Arthur Kaliyev, a winger for the Kings, has requested a trade.
Arthur Kaliyev, a winger for the Kings, had a difficult season. Despite showing promise as a backup scorer in his first two seasons, things essentially fell apart in 2023–24. It is now thought that the 22-year-old requested a move, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
In his first season of 2021–2022, Kaliyev recorded a good 14 goals and 13 assists. In 2022–2023, he improved, recording 13 goals and 15 assists despite missing 26 games. So, there was hope that this season, hopefully with the ability to play a little higher in the lineup, he would advance even farther.
Nothing like that took place. Rather, Kaliyev found himself a regular healthy scratch, particularly under Jim Hiller, who earlier this month received the opportunity to become the head coach full-time after having his interim tag lifted.
During that period, he played in fewer than 12 minutes per night and only tallied seven goals and eight assists in 51 games. Then, when the playoffs arrived, he was benched for their five-game loss to Edmonton in the first round.
Even if Kaliyev’s stock isn’t at its highest point right now, certain teams may find him to be a compelling buy-low option. For a man who has played in the NHL for 188 seasons at an average of little over 12 minutes each night, 71 points in 188 games is a respectable total.
In the meanwhile, Kaliyev lacks salary arbitration rights and is due a qualifying offer of only $874K as a restricted free agent. It’s difficult to imagine him asking for much more on a one-year deal after the year he just had.
During the regular season, it was thought that the Kings would be willing to trade Kaliyev (with rumors that Kaliyev would be amenable to being traded as well), but an appropriate trade was never made. The asking price will most likely be less now that they’re reportedly willing to let go of him completely, according to a recent report from Eric Stephens of The Athletic.
It appears quite likely that Kaliyev will be moved in the upcoming weeks since he wants to move on and Los Angeles is thought to want to move on from him.
