{"id":442747,"date":"2024-06-13T13:46:35","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T17:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=442747"},"modified":"2024-06-13T13:46:35","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T17:46:35","slug":"nhl-rumours-los-angeles-kings-target-veteran-goalie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/13\/nhl-rumours-los-angeles-kings-target-veteran-goalie\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Los Angeles Kings Target Veteran Goalie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumours! We\u2019re getting deeper into the Stanley Cup Final, which means the off-season is growing closer. Names are beginning to surface and the buzz is growing larger. Todays rumours are swirling around the Los Angeles Kings and what they do with their goaltending. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">NHL Rumours<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Rumour: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/frank_seravalli\/status\/1801275861414670633?s=46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Frank Servaelli from Daily Faceoff<\/a> touches on the Kings goaltending <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">One of the stronger teams in the western conference is the Los Angeles Kings. They are a perfect blend of youth and veteran and have the team built to contend. The Kings are led by captain <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kopitan01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-13_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anze Kopitar<\/a> and defenseman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/doughdr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-13_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Drew Doughty<\/a>, but have numerous building blocks behind them. This was a team that was strong defensively and had the tools to score goals. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">One area that had been glaring is the play between the pipes. Moving on from two time Stanley Cup Champion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/q\/quickjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-13_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonathan Quick<\/a> made sense. Although, the replacements were not bad but it was a short term fix. In a window where the team can contend they need to upgrade. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/talboca01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-13_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Talbot<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/rittida01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-13_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Rittich<\/a> were both good for the Kings this season. As a team, they finished with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nhl\/team\/los-angeles-kings-14\/2024\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fourth best team save percentage<\/a> (.909). Also, both goalies finished in the top 15 in <a href=\"https:\/\/moneypuck.com\/goalies.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">goals saved above expected<\/a>. The key part is that both are pending free agents and could test market. For a more long term approach, the Kings have a target and are in the mix. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Kings Go Big With Goalie <\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The latest NHL Rumours involves the Kings goaltending and adding this guy would be a huge boost. As the Bruins look to turn to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/swaymje01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-13_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeremy Swayman<\/a> for the future, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/u\/ullmali01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-06-13_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Linus Ullmark<\/a> is a popular trade target. Ullmark will have plenty of suitors and the Kings are one of them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Ullmark is an immediate upgrade for the Kings and if signed longer term helps extend their window. He has one year left and will make $5 million this upcoming season. His play between the pipes has been stellar and he would benefit from the defensive structure in front of him in Los Angeles. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Ullmark finished the 2023-24 season with 2.57 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. Furthermore, he finished seventh in goals saved above expected (14.7), showing how good he was between the pipes. He won the Vezina Trophy during the 2022-23 season and has been stellar for the Bruins. Ullmark could be the missing piece to the Kings\u2019 puzzle to going further in the postseason. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Main Photo: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumours! We\u2019re getting deeper into the Stanley Cup Final, which means the off-season is growing closer. Names are beginning to surface and the buzz is growing larger. Todays rumours are swirling around the Los Angeles Kings and what they do with their goaltending. NHL Rumours Rumour: Frank Servaelli from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4194,"featured_media":442748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4547,24,4548,4321],"tags":[7166],"class_list":["post-442747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","category-kings","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-los-angeles-kings-rumours"],"modified_by":"Tommy Bennett","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}