles to the team, with Roy’s judicious, do-what-the-situation-calls-for acumen stabilizing the back end while Arvidsson’s shot mentality, play-making and confrontational nature were all lacking through much of the rest of the forward group.
While many teams are short on right-handed-shooting defensemen, the Kings have been notoriously overstocked at that spot. Roy joined Drew Doughty and Jordan Spence on the main roster last year, which at times also featured top prospect Brandt Clarke, all of whom shot right-handed. Sean Walker, Helge Grans, Brock Faber and Sean Durzi were all right-shooting rearguards whom the Kings discarded via trade in the past two summers. In Clarke, they have a capable replacement for Roy, potentially, or for Spence if they were to opt to trade him in an effort to re-sign Roy.
Viktor Arvidsson of the Kings celebrates his goal to tie the game 4-4 with the Chicago Blackhawks during the third period in a 5-4 Kings overtime win at Crypto.com Arena on April 18, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Arvidsson, on the other hand, was missed on the power play –– the Kings had no one-timer threat from the left faceoff circle without him, among other lacking components –– and five-on-five, where linemate Phillip Danault has always valued having a right shot on his flank. Rookie Alex Laferriere and penalty kill specialist Trevor Lewis were the Kings’ only right shots up front for much of last season.
Prior to joining the Kings via trade in the 2021 offseason, Arvidsson had played his entire career for the Nashville Predators, including a run to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. Nashville moved his contract despite its favorable terms largely because of mounting injuries. While he did not put those woes behind him in the way that Justin Williams did as a King, Arvidsson demonstrated value even beyond his formidable production when healthy.
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Roy’s situation also presents a question about asset management, as if the Kings were to lose him in free agency, they would have missed a significant opportunity to acquire futures for him at the trade deadline. If that were the case, he’d be a costly own-rental –– right-shooting defensemen like Walker and Chris Tanev commanded solid return packages at the deadline –– and one that netted them just one evanescent playoff round.
General Manager Rob Blake provided no concrete details regarding either negotiation, but did say that pending restricted free agent Quinton Byfield’s extension was a significant emphasis for the Kings.
Typically, they have prioritized unrestricted free agents like Arvidsson and Roy, particularly over non-arbitration-eligible RFAs. But with this summer’s salary-cap bump freeing up possibilities for many teams –– not the Kings, who effectively pre-spent their bump in dead cap and will be challenged to bring back Byfield and fill their net along with other roster spots –– Byfield could be a viable target for offer sheets.
“Quinton [would be] a priority, regardless of the timing and situation,” Blake said.
