Rejoint: juill. 2018
Messages: 352
Mentions "j'aime": 248
This is a fun trade, and hard to evaluate in terms of winners and losers. Really comes down to the fact that both teams accomplished something kind of extraordinary.
The Kings managed to updo a mistake and actually improve at a position of need. It's true Kuemper was awful last year, but considering there was a strong possibility of having to either retain, sweeten the pot or simply buyout Dubois, this is incredible value. Also, with Danault & Kopitar holding down the fort and Byfield looking ready for more opportunity, I wouldn't have wanted to try and run it back if I were LA either.
The Caps managed to turn a 34 year old goalie with an iffy contract coming off a horrendous season into a 25 year old center with size and physicality, who really only had 1 down year after developing into a solid 2C from his sophmore season onward. That is some tidy work for a team that needed to add some additional offensive punch to their line up, and get someone for Ovi to play with as he chases Gretzky's record. If PLD gets back to his 25+ goal, 60 point pace, while adding some snarl, he's going to help that team a lot, and as the cap rises and that team needs to go into a true rebuild, he likely can be traded down the road for some significant positive value. Dubois has enough of a track record of being far better than he was last year, and is young enough, that he's probably one of the stronger bets for a rebound season next year. The problem with PLD has always been he was overrated because of how close he seems to an ideal #1 C, but in reality, if your expectation is a solid offensive 2C with some snarl but suspect defensive ability, he's likely a good bet to get back to that. Even if he gets back to that standard, he's probably a bit overpaid for his reputation, but at 25, with a rising cap, it's actually quite likely that he grows into that contract enough to make this a very solid deal for Washington given their needs and situation.
This is the rare Win-win straight up hockey deal with players of actual consequence. Fun times!