Outside of Drew Doughty, the Los Angeles Kings‘ defensemen don’t get a ton of recognition across the NHL. Fans who have followed the league for a while probably know Alex Edler from his days with the Vancouver Canucks. Other than that, the defensive corps consists of players that came up through LA’s system. One of those players is Mikey Anderson, who just signed a massive contract extension.
Anderson’s Ascent to Becoming an Important Piece
On Feb. 15, the Kings announced that they had re-signed Anderson to an eight-year contract with a salary cap hit of $4.1 million per season. It was probably a bit surprising for most fans around the league that a relative unknown would get a maximum-length deal. People probably went to look at his basic stats and were still confused as to why a player with 33 career points was worth this type of extension from the Kings.
Anderson made his NHL debut just before COVID-19 shut down the league in March 2020. He was a fourth-round draft choice in the 2017 Draft. He played for two years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and won the National Championship in his second season there. He was then viewed as a decent prospect in the Kings’ system, but certainly not a sure thing. The Kings gave him a shot with the big club after he had spent over half a season with the Ontario Reign in the American Hockey League. Since joining the team, Anderson has impressed everyone with his defensive play.
Anderson Establishes Strong Defensive Impact
Since becoming a regular in the NHL, Anderson has found a pretty nice home in the Kings’ lineup. He’s slotted next to Drew Doughty on the blue line. These two have played the fourth-most five-on-five minutes together of any defense pair in the NHL since the 2020-21 season. They get over 50 percent of the shot attempts, scoring chances, and goals when on the ice together. This has become the Kings’ matchup pairing, which usually plays against the other team’s top lines in key situations.
The image above shows that Anderson was adept at keeping shots to the outside last season. It was convenient for him to have such an effective season right as he was due for a new contract. The Kings were able to lock him down for a one-year deal for just $1 million in September. This was what their salary cap situation would allow, with maybe a handshake agreement to get something done with a longer-term beginning next season. Whether or not there was some kind of understanding, Anderson did get the extension he likely wanted.
The Long-Term Extension and the Kings’ Salary Cap Future
This new contract will keep Anderson as a King until the 2030-31 season. The team was able to avoid five years of potential unrestricted free agency by signing the deal for the maximum amount of years allowed. If he is able to keep up his solid defensive play, this could look like a shrewd piece of business by general manager Rob Blake in the future. This contract is comparable to one agreed upon by Mattias Samuelsson and the Buffalo Sabres in October. Samuelsson got seven years and a slightly higher cap hit while having worse defensive underlying numbers across the board.
Related: Anderson One of Kings’ Breakout Players in ’21-22
The Kings have been right up against the salary cap all season, and most of their big contracts will not come off the books this summer. The only significant cap hit that they will shed is Jonathan Quick’s $5.8 million. When you consider this extension and the one signed by Trevor Moore, the Kings have already used $5.45 million of that money. They still have to address their goaltending for next season, and have some restricted free agents like Gabriel Vilardi that will need raises. With the salary cap potentially only going up by only $1 million, it will leave the Kings very little wiggle room in the offseason.
Overall, this is an interesting gamble made by Blake and the Kings’ front office. While the salary cap will remain flat next season, in a few years it is projected to increase by a margin that will make a difference in how we look at deals such as this one. Anderson is locked in for his prime years and still could improve as he gets more games under his belt. It would be nice for him to chip in with more offense as someone who will be making more money now. This contract definitely is still risky, as if the defensive play falls off, the Kings may feel obligated to keep him in a big role.
Teams have been more willing to give out contracts like this now, and if you can lock in a contributor for under-market value, it looks great. They can also be traded as some teams value the cost certainty for their cap situation. Michael Matheson signed an eight-year deal with the Florida Panthers, and has since been traded twice. That isn’t how the Kings will want things to go with this contract, but it’s always nice to have options. If things go according to plan, this should see Anderson playing an important defensive role for the franchise for years to come.
