interesting swap with LA

No thanks from the Kings, this is basically Poulin for Vilardi, but the Kings take on bad contracts of Zucker and Pettersson.

Zucker: Age 29, $5.5M Not living up to his contract, at $5.5M on track to score under 10 goals for the season. This is 100% a cap dump
DeSmith: Age 30, $1.25M a significant drop from Quick to a bad backup, who is more expensive than Sparks who has been servicable.
Pettersson, Age 25, $4M, averaging 3rd pair minutes, significant decline since his contract signing
Poulin: Age 20, Min Contract, Great prospect at wing, not NHL ready

Athanasiou, Age 27, $2.7M, heavily injured this season, but .5 pt per game player, speedy and will give the team a boost when he returns
Quick, Age: 35, $5.8M, very strong play this season, big reason the Kings are in a playoff spot
Edler, Age 35, $3.5M, NTC and likely done for the season, no value to either team.
Vilardi, Age 19, ELC RFA, Crushing it back in the AHL, proven he can play in the NHL just needs more seasoning.

Vilardi is 22, not 19, but otherwise I agree.

Kings are not going to trade Quick under any circumstances. Vilardi for Poulin is a losing swap for LA.

Athanasiou and Edler are gap fillers that will be gone at the end of the season. Swapping them for Zucker and Pettersson adds long-term negative assets while not providing much of a boost, if any.

I think the trade makes little senes for both sides, but to call Pettersson's contract bad is just not accurate. He's a way above average 2nd pairing dman signed to pretty friendly contract. I'm not sure what you're basing your analysis of Pettersson, but you're way off.

Of the nine starting goaltenders who have a save percentage of at least 92% and a GAA of under 2.5, Tristan Jarry is third in both categories and Jonathan Quick is ninth in both. He isn't someone we'd be interested in trading.

Gabe Vilardi still has a higher potential upside than Poulin.

So we'd be giving up the two best players in this exchange (by far) and getting four guys with very limited utility. No, thanks.

I think that you overestimate Pettersson somewhat. He certainly isn't going to play above our two second-pairing defensemen; Matt Roy is cheaper as well as better and Mikey Anderson probably won't cost $4 million for his new contract next season. (Anderson is currently playing opposite Drew Doughty due to the season-ending injury to Alex Edler.)