The Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings came together on Wednesday for a shocking trade.
The Capitals sent Darcy Kuemper to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois. A one for one trade with no salary retention on either side.
Both the Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings addressed a need with trade Wednesday.
The Kings needed a goaltender for the 2024-25 season, and now they have one in Darcy Kuemper. The Capitals on the other hand saw a need at center and addressed that adding Dubois to the top six.
The Kings played the 2023-24 season with three netminders over the course of the 82 games. Cam Talbot got he majority of starts, followed up by David Rittich and Phoenix Copley. The postseason saw Talbot and Rittich each fall short, putting up just .864 save percentage.
Kuemper by no means had the best of all seasons, finishing with a record of 13-14-3 and putting up a .890 save percentage while allowing 3.31 goals against per game. But Kuemper has experience and the Kings are betting on last season being just one down year for the netminder.
Kuemper is a few years removed from winning the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022. The 34 year old goaltender has played for a handul of teams over the course of his career, including a previous stint with the Kings in 2018.
The conversation around Dubois has changed a lot in one season. Last summer Dubois was looked at as one of the top additions the Kings made, someone who was going to drastically make the team better.
Here the team stands a year later with Dubois now out of the organization. In 82 games, Dubois had just 16 goals and 40 points averaging 15:42 minutes of ice time a night.
The Kings have options down the middle with Anze Kopitar, Phillip Danault and now Quinton Byfield. If they were going to get out of the lenghty Dubois contract now was the time.,
For the Capitals this is exactly the type of move they need to continue to re-tool the roster. Dubois might have not had the best season, but the upside is still there. He could potentially be well worth his $8.5 million cap hit when all is said and done. The Capitals now have the next seven seasons to figure out how to best set Dubois up for success.