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Kings extend Justin Williams’ contract on dull trade deadline day

By Helene Elliott
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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The action in the final hours leading up to Monday’s noon PST trade deadline has been decidedly slow.

The Kings have made a move that does not involve a trade: They signed right wing Justin Williams to a four-year contract extension worth $14.6 million, for an average annual value of $3.65 million.

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Williams could have become an unrestricted free agent July 1 but instead is under contract through the 2014-15 season.

Williams, free of injuries this season, shares the team goal-scoring lead with 20 and has 49 points in 62 games. He’s two points from 400 for his career, with 155 goals and 243 assists for 398 points. His scoring has slowed lately he had one goal in his last nine games and only two in his last 14 -- but he was one of the Kings’ most consistent players this season.

So far, the biggest trade is Phoenix acquiring defenseman Rusty Klesla from Columbus for defenseman Sami Lepisto and forward Scottie Upshall, a trade between two West teams trying to make the playoffs.

-- Helene Elliott

Sports Now
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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