As a Habs fan, that's a hard pass by Boston......

We know Boston passes, so does LA, this gets Blake fired too.

PLD is a cap dump

To give context, throwing Jeremy Swayman on this deal is probably as annoying to Boston fans as suggesting Quentin Byfield for Ullmark is to LA fans.

Since I criticize every Boston fan who brings up Byfield, I will likely do the same when LA fans bring up Swayman. You don’t have the assets you’d give up to get him.

PLD as the baseline of a deal for Swayman is comic relief

If Blake did this deal, it is not getting him fired. Its recovering a moronic deal by hoping for head trauma from another GM

If anything, keeping PLD is the constant reminder of that bad deal especially in his current role. Can he show his value as a third center that will not make his contract look poor?

LA won't be able to afford what Ullmark wants season after next and with PLD gone who takes 3C? If the Kings want to move away from PLD they have until July 1st until the NMC kicks in and he didn't even test the market at the deadline, I don't see it happening nor do I see a GM wanting PLD.

My assumption would be Turcotte would take PLD’s role. Former top 10 pick who’s showing some ability. I was hoping Pinelli’s transition would be better at Ontario. Was a big fan of him at Kitchener, but he’s been pretty bad.

My guess is Ullmark makes considerably less than PLD long term, so I’m not sure what the contract concern is there

Ultimately, I don’t think this is a great fit because PLD is not a good fit in Boston and the reason to do the trade for Boston would have been to lock down salary slots for 2024-2025 before free agency. Right now, they basically have show patience on JDB to keep flexibility to sign Lindholm while keeping Ullmark (which they can do now)

Swayman isn't available, teams called about him at the deadline and Sweeney didn't even entertain any offers. If a PLD to the bruins trade is happening it's for Ullmark.

so do you just not know who jeremy swayman is, or what? he pulls this off vegas is taking the GM of the year award off the board for betting purposes, blake would already have it wrapped up. trading probably the most toxic asset in the league for a 25 year old vezina caliber goalie is kind of a good piece of business pal.


literally.

Turcotte needs more time before he takes on those kind of minutes, he has like 4 minutes on ice yesterday for a shutout win. Pinelli will also need more time. Lizotte could potentially take the 3C role, but Blake has then moved LA backwards in terms of what Blake made as his biggest move as a GM. LA would have made any number of deals to improve goaltending before this season, the improvement of the defensive corps has made goaltending not as important as ensuring LA has their long-term answer for Kopitars succession plan handled. As crazy as it sounds, PLD is still the best option to take over as a top-6 center in LA than any current player on their team. LA can likely get away with average goaltending for another season until Portillo is ready (probably gets his chance at middle of next season).

Overall if Blake was committed to correcting this mistake he would have tried to do more at the deadline, it seems his legacy is tied to PLD for better or worse with such a small window to move him after the season ends.

Swayman is a fantastic goaltender, but LA has somehow had fantastic goaltending with the cheapest tandem in the league at $1.85M collectively. It's less about how good Swayman is, and how the Kings need to have an answer at 3C before they move PLD and his NTC kicks in July 1st, not sure there is enough time to figure out the Kings long-term answer for a Center who can move up the lineup after Kopitar and Swayman could demand the world from LA in terms of contract.

I think you're just missing the entire point here - getting rid of PLD will cost the Kings. Huge. In this god awful concept, they're getting ridiculously big value for PLD. that's miracle work by the front office. Don't want to pay a goalie? fine. i get that. flip swayman for multiple firsts. it's just such a no brainer.

I get what you are saying, but LA doesn't seem likely to spend $6-8M+ on a goaltender even if they somehow moved PLD because finding a top-6 center becomes the priority again for LA.

And the biggest issue, Blake admits he made a mistake (which is what I'm assuming gets him fired) and solves a problem he already addressed by trading for Portillo and drafting Hampton Slukynsky. If I'm Portillo I demand a trade, and LA is back where they started 2 years ago without a 3C who can move up in the lineup and no money to pay for one.

Byfield has not thrived in the center position, and really has been at his best as a LW.

1. Portillo isn’t a good enough prospect to demand a trade
.
2. The PLD deal sucks and how Blake tries to recover it isn’t going to impact perception of how bad it sucks

1. Portillo is a first year pro who is second in the AHL in SV% currently above Dustin Wolf, he decided on LA because there was a clear path to being a #1.

