Mitchell

Fantasy Impact: The Los Angeles Kings have signed defensive defenseman Willie Mitchell to a two-year contract worth $3.5 million per season.

The Kings get: A steady defensive defenseman who can log very tough minutes. Mitchell has no fantasy value but his presence will affect the fantasy value of quite a few Los Angeles players. He is coming off of a severe concussion (the third of his career), and the Kings were the only team willing (or desperate enough) to give him a commitment longer than one year.

Fantasy Players Impacted: Mitchell will probably slide in on the second pairing with Jack Johnson, leaving Rob Scuderi to skate with Drew Doughty. He makes a decent first pass for a shutdown defenseman, and he'll raise Johnson's plus-minus quite a bit. A defenseman like Mitchell is also a goaltenders best friend.

With Matt Greene out for the first few months of the season, the Kings were desperate to add a quality top four defenseman. I see their pairings right now as:

Doughty-Scuderi

Mitchell-Johnson

Hickey-Drewiskie

Greene will slide in on the bottom pairing once he is healthy.

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Players this helps, in order:

1. Jonathan Quick

2. Jonathan Bernier

3. Jack Johnson

4. Drew Doughty

Players this hurts, in order:

1. None.