Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik left unprotected by Kings

As expected, the Kings didn’t protect forwards Dustin Brown and Marian Gaborik on Sunday, hoping Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee might take one of them off their hands Wednesday in the NHL expansion draft.

McPhee isn’t expected to take Brown or Gaborik, their bloated contracts outweighing their otherwise superb NHL resumes. Brown, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, has five years and nearly $30 million left on his contract. Gaborik has four years and almost $20 million remaining on his deal.

Vegas must select one player from each of the existing 30 teams.

So, the Kings are guaranteed to lose one player.

The Kings protected nine players Sunday: Goaltender Jonathan Quick; forwards Jeff Carter, Anze Kopitar, Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli; and defensemen Drew Doughty, Derek Forbort, Alec Martinez and Jake Muzzin. Forbort was the only mild surprise among the nine.

Brown, Gaborik highlighted the Kings’ list of available players.

Others on the list included: goalies Jack Campbell and Jeff Zatkoff; forwards Andy Andreoff, Kyle Clifford, Nic Dowd, Jarome Iginla, Trevor Lewis, Michael Mersch, Jordan Nolan and Nick Shore; and defensemen Matt Green, Vincent LoVerde, Brayden McNabb and Rob Scuderi.

The Kings did not need to protect prospects such as Jonny Brodzinski and Adrian Kempe.

The Kings could protect only one goalie and there was no way they were going to make Quick available. Quick was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as MVP of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs. Campbell and Zatkoff aren’t likely to be selected with other veteran goalies available.

By protecting four forwards and four defensemen, the Kings made several veteran forwards available, including Brown, Clifford, Gaborik, Iginla and Nolan. Forbort’s fine play as Doughty’s defense partner moved him onto the protected list, leaving McNabb available to Vegas.

Tempting though it might be for McPhee to select Brown or Gaborik on Wednesday, age, a slump in production in recent seasons plus contract issues make it less than promising that the Kings could dump a bad contract. McPhee could be wary of taking on long, expensive contracts.

Brown, 32, captained the Kings to Stanley Cup wins in 2012 and ‘14, but when his scoring slipped and he had only 11 goals in each 2014-15 and ‘15-16, the Kings’ previous management team stripped him of his captaincy. Kopitar was named team captain before last season.

Advertisement

Brown signed an eight-year, $47 million contract July 18, 2013.

Gaborik, 35, led the Kings with 14 goals during the ‘14 playoffs, but had only 12 goals in the regular season ‘15-16 and just 10 goals last season after he was limited to 56 games after suffering a broken foot during the World Cup of Hockey.

Gaborik signed a seven-year, $34.125 million contract June 26, 2014.

Iginla would be an interesting selection for Vegas, although he’ll be 40 on July 1, the day he’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent. The future Hall of Famer would likely to be asked to take a pay cut from his last contract, a three-year, $16 million deal he signed with the Colorado Avalanche.

Lewis or McNabb would seem to be more likely candidates to be Golden Knights, however.

All will be revealed Wednesday.