LAK SUMMER SURPRISE: PLDONE

EDMONTON, AB — In the course of covering the Stanley Cup Final for TFP and SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, I was able to escape home for a day between Games 5 and 6. On the schedule for that day was the anticipated media blitz for the Los Angeles Kings re-branding to a modified 90s logo and uniform look. In the course of the conversation about the rebrand, I received a text that proved to steal the spotlight from the launch and asserted one thing: No contract is untradeable.

If I had told you on any day prior to June 19 that Kings General Manager Rob Blake would be able to trade Pierre-Luc Dubois without salary retention for a capable NHL player you would have asked me to submit to a breathalyzer. The stunning swap that had its genesis at the NHL Draft Combine – probably the new GM off-season gathering place now the Draft will be decentralized – unwound the costly error committed by Blake which brought the enigmatic center to Los Angeles for four assets and subsequently signing him to a long-term deal that appeared to an act that would cost him his job.

It’s an understatement to say Dubois struggled this season because struggle would imply some level of engagement – a trait not in evidence by the player on most nights.

Set up for success with Anze Kopitar and Philip Danault sharing the pivot duties, Dubois wasn’t being asked to be a top-10 scorer. Had he produced numbers in line with his career averages (mid-to-high 20s in goals and assists), the Kings would have possessed a very dangerous centermen trio that positioned them for  the playoff success that has escaped the franchise for over a decade. Instead, they got a player that was anything but impactful, was a major contributor to the dismissal of Coach Todd McLellan and wasn’t affected by the change in coaching style that Jim Hiller provided. His play deteriorated to the level that saw him ticketed for fourth-line duty in the playoff round against the Edmonton Oilers – the very team he was imported to beat in the Stanley Cup playoffs. His lack of effectiveness and more critically, engagement in the five games elimination left Blake to answer very hard questions about the player and started a narrative that due to Dubois’ age, a one-third contract buyout was feasible less than a year after signing an eight-year, $68 million contract.

As for the reality of the buyout, while the numbers made it plausible, it’s my understanding that option was never a consideration. Blake offered a firm “no” when I asked him at exit meetings about that option and moreover, ownership would not allow paying a player close to $37 million ($9 million salary this season, $27.8 million on the buyout) for one season. While ownership group AEG Sports had the money for the move, it didn’t accumulate its wealth by making bad financial deals.

It's now Brian McLellan, Spencer Carbery and the Washington Capitals charge to unearth the talent and more importantly, the passion for the game that the Kings insisted is inside Dubois but could not extract. Dubois will get all the playing time he wants on a team that despite a dearth of quality talent, made it to the playoffs as the final wild-card qualifier. He may form a nice 1-2 punch in the middle with Ryan Strome and may improve the team, but not the Dubois who performed so poorly in Los Angeles, that player is destined to fail over and over again.

Before discussing what the trade does for the Kings, a point about what it doesn’t do.

It doesn’t position Rob Blake for the Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award.

It doesn’t make him the Maven of Manhattan Beach for losing a contract that was thought to be untradeable.

Blake is managing for his job; he knows it, and he must find success in the postseason in the 2024-25 season. When the Kings were eliminated, I asserted that Blake would not be removed from his role because ownership is not reactionary and that proved to be the case. Though Blake brought the post-Dean Lombardi era team back from a rebuilding to a competitive one and the team draws well, there is a limit to the patience of ownership given the last franchise playoff round victory was the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.

Winding up the Dubois deal, though it was a 4-for-1 swap it always boiled down to Dubois for Gabe Vilardi. Alex Iafallo scored 11 goals in Winnipeg and had he remained in Los Angeles, I question if Trevor Moore would have got the ice time to score a career-high 31 goals. Rasmus Kupari didn’t score a goal and was a frequent healthy scratch. And for all the flashes of elite skill Vilardi shows, staying healthy is also a skill, one the talented winger hasn’t mastered.

The narrative that the Kings were fleeced doesn’t wash as well given the Jets didn’t achieve more playoff success than before the trade – going out in five games in the first round as they did in the prior campaign.

The biggest loss in the Dubois deal was not the departure of Vilardi – Los Angeles didn’t achieve playoff success with him, but the opportunity cost lost. What other player could Blake have acquired with those assets? Without naming a specific acquisition, there would have been multiple 50-55 point players that could have been brought back instead of Dubois. The people that said Dubois would fail in Los Angeles despite getting all he wanted were proven right but Blake must put him behind him and make winning moves in the NHL GM game of chess.

Receiving Darcy Kuemper in return for Dubois has not silenced the critics who believe he hasn’t appreciably improved the goaltending situation when paired with the returning David Rittich. Kuemper surrendered the starting role to Charlie Lindgren on defensively-average Washington Capitals so the hope is that like Kuemper’s predecessor Cam Talbot, joining a superior defensive team will improve his numbers to a point that will translate into wins. The longer-term vision is that prospect Erik Portillo will emerge at the team’s No.1 netminder as soon as the 2025-26 season and at that point Kuemper could be either bought out or dealt away.

How the $3.25 million gained in cap space taking on Kuemper’s paper will be critical to Blake’s make or break season. Some of the available space will be eaten up when the Quinton Byfield extension is finalized but past that, the question remains as to what pieces can achieve post-season success. It’s no longer good enough to be a 100-point standings team, if that is the only achievement for next season, it’s likely another GM will be in place by this time next season.

And for those additions – does a Matt Roy extension make more sense? Is a reunion with Tyler Toffoli in the cards? A reengagement on the Jakob Chychrun front (though the Bruins seem to be ahead of the pack in that pursuit)? Does a play for unrestricted free agent Jake DeBrusk, a scoring winger with a physical presence a top six option?

We won’t have long to wait – Free Agent Frenzy is less than two weeks away, so the assessment of the trickle down from Dubois trade is on the horizon.

Will there be more summer surprises in Los Angeles?

DRAFT DAY DOINGS

If you’re planning to come to Las Vegas for the NHL Draft, you’re in for a treat. I had the pleasure of seeing U2 perform at the technology-laden venue and look forward to see how the Draft will be presented, as the last centralized draft with team officials present.

Earlier on Draft Day, David Pagnotta, Ryan Paton and myself will host a special Draft edition of our SiriusXM NHL Network Radio “Hot Stove” show live from the SiriusXM studios inside the Wynn Hotel from noon-2pm Pacific. The studios are public facing – there are wall-to-ceiling glass windows, so feel free to stop by and observe the fun.