JOHN ZEILER
This season: 27 games, 0 goals, 1 assist, 42 penalty minutes, 6:33 average ice time.
The good: Zeiler basically does what is asked of him. Run around, hit people, get in the way and bring some energy on the fourth line. He seems to understand, and accept, his role as a part-time energy player, and didn’t complain when he ended up being a healthy scratch in more than half of the Kings’ games this season.
The bad: Zeiler generated some goodwill in the 2006-07 season, when he basically came out of nowhere and impressed with his skating and hitting. That led to a four-year contract which, even though it’s for a paltry amount — an average of under $544,000 per season — seems to be a bit of a head-scratcher in retrospect. Zeiler is a filler player who didn’t do much this season to prove that he should be in the lineup on a regular basis.
Going forward: With a player such as Richard Clune earning good reviews in Manchester, it’s no stretch to say that Zeiler’s time with the Kings might be drawing short. Zeiler hardly makes any money (in a relative sense) and is a serviceable spare part, but the Kings are at the point where they need to get beyond just having “serviceable” players on the roster.