A deal fit for a King
Quinton Byfield, the centerpiece of the Kings' prolonged rebuild, agreed to a five-year, $31.25 million contract.
Mid-July is usually a quiet stretch on the hockey calendar. The free-agent frenzy that erupted on July 1 has calmed down, leaving mainly minor deals on the table. Development camps are over. Any day now, team executives will clear out of their offices and make their annual summer retreat to their respective lakeside cottages in Canada to rest up for next season.
The Kings interrupted the sleepy summer atmosphere on Monday with a noteworthy signing—and in a nice change from some of their recent moves, they didn’t overpay or overcommit to secure a significant player.
In signing Quinton Byfield to a five-year deal with an average annual value (salary cap hit) of $6.25 million, they didn’t weigh themselves down with a long, financially binding contract. They recognized and rewarded him for how far he has come since he was drafted No. 2 overall in 2020 and how he has persevered through injuries and illness to position himself as their future No. 1 center and heartbeat of the long-in-developing next generation. He was eligible to sign an eight-year deal, but this length works best for him and for the Kings’ salary cap flexibility, too. According to puckpedia.com, the sides also agreed that he can submit a 10-team no-trade list in his fifth season.
The Kings gave Byfield, who will be 22 on Aug. 19, fair value and an incentive to continue his upward trajectory with the carrot of an even bigger payout when he’s eligible for free agency again in 2029, the summer he will turn 27. By then, the NHL salary cap will, presumably, be considerably higher, which would put him in line for an even bigger payday while he’s still in his prime.
Structuring the contract this way also means Byfield won’t have to carry the pressure of being the Kings’ highest-paid player or even their highest-paid forward: No. 1 on the payroll among forwards is Kevin Fiala, at a cap hit of $7.875 million through the 2027-28 season. Tops overall is defenseman Drew Doughty, at $11 million per year through 2026-27. Byfield, at $6.25 million per year, slots in nicely among forwards behind Fiala and Anze Kopitar ($7 million annually through 2025-26) and ahead of Phillip Danault ($5.5 million annually through 2026-27) and Adrian Kempe ($5.5 million annually through 2025-26).
Byfield has mostly played on the wing instead of the tougher center position, a deliberate choice designed to allow him to grow and learn the league before taking on a center’s additional responsibilities. He was pretty much forced to play on the wing last season after general manager Rob Blake blindly overpaid to acquire Pierre-Luc Dubois, with the idea that Dubois would be the physical and productive center the Kings thought they needed needed to keep pace with their brawnier West rivals. Dubois was unproductive and was a terrible fit. It was a near-miracle that Blake managed to foist him off on the Washington Capitals in a trade last month for goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
A key benefit of that trade is that it opened a spot in the middle for Byfield, and it’s now up to him to seize that opportunity.
He seems ready to take that next step after having achieved a number of career-best marks last season. Those feats included playing in the most games (80) of his career scoring more goals (20), recording more assists (35), scoring points (55), and registering six power-play goals and four game-winning goals. He also recorded four assists in what has become the Kings’ annual first-round playoff elimination at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.
He uses his 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame well. He often was an impact player last season, and that success should reinforce his confidence and allow him exert control of games on a more regular basis next season. And he can do all of that without the distraction of social media chatter debating whether his pricetag was too high. By the end of the deal, if he continues to progress as he did last season, he should be considered underpaid in the last few years, not overpaid.
Blake and the Kings still have work to do. They still must deal with three restricted free agents: defenseman Jordan Spence, forward Arthur Kaliyev, and projected goalie-of-the-future Erik Portillo. According to puckpedia.com, they have about $2.9 million to spend before hitting the $88 million cap limit. Spence is the priority among that trio. Portillo is behind Kuemper, David Rittich, and Pheonix Copley on the goaltending depth chart and likely will be refining his craft while playing Ontario of the American Hockey League next season.
Blake’s personnel decisions and the Kings’ track record on player development overall remain spotty. But there’s every reason to believe they got it right with this five-year deal for Byfield.
Excellent article. The Portillo contract won’t count against the cap correct?