It’s probably wrong to say that the Los Angeles Kings didn’t come into the season with aspirations of making the playoffs.

You don’t sign Phillip Danault and trade futures for Viktor Arvidsson without a desire to plus-up your roster and make it more competitive. But if things hadn’t shaken out just-so with the Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights underperforming, the Kings probably wouldn’t be here. And of course, the results — both in the standings and on the ice — felt a little ahead of schedule if nothing else.

The Kings are in a situation, then, where there’s simultaneously pressure to at least make the playoffs again next season, but perhaps not go too hog wild to do so.

The good news is that there’s plenty of flexibility to do that, but the bad news is that with this additional wiggl