With latest failures, Kings to consider moving Doughty to Toronto?!

The struggling Los Angeles Kings fired head coach John Stevens on Sunday just 13 games into his second season in charg and named Willie Desjardins as the Kings’ interim head coach for the rest of the regular season. Los Angeles also fired assistant coach Don Nachbaur and hired former Kings forward Marco Sturm to replace him on Desjardins’ staff.

So, what is next if the team keeps losing? After all, GM Rob Blake made some important moves in the summer,  so people aren’t eager to blame him. However, expectations have yet to be met in Los Angeles after the Kings managed to bring in Ilya Kovalchuk to boost the offense and re-signed star defenseman Drew Doughty to a lucrative $88-million eight-year contract. 

During an appearance on Calgary’s Sportsnet 960 on Monday, Elliotte Friedman discussed the ongoing contract standoff between the Toronto Maple Leafs and forward William Nylander, and while the Carolina Hurricanes have shown interest, the NHL insider also thinks the Kings and Minnesota Wild have been in the loop. 

It is worth wondering if after all the recent failures, if the Kings would be willing to move Doughty in return for Nylander. 

“I think you would have to assume everything,” considered Friedman. “I think they would love to get a defenseman or a right-shot D, but if you’re taking Nylander off your roster, you might need another forward.”

While we might not consider the Kings a serious trade destination for Nylander, it is obvious the Maple Leafs would love to acquire Doughty. The question is : would the Kings be willing to part with him? 

Assuming Doughty waived his no-trade clause to accept a trade to Toronto, his new contract ($11 million annual average value) still looks complicated for the Maple Leafs and their financial puzzle moving forward. They have to re-signing two young stars, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, who are expected to land big raises this summer. 

And quite honestly, as for the rest of the Kings’ rosters, Alec Martinez or Jake Muzzin do not look like enticing trade options for the Leafs.

Still, how crazy would a Doughty-Nylander trade be? 

At least for them, the Kings racked up a win last night, beating the Anaheim Ducks by the score of 4-1... so, many less failures will help the team forget about a blockbuster trade...