The rumor mill is churning, and the Kings seem to have found themselves linked to the disgruntled Pierre-Luc Dubois. But can the Kings actually make it work? Putting organizational morals and discontentment aside, what are the implications of the Kings adding one PLD to the lineup, and can they make it work?
Short answer:
Yes, but will require some masterful cap shenanigans and negotiating skills from Rob Blake, as well as some luck, and getting the young stars to buy into the process.
Long answer:
What do the Kings give up for Dubois? Well, there's a pretty good comparable on the Kings current roster in Kevin Fiala. Last offseason, the Kings traded the 24th overall selection and prospect Brock Faber for the then 25 year old winger's RFA rights. It's not far fetched to say the Kings could get the soon-to-be 25 year old centre for a future 1st, Sean Durzi, and an extra sweetener.
The first issue post trade lies in what Dubois' reported asking point is on his next contract. According to Elliotte Friedman, who spun this rumor into action, Dubois' camp is looking for something "in the range of Dylan Larkin (8.7M) to Mat Barzal (9.15M)" Now the Kings likely don't trade for him without an extension, so for simplicities sake, let's meet in the middle, say 8.925M on an 7 year deal. Could the Kings get him down closer to 8.5M? Possibly, but we'll stick with that for now.
To accommodate this incoming salary, the Kings will likely have to ship out Viktor Arvidsson, Alex Iafallo and Sean Durzi (see above). Assuming Gabe Vilardi signs a decent bridge deal, this is fine.
The Kings will then have to rely on some young players taking a step forward this season due to the squeeze the PLD contract puts on the cap. Players like Tobias Bjornfot, Arthur Kaliyev and Jordan Spence/Brandt Clarke will have to be called upon for regular shifts in the top 9/top 6. This leaves the Kings starting lineup at:
Anderson - Doughty
Gavrikov - Spence/Roy
Bjornfot - Roy/Spence
or some variation. Doesn't seem bad, if not for one glaring issue:
Pheonix Copley sits as the lone goalie on the Kings roster, and once you add in a 13th forward and 7th D there isn't even enough cap to have Matt Villalta sit on the bench. The Kings aren't going to want to go into next season with Copley as the starter.
The one saving grace for this is for Rob Blake to work his magic and somehow acquire Karel Vejmelka 50% retained from the Coyotes (even better if he can get a 3rd party to get him down to ~650k). This means Grundstrom gets shipped out and replaced by somebody like Samuel F-mo.
The consensus? Adding Dubois would be a great move from purely a talent standpoint, but the cap hoops required to jump through to build a contending roster with him on board doesn't make it worthwhile, unless Dubois wants to get off his high horse and lower his contract demands.
Unlikely the Kings trade for Dubois without him signing a long term extension, which his asking price is, as reported by Friedman, “in the range of Larkin (8.7M) to Barzal (9.12M)”. A tall ask, but we’ll work with it for now.
I’d want one of byfield or vilardi from La. Need a young forward (preferably centre) coming back in a PLD deal. Fiala is a scoring winger. PLD is a two way centre, and is a powerforward to boot. He will certainly cost more than fiala (who got a bit of a haul in his own right).
Yeah, it would be really interesting if PLD is traded to LA. There would need to be a fair number of moving pieces. If the Jets rebuild they can absorb that cap of those 3 and they are still useful players. As you say however, the rub will be what else goes where to make the deal work.
Yeah, it would be really interesting if PLD is traded to LA. There would need to be a fair number of moving pieces. If the Jets rebuild they can absorb that cap of those 3 and they are still useful players. As you say however, the rub will be what else goes where to make the deal work.
Yeah there’s a lot of moving pieces required to make it work from the Kings end. The initial deal is less of an issue than the proceeding dominoes that fall to piece him in.
Yeah there’s a lot of moving pieces required to make it work from the Kings end. The initial deal is less of an issue than the proceeding dominoes that fall to piece him in.
We just have to get the stupid SC over with, so we can get to the important off season stuff!
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