The Los Angeles Kings have spent the 2020s taking plenty of swings in free agency, and the results have not all landed the same way. Some additions fell short.
Others became real difference-makers on a roster that kept getting to the postseason. And a few of the best signings were the kind that don’t make the loudest headlines when they happen.
That’s the thread running through the Kings’ top free-agent hits of the decade so far: value, longevity, and actual impact once the games started counting. Some of the strongest moves came from players who didn’t arrive with huge contracts attached. And while it’s still early for recent additions such as center Erik Haula and veteran winger Mats Zuccarello, general manager Ken Holland has been active this summer, which leaves room for this list to grow later on.
For now, one of the most important recent pickups is Anton Forsberg, who checks in at No. 3.
Forsberg joined the Kings in the 2025 offseason on a two-year deal carrying a $2.25 million average annual value through the end of the 2026-27 season. It was the kind of low-risk move teams make hoping for stability. The Kings got that, and then some.
A couple months into his time in Los Angeles, Forsberg was already giving the team real help in net. In December and January, he posted a .925 save percentage and a 1.95 goals-against average across 12 appearances. That was a strong run on its own, but his best stretch came later, when the season was on the line.
Down the stretch of the regular season, Forsberg delivered a 5-1-0 record, a .943 save percentage, and one shutout in six starts to help push the Kings into the 2026 postseason. Without that late surge, the team may not have gotten over the line.
He also beat out Darcy Kuemper for the starting job this past spring and handled the crease for the postseason in the first round against the Colorado Avalanche.
If Forsberg keeps that role after training camp and the preseason this fall, and if he continues to give the Kings the same dependable play he showed last season, he could keep climbing this kind of ranking before long.
In Other News...
Kings Overhauled Plenty But One Question Still Hangs Over This Team
After a season in which the Kings scored less, gave up more and settled for a lower division finish before another first-round playoff exit, the offseason brought a clear message: the front office was not treating last spring as an isolated disappointment. Los Angeles went veteran-heavy up front, adding Mats Zuccarello, Erik Haula and Corey Perry while bringing back Scott Laughton, and it also turned to Peter Laviolette behind the bench in hopes of squeezing more cohesion out of the offense and giving the special teams a cleaner edge.
What still determines whether any of it matters is how the Kings core responds. Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke remain the players most likely to tilt the teams ceiling, and the changes around them were designed to make that support structure sturdier. The roster looks different now, but the real question hanging over the club is whether those upgrades are enough to change the same familiar ending. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Prospect Now Has A Clearer Development Path After Latest Move
After spending another year in Slovakia, Adam Goljer is set to take the next step in his development by joining OHL Kingston, giving the Kings a clearer sense of how his game will be tested closer to North American hockey. For a Los Angeles organization that has leaned on patient prospect development, the move matters because it shifts Goljer into a league where the pace, schedule and physical demands should tell the team a lot more about where he fits long term.
The timing also gives the Kings a useful marker in a system that has been built around finding upside without rushing it. Goljer was one of the younger players in Los Angeles recent draft class, and his arrival in Kingston should make him far easier to track over the coming season. If he adapts quickly, it will only strengthen the case that his path is moving in the right direction, even if the real payoff remains a ways off. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Fans Suddenly Have A Bigger Reason To Doubt This Core
The Kings have spent the last several seasons living in the same frustrating place: good enough to reach the playoffs, not good enough to stick around. Since returning to the postseason five years in a row, Los Angeles has never gotten past the opening round, and the most recent exit was another reminder of how thin the margin has become for a roster that still wants to be taken seriously as a contender.
Ken Holland has already put his stamp on the organization since taking over as general manager in May 2025, from hiring Peter Laviolette behind the bench to bringing in Artemi Panarin. Even with those moves, the bigger questions have only grown louder around the Kings, with concerns about an aging core, depth, contract clutter and a prospect pool that does not look ready to rescue the future anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]