The LA Kings traded forward Pierre Luc Dubois to the Washington Capitals for goalie Darcy Kuemper. We’ve got all the details and where it leaves the Kings are now on this edition of Locked on LA Kings.
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42 Comments
What the heck is wrong with me? I'm sitting here just waiting to see what Eddie has to say about this deal. Honestly, I doubt there are many who will be dumb enough to mourn for someone who got himself $8.5 million dollars a year and then barely tried to look like a professional hockey player? meanwhile, the interview between Blake and the press seemed to move in a rather morbid tone…inevitably, some boneheaded interviewer/somehow/member of the press managed to ask a question that put Blake on the defensive and I turned it off. Ya know, after all these years of following Kings hockey, rather than forever looking for the negative, when a guy makes the effort to back down from a mistake, he should be given some encouragement and allowed a bit of leadway. Ya know, if things still don't work out, GMs are replaceable, and he'll be gone. But, for now, he managed to bring back someone most of us liked, covered a few more years for our team and possibly might even open a channel to find that one last person who could turn things around. Ok, so we lost four good players trading for Dubois and that is on Blake. But Villardi was injury prone…and all three guys left us at CAPs edge…not sure, yet, about the draft pick we also gave up? Yet, still we have another such player whom I've questioned Kings management over since 2019. Why, oh why didn't they approach the Avalanche about trading up a spot…to get Bowen Byrum. Yes, we did need a solid, young defensive prospect. You could pick a thousand forwards, but you'll never find another Conner McDavid? So, pick the best of what you can get? Anyway, looking forward to hearing Eddie's take on what transpired. Now how many goalies did the Kings pass through while setting up cal peterson to be their next…fairy godmother? I liked nearly all of those other goalies!
😳… I’m oddly super happy
Go Kings Go! 🏒
Hell yes we got rid of the cancer
So Blake traded Iafallo, Kupari, Vilardi and a pick for Kuemper…got it.
Way to go rob
So essentially Blake traded Vilardi, Iafallo, Kupari, Durzi &
8.5 Million for Darcy Kemper !!!!! There is no way in hell Blake doesn’t see this and he CANNOT spin it into ANYTHING except A total Blunder !!!
#FireRobBlake
Overall, the PLD trade sequence was sloppy, that cannot be denied. However, if PLD was indeed the "cancer" as per michealmoniz1831's comment, and the player that Doughty was calling out in January with this quote: “We got guys in this room too worried about themselves and worried about their points,” then he had to go at whatever cost. The fact that Blake made a 1:1 trade, got a Stanley Cup winning keeper, and gained $3.25 million in cap space is a reason to be happy. What will Rob do with the extra $? That is going to be crucial in his GM legacy and in the success of the '24-'25 Kings.
We are all blaming pld 🤦♂️ watch us still be horrible and pld have a good year
PLD just seemed to have a low effort motor, or maybe he just isn’t that interested in competition. Whatever it is, I hope he find success with his new team. Rob took a swing and missed, moving forward let’s hope he does better, but kudos for the trade today.
Here's my take. Kings won this trade. Yes, PLD had something that someone may or may not have seen. Kings needed a goalie in a not so star-studded goalie market this offseason. You get a goalie you have history with, no retention nor lose any picks, all while getting 3m+in cap space. You no longer have to risk the NMC in his contract. You have 14 of the 20 starting spots now with 23m in space for basically 5-6 forwards and Spence(assuming they extend him). You can make a good deal with Q, and get value deals with your other 4th line RFAs. Which i assume would end up giving the Kings about 12m in space for a Top6F, Top9F, and a Bot6F. Blake is definitely on the hot seat this season, but this deal is a step in the right direction, understanbly being his own making.
Qb at center with kopi on the left wing. Kopi needs to understand he ain’t that guy anymore. Kopi as 2c until his contract is done. Don’t bring back Ardvy Kaliyev lizzotte grundy. We need new players a new look
Blake not a Jedi. Sith tricks. I think this deal is a C at most because he never should’ve made his deal in the first place.
Just glad they got rid of the contract, I know Darcy isn’t cheap, but it’s still long term a better situation
Just here for the comments 🍿🍿🍿
Bad move trading for PLD in the first place. Better move trading him away and helping the G sitch in the process.
If you watched the presser, it was a $hit show, one reporter could not even spit out the words “buy out”. Some semi tough questions and Blake couldn’t have been less interested. I get it, he was embarrassed by the PLD situation he created, but it would have been nice if he added details and context to the short bitter answers he gave.
Blake may get fired, or not resigned but this move alone nearly merits GM of the Year next year
Joy to the Kings, Rob Blake has come, to trade that rubbish off the team!!!!
I now see a more hopeful future just with this one move. I would trade Fiala, too. There is definitely a team looking for an offensive impact player, and the Kings need a couple of gritty guys up front to mix things up, but yeah, this is wonderful news. I couldn't be happier. Blake said it was the team's fault they didn't integrate him. I would have said the truth is that the guy is not interested in winning. Forget all of that PC rubbish.
