Free Agency Starts Friday

In baseball, the free agency signings are dragged out throughout the long winter months. There is very little activity on the first day. In the NBA, there's usually a two-week moratorium in which teams and players can negotiate but can't make any official announcements until the moratorium period ends. In the NHL? It's open season on the first day that's usually filled with a flurry of activity.

This year should be no different with free agency opening up tomorrow. And for the Kings, who have been active in recent years, just not on the first day, usually missing out on the top tiered guys who prefer to play on the east coast rather than in sunny Southern California, with players citing travel concerns and a lack of fan interest, tomorrow could be busy.

The Kings are not expected to be in pursuit of any of the top free agents this year. Aside from center Brad Richards, the top guys this year appear to be defensemen and goalies, two positions the Kings are in pretty good shape. Richards won't go to L.A. to play on the wing as the Kings are pretty well set at center after acquiring Mike Richards from Philly last week. They do seem to be a little thin on the wing, especially on the left side, and could look for some depth there among the second- and third-tiered wingers available.

As for the top free agents, Brad Richards is drawing interest from about one-third of the teams. Dallas, his former employer, is not one of them. And if he has his way, expect him to sign with a smaller market team, perhaps Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Nashville or Winnipeg. Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, whom the Kings coveted last off-season when he signed in Edmonton, is off the market. His rights were traded twice this off-season from Edmonton to Long Island, New York to Buffalo yesterday, where he signed a 10-year deal today. Defensemen Tomas Kaberle, James Wisniewski, and goaltender Tomas Vokoun round out the top five. Another defenseman, Ed Jovanovski, is in the Top 10.

The players that are drawing some level of interest from the Kings are all wingers, and as expected, all left wingers. Ville Leino, who had a breakout season for Philly last season, Tomas Fleischmann, Simon Gagne, Eric Cole and Scottie Upshall would be decent fits for the Kings. If they don't land one of these guys tomorrow, or if any of these guys end up somewhere else either tomorrow or in the days to follow, it will be an otherwise quiet day and free agency period for the Kings this season.