Fantasy Impact: The Los Angeles Kings have agreed to a deal with Alexei Ponikarovsky per TSN. The contract is for one year.

The Kings get: a 55-point player who can check a little and offers nice size. It was clear that all that Alexander Frolov would give them was 55 or 60 points (when he felt like it). So if the Kings were going to get that offense anyway, they may as well get it from a guy who is bigger and can backcheck.Adding Ponikarovsky gives the Kings six players in the Top 79 in hits last year (along with Dustin Brown, Matt Greene, Drew Doughty, Jarett Stoll and Jack Johnson). Keep your head up!

Fantasy Players Impacted: Any hope that Brad Richardson or Scott Parse had of getting into the top six have now been vanquished. Ditto for Oscar Moller. Ponikarovsky picked a good up-tempo team to join and yes, he'll get some shifts with Anze Kopitar. Don't expect him to top 60 points though - but at least his usual 50-55 range is secure. It was in jeopardy had he signed with a number of other teams. Other wingers like Ryan Smyth, Justin Williams and Dustin Brown, will not see any up or down movement in their production.

Fantasy Players this deal helps, in order:

1. Ponikarovsky

2. Michal Handzus/Stoll/Brayden Schenn

Fantasy Players this deal hurts, in order:

1. Moller

2. Richardson

3. Parse

Comments (2)

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Isle B. said:

Terrible Signing 1) This is a terrible signing. Ponikarovsky did nothing with the Pens playing alongside Malkin. Why doesn't Lombardi just bring back Ladislav Nagy back while he's at it? 2) The Kings might need a veteran defenseman to replace O'Donnell, but they might be willing to give Hickey or Teubert a shot, instead. They certainly DON'T need Kaberle at the price of Stoll (who's a solid, if unspectacular 2nd line center) PLUS a 1st round pick. Kaberle is worth a 1st rounder from a playoff-bound team. That's it. If you look at very-good-but -not -great players who've been traded with a year left on their deal in recent summers, the going rate is a mid-to-late first rounder.

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July 28, 2010
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Gardito Bakiso said:

next move for the kings... Pure speculation here... Looking at Capgeek and how their current contracts are structured, LA has done well to coincide the expiration of multiple deals with the same year they need to lock up their young stars (doughty, simmonds, johnson). They just signed Poni for a year to round out their top 6. They were playoff contenders last year and will be in the hunt for a top 8 spot again this year. Well the Kings need another D-man. And they strongly desire to protect their long-term flexibility. I heard a certain Kaberle was available, with only 1 year left on his deal. And Burke wants a top 6 forward (and they have a hole at 2nd line C where grabovski is not a strong faceoff man or defender). Stoll (who has 2 yrs left on his deal) and a 2011 1st (likely to be 20th pick or later with that roster) for Kaberle. Burke gets a gritty top 6 forward and a pick in the 1st (maybe soothes the burn a wee bit from losing his pick last year?) and LA keeps its cap flexibility for the future while making themselves significantly better this year. What say you?

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July 27, 2010
Votes: +1