2. No one is arguing that the PLD contract sucks, but if Blake moves PLD and there is no future top-6 center in sight he should get canned.

you're doing that thing again where you read the first sentence of a post, and then just reply to it. i specifically addressed not spending the cap on goalies.

We both agree this won't happen, right? So what is the point of discussing this trade? Why would Boston make this trade?

The point is no realistic trade for PLD out there where Blake keeps his job, he needs to take a loss to move the contract, so he's sticking with it. That's why these posts don't make sense.

GMs are allowed to admit they're wrong. Do you think ownership is blind? Surely they know PLD isn't performing. "Hey boss, you know that 64 million dollar contract that didn't seem to be going well? I got you out of it," isn't the kind of phone call that gets you fired, it's the kind that gets you a new contract.

Of course we agree that this trade can't happen. This would be like you buying a share of a stock at $100, and it plummets to $10. I come along with a different stock that is currently worth $100, and say, "hey, I'll trade you one for one," and you saying, "well no, then I would have to admit I was wrong." It's just stupid. The trade can't happen because it's one-sided, not because it's not a fit.

If Portillo demanded a trade from a potential situation where he could backup a goaltender whose last partner is probably signing an 8 year deal in excess of 50m, his agent should slap him upside the head. The only thing that would happen is Talbott wouldn’t resign and Rittich would look for a better situation (my guess is one would have been part of the deal). Portillo would be the best bet to be the backup in about as optimal a situation as you can walk into.

We are discussing PLD because

1. Does either side believe it was Matt Roy as a 3rd line D for Boston walking into FA? That’s basically the equivalent of salary dumping Ullmark and Roy is important to LA. If he were a lefty, that might be a different story, but Boston cant allocate that much money to a 3rd line right D.

2. Victor Arvidssen and a pick considering LA’s immediate cap situation and Blake’s goalie perspective previously doesn’t seem super realistic. If the pick were high enough, I could see Boston consider this.

To me, this seems to point to a get of jail free card being presented to Blake involving PLD and looks like he would have taken it if Ullmark was willing to love during the season.

Granted, none of us know what’s real or not. Just enough smoke behind it to where it looks pretty viable. Boston fans would be pissed if it were PLD, but I think that’s more denial than anything else. Curious to what other scenario makes sense for both teams?

Alright, well Blake has about 3 months to put together a trade that would show he made a mistake and corrected it before PLDs NTC kicks in. I'm banking the liklihood is Blake doesn't find that contract and thinks staying pat is probably his best move. PLD is playing with Lafreniere and basically a rotating cast of whoever they can place next to him. If he saw an improvement in linemates it's likely he will regain some lost value, but it's too late. I think the tea leaves have it that PLD is a King for a long stretch, if you think otherwise I'd love to hear a trade LA would accept because I haven't seen one yet.

well ya, but let's not make this out to be some situation where Blake won't move PLD because he doesn't want to admit making a mistake. that's not a real world concept. He's not going to move him because he's not going to able to. That's the end of the story. I think the Kings would basically accept any trade that doesn't involve them retaining, and doesn't involve them moving more than one first round pick. they aren't going to get that offer from anyone. Honestly the bruins would probably be their best bet, as they likely, and with good reason, believe in their culture enough to think they can sort the guy out.

I don't think a PLD to Boston trade make sense without retention, which I would be demanding Blakes head.

My assumption is the Kings wanted someone like Ullmark with double retention which they might have got for a 1st and Kaliyev and another 4th for the second retention. Even with that trade, LA would have cap issues with Kempe and Anderson back, and Arvidsson who is close. Blake indicated his biggest block was he didn't want to lose any of his current contracts which makes me think there was little to no traction on PLD from Boston, they (Boston) just likely didn't want to retain while being competitve.

100% but if the Kings moved 3 1sts to move PLD, from an ownership persepctive I would be ok with that being the last move Blake made. The Kings now lost Vilardi, Kupari, Iafallo, 3 - 1sts all in one year for nothing, you gotta can a guy for that. On the other hand if PLD turns it around and the contract is managable, he lives to see another day.

I’m curious if Boston was going to retain on Ullmark for 2 years for the 22nd or worse pick in this draft? I don’t buy it, but we’ll see

It’s their 100th anniversary year and they are among the top 2 teams in the East. A trade this year was likely not going to be a salary dump for the Bruins

I think you nailed exactly why this trade didn't happen. For LA it's a no brainer, Vezina goaltender signed cheap for a year so you can sign Roy. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried again in the offseason and have another team facilitate eating some of the cap.