The Los Angeles Kings have made a major move to extend one of their rising stars in the squad by inking a new deal with Quinton Byfield. The forward is now slated to play for the Kings in the next five seasons after signing a five-year, $31.25 million deal that would see the Kings armed with a promising rising star.

Byfield was one of the standouts in the 2023-24 season, and it cannot be denied that the Kings need his impressive scoring if they are going to come up with a deep playoff run. Los Angeles is a team that has been grinding its path to the top of the Western Conference in the past few years, and they have ended up landing a first-round exit in the previous Stanley Cup Final. With a reliable star in Byfield, the team might just have a promising centerpiece to look out for.

Selected second overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, Byfield has enjoyed a rise to prominence with the Kings in the previous season, and it cannot be denied that he has seen some massive strides at the same time, which led to the well-deserved extension that he signed with the team.

LA Takes a Gamble on Byfield

Initially, Byfield was a restricted free agent in the offseason, and the team went on to offer him a bigger deal with the hopes of expanding his role with the team after center Pierre-Luc Dubois took over his wing spot in the previous season before finally trading the latter and moving Byfield back once more.

“We are extremely excited to reach an agreement that will allow Quinton to continue to grow with the Kings for the next five years,” Kings general manager Rob Blake said. “Since selecting him in 2020, Quinton has demonstrated his commitment to getting better on and off the ice each day.”

The Kings have made it to the playoffs for the last three seasons, only to fall short and be knocked out by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round time and time again. Byfield will be the fifth Kings forward and eighth player with an average annual salary above $5 million next season, and it is expected that he will be a key player in the next campaign once more.

A Season to Remember for Byfield

At the age of 21, Quinton Byfield became the first Kings player to tally a 20-goal season since Anze Kopitar pulled off the same feat in the 2007-08 season. The forward finished with 20 goals and 35 assists in just 80 games, marking all career-highs in those categories and making his impressive run in the recent Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In the 2023 season, Byfield was already a top performer with his impressive stretch that featured a 40-point performance in 48 games, including a pair of goal-of-the-year candidates at the time. Last season, he finished with a career-best 14 points on the power play and scored four game-winning goals while finishing with a plus-19 rating. That says a lot about the value he has on the rink, which ultimately led to his re-signing with the Kings.

It cannot be denied that Byfield is slowly developing into a star at this point, and Los Angeles may just have had their biggest piece in the game now more than ever for five more years.