Trying to Gauge Kings Kaliyev's Trade Value

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The Los Angeles Kings and forward Arthur Kaliyev seem to be heading for an amicable breakup this summer.

Kaliyev asked for a trade after being a healthy scratch in Vancouver, where the team decided to go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, and general manager Rob Blake made it clear they weren't happy with Kaliyev in his exit interview.

With most of the same front office and coaching staff that didn't play Kaliyev returning, a trade seems the most likely outcome.

The difficult thing now is figuring out Kaliyev's trade value.

After spending most of the second half of the season watching games from the press box, and a regression in raw numbers, his trade value is likely at its lowest point.

He's also a pending RFA who's made it known he doesn't want to return.

However, Kaliyev is a player who still holds value. Whatever warts Kaliyev has in his game, he's been a productive NHL player in his early career.

His 35 goals in 188 games place him ninth in his draft class, one spot ahead of Kirby Dach, while his 71 points put him 13th ahead of players like Shane Pinto, Philip Tomasino and Peyton Krebs.

Two players around him in draft production, Dach and Alex Newhook, have both been traded for big price tags, but both are more complete players and centers so we can't compare them.

It's tough to find players in Kaliyev's position who were traded. Relatively productive young players who fall out of favor with their team aren't too common.

Players around his age and production are more often added into bigger trades as sweeteners but the Kings don't have many options for big trades.

One player who does come to mind is Lias Andersson. Andersson was around Kaliyev's age now when the Kings sent a second-round pick to the New York Rangers to acquire him.

Andersson was a much higher puck but didn't have Kaliyev's production when the trade happened, Andersson also wasn't a pending RFA.

That RFA situation probably lowers Kaliyev's value a bit, so somewhere around a late second or early third seems fair.

A swap deal with another struggling young forward could also change the dynamics of a deal. I've talked about players like Oliver Wahlstrom or Tomasino as swap deals and that makes sense.

I also like entertaining the option of moving up in this year's draft by packaging Kaliyev with their own first-round pick.

You wouldn't move up much, but if a player the Kings like starts falling, using Kaliyev to move up 3-4 spots would be a good option.

No matter what, the Kings won't get full value out of Kaliyev. At this point, getting anything out of him is a win.

Of the available options, trying to swap him for another struggling forward or potentially moving up a few spots feels like the best option.

If the Kings had a big trade option, using Kaliyev to sweeten the deal could have been a nice option too, but the Kings don't have the cap or assets for a big deal.

Now the Kings have to try and extract whatever value they can and hope Kaliyev doesn't click with his new team and haunt them for the foreseeable future.