High risk, high reward for Washington, really weird trade, won’t give a verdict because it’s way too early to

I think PLD's success comes at the expense of team success.

If you make him your 1C and give him the best minutes with the best linemates, he'll probably put up 25 goals and 60 points and your team will miss the playoffs.

If you try to make him a complementary player on an otherwise good and deep team, he'll struggle to fit in and won't do very well.

The Caps fall into the first group. I think he'll center their 1st line and do everything he can to get Ovechkin to 894. At this point, Washington's "Cup" is the Gretzky record for Ovechkin. Once that happens, the rebuild begins. If Dubois can do well enough in the meantime, the Caps might even be able to get something in return for him in a few years when they blow it up.

It’s ironic how PLD’s trade value keeps going down but his AAV keeps going up.
$894,166 in CBJ, signed to 2 x 5 million
Traded 5 games later to WPG with a 3rd for Roslovic, and Laine with 26% retained
Signed QO in WPG
Traded 1 season later to LAK for Vilardi, Iafallo, Kupari, and a 2nd
Signed 8 x 8.5 million in LA
Traded 1 season later to WSH for Kuemper

I’m still processing this one. It shocked me, but I can definitely see the logic for both teams. First, I give credit to LA for admitting they made a mistake and cutting their losses rather than doubling down like teams often do. Maybe they would have liked to have given him another year to see if this season was an anomaly, but it was now or never because his no-move clause kicks in July 1. Another interesting fact is that Dubois turns 26 on Monday. I think that means if the Oilers force a game 7, the cost of buying him out goes up by about $16M because the buyout window won’t open before he turns 26. Maybe that factored into this too.

Kuemper is a risk for LA given that he’s aging and didn’t do well in Washington, but they needed a goalie, and if he doesn’t work out then at least he’ll cost them a lot less than Dubois. The only basis I’d have for criticizing that part of the deal is if it prevents them from going out and getting a better goalie.

I think Dubois will be a much better fit in Washington than he was in LA. It’s not quite Backstrom and Kuznetsov in their primes, but they now have two capable centers who are still fairly young who should be able to fill those top two spots. It’s always risky to spend big money on a guy who’s coming off a bad season, but it’s not unreasonable to dismiss Dubois’s season on the basis of LA not really having a spot for him in the lineup. It’s easier to think that way about a 25-year-old than a 32-year-old. They got the guy who was being talked about as the biggest prize of last summer for a player they gave up nothing but cap space for who had become surplus. Not bad.

It’s nice to see the big trades starting!

The Capitals don't need to worry about long-term ramifications of this contract if Dubois doesn't bounce back because they are headed for a long rebuild after Ovechkin is sent to the glue factory.

Kuemper is a difficult buyout because of his signing bonuses, so he is a sunk cost.

Effectively, they added Dubois for a cost of 3.25M per season once you deduct the sunk cost of Kuemper.

Given the state of their prospect pool, and their geriatric roster, it is an excellent gamble to make. It is unlikely that they would have found the same kind of value in free agency or elsewhere in a trade.

Of course, there are major question marks about Dubois given his personal history, but that's neither here nor there. At least on paper, this is an exceptional move by Washington.

A big mistake that people with trades is that they don't understand that values are dynamic, and situations differ from team to team. The point of a good trade is to take two different situations and leverage them, like what LAK and WSH did here. There are very few teams who were in a similar position in regards to where their team was age wise and makeup wise. For most teams, taking on the contract of Dubois would have been far too risky. Washington might have been the only team where the stars aligned in a way that this trade makes a lot of sense. Almost like a perverted version of Horton for Clarkson, where if you suggest the equivalent trade for 9/10 teams in the league it would have made no sense, but Columbus was in a unique position due to being a budget team and Horton not being insured.

I voted LA wins. While both players had a bad year the Kings acquire 16.5 over 3 years while the Caps get 59.5 over 7 years. If Kuemper flops the Kings will have an easy buyout while the Caps are really gambling that Dubois was a bad fit in Los Angelos and also Winnipeg and Columbus sheesh very big risk here Maclellan must figure another mushy middle season gets him canned anyways so roll them dice.

