Latest On Pierre-Luc Dubois, Los Angeles Kings
After months of rumors regarding Winnipeg Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois and his hometown team, the Montreal Canadiens, Dubois’ long-term landing spot has finally come into focus.
TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reported this morning that the Los Angeles Kings “continue to pursue Pierre-Luc Dubois,” and The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta followed up reporting on a trade being worked on that would land Dubois in Los Angeles with “multiple players/pieces” going to Winnipeg, including forwards Gabriel Vilardi and Alex Iafallo. Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe adds that he’s “expecting F Jansen Harkins to be involved” in a Dubois trade to Los Angeles as well.
Now, The Athletic’s Murat Ates has given a more firm indication that Dubois could be headed to California, reporting that the Kings and Dubois are “talking contract extension,” and although there are still things to be worked out regarding the deal and the exact trade, “things are well on their way” toward Dubois landing in Los Angeles.
That would be a relatively surprising outcome given the strong indications over the ongoing Dubois trade saga that his preferred destination was Montreal. But finding an ideal match between the Jets and Canadiens for a Dubois trade seems to have been difficult, especially since Montreal would likely be loath to surrender rising center Kirby Dach as part of a trade package. Los Angeles has a deeper pool of NHL-ready assets to attract the Jets as a trade partner, which is likely why a Dubois to L.A. move has gotten significantly more concrete momentum than a Dubois-to-Montreal trade.
For the Kings, adding Dubois is in large part about succession planning for the eventual end of incumbent number-one center Anze Kopitar‘s playing career.
Kopitar, 35, scored 74 points and showed no real signs of slowing down this past season but with his contract set to expire next summer, Kopitar’s future is becoming more and more of a team focus.
A top-of-the-lineup number-one center might just be the hardest thing to acquire in the NHL, and given the slower-than-expected development of 2020 second-overall pick Quinton Byfield, Dubois represents perhaps the best chance the Kings have at finding a franchise face for when Kopitar’s playing days are over.
Dubois and Kopitar are represented by the same agent, CAA’s Pat Brisson, so that shared relationship could aid the Kings in their efforts to lock up Dubois as their next star forward.
It’s still up for debate whether Dubois is a true number-one center in the NHL. He scored 63 points in 77 games this past season and has certainly shown flashes of greatness, but he has also left fans wanting more at both NHL stops in his career.
In the immediate term, Dubois would be an exceptional complement to Kopitar in the team’s top-six, and would shift Danault into a third-line center role. Danault, who scored 54 points last season and is among the league’s most well-respected defensive centers, would instantly become arguably the league’s top third-line pivot and their new arrangement would give the Kings some of the best center depth in the NHL.
Seeing as Dubois has been rumored to be seeking a maximum-term contract extension that mirrors the financial value of the $8.7MM contract Dylan Larkin received from the Detroit Red Wings, by actively attempting to acquire and extend him it’s clear the Kings believe in Dubois’ potential to be Kopitar’s successor as a number-one center. All that’s left now is for the team to complete the deal and for Dubois to prove them right on the ice next season.
For the Jets, this trade is about moving forward from a player who didn’t see a long-term future for himself in Winnipeg and getting the best possible return for the one year left of control they have over Dubois’ services. While a trade has yet to be completed and the rumored return centering around Iafallo and Vilardi is still just that, a rumor, Vilardi’s presence as a centerpiece player reveals the Jets’ priorities in their trade negotiations.
Despite facing quite a few significant departures in the next few weeks, the Jets remain committed to building around their established stars such as Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey.
Getting Vilardi and locking him down to a long-term contract would add another building block into the mix, especially after Vilardi’s breakout 2022-23 campaign where he scored 23 goals and 41 points in 63 games. While Vilardi has been a winger at the NHL level, he does have some prior experience playing center and the Jets could be planning on trying Vilardi down the middle again if they do end up acquiring him.
