What an amazing move for the Los Angeles Kings…and the Jets. The LA Kings have made the first blockbuster trade of the NHL offseason as they traded for the Winnipeg Jets’ two-way center maestro, Pierre-Luc Dubois.
This move will probably send the Kings over the edge and out of their long retooling.
The Los Angeles Kings have finally secured the 2nd-line center and heir to Anze Kopitar’s 1st line throne they’ve been looking for since the 2014 Cup win as they traded away three core, talented roster players and a high draft pick to acquire Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets. And, as you can probably tell, I think this is a brilliant move.
Ever since the 2014 Kings roster beat the Rangers 3-2 in double overtime of Game 5 to win the series 4-1 and lift their 2nd Stanely Cup, they pretty much nosedived off a cliff as the eventual losses of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards down the middle destroyed the destructive, Stanley-Cup winning offensive capabilities the Kings once possessed.
But, even though Dubois comes with some baggage and Kopitar is now 35 years old, the Kings have that firepower again.
So, just to recap the deal, the Los Angeles Kings traded away Rasmus Kupari (3 G, 12 A, 15 PTS), Alex Iaffalo (14 G, 22 A, 36 PTS), Gabe Vilardi (23 G, 18 A, 41 PTS), and a 2024 2nd round pick to the Winnipeg Jets for Pierre-Luc Dubois (27 G, 36 A, 63 PTS). A pretty massive move, right?
Not only have the Kings picked up a former 3rd overall pick (2017-CBJ) in the prime of his career (25 years old), but he’s also coming off a career year for the Jets in which he scored 63 points (Jeff Carter only scored 60 points in 2014), finished 3rd in goals and 4th in total scoring, and helped the team reach the playoffs after missing out last season. Oh, and they also just tied him down to an 8-year, $68M contract extension.
As I said, Dubois comes with some baggage as he forced a trade out of Columbus and rejected all contract extension offers from a Jets team that is in the middle of a locker room leadership crisis, but that doesn’t take away from the fact he’s one of the best two-way centers in hockey.
Now, the Kings now all about great two-way centers as they’ve had Anze Kopitar, one of the best two-way centers in hockey and the 2023 Lady Bing Award winner, suiting up for the team these last 17 years, but Dubois has quietly been a fantastic two-way center for the Jets as was one of the few Jets players to have a positive +/- this past season.
Anyways, the most important factor in this trade is that the Kings now have three capable, elite centers (Anze Kopitar, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Phillip Danault) all locked down to multi-year contracts (well, Kopitar’s contract runs out next year, but he’s not leaving the team at this stage in his career), while they have the winger firepower (Kevin Fiala, Victor Arvidsson, Adrian Kempe, Arthur Kaliyev, and Trevor Moore) to support them.
The only real issue the Kings have now is their goaltending and a clear successor to Drew Doughty on the blueline as Joonas Korpisalo is a free agent, Jonathan Quick is either retiring or playing for another team after his exit with LA, and Michael Andersen and/or Brandt Clarke are too young and inexperienced to be clear successors.
Nevertheless, the Kings are in a great position (so long as they bring in a capable starting goaltender) to make a deep playoff run again and contend for a Stanely Cup a decade after last winning it.
As for the Jets, this was also a great move as they got back some valuable pieces for a guy who was going to leave the organization one way or another. Like I said, Dubois was hell-bent on leaving Winnipeg and was either going to make another trade demand or hope some team would give him an offer sheet on the free agent market. He wasn’t staying in Winnipeg.
So, for the Jets to pick up young players like Kupari and Villardi, an experienced veteran in Iaffalo, and a 2024 2nd round pick for someone that publicly wanted out of the organization is a great piece of business in my humble opinion.
Obviously, the Jets are probably going to miss the playoff next season with the loss of Dubois and the potential overhaul of the roster, but this team needs to be rebuilt as its championship winning window has slammed shut.
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