You forgot about his contract. Seeing you lost on a site called capfriendly, I find that strangley bizarre.

Something tells me you work for the Capitals (and capfriendly)

this is not a Kings win holy hell. the ****ing recency bias in hockey fans.

Let;s not forget the year before last where PLD had 63 points in 73 games. Great numbers for a 2C. He had a bad year with LA where he clearly wasn't a fit, however he's only 26 and hasn't even hit the typical "prime" of an NHL player.

On the other hand, Kuemper is 34, makes 5m a year and had his net taken by a 30 year old who a career total of 60 games before last year.

hell end up bought out or hell turn it around in DC... they need centers and they'll play him way more minutes and on the top PP probably. In LA he came in on that huge deal and wasn't ready to compete for a spot...

In Wsh he'll be guaranteed one, and way more minutes... maybe like 2-3 more min a game

If he sucks they have no one to turn to even if he gets like 40 points again he'll still be 1/2 C the entire year plus a good amt of PP time on the top unit.

yea i've never seen someone who was good and young be JETTISONED multiple times like this so early in their career...

I thought he was legit good at one point in Columbus... seem to remember him shredding the Leafs that one covid year...

But yea he, to me, is the definition of a locker room cancer at this point... and he's overpaid for awhile now...

Kind of wild the team that bought this site just traded for one of the worst contracts in the league

LA got a contract that's 4 years shorter and roughly 3 mil less per year for the 3 years they have to carry him.
On the flip side they got a guy with virtually no value and who will be hard to move if they try to get out of that 3 year deal.

WSH got a very long and expensive contract, but the player does have talent.
Truth is, I like PLD. I think he's just a disgruntle player. I'm not sure him going to WSH is a good move for him.
That's mainly based on the fact that WSH itself is a cancer.

It will be interesting to see PLD on a line with Ov. We all know Ov is about his record.... but if it's going to be selfish play, I don't see why PLD doesn't just look out for himself too.
Going to be real interesting to see PLD shoot instead of make the pass. I actually expect his numbers to be pretty good here. Because if other people are going to make it all about them, why shouldn't the disgruntled guy make it all about himself too?
Going to be an interesting year that's for sure.

Blake have 9 lifes. How to heck he is still GM? How many coaches already had to pay his mistakes? Is Jim Hiller 4 coach in Blake Era? Hiller saved Blake job by leading Kings to playoffs. Blake might be one of worst GM's in NHL after 2004-2005 lock out season?

pld is going to end up on a new team each season

I voted Fair deal as I believe that both teams got what they wanted/best case scenario.

LAK: clearly they had decided to either buyout PLD or trade him before NTC kicked in. They also needed playoff level goaltending. Finding a home for $8 mil AAV PLD limited their options. Ullmark not wanting to come out west and I'm sure Calgary not wanting to trade Markstrom in-division (if he would even waive his NTC to LA) limited their goalie options. They needed cap space to extend either Arvidsson or Roy (probably can't do both).

Trading PLD > Buyout

Washington needed a top of the lineup center/playmaker and were limited to Elias Lindholm in UFA (if he would even be interested in going there) or bringing back Chandler Stephenson; but they would still need to find a home for Kuemper and he is pretty much a cap-dump at this point. Lindgren had usurped the starter role and they have Shepard/Stevenson dominating in the AHL ready to step up so they were dealing from a position of strength.

Perfect match with Washington in those regards. Both GM's were able to exit out of bad signings; of course hindsight in 1-2 years will likely tell a different story depending on how each player fits on their new team; but I can't see this any other way than a fair trade. The prior transaction that got PLD to LAK shouldn't be up for vote here.

If I'm not mistaken, the fact that the trade happened now means that WSH does not need to honor Dubois's NMC whatsoever. If that's still true, then it becomes much easier to swallow.

You're missing the bigger picture. Pld is a lazy pos on the worst contract in the league. Huge fail by the capitals, owners of capfriendly

This isn't true any longer. Clauses now move with the contract, regardless if they are waived. They changed this several years ago.

Voted Wash only because it opens space for them to bring up Stevenson or Shepard.

If I recall, both of his trades were prompted by him, not by the team who held his rights.