Again, it must be stressed that no trade is completed at the current moment and that how Winnipeg fares in this trade will likely come down to whether Vilardi is indeed the centerpiece of the deal and what other players, prospects, or picks are involved. At this moment the most concrete development that has been reported is that Dubois’ camp is actively negotiating an extension with the Kings, meaning the long-awaited trade could be just around the corner.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Kings Looking To Add Top-Six Forward
- As the trade market starts to heat up in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Kings are fervently in the mix. David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod reports that not only have the Kings engaged in multiple discussions to acquire a top-six forward, but they would love to get a trade made before the draft. The Kings and Montreal Canadiens have been the two teams most heavily linked to Pierre-Luc Dubois this summer, and he would be an acquisition that would undoubtedly improve Los Angeles’ forward group. Aside from Dubois, it is unknown who else the Kings would be targeting, but they are letting most teams know what they are looking for.
- Continuing on with the Dubois speculation, Frank Seravalli of the DailyFaceoff notes that the Kings and Winnipeg Jets are indeed engaged in conversations, but nothing seems imminent on the trade front. Los Angeles did create some room to add in their earlier trade of Sean Durzi to the Arizona Coyotes, but the reasoning behind a trade not being close may not entirely be their fault. Mark Scheifele, Connor Hellebuyck, Blake Wheeler, and Dubois have all seen their names in the rumor mill this summer, and the Jets likely have plenty of teams calling for their services.
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Coyotes Acquire Sean Durzi
The Coyotes are expected to be buyers this summer, looking to add pieces that might be around for a few years. They’ve found one of those players as they have acquired defenseman Sean Durzi from the Kings. Los Angeles receives a 2024 second-round pick (Montreal’s) in return. Arizona GM Bill Armstrong released the following statement about the move:
Sean is a reliable two-way defenseman who has good vision and contributes offensively. He will be a very good addition to our blue line and we look forward to having him on our roster this season.
The 24-year-old had a strong sophomore season in 2022-23, picking up nine goals and 29 assists in 72 games for the Kings while logging just shy of 20 minutes a night. That was good enough to finish second on Los Angeles in scoring by a defenseman behind only Drew Doughty. His production, however, dipped in their opening-round loss to Edmonton as he scored just once while seeing his ATOI drop by nearly four minutes.
Durzi has one year left on his contract with a more than reasonable $1.7MM AAV. On top of that, he has two more seasons of team control after next year, meaning that he will be under Arizona’s control through the 2025-26 campaign. He will immediately become the Coyotes’ top-paid blueliner, a sign of how much change their back end has undergone recently. A right-shot defender, Durzi could be counted on to play on Arizona’s top pairing next season, depending on what else they accomplish in the coming weeks. That should give him a chance to have a bigger role offensively which could set him up quite nicely for a significant raise on his current contract. Getting a player in that role for a future second-rounder is certainly a nice piece of business for Armstrong, especially since they still have eight second-rounders over the next three drafts. Even after the move, Arizona has some work to do to get to the cap floor let alone coming anywhere close to next year’s projected Upper Limit of $83.5MM.
As for the Kings, GM Rob Blake is dealing from a strong spot as Los Angeles has some promising offensive blueliners in their system. Jordan Spence had a dominant year at AHL Ontario with 45 points in 56 games and could be ready to make the full-time jump to the NHL. Meanwhile, Brandt Clarke, who spent the first few months of this past season with the Kings, finished up strong with OHL Barrie and could push for a full-time role in 2023-24. Both players are on entry-level contracts at about half of Durzi’s cost, meaning the move not only lands them what projects to be a decent second-rounder a year from now but also frees up some cap flexibility. With the swap, they now have a little over $9MM in cap space, per CapFriendly, with at least four roster spots to fill including a starting goaltender.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report (Twitter links) both that Durzi was going to Arizona and the draft pick return.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Joonas Korpisalo May Go To Market
- LeBrun writes that netminder Joonas Korpisalo and the Los Angeles Kings have had some initial conversations on a contract extension but given how close the Kings are to the cap they may have a tough time fitting in a big cap number on a goaltender. It appears Joonas Korpisalo will hit the open market and he could be an intriguing name for teams looking to make a move in the crease. While he was terrific this past season, Korpisalo has posted a goals saved above expected number higher than -7 every season from 2017-18 through 2021-22 and a save percentage above .915 just once. Given his track record he may be best suited in a 1A/1B tandem situation similar to the Carolina Hurricanes structure with Andersen and Raanta.
