Free agency opened with the Kings taking a direct swing at their biggest problem: goals. Los Angeles moved quickly to add Mats Zuccarello and Corey Perry, landing two veteran forwards on one-year, $1 million deals that give the team offense without tying up much cap space.
General Manager Ken Holland made the priority plain after the 2026 season.
“What needs to happen here over the next couple of months as I look at our team, said Holland. “Like I said were 29th in goals scored. We got to score more goals.”
Zuccarello looks like the cleanest answer to that issue. Los Angeles needed a real offensive driver, and it found one of the Minnesota Wild’s best producers.
Last season, Zuccarello finished with 54 points, the third-most on a team that was third in the Western Conference standings. That total would have ranked second on the Kings a year ago.
At 38, he is expected to take on a major role in the top six and help carry more of the scoring load. He also brings a clear boost to the power play, where his 21 points last season stood out against a Kings unit that didn’t have a single player reach 20 power-play points.
That matters because Los Angeles wasn’t just struggling overall. The Kings were sitting near the bottom of the league in both offense and power play, and Zuccarello gives them help in both spots right away.
Perry is back for a different but equally useful reason. The Kings already know what he can do in their lineup.
They brought him in during the 2025 offseason for scoring and physicality, then later traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning. One year later, he returns after proving he could still make an impact in Los Angeles.
In 50 games with the Kings, Perry scored 11 goals and added 17 assists for 28 points. He also had two strong runs, one in October and another in January, when he posted five straight games with at least one point. At times, he was asked to be the center of the offense, and he helped keep Los Angeles afloat early in the season.
That history is part of why the Kings were willing to bring him back. The team has already seen him produce, and there’s reason to believe he can do it again.
The signings also helped create a chain reaction. Because Los Angeles saved money on Zuccarello and Perry, Erik Haula was able to sign with the Kings as well.
For a team that needed offense badly, the early part of free agency has gone exactly where it wanted. Los Angeles has already added two veteran scorers, and the roster looks better equipped to climb out of the offensive hole that defined last season.
In Other News...
Kings Free Agency Targets Matter More Than Ever After Kopitar's Exit
With NHL free agency set to open July 1, the Kings are heading into a stretch that could shape the post-Anze Kopitar era more than any one trade deadline ever did. General manager Ken Holland is working with a roster that needs help in several places, from blue-line depth to center support and another forward who can slide into the top six and keep the offense moving.
One name already tied to that search is Jack Roslovic, a center who can bring some scoring punch without forcing a major cap commitment. For a team trying to replace a franchise pillar while still patching up multiple spots on the lineup card, those kinds of value bets matter, and the Kings are likely to spend the first days of July weighing which additions fit best before the market thins out. [Read more 🡒]
Corey Perry Is Back And It Says Plenty About The Kings
Corey Perry is sticking around in Los Angeles for at least one more season, with the Kings rewarding the veteran forward with a one-year extension. It is a familiar sort of move for a team that has leaned into experience, and for Perry it adds another chapter to a career that has already stretched across 21 NHL seasons.
What makes the deal notable is the opportunity it creates for a pretty rare milestone. If Perry gets into at least 36 games this season, he will move into the NHLs exclusive 1,500-career-games club, a marker that would further underscore just how long he has lasted at this level. For the Kings, it is another sign they still see value in what Perry brings, even as his career keeps pushing into territory only a handful of players ever reach. [Read more 🡒]