He didn't want to stay in Columbus. They dealt from a position of weakness so they were unable to get full value (which is what usually happens). I don't think they coveted Laine, but they had to resolve the issue as it was becoming a distraction so they sent him to Winnipeg for Laine. If you know anything about Winnipeg as a city with it's winters, a player asking for a trade being sent there is the most karmic resolution possible.

Then with Winnipeg, he was approaching UFA status so they moved him to get something.

Unless I am mistaken, the Kings are the first time a team has moved on from him rather than Dubois dumping the team and incentivizing them to trade him. His NMC also might have prompted the trade. If he doesn't have a NMC, maybe they give him one more year to see if he can figure things out.

His history as an asset is striking. Even if you go back to his draft, he was apparently a name thrown around in the Subban trades. Had Columbus not taken him at 3, he may have ended up in Montreal.

So did the Caps just not click Dubois player page? They do know he's due for 59.5 million on the cap for the next 7 seasons, right?

Ok well first of all, in Columbus, he wasn't a good locker room guy. Say what you want b/c lots of players have left there but it wasn't a great situation. I doubt anybody in Columbus likes this guy. I know Torts doesn't.

In WPG, you say they got something instead of losing him in FA? They traded for him because they thought he might be good for them long term. Not sure how he liked it there but either way they certainly could have resigned him if they liked him. He wasn't UFA there he was RFA. The return they got for him was amazing. But again it wasn't like "Oh man, I'm so upset PLD is leaving" it was like Sayanora ya underachieving loser.

He gets to LA, lasts one season, is lambasted in the media, and is traded in the first year of an 8 year deal. Most FA signings last at least a couple seasons with the team who signs them. Its rare a player who you give up loads of assets for, you basically dump to get off your team. So quickly...

As you said before the NMC kicks in, I get that. Makes sense with how bad this year was for him. But when you're the highest paid player (...FORWARD...) on a good team and you still can't figure it out...

Col, Wpg, and now LA... none of those teams are missing PLD. In fact they are all happy he's gone.

Dubois gave an unfortunate interview just after the All Star Break that caught him some flak with Kings' fans. I can't find the exact quote, but he said something like "The week off is nice, because it allows you to take a step back and concentrate on the 90% of life that isn't hockey."

A lot of fans were upset that he was implying that he only giving 10% of himself to the game, especially while he was struggling to fit in on his new team.

Yeah I recall something like that as well.

I don't agree with hero-worshipping and making "everything" about hockey either; but you need to read the room.

He comes across (in his style of play) as a guy who is really good at hockey and might was well make as much money doing it while he can; as opposed to a pure hockey fanatic/professional that hones their craft relentlessly. The problem is we live in a hard cap world and he gets paid as if he is one of the most elite players but plays like a mid-of-the-lineup supporting cast mate.

Ehlers, Laine, Huberdeau, Gaudreau, Kyrou, Marner, Skinner, Barzal are all guys that have immense talent but their effort/improvement/"give-a-****"/connection to fans does not reconcile with their salaries

Actually I think Winnipeg would have preferred to keep him. He had two pretty good seasons there and there was a feeling he was going to be even better as he matured, but even though he was a RFA, he could have forced his way out by going to arbitration, which would have kept him in Winnipeg, but only for one more year, then he would have been a UFA this summer. Same situation as Debrincat in Ottawa, and Tkachuk in Calgary the year before.

Nobody on that team missed him this year and Vilardi missed half the season. I never heard anything bad about his time there but I do seem to remember the coach calling out the players on one of those playoff exits they had recently...

Kind of like LA did this year before McLellan got ax'd

Either way you're right that could of all happened but it also points towards, yeah maybe they would have preferred to resign him initially but he didn't want to sign there so they absolutely fleeced Blake for him on the way out.

He also didn't want to sign in Columbus before that.

And maybe he wasn't happy in LA either who knows how that trade went down I seem to remember him kind of having a say where he went or something.

I don't think that WSH will be getting a motivated player who cares about being better but maybe it won't matter because like I said in another post they're going to play him 2+ more min a game of TOI and he'll prob be their No1 center out the gate and get top PP time... he clearly is talented.

WSH is just the type of team that absolutely needs a center and doesn't care if you suck as a person.