Tanking the season to land Hughes?!

It has been reported many times in the recent weeks that the Los Angeles Kings are not done making move to improve their roster and become, once again, a strong Stanley Cup contender. 

However it seems like a potential new move will have people criticizing their decision. 

Los Angeles could choose to tank the season to improve their chances of landing the first-overall pick to select Jack Hughes, the projected as the top prospect in the 2019 NHL Draft. However, NHL insider Pierre LeBrun believes the Kings will attempt to make very difficult decisions if they don't want to  fix everything with the draft lottery. 

LeBrun doesn’t believe Drew Doughty or Anze Kopitar are going anywhere but wonders if goaltender Jonathan Quick or defenseman Jake Muzzin might become available. Muzzin has gone back and forth on the trade market and could end up elsewhere, why the trade chatter surrounding the goalie is quite new. The Kings are not actively shopping Quick, but LeBrun revealed he’s had teams tell him they’re “sniffing around that situation.”

LeBrun's TSN colleague Bob McKenzie is also looking to help the Kings by suggesting that winger Jeff Carter could be attractive to clubs seeking offense, such as the Boston Bruins or the Arizona Coyotes. Carter has three seasons left on his contract with an affordable $5.27-million cap hit, though in actual dollars he’ll only be owed $7 million over the remainder of the deal.

However, Carter lacks no-trade protection but loves living in Los Angeles and could be unwilling to leave the team, with whom he won two championships in 2012 and 2014. 

The Kings will have no other choice to get younger and faster if they want to be the contenders they once were. Their roster is filled with expensive veterans with no-trade clauses and it might be hard for general Rob Blake to make the best changes possible instead of tanking for Hughes. 

Quick and Carter are probably among their few tradeable veterans as they lack no-trade protection and could be placed forward as trade baits, however, rival clubs will wonder about their age and their recent injury history. If he becomes clear that teams will be interested in either one of them, the trade chatter will certainly picked up ahead of the February trade deadline.