Kuemper is mediocre. He won in Colorado when they had impeccable defense. He is on the books for 3 more years at 5 mil per. I would try to flip him somewhere else. I'm ready for Talbot to be the #1 goalie again next season no matter what any of the knownothings say.
Great show Eddie. Thanks 👍🏼
The next moves with more cap space are gonna be huuuuge! I'm still of the mind set to play the kids. They are the future and need NHL reps. Save the cap space for an absolute known commodity who excepts nothing, but winning and sign that guy.
How could Blake use Jedi mind tricks on anyone when he lacks the mind??? Must have been Washington using them on him to give them Dubois for an upgrade in net…
I'm glad that I stopped short of typing that I'd do naked cartwheels up and down the Vegas Strip if Dubois is off the roster in any way… Trust me… that's something neither of us wants to see…😹😹😹
Looking at all the Kings GM numbers throughout history. Rob Blake is by far the worst GM in franchise history. Him and Luc need to go. Doughty needs to go. Kopi needs to move over to the wing or 2nd, 3rd line. We need less flopping euros/frenchies. It’s been absolutely embarrassing. I’m glad Brown isn’t here to deal with this. Who’s gonna fire Rob? Isn’t he the VP too?! Crazy times.
The reason they gave up 3 players for PLD is because they needed to open some spots on the roster and you know that Eddie.
is pheonix copley still with the the Kings ?
Good riddance. Now we need Blake to go as well. Said it when he first became GM that he should not have gotten that job. Stand with that statement to this day.
Kovalchuk, Dubois, how much longer will the ownership tolerate this regime? Pure insanity
Blake did make a bad trade, however this is all ON PLD. He got what he wanted with a FAT payday and he showed ZERO hunger/fire/desire to win… I hate that as a fan and hated PLD by the end of this past season, he coasted. He sounded fake in his interview and I'm honestly very glad he's gone and the Kings can now move forward as a team minus the individual. With that said Blake does need to be held acconutable for this train wreck of a trade that has kind of leveled out but I think he is not making the best decisions for the Kings and maybe it's time for him to go. GKG!!!
Blame the absentee and out to lunch Kings ownership that really doesn’t watch over the team and management to avoid constant bad mistakes. Why have the Kings had so many mistakes with draft picks, trades, expired contracts, wrong types of players, bad team chemistry, etc ad nauseam? It all starts with missing in action ownership, passivity, and apathy.
Ownership “owns” the Blake debacles and mediocrity Blake brings to the table.
Ownership “owns” the failed Todd McClellan debacle, which Blake had his fingerprints on that misfit coach.
Hallelujah PLD is a gone but is just another trade bust to add to all the other busts, as the Kings just repeatedly do.
Blake and ownership somehow came to their senses that they had that undisputed dead weight PLD slug that really didn’t like his team because he showed he didn’t care about this team or his teammates in the final analysis. The guy laced up for a paycheck only, but he didn’t even have the character to show up and make other players score and assist. No way was PLD liked or respected by his teammates this last season.
Ownership is going to stick with Blake and the tradition of mediocrity and more mistakes.
The current team chemistry is still very oblique and opaque from smart fan perspectives.
Getting a 34 year old goalie isn’t impressing smart fans. Blake shopped slug PLD around the league and Blake could only fetch a 34 year old goalie that has his best days already behind him. It speaks volumes that PLD wasn’t worth much around the league.
The best bet is for fans to return to reality that Blake will continue to make mistakes, he can’t create a team chemistry that is elite, and he can’t figure out how to assemble a championship caliber team.
Get ready for another season of 90 points plus in 82 games, with a wild card seed or low seed again.
does this mean we can go back to calling him PLD instead of PL Dubois?
Move Danault, too.🇨🇦
Thank God! Rob Blke owned the mistake– I respect him for that. Kuemper is a good goalie. If they get two years out of him I'll be happy and they can buy out year three for $5.25M. Great deal that gives us another $3M to spend on other players.
Rob Blake needs to be FIRED!!!!!! he also hired horrible coaches, and management and they lead to this garbage
To be fair, if Pierre Luc Dubois had made a difference, it would have be considered a great move. There is a lot of luck if players and teams work good together. Looking forward to moving forward.
13:27
In Colorado, Kuemper's numbers per Eddie…
9.21 Save Percentage
954 GAA
Those are some horrific numbers!
Yet, he won the Stanley Cup.
The Avs offense was THAT good!
😂
Miracle blake pulled this off
Well… Bye
blake should be fired. he made that mess of a trade that got us PLD and now he is just making up for that colossal mistake. there should be zero praise given to this man. he is the reason we will never be a viable team.
