With the trade deadline behind them and just 18 games remaining on their regular-season schedule, the Kings will welcome the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night to begin a four-game homestand.

Though both teams are in the playoff hunt – the Kings (34-22-8) are in second place in the Pacific Division while Nashville (36-22-4) is tied for third in the Central – neither was particularly active before Monday’s NHL trade deadline.

The Kings had two players on long-term IR, albeit both at modest salaries, and seven more sidelined but did not see many ways to create salary-cap space or otherwise pursue acquisitions.

“We looked at some things but we also understood the situation that we could get ourselves into with players coming back,” said Kings general manager Rob Blake, not wanting to over-extend himself in terms of roster moves or assets shipped out in what was a sellers’ market.

Nashville, which has won the first two meetings with the Kings this season, hung onto winger Filip Forsberg and his career-high 33 goals, despite not yet having been able to sign the free agent-to-be to a contract extension. It added defenseman Jeremy Lauzon from Seattle, while the Kings mostly deepened the defense of a depleted minor-league roster.

That included the acquisition of defensemen Frederic Allard from Nashville, Nelson Nogier from Winnipeg and Troy Stecher from Detroit, a right-handed shot who has played 16 NHL games this season and 346 in his career. Stecher practiced with the big club on Monday and appears to be an NHL acquisition to pair with Alex Edler, at least for the time being. The Kings are currently missing five defensemen from their main roster, straining their organizational depth on the blue line.

Blake said that he valued the experience and competitiveness that the 27-year-old Stecher offered.

“We’re pretty young on the back end for the last few games and, just  the injury report, we don’t expect anybody back other than (Tobias Bjornfot) hopefully by the end of next week,” Blake said.

The Kings also re-signed center Blake Lizotte to a two-year contract extension with an annual average value of $1.675 million. He has eight goals and nine assists in 58 games in 2021-22.

“He’s really defined himself this year. That line was very productive for us when healthy for us and kind of drove the engine of the team, so it was nice to get him rewarded,” Blake said.

They also signed University of Nebraska-Omaha forward Taylor Ward to an entry-level contract. Additionally, they made a number of paper transactions, sending four players (Quinton Byfield, Rasmus Kupari, Jordan Spence and Gabriel Vilardi) to the minors for the purpose of establishing their American Hockey League playoff eligibility.

Both Southern California franchises have enjoyed something of a resurgence this season after three straight non-playoff campaigns, and both have been tested by injuries. But the differing directions of their fortunes – the Ducks have fallen out of the playoff picture while the Kings have persevered more successfully through midseason travails – seemed to mark the Ducks as sellers and the Kings as buyers.

Indeed, the Ducks sold off Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson, Rickard Rakell and Nicolas Deslauriers to contenders, netting a substantial haul of futures in return.

But while the Kings’ rash of injuries – nine players, including the latest long-term IR addition, defenseman Mikey Anderson – created holes, they also forced the Kings to recall prospects and insert them into the lineup. Blake has been loath to surrender draft picks and prospects in exchange for rentals, instead focusing on opportunities to acquire players in their 20s with term remaining on their contracts.

The Kings had been linked to two such players, Vancouver winger Connor Garland and Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun, but both stayed put on Monday. Arizona GM Bill Armstrong told reporters that the “pieces just weren’t there” to move Chychrun. He, like Garland, might have a wider cast of suitors during the offseason, while neither offered his current team immediate impetus for a trade.

Most recently, the Kings lost 5-1 to the third-place Vegas Golden Knights in a game that saw the Kings give up their league-worst ninth short-handed goal. It quelled any momentum for a comeback after falling down two goals after Chandler Stephenson’s early second-period power-play tally.

“Their power-play goal (was a) primary focus in a meeting of ours. Their short-handed goal (was) unacceptable. You take those two moments out and you have a chance at least,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.

While the Kings have enjoyed success this season, ranking in the top five of major possession metrics league-wide, more than their poor performance on special teams, which Blake singled out Monday, has rendered their position potentially precarious.

They place in the bottom 10 in scoring, tied with the Ducks at 2.80 goals per game, and are all but dead even in terms of goals allowed. Their plus-1 goal differential is the only single-digit differential among teams situated in a playoff spot.

In the Eastern Conference, all eight franchises positioned for the postseason have a differential of +21 or greater and in the Central Division, Nashville and the Minnesota Wild’s +29 differentials are the weakest among likely playoff teams.

The Kings are competing without nine players due to injury, including their top-scoring defenseman Drew Doughty as well as the versatile sparkplug Viktor Arvidsson on the wing.

When asked if Doughty might miss the remainder of the regular season, Blake neither confirmed nor denied the possibility.

Related Articles

“It’s a little early to say. I think we’ll exhaust every option possible. He’s out there skating now but not participating in drills,” Blake said. “That’ll be an assessment with the doctor in the next few days to understand the next step.”

Meanwhile, Arvidsson and Bjornfot might be nearest to their respective returns, with defenseman Matt Roy also making progress.

Center Phillip Danault, Arvidsson’s linemate, scored the Kings’ lone goal in the loss to Vegas, between the Golden Knights’ two special-teams tallies.

“We’ve got good players and whoever plays, it doesn’t matter who, has to buy into the system,” Danault said. “It shouldn’t be that hard to buy in and any player in the league can eliminate those big mistakes. We’ve got to find a way to do that and we should be fine.”

NASHVILLE AT KINGS

When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV/Radio: Bally Sports West / iHeartRadio