Kings Acquire Ryan Smyth, Avalanche Dump Salary

The Los Angeles Kings entered the offseason with a fair amount of cap space and plethora of young assets that could have been used to bring in a big-name player to help boost a young team from Western Conference bottom-feeder to legitimate playoff contender. Personally, I was pushing for disgruntled Senators forward Dany Heatley, who seemed like he would have been a nice fit. The Kings, however, may have found an even better fit, when you consider Heatley is, apparently, out of his mind and doesn't quite know what he wants or where he wants to go.

Late Friday night, the Kings acquired veteran forward Ryan Smyth from the Colorado Avalanche for defensemen Kyle Quincey and Tom Preissing, and a fifth-round draft pick. For the Kings? They get a gritty, veteran leader still capable of scoring 25-30 goals. For the Avs? It's a salary dump, and a head start in the season-long quest for Taylor Hall.

Prior to the 2007-08 season, Smyth inked a five-year, $31 million deal with the Avalanche, and while his contract is probably a bit much for his age and the offensive production he currently brings to the table, the Kings have the cap space to make it work. Especially when you consider that many of the Kings' key young players (Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown) are already signed to reasonable, long-term contracts. A quick look at the roster shows that only Alexander Frolov and Sean O'Donnell are eligible for unrestricted free agency following this season (Jack Johnson is currently a restricted free agent).

Smyth still has three years remaining on his current deal that carries a cap hit of just over $6.2 million. He's coming off a 2008-09 campaign that saw him score 26 goals in 77 games, while he was tied with Milan Hejduk for the team-lead in scoring. During his two-year stay with the Avalanche he tallied 40 goals -- and 96 points -- in 132 games.

Not only is Smyth the right fit for the right team, he also came at a relatively cheap price in terms of players going the other way. Kyle Quincey is, obviously, the key to the deal for the Avalanche -- well, him, and the new found cap space. The 23-year-old rearguard, claimed off waivers from Detroit prior to the season, scored four goals to go with 34 assists for the Kings this past season, leading all defensemen on the team in scoring. The beauty of it for the Kings is they can afford to move a player like Quincey because they still have Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson and Thomas Hickey, all under the age of 22, on the blue line. Plus, they just signed shot-blocking, penalty-killing specialist Rob Scuderi to a four-year, $13.6 million deal on Thursday.

Preissing, 30, played 22 games for Los Angeles a season ago, averaging just under 17 minutes of ice-time per game, and has two years remaining on his three-year, $8.25 million contract ($2.75 million cap hit). The fifth-round pick is nothing more than a throw-in.

Are the Kings a playoff team in the West as of right now? You shouldn't pencil them in quite yet, but they're certainly closer than they've been, on paper, in about six years. The goaltending situation is still a bit unsettled, but the talent up front, along with the potential on the blue line, is certainly something to keep an eye on.