LA Kings: Three Takeaways From Pierre-Luc Dubois Trade

General manager Rob Blake took a swing last offseason when he acquired center Pierre-Luc Dubois, but whiffed big time.

The Dubois trade marked the end of an abysmal, short tenure in LA that lasted one season for the 25-year-old center, who was acquired in a sign-and-trade by the LA Kings last summer. The Kings’ front office viewed Dubois as a player who could give the team a spine down the middle. Dubois was mainly used as a third-line center and relegated to the fourth line for several games at the end of the regular season instead of a top-six role like he was used in Winnipeg.

Less than a full calendar year later the Kings decided to cut ties with their prized offseason acquisition from a year ago. What went wrong? Well, Dubois’ play didn’t live up to his contract and the team didn’t do a good job of having a defined role cut out for him.

Let’s look at my three takeaways from yesterday’s stunning trade:

1. Rob Blake gets out of another mess he created

Blake has gotten praise for getting out of the Dubois contract with no salary retention or assets given up to offload him. Fair. But, should he be given the amount of praise he is receiving right now? I don’t think so. This is the second consecutive offseason Blake has undone a mess…THAT HE CREATED!

Last June it was the Cal Petersen trade that saw LA ship out Petersen, this year’s second-round draft pick, Sean Walker, and prospect Helge Grans while retaining two million of Ivan Provorov’s salary as he plays in Columbus (comes off the books after this upcoming season) and receiving two AHL players in Hayden Hodgson and Kevin Connauton.

This year saw Blake ship out Dubois to the Washington Capitals for goaltender Darcy Kuemper in a one-for-one trade. No salary retention. No draft picks. Nothing. Just Dubois’ 8.5 million AAV for Kuemper’s 5.25 AAV. Yes, the move has given the Kings an extra 3.25 million dollars in cap space, but look at all the assets Blake gave up to make room for Dubois.

Sean Durzi was flipped to Arizona for a 2024 second-round pick. That draft pick was thrown into the sign-and-trade with the Winnipeg Jets that landed Dubois in California for Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari, and Alex Iafallo. While Kupari and Iafallo didn’t have a good season in Winnipeg, that’s still a lot of assets given up for a player who lasted only one year before ultimately getting shipped off to Washington for a 34-year-old goalie with a 5.25 million dollar cap hit.

The big picture here is this is not a great case of asset management from Blake, which has come under scrutiny over the last few years. This trade signals the Kings lost the trade. Should we give a general manager their flowers for constantly having to get out of a mess they created? Considering all the assets LA gave up to ultimately end up with Kuemper, the answer should be ‘no.’

2. The goalie situation is answered

It’s not the trade for a goalie Kings fans envisioned. As of now, the Kings have Kuemper and David Rittich under contract for next season. It may not be the flashiest tandem as Kuemper is coming off a down year with a .890 save percentage. But, by the sound of it, this may be the tandem to start the season.

If Blake doesn’t have any more surprises, this all but likely means Erik Portillo starts the season in the AHL. I think that’s good for Portillo’s development. Allow him to develop another year in the AHL instead of rushing him. The Sabres rushed Devon Levi to the NHL this season after a good seven-game showing after turning pro from the NCAA last season and look how that turned out. I would like to see the Kings take their time with Portillo and have him start the year in the AHL and work on that rebound control while possibly being the number-three goalie on the depth chart in the organization.

Portillo recorded 24 wins to go along with a 2.50 GAA, and a .918 save percentage. He was top ten in all three categories for qualified rookie netminders in the AHL.

3. What to do with the cap space?

If there’s one good thing in this trade it’s that Blake gave himself a little more flexibility. After this trade, the Kings now have $23.45 million to spend. However, that amount will depend on Quinton Byfield’s new contract (bridge or long-term?). Then the Kings must, and should, sign Jordan Spence to his deal, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

The Kings will need to be players in the market for a winger and a top-four left-handed defenseman. How Blake uses the cap space will be key for the Kings’ offseason. If he re-signs Matt Roy to a lucrative contract or one in general, then that is adding another mistake after just getting out of one. That cap space must be used wisely.

Do you trust Blake this offseason?

To see Rob Blake’s media availability, click HERE!

Featured image credit: Sergei Belski/USA Today Sports

 

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5 thoughts on “LA Kings: Three Takeaways From Pierre-Luc Dubois Trade”

  1. I’m just sick of Lux and Blake , both have over Stade there welcome. Why do the Kings hang on to people who keep making bad moves for us?? Not a lot of teams put up with all the untimely trades, and quick moves that turn out to be terrible for the franchise!

    Reply

    1. It is Robitaille, if you correct someone, make sure you are right.
      As for the PLD trade. On the surface it looks bad, but was it really. Villardi played just over half the season, injured again at 3.425mm for 37 points. Aifallo was way overpaid at 4mm, which got 27 points in 82 games. Kupari is a bust scores 1 point for 1mm. I wasn’t a fan of the Durzi trade, but understood that Clarke or Spence would tale that spot. So we give up that 2nd, what the value is won’t be know for years. So we get PLD at 8.5 for 8 years, and traded Durzi and his 1.7mm deal plus the 8.345mm to the players to the Jets.
      So we traded 10mm is salary for a 25yr old 1st line C. It didn’t work, but we could not have afforded to keep those 4 players anyway and pay Gavrikov.

      It was a bust for both teams. Now we get a Goalie who will play behind a better defense, and more importantly, give us 23.5mm in CapSpace. So either a bridge or long term deal for Byfield, won’t choke our CapSpace. Plus Turcotte resigned today at 875k for 3 years.

      It didn’t work out, but as a team we are better off after this deal. CapSpace, Laferrier takes a 4th line role with Turcotte. Goalie is set, with Portollo almost ready in Ontario. We need to add grit up front and on the Blueline. The bottom 6 will look very different next year. Grundstrom, Arviddson, Lizotte, Lewis, and Kaliyev are all likely gone. Add Turcotte and Thomas and Clarke all have to make the team, due to waivers if I’m not mistaken.

      Blake just has to spend wisely on the right Free Agents.

      Reply

  3. Sorry, why do they need a top 4 left handed defenseman? What are you doing with Gavrikov and Anderson?

    Reply

  4. Both Blake and Luc need to be fired ! I’ve been saying this for over a year ! The Kings are never going to right the ship until we get new leadership at the top. Kings Ownership group are spineless individuals ! Nowhere else in the league would these two have jobs still. They were great players but they have turned out to be piss poor executives that are truly ruining the future of the organization!!

    Reply

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