Very Aggressive Deadline

The Kings are not going to pay Turcotte to dump Petersen's contract. That's insane. They can just keep Petersen in the minors until June 2024 and buy him out with a minimal cap charge.

They're also not going to send Bjornfot (or Anderson) in a trade for Chychrun. They're desperately short on LHD as it is.

Both of these trades are bad for the Kings.

June 2024 is 2 offseasons away, they don't have time to wait that long with their window open now. Turcotte hasn't fit in with them at all, and with some big names possibly testing free agency in the next two seasons (Kane, Larkin, Pastrnak, Horvat in 2023, Matthews, Nylander in 2024) having cap space with a competitive team would be a huge advantage.

Where does Turcotte play on this lineup in the next two seasons anyways? 3rd line LW? There's no room for him, maybe they should try and get a better return for him (I mentioned the trades may not be fair), but other teams in the league will see the Kings don't have a lot of roster spots available for forwards.

What are they waiting for? Petersen has cleared waivers and is playing in the AHL. The Kings have called up Copley in the meantime, and he and Quick have both played well over the past few weeks. This summer, Quick's contract ends and he will re-sign a less lucrative 1-year extension. There's no need to move Petersen. He can stay any play (or not) in the AHL, and the Kings will have a redundancy in case of injury. Petersen has been playing phenomenally well since he's gone down to the Reign.

Turcotte has been sick (mono and acute appendicitis) and injured (two concussions, ankle) over the past few seasons. It's hard to fit in anywhere when you can't play. While healthy, he has looked really good. He just needs time to develop his game. He's been healthy for the past 6 weeks or so and has been playing well for the Reign. He doesn't lose his waiver exemption until the 2024-25 season, so there's absolutely no reason to rush him. You could have said the exact same thing about Vilardi, and as we're seeing from this season, it's a good thing they waited on him,

Turcotte gets Arvidsson's spot after the latter's contract ends in June 2024. In the meantime, he is a regular in Ontario and can fill in for injuries on the Kings as they occur.

If someone wants to give up a return befitting of a 5th overall player, then I'm sure the Kings would consider it (he'd be a fitting piece in that Arizona trade for Chychrun). However, the Kings aren't going to sell low on him. If no one wants to pay up, the Kings are more than happy to keep him and let him continue to develop.

Absolutely no shot Kings trade Turcotte for Peterson cap dump that's just dumb. You're correct when you say Turcotte wont play in the kings line up and that he will probably be traded but not in this kind of situation, if anything he would be an attached asset to get someone like a Chychrun or Edmundson or something.

The idea behind this post is the Kings move assets around to maximize their winning potential. Petersen playing good in the AHL doesn't mean it's guaranteed he'll play better in the NHL (Laurent Brossoit is in a similar situation in Vegas, he can't get any time starting since he's behind Thompson and Hill). Eating Petersen's contract is less than ideal for a team needing to re-sign Anderson, Vilardi, and leave room for Moore's extension.

Turcotte replacing Arvidsson is a toss up, especially with the emergence of Vilardi, Kaliyev, and even Kupari. You can only play 12 forwards a game.