Keep the Muzzin trade tree alive…trade Kaliev and Grunts for picks if we don't have use for them after the draft…
The problem with not putting Byfield at center is who will play center on the 3rd and 4th line? They now dont have Dubois and it looks like they arent going to resign Lizote. So whos the answer? Turcotte is one guy but has limited NHL experience and the KIngs value "trust" very highly. So that leaves signing or trading someone again to get another center. But even the extra 3 million and change they have now freed up, thats probably not enough for a legit 3rd line center you can "trust". From what Blake said and this situation I just outlined, I predict we will see Byfield at center and the money will go to try to replace Arvidsson who sadly they probably won't resign. Roy on defense would be nice too. Those are 2 guys I would not want to let go but for sure not Roy. So it seems the best situation we could see is possibly Roy being resigned using up that freed up money from Dubois, then the Kings filling the holes with young players like Clarke and Turcotte and Akeil. Meaning probably not signing Arvidsson. The Kings really dont have enough to make a real splash in free agency to get a quality impact player. Meaning almost certainly the freed up money will go toward trying to resign one of those 2 guys. It scares me to think of not resigning Roy because Clarke is not ready to be a top 4 defenseman yet, especially if once again, you are talking about the Kings and the coaching staff being able to "trust" him. He doesnt have enough full time NHL experience yet to expect that trusting play yet. I do think he will be there eventually, but hes not there yet. So not resigning a guy like Roy would be a mistake for this coming season. But of course, its going to cost a lot. So don't be surprised if the Kings rely too heavily on young players this coming season, especially on defense, meaning they will be very thin after Doughty and Anderson on guys who they can trust and are reliable every night like Roy is and has been. Unfortunately that learning curve and hence not having reliability on defense night after night will make them weak and probably not a playoff team because they will give up too many goals too often. Doughty and Anderson cant play 60 minutes so that will create problems. So you have Drew and Anderson and Gavrikov and then 3 mostly young and unproven guys after that. That's a gamble to say the least. A guy like Clarke with Anderson or Gavrikov and then the other guy with Drew might work but that leaves a very young and weak 3rd pair. So as you can see, defense will be the big challenge this coming year and frankly, very weak if Roy doesn't resign. The only other option is to instead use the freed up money to get a bottom 4 defenseman, and then go with more younger guys on forward. Either option presents weakness and trust issues with those young guys. So its very unlikely the KIngs will be a better team this coming season than they were last season due to lack of money, even with the freed up money from Dubois. I've been a Kings fan since before Gretzky so this upsets me. The trend is going the wrong way or likely will, and by the time the youth becomes reliable, Kopitar will be retired and Drew will be old and close to retirement. That sucks. This past season was the time to do it, but not having a legit number 1 goalie and the mess with Dubois took most of that away. It just sucks how things played out but when money is tight, its hard to get that legit number 1 goalie. Now would the KIngs have been better off without Dubois and having Valardi and Iafallo and Kupari? Contrary to popular belief, I don't think so. Valardi and Iafallo were injury prone and both missed quite a few games this past season in Winnipeg. And Kupari was not in favour of the KIngs because again, he was not reliable on both sides of the puck and wasn't playing consistantly. So do I blame Blake for trading them for the hope of Dubois, not really. Dubois did play all the games. Iaffallo and Valardi, not even close. To me last summer, I thought the Kings were just getting rid of injury prone players that they would have had to pay in a couple years for a guy they hoped would make an impact. Its all a gamble at the end of the day and people are far too hard on GMs with their moves. The GMs don't have a crystal ball firstly, we don't know all the info they are making decisions with secondly, and they have zero control over the players they do have on the ice. So I frankly don't blame Blake for Dubios especially if he was basing it on getting rid of injury prone players who often left holes in the lineup when they were out. People forget that stuff and I am positive that 2 seasons ago when they guys were constantly injured, it drove the coach and Blake himself crazy. When you are trying to improve and win but are constantly having your hands tied by the same few guys being injured over and over, it gets to a GM. Again, I dont blame him and completely understand that. So the bottom line is you are being too hard on Blake and really, the only blunder he actually had ( if you knew all the details, which we don't) , is not getting a legit number 1 goalie. But again, I don't fully blame him for that either because their money situation was bad so what could he do? Always be careful judging GMs when you dont have all the information that they do. Especially the stuff they can't say publicly and in the media. Prime example. Blake can't rip guys like Iafallo and Valardi for always being injured and thats why he traded them. No GM will ever say that but the fact is, all of them get frustrated by that and eventually get fed up and try to move those players. That stuff is always kept very quiet to not jeopardize the players value in future contract talks so the GMs and agents keep that very quiet. But all GMs move guys for that reason. Its more common than the media and the public realize or can talk about. So back off Blake a little because for the last 3 seasons or so,. he has been in many jams with injuries and less cap space than 90% of the teams in the NHL
WOW PLD is already Gone 😮