LA Kings Plans For Vladislav Gavrikov Beginning to Emerge

The Los Angeles Kings brought in defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov at the trade deadline in the 2022-23 season and re-signed him that summer to a two-year extension (at a $5.875 million cap hit) to see how the marriage would work out.

Now, a season and a bit later, it seems all systems are go, the Kings have to be pleased with Gavrikov's performance, and according to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman in his 32 Thoughts column, the nearly-29-year-old pending unrestricted free agent will likely be staying in LA for the foreseeable future on an extension.

We’ll see how this evolves, but there are a lot of teams expecting Los Angeles to keep Vladislav Gavrikov... playing a team-leading 23:22 per night for the Kings.

The top-pairing blueliner had a solid first full season with the Kings last year, with 23 points in 77 games in 20:37 time on ice per night, while posting a plus/minus rating of +9, after a +12 in just 20 games after his acquisition the season before.

He also set career highs last season in individual shots on goal and individual scoring chances, and per LAKingsInsider, he also led the team in defensive breakups in the neutral zone as well as denying zone entries into the attacking end.

This year, things are looking up even more, as the left-shot Russian has seven points in 18 games with a plus/minus of +11 in those 23+ minutes of ice time.

After they lost Matt Roy in free agency this past summer, Gavrikov is the King of the LA blueline, and as Friedman suggested, it looks like the team wants to keep that relationship going with the pending UFA.