LOS ANGELES (AP) — Forward Alex Iafallo has agreed to a four-year, $16 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings announced the deal Monday for the speedy Iafallo, one of the best recent additions to a struggling franchise.
Iafallo was an undrafted free agent when the Kings signed him in April 2017 after four seasons at Minnesota-Duluth, where he became a first-team All-American. Iafallo played his way onto the Kings’ opening night roster to start the 2017-18 season, and the upstate New York native scored 25 points in 75 games as a rookie.
Iafallo’s role and scoring totals have grown over the past four seasons as he recorded 52 goals and 74 assists in 266 career games.
He has 11 goals and 14 assists as the third-leading scorer this season for the Kings, who are likely to miss the playoffs for the third consecutive year. Only Kings captain Anze Kopitar averages more ice time among Los Angeles’ forwards than Iafallo (20:09).
Iafallo featured in recent trade rumors because of his pending status as an unrestricted free agent this summer. Instead, the Kings locked him down as a key part of their rebuilt core.
Los Angeles traded veteran power forward Jeff Carter to Pittsburgh on Sunday night for two mid-round conditional draft picks, further disassembling the long-remaining core of its two Stanley Cup championship teams in 2012 and 2014.
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