KYLE CALDER
This season: 74 games, 8 goals, 19 assists, 41 penalty minutes, 13:10 average ice time.
The good: When the Kings put Calder where he belonged, he did a capable job. If you consider plus-minus to be a stat worth looking at, Calder was only minus-1 on a team that struggled mightily in 5-on-5.
The bad: It’s not Calder’s fault that Dean Lombardi gave him $2.7 million a year, and it’s not Calder’s fault that Terry Murray played him on the first line at times. Clearly though, Calder didn’t deserve that much money and shouldn’t have been in that spot. The Kings signed him with the hope that he could revive his previous form and resemble the player who scored 26 goals in 2005-06, but that player isn’t coming back. He is, at best, a third-line grinder who can play a gritty game and contribute some points here and there.
Going forward: It would be a pretty big surprise to see Calder back next season. The Kings have a plethora of players who can fill a third- or fourth-line role, and there’s probably at least one team out there that will throw a two-year contract at Calder, at a greatly reduced salary.