Kings tear down nears completion

New regime eager to put stamp on Kings

LOS ANGELES - It has been nearly a calendar year since Kings' GM Kaylen Peterson took over operations in LA. In that time, the Kings have undergone a complete transformation. What used to be a team dripping with superstars and expected to compete not just for the playoffs, but for a Stanley Cup, has become a team expected to struggle for wins for the foreseeable future. But in place of the superstars that once filled out the lineup, GM Peterson has assembled what is arguably one of the best prospect pools in the league in a single off-season. We caught up with GM Peterson to get a sense of what he is trying to build in LA. When asked about the roster overhaul, GM Peterson said "Is the roster much different than last year? We hadn't noticed! Just kidding. We have a ton of respect for what the previous regime put together. We could see a clear path to victory at the beginning of last season and projected that to continue for a while. But after the way the season went, struggling to put wins together and ultimately missing the playoffs, we decided to reboot and really make this team our own."

And reboot they did. Gone from the Kings' roster are:

Sidney Crosby
Tage Thompson
Gracyn Sawchyn
K'Andre Miller
Kevin Fiala
David Pastrnak
Sam Bennett
Cody Glass
Zach Benson
Bogdan Konyushkov
Gustav Forsling
Matt Roy
Barclay Goodrow
Nikolaj Ehlers
Sean Durzi
Jackson Blake
Nick Lardis

The Kings also briefly had:

Alex DeBrincat
Brayden Schenn
Kyle Okposo
Jonas Brodin

When asked about the moves, GM Peterson explained that "we thought the world of the guys we traded away, but ultimately most of them didn't fit in with what we're trying to build here. We wanted to bring in more youth, and in particular more high-end talent to build around. We felt we owed it to the guys that were here when we took over to send them somewhere they'd have an opportunity to win now. Obviously we want to build a competitive team, but we wanted to do it our way and felt it was best to start from scratch."

While the list of stars the Kings' new boss has shipped out is impressive, the list of talent GM Peterson has assembled may be more so. Along with an extra 3 first-round picks and 4 second-round picks in the next two drafts, GM Peterson has brought in:

Anton Frondell (3OA 2025 NHL draft)
Beckett Sennecke (3OA 2024 NHL draft)
Cayden Lindstrom (4OA 2024 NHL draft)
Brady Martin (5OA 2025 NHL draft)
James Hagens (7OA 2025 NHL draft)
Dalibor Dvorsky (10OA 2023 NHL draft)
Roger McQueen (10OA 2025 NHL draft)
Pavel Mintyukov (10OA 2022 NHL draft)
Jack Nesbitt (12OA 2025 NHL draft)
Kashawn Aitcheson (17OA 2025 NHL draft)
Colby Barlow (18OA 2023 NHL draft)
Mikhail Gulyayev (31OA 2023 NHL draft)

With so much talent developing, it won't be long before the Kings are firmly back in the contender conversation. There may be some growing pains along the way, but GM Peterson is confident the end product will be worth the wait; "We have a ton of faith in the prospects we've brought in. We still have work to do, but we think we've done a tremendous job stocking up the cupboards to ensure the Kings enjoy a long stretch of competitive hockey."

While the 2025-26 season has already been written off, it is easy to buy into the hype GM Peterson and his staff are promoting. Soon enough, time will tell if the patience and tear down is worth it.