As of right now, and there's not a ton of reason to think it'll change significantly, the Kings have 11, probably 13 forwards that have spots, and 10 of them are all basically set in their role. As much as we may not want guys that are making over $1m to be in the lineup, as long as they're here, they're going to be in the lineup. If Carter were to move to RW, then there's really no place for a guy like Luff on the team. If Carter stays at C, or Prokhorkin moves to C, there's no room for a guy like JAD. Unless he beats out Amadio, but he has to clear waivers, JAD doesn't, so JAD is going down unless he's better than Kopitar. Even if the Kings suck, the contracts realities are still going to shape the team.
You'll have to have some excess talent to do that like Toronto did. Nylander came back and scored 7 goals and 27 points in 54 games. Few teams can throw a year away like that. Especially if all you get for the effort is a guy that still takes up $7m on the cap for the next 5 years.