Kings re-sign former first-round pick

The Los Angeles Kings have retained defenseman Tobias Bjornfot for the foreseeable future, as they’ve signed the 22-year-old restricted free agent to a two-year contract extension. The deal, reported by PuckPedia, carries an annual average value of $775K and will keep Bjornfot in the Kings’ lineup through the 2024-25 season.

Selected 22nd overall by the Kings in the 2019 NHL Draft, Bjornfot has fallen a tad behind his predicted development track but still has untapped upside. Hailing from Sweden, he made his professional debut with Djurgardens IF in the SHL during the 2018-19 season, shortly before being drafted by the Kings.

Following his selection, the 6-foot, 201-pound defenseman signed a three-year entry-level contract with Los Angeles just weeks after the draft. He would play in North America immediately, mostly with the AHL’s Ontario Reign, but did earn a three-game NHL audition in his post-draft year. With COVID delaying the start of next season, though, the Kings loaned him back to Djurgarden in August 2020 before returning to Los Angeles after the calendar flipped to 2021, where he’d record his first NHL goal and add five assists in 33 games.

Bjornfot’s transition to the NHL was realized in the 2021-22 season when he became a true full-time player for the Kings, appearing in 70 out of 82 games and tallying eight assists. However, this past season, he found himself reduced to an AHL role due to the emergence of other youngsters like Sean Durzi and the trade-deadline addition of Vladislav Gavrikov, which impacted his place on the Kings’ depth chart.

Despite his fluctuating role in the organization last season, Bjornfot’s two-way potential remains highly regarded by Kings management. The two-year extension gives the Kings a much-needed cost-effective player to insert into their lineup, and his league-minimum cap hit could result in more NHL ice time with the Kings slated to be tight against the cap’s upper limit throughout this season, and Durzi shipped out to the Arizona Coyotes.

Upon the contract’s expiration in 2025, Bjornfot will again become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights and a qualifying offer of $814K.