Alex Iafallo is not available.

The Kings don't need more firepower, especially at wing. They need better defense and to shore up goaltending.

If the Kings give up their 1st round pick (I don't believe the 2023 1st is on the table for anyone, unless Rasmus Dahlin becomes available for some reason), it's not going to be for Patrick Kane.

Stalock is not an improvement over Copley.

Must be hard being wrong so many times.

1) Iafallo is absolutely available he's underperforming his contract and the Kings are going to need to get out of that cap hit. They have the depth to easily replace him
2) The Kings have a plethora of young prospects and should not be afraid to deal a likely late first round pick to help them take the West which is wide open
3) Stalock is an improvement over Quick and this gives us two goalies we can roll out and play the hot hand

1. Anyone that thinks Iafallo is underperforming doesn't understand the value of Alex Iafallo. He's the most underrated player on the Kings, if not in the NHL. He's one of the leaders on the team and is not available under any circumstances. The Kings will trade Kempe before they trade Iafallo.

2. The Kings won't deal their 1st round pick in two consecutive years. What about Blake's tenure so far would lead you to believe that he will? The 2024 pick might be on the table for a LHD or a long-term goaltender, but not for a position that they already have more players than they know what to do with. They're certainly not moving it for a rental.

3. Pierre LeBrun reported yesterday that the Kings camp said they have no interest in a rental goaltender. They're going to look at the goaltending market in the off-season and look to bring in someone long-term to shore up the goaltending position. Guys like Reimer, Talbot, and Stalock aren't on the Kings radar. If they can't get the job done with Copley, Quick, and Petersen, then this isn't their year.

"You know, it’s possible but what the Kings are talking about internally is probably having better options come the off-season. It’s crazy, they are riding Phoenix Copley who is 15-3 since being called in but the only goalie signed in the entire organization beyond this season is Cal Petersen who has been demoted. Jonathan Quick is up, he is 37 years old, they have to attend [to] the goaltending position, but I’ve been told they are not that interested in pending UFAs like Cam Talbot or Antti Raanta. They are looking for a long-term fit."

Insider Trading with Pierre LeBrun

Tell me what prospect, never mind "plethora," we have at LhD. That first round pick should be used, if not directly, towards improving our most obvious weakness.

"Winning the West" this year -- or any year -- is not the object, at least not the object of anyone who looks deeply into the game. Developing a team capable of winning the Stanley Cup is the true (and only) object, and that starts with the team we have now plus a better defense -- specifically, the left side -- and better goaltending, not adding a rental forward and "hot hand" rental goalie.

This team is capable of winning the cup this year if they had even adequate goaltending. Yes the longterm goaltending situation needs to be sorted out as well but for this year if Quick/Petersen can't figure it out that necessitates a rental given we don't give up too much for it.

To me the LHD situation is an offseason move. Requires figuring out which prospects you'd be willing to part with and I'd like to see more data to figure that out.

The Kings said they're not looking at goaltender rentals and are instead looking for long-term solutions in the offseason. They clearly don't think they're one goaltender away from winning a Cup.

You are DREAMING if you think that this team would win the Cup this year with Andrei Vasilevskiy or Igor Shesterkin in net. There is a reason why the Kings are the only team in playoff contention with a negative goal differential, and it isn't goaltending. A team can with the Cup with average goaltending if it has a good defense. A team with a below-average defense can't win the Cup no matter how good the goalie is. And your intimation that Alex Stalock would cure our netminder ills and thereby carry us to the Cup is, quite frankly, astonishing. And I say that as an enthusiastic fan of the Kings since I moved here in 1987 (and having seen Kelly Hrudey play in both an Islander and Kings sweater).

The data doesn't support your opinion

What in the name of Sam Hill do those charts have anything whatsoever to do with the subject at hand? You're just throwing numbers at a wall and asserting that they mean something. The very fact that you think one chart of "All Situations" is comparable with a chart of "5-on-5" demonstrates the fallacy of your argument. (I note with some hilarity that Shesterkin's Rangers are 16th on that second chart, and Vasilevskiy's Lightning are 19th.)

You're interpreting wrong. The xGA table is estimating defensive performance. Yes its only 5v5 and the Kings penalty kill sucked at the beginning of the year but its come around. In 5v5 play (most of the game) the Kings actually give up the 5th fewest amount of chances in the league. So no the Kings D is not the issue and the goalies actually are the problem as pictured in the goalie chart above.

This team can win the cup with some slight upgrades in skaters and a goalie upgrade. Hence the OG trade above.

I’m not interpreting anything, wrongly or not – I’m just recognizing that there’s absolutely no connection in the real world between the theory you’re advancing and the idea that this chart supports (let alone proves) it. Have you even thought through the ramifications of what you are saying?

According to your interpretation, by merely exchanging defenses with Los Angeles, Tampa Bay would have a better team (because the goalie would remain the same), and by exchanging defenses with Tampa Bay, San Jose would have an even worse team than they have now. Anybody who thinks that doesn’t know anything about hockey, or else is under the influence of recreational substances.

Disraeli’s epigram: “There are three kinds of lies: lies; damned lies; and statistics.”
Hawking’s dictum: “Anyone can use two sets of statistics to say anything.”