Mats Zuccarello is heading to Los Angeles, and D.J. Smith just got a veteran winger who can still help a top six.
Emily Kaplan, ESPN's trusted insider, reported Wednesday that the deal is expected to be for one year, with momentum building toward it getting finalized.
That's the right kind of swing for the Kings. It's short term, low drag, and it gives Smith another proven puck distributor for a forward group that needed more polish off the rush.
Zuccarello just finished with 17 goals and 63 points in 67 games.
That is still real production, especially for a winger who reads the ice this well and doesn't need a ton of touches to make a play.
He also closed hard. Zuccarello put up 14 points in 8 April games, which tells you there was still offense there late in the year instead of a fade into the summer.
Los Angeles needed another brain in the top half of the lineup. The Kings finished 35-27-20 with 90 points, but they also ended the season at -22 in goal differential.
They weren't short on names. They were short on enough clean offense to change games when the first push stalled.
A smart bet for a team that needed more offense on Mats Zuccarello
Adrian Kempe scored 36 goals, and Artemi Panarin led the club with 84 points. Adding Zuccarello gives the Kings another veteran winger who can slow plays down and find seams that younger players often miss.
That matters for Smith's bench right away. Zuccarello can help on a scoring line, slide into a second-unit look, or give the Kings another option late in close games when puck support starts to disappear.
The age is the obvious question. Zuccarello is 38, and nobody should pretend this is a long-range move.
But that is exactly why the one-year structure fits. Los Angeles gets the skill, the patience, and the passing touch without tying itself to a deal that drags beyond the window Smith is trying to push open now.
For the Kings, this isn't about flash. It's about squeezing more offense out of a roster that looked one playmaker short too often.
And for Zuccarello, it looks like one more shot with a team that believes it can still make noise if the top six gets a little smarter with the puck.
Will Mats Zuccarello make the Kings' top six better right away?
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