The Los Angeles Kings have recently made a few deals that should help add depth to the squad after a year in which their was very little depth. The first deal he made over the last couple of days was to acquire Mark Mitera, Dan Fritsche a 3rd rounder and a 4th rounder in exchange for a 2nd rd pick this year and a 1st rd pick next year. " The deal was risky but we are not really impressed with the drafts in either this year or next year so the picks were deemed expendable. Mitera and Fritsche are two very good prospects and their potential intrigues us. Fritsche will be able to immediately step into a role with the team and this will help us when he head into free agency, " said Derek Harland in a press conference.
The next deal Harland pulled off was bringing Ladislav Nagy and a solid defensive prospect, Derek Joslin, to Los Angeles in exchange for Barrett Jackman and Stefan Ruzicka. Nagy had a very solid campaign last year and Harland is expecting more from him this year. " Our offence was not where it needed to be, plain and simple. And putting a little punch into our lineup is something we obviously needed. We liked Jackman but our defence is a pretty solid core and we felt like we should take from one strong point and use it to improve it to improve a weaker point. Ruzicka was hard to let go of but Joslin is a very solid defensive prospect as well. "
The final deal was a minor one in which Alexander Svitov was shipped to San Jose in exchange for Jamie Lundmark and a 6th rounder.
Harland went into talking about what he had planned upcoming for the offseason. " The Los Angeles front office has been talking over plans and going back to the drawing board many teams to see how we are going to approach this year. We have decided that we want to win and we will be spending most of the money we have to spend. We have lots of holes to fill on offense and we are going to be looking for a few defencemen. Who knows, a goalie may be one of our targets too. Our whole team needs improving and that is what we will be doing this offseason. With the recent deals we have made we have filled some holes in our lineup which means we will have less to do in the free agency period where we should have at least $20 Million dollars to spend, depending on how much the salary cap is. But be ready for a whirlpool of action in Los Angeles this summer. " Harland ended the interview here.
What is in store next for Los Angeles and Derek Harland, is he going to make more trades, or wait until the draft. We should find out soon.