Kings Sign Teddy Purcell
Ian Gooding
2016-07-01
Fantasy impact: The Los Angeles Kings sign right wing Teddy Purcell to a one-year contract worth $1.6 million.
Purcell with LA is one year, $1.6M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 1, 2016
The Kings get: A onetime member of the Kings, Purcell is a less expensive yet smaller (6’2”, 195 lbs.) winger who has been brought on to replace Milan Lucic’s roster spot. Purcell’s production peaked in 2011-12, when as a member of the Lightning he scored 65 points. Purcell held his own in fantasy playoff rounds last season, scoring 11 points in 15 games after being acquired by the Panthers from the Oilers. It was clear that he wasn’t any more than a rental for the Panthers, who have numerous young forwards ready to take the next step.
Fantasy players impacted: The Kings have been a much stronger puck possession team than the Oilers over the last few seasons, which is something that could help Purcell. Last season Purcell had a 52.18 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage, which was third-highest on an Oilers team that had the majority of its players below 50 percent. With the Kings strong up the middle (Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter) but saddled with underachieving right wings (Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik), Purcell should have no problem receiving top-6 minutes and at least second-unit power-play time on the Kings. Thus his scoring numbers should improve with one of two high-quality centers to pass him the puck. Consider Purcell a late-round sleeper in many single-season formats.
Fantasy players this helps, in order:
Purcell (game logs, stats, line combos here)
Carter (game logs, stats, line combos here)
Kopitar (game logs, stats, line combos here)
Fantasy players this hurts, in order:
Brown (game logs, stats, line combos here)
Gaborik (game logs, stats, line combos here)