Should The Kings Pursue Pierre-Luc Dubois?
The Kings have been linked as a legitimate suitor for Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois as the middleman has made it known that he’d like to be moved this summer. Eric Stephens of The Athletic examines (subscription link) what the pros and cons would be if Los Angeles was to land the 24-year-old. He’d certainly give them a big boost down the middle alongside Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault but fitting his reported asking price (suggested as being in the $9MM range on a long-term deal) would require them moving a roster player or two at a minimum plus other young players or prospects to facilitate a swap. Making that move would also limit what they’re able to do between the pipes to find a playing partner for Pheonix Copley. In the end, Stephens feels that the Kings would be better off not making the move, we’ll see if GM Rob Blake feels the same way in the coming weeks.
Kings Could Have Interest In Pierre-Luc Dubois
- In recent reporting, it has been indicated that center Pierre-Luc Dubois will not sign a new contract with the Winnipeg Jets, and has requested a trade from the team. Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period reports that the last time Dubois was traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Los Angeles Kings finished second to the Jets. It appears that Los Angeles still has quite a bit of interest in bringing Dubois into the mix, but with only a projected $7.3MM in cap space this summer, it will be difficult to sign Dubois to a long-term contract without moving out a significant contract.
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Los Angeles Kings Appoint Mike Buckley As Goalie Coach
The Los Angeles Kings announced today that Mike Buckley has been named the team’s NHL goaltending coach. He joins the staff of head coach Todd McLellan, serving alongside assistants Trent Yawney, Jim Hiller, Derik Johnson, and video coach Samson Lee.
Buckley replaces Bill Ranford, who had held the role for nearly two decades since his hire in 2006. The Kings promoted Ranford to a director of goaltending position, giving him more oversight and responsibility for the organization’s usage and development in the position.
The 46-year-old Buckley brings a wealth of experience to the Kings but has spent the last two NHL seasons as a free agent. He did, however, spend eight seasons (2013 to 2021) with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Initially joining them as a goaltending development coach, he was later promoted to the position of head goaltending coach in 2017.
That means Buckley was a central figure in the development of Matt Murray, who helped guide the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2016 and 2017. Murray combined for a 22-10 record, 1.95 goals-against average, .928 save percentage, and four shutouts during the playoff runs.
As the Kings note, Buckley’s track record extends beyond the NHL. He’s been recognized at the minor-league level, where the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins won three Hap Holmes Memorial Awards for the lowest regular-season goals-against average during his time in the organization.
Before his time in Pittsburgh, Buckley gained experience as a collegiate goaltending coach, first spending five seasons (2007 to 2012) with his alma mater, the University of Massachusetts, and then three years (some while already working with Pittsburgh) with the University of New Hampshire.
Discussions Quiet Between Los Angeles Kings, Joonas Korpisalo
The Los Angeles Kings made a major move to clear up some cap space on Tuesday, shipping out defenseman Sean Walker and netminder Calvin Petersen to Philadelphia. However, they immediately used nearly all their savings to sign defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a two-year extension.
That’s not to say they don’t have any cap space left to play with, and they need to address their biggest inconsistency from the 2022-23 campaign: goaltending. However, according to sources cited by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, there appears to be little ongoing dialogue between the Kings and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, who is poised to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 after coming over with Gavrikov near the trade deadline from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
As the Kings set their sights on returning to perennial deep playoff runs, goaltending stability remains the organization’s largest question mark. Including Korpisalo’s sparkling .921 save percentage after his acquisition, the team’s save percentage on the season was an abysmal .889, tied for the sixth worst in the league. 31-year-old journeyman Pheonix Copley had some capable moments, posting a .903 in over 30 games, but one can’t expect that to continue from the longtimer AHLer at this stage in his career.
