It's senior discounts and early-bird dinners for the Kings

As the NHL gets faster and younger, the Kings insist on remaining slow and old.

Stubbornly refusing to carry out the tear-down and complete rebuild that they really need, they’ve been clinging to an outmoded philosophy that no longer works in the NHL. Without any appreciable help from their development system, they remain stuck between yesterday’s success (now 12 years ago and counting) and no man’s land, with no relief in sight.

New coach Kings coach Peter Laviolette declared he wants his team to go all-out on attack, and it sounded great when he outlined his thoughts at his introductory press conference. After so many years of tedious 1-3-1 hockey, it felt like a cool breeze. Adding a bunch of 30-something forwards and a 34-year-old defenseman likely won’t give him the assets to play that style with any meaningful success.

General manager Ken Holland, no doubt with input from Laviolette, made an array of curious moves when the free agent market opened on Wednesday. The Kings’ signings included Perry, back for his 22nd NHL season and second tour of duty with the Kings; 38-year-old Mats Zuccarello; 35-year-old center Erik Haula; 34-year-old depth defenseman Erik Gustafsson—who played for Laviolette with Washington and the New York Rangers—and the baby of the group, 32-year-old center Scott Laughton. They also lost winger Andrei Kuzmenko, who’s a mere 30 and signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Obviously, he’s too young for this new lineup.

As it stands now, the Kings’ defense consists of Cody Ceci, 32 (that’s his age, though it feels like that was his negative defensive rating); 34-year-old Brian Dumoulin; 33-year-old Joel Edmundson; Drew Doughty, a well-worn 36; and youngsters Brandt Clarke, 23, and Mikey Anderson, 27. Prospect Angus Booth supposedly will be given a good look in training camp, but he will have to make a big impression to win a spot. Gustafsson’s deal is for one year at $1 million; he spent most of last season with the Grand Rapids, Mich., Griffins, the Red Wings’ top farm team, and played only two games for Detroit.

It’s difficult to see how this group can support and take part in the kind of attacking style that Laviolette intends to install, or how they’ll get back on defense quickly enough in transition when necessary. And it will be necessary.

Signing Laughton to a three-year deal with an average annual value of $3.5 million through the 2028-29 season was a good move by Holland. Laughton was solid for the Kings in the late going after they acquired him from Toronto last March for a third-round draft pick, and there had been rumors that he’d leave as a free agent. Holland did well to keep him, well aware that the Kings had become perilously weak down the middle following the retirement of Anze Kopitar.

The Kings will be the eighth NHL city for Haula, who had 14 goals and 38 points in 81 games with Nashville last season. He peaked in goals (29) and points (55) with Vegas in 2017-18. His contract is for two years with an average annual value of $3.6 million. He could be their second-line center, behind No. 1-by-default Quinton Byfield, or their third-line center if Laughton centers the second line. He won a bronze medal playing for Finland in the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

“With Kopitar retiring, trying to replace his minutes down the middle was a priority,” Holland told reporters. “Hopefully between those two guys down the middle, they make us deeper.”​

Zuccarello is a pass-first center who scored 15 goals and 54 points in 59 games with Minnesota last season. "I think everybody knows that offense was something that we needed to address this offseason and that's what Mats Zuccarello has done his entire career,” Holland said. “He's provided offense. High hockey IQ. He distributes the puck, plays a lot like a centerman in the offensive zone.”

Zuccarello posted a gracious thank-you statement to Minnesota fans on social media, in part saying, “My family and I are excited for a new chapter in Los Angeles, but a part of us will always remain in Minnesota.”

His signing will produce a reunion with Kevin Fiala, his teammate in Minnesota. “I have a really good relationship with Kev. He had only good things to say about the team, the city, the fans and the organization,” Zuccarello told reporters, including Kings insider Zach Dooley. “He's a good friend of mine....[him being here] was a big factor.” Dooley also reported that Zuccarello had other comparable offers but the Kings made him feel wanted.

In addition to boosting the Kings’ scoring, which ranked 29th in the NHL last season at an average of 2.68 goals per game, Holland wanted to supplement the power play, which ranked 28th with a 17% success rate.

“I’m not sure what the coach has in mind in terms of putting people together,” Holland said, “but with [Artemi] Panarin, with Zuccarello, we’ve added since the Olympic break two offensive-minded forwards that create scoring chances for their linemates and have been historically good on the power play.”

Perry signed for one year at $1 million, plus up to $500,000 in performance bonuses. According to Dooley, that bonus is tied to the team’s playoff performance.

The pesky right wing had a strong start with the Kings last season, scoring five goals in his first six games, but he faded badly and scored only six more goals before the Kings traded him to Tampa Bay for a second-round draft pick in 2028. He finished the regular season with 17 goals and 37 points in 72 games and was scoreless in the Lightning’s seven-game playoff loss to Montreal.

Perry’s abrasive net-front presence has allowed him to hang on for 1,464 regular-season games and 244 playoff games. But how much more punishment can he absorb at 41 and still be effective? The bigger question is why the Kings haven’t been able to find and develop the kind of fast, young, skillful players that are the engines of NHL success. Without those foundational players, the Kings have little choice but to delve into the recycling bin to fill key positions, rather than using free agency to satisfy a need here and there.

Catching up on an announcement from earlier this week, Laviolette filled out his staff by appointing Phil Housley an associate coach and appointing Chris Hajt and Ray Whitney assistant coaches. They’ll work with assistant coach Derik Johnson and goaltending coach Mike Buckley.

Laviolette coached Whitney on the Stanley Cup champion 2006 Carolina Hurricanes, and Whitney was well regarded as a player. However, this will be Whitney’s first NHL coaching position. Laviolette and Housley have worked well together before, and Housley will be challenged to work his magic with the Kings’ defense corps.

If only Housley, a smooth and creative defenseman during his Hall of Fame playing career, could put on a uniform and skates. Sigh.

The Kings surely got older, but it’s impossible to say whether they also got better—good enough, at least, to end their streak of five consecutive first-round playoff exits. Holland might not be done yet. But let’s hope he’s done collecting enough senior citizens to qualify for the early-bird special and movie matinee discounts.