Korpisalo, 29, spent his entire NHL career with Columbus up until the late-season trade. He had the strongest campaign of his eight-year career, managing to post a .911 save percentage in 26 starts on an extremely weak defensive team in Columbus. He’s shown flashes of brilliance, especially in brief postseason action, but long-term inconsistency has kept him from developing into a true starter. While a viable short-term solution for the Kings, it’s that inconsistency that would make some hesitant to hand the crease to Korpisalo.
But with free agency options somewhat limited and no bona fide prospect in the system, he might be their best option. The team is projected at just north of $7.3MM in cap space remaining this offseason, per CapFriendly, but they still have a quartet of restricted free-agent forwards to re-sign in Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Rasmus Kupari, Zack MacEwen, and Gabriel Vilardi. The impending crunch to upgrade their goalie position without any real financial resources to do so makes their decision to retain just over $2MM on Ivan Provorov‘s cap hit in Tuesday’s deal puzzling.
Los Angeles Kings Extend Vladislav Gavrikov
The Los Angeles Kings and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov have agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension, as per Gavrikov’s agent, Dan Milstein. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the deal carries a $5.875MM cap hit, and will make him an unrestricted free agent in 2025. PuckPedia reports the breakdown of the contract as follows:
2023-24: $775,000 salary, $5.725MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
2024-25: $775,000 salary, $4.475MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
By signing Gavrikov, the Kings take one of the top pending UFA defenders off the board. They were able to make the transaction work by clearing goalie Cal Petersen‘s buried cap hit off the books, dealing him to the Philadelphia Flyers in a complex swap yesterday.
Los Angeles acquired Gavrikov, along with netminder Joonas Korpisalo, from the Columbus Blue Jackets in March in exchange for a first- and second-round pick, as well as goalie Jonathan Quick who was moved in the deal for salary cap purposes. Gavrikov fit right in with the Kings down the stretch, notching nine points in 20 games, averaging over 21 minutes a night, and posting some of the best advanced defensive metrics among Kings defenders post-deadline (and, especially, in their playoff loss against the Edmonton Oilers).
Columbus selected Gavrikov in the sixth round of the 2015 NHL Draft after he was passed over the year prior. It took another four years for Gavrikov to head to North America, signing his entry-level deal near the end of the 2018-19 campaign and making his NHL debut in the playoffs.
It’s been a strong run for Gavrikov since, who developed into Columbus’ top shutdown defender in a short time while developing solid offensive play too. The latter half of that statement was a bit of a surprise – his 33 points in 80 games with Columbus in 2021-22 was his highest total in any documented league dating back to his junior days.
But his two-way acumen was on full display in a Kings uniform, taking on more than just a defensive specialist’s role. If he can keep up his post-March play for the duration of this contract, it’s a solid bit of business by the Kings.
It is a bit of interesting business, given the short-term nature of the deal. Two-year extensions aren’t all that common for high-caliber pending UFAs, to the point where CapFriendly notes not a single highly comparable contract to Gavrikov’s has been signed dating back to 2013.
The deal also allows the Kings to make room on their blueline for their large group of young prospects, many of whom should be ready for larger roles upon Gavrikov’s expiration in 2025.
Vladislav Gavrikov Seeking Two-Year Contract
Today’s cap-shedding trade by the Kings has sparked speculation that the move was made to make room for an agreement with defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. That deal isn’t in place and if it does get done, it might be a shorter-term deal than expected. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Gavrikov’s camp has told Los Angeles that they’re looking for a two-year contract. Considering that Gavrikov is 27 and in his prime, it feels like this is the right time to look for a long-term agreement. However, the blueliner is coming off a bit of a quiet year and the salary cap is expected to start going up more after next season so Gavrikov could be positioning himself to have a shot at a bigger payday in a couple of years compared to what he could get this summer.