It’s deadline season!

[DoubleMinor]

I simply don’t believe St. Louis is going to trade Robert Thomas. He’s on a team friendly deal through 2031. He’s won a Cup in StL. There’s no internal replacement. Unless he requests a trade he’s the type of player you rebuild around.

Elias Pettersson is the type of player who occasionally becomes available and everyone who didn’t watch him at his peak says he’s not worth his salary but the Kings are in a position where cap doesn’t matter. They’re desperate for a #1 C and they’d be lucky to get a player of his caliber. 4x All Star. 3x 30 goal scorer. 100 points in 2023. Established relationship with our homegrown star forward. It all makes sense.

I think this is correct re Thomas. But if he is available he’s the best option by far and you give up what it takes to get him, even if it’s three top assets.
My concerns with Pettersson are that clearly Vancouver wants him gone, and in their most recent playoff series he looked like he shied away from the physical play in a noticeable way. That’s not a $10M player.
It’s why he’s available and I just don’t think you can make a mistake in that salary range. It’s too risky and too costly.

 

[FBJ]

I think this is correct re Thomas. But if he is available he’s the best option by far and you give up what it takes to get him, even if it’s three top assets.
My concerns with Pettersson are that clearly Vancouver wants him gone, and in their most recent playoff series he looked like he shied away from the physical play in a noticeable way. That’s not a $10M player.
It’s why he’s available and I just don’t think you can make a mistake in that salary range. It’s too risky and too costly.

PLD Part Deux

 

[Clif]

I think Laffy is a cornerstone for the next decade. He will score 20 goals once his bad luck with disallowed goals passes. He is not ever going to be the best player on any team but he’s the consummate secondary player. Do not trade him.

That’s how I, and I think a lot of Kings fans, see him. I also think he can get to 30 goals multiple seasons.

He’s the type of player you need to win. Obviously so is a 1C! But I don’t like losing a top 6 to gain a top 6, when you don’t have someone else who can slot in to top 6.

 

[DarkLeftHand]

The issue I have here is that, I think Laffy is a 30 goal scorer in the same way that Trevor Moore is a 30 goal score…Only under the perfect set of circumstances, and probably not on a consistent year over your basis. I do believe Robert Thomas is in a similar mold of player as Laff, plays a hard game, but is closer to a point per game player in a vacuum. Given the proper circumstances, like playing with Panarin on one wing and Kempe on the other, I think Robert Thomas is definitely a 90 point type of guy, and goes 200’ of the rink.

So, would I trade Laff+ for Thomas? The answer is yes without a second thought, depending on what the ‘plus’ is. If it cost a 1st, 2nd, Byfield, and Woolley, the answer is still, decidedly, yes!! In an even wilder scenario, I would not mind seeing the Kings try and move Byfield/Moore/picks for Thomas, and Laff/Fiala/prospect for Pettersson(or jumble these to your own hearts content). At the end of the day, the Kings should probably be looking for a #1 puck moving defender type, above all else.

 

[Bollocks]

I don't like the idea of trading Laf, either. He's still young and can improve further.

If the choice is trading 2 1st round picks + a second vs. only one 1st rounder and adding Laffy, I'd rather see the picks traded. It's unlikely that they're going to be high picks and it's even less likely they amount to a player Laffy is/will be down the line.

I'd much prefer trading Moore or Foegele to a team in need and using those assets to spice up the main deal to acquire either Pettersson or Thomas. The issue with both is we'd be selling low, but what can you do? They are both on affordable contracts without too long of a term, and both have proven in the past they can be very effective players and have potential to bounce back in correct environment. Considering this season is a season with a lot of buyers, I'd be willing to bet one or two teams are prepared to send a sufficient return for either of them.


Regarding Canucks not needing a goalie prospect - maybe there's a team out there that would need one, so you trade one of the goalie prospects to that team for assets, so you can more easily afford to send other or same assets to Canucks for Pettersson.

 

[LAKingSteve]

I simply don’t believe St. Louis is going to trade Robert Thomas. He’s on a team friendly deal through 2031. He’s won a Cup in StL. There’s no internal replacement. Unless he requests a trade he’s the type of player you rebuild around.

Elias Pettersson is the type of player who occasionally becomes available and everyone who didn’t watch him at his peak says he’s not worth his salary but the Kings are in a position where cap doesn’t matter. They’re desperate for a #1 C and they’d be lucky to get a player of his caliber. 4x All Star. 3x 30 goal scorer. 100 points in 2023. Established relationship with our homegrown star forward. It all makes sense.

I don't have a problem with them going after him. Vancouver has been a mess the past 2 seasons and prior to that, he proved to be a high caliber player. The cost to get him will be the big thing. Maybe a roster player, 1st, 2nd and one of the goalie prospects? Maybe it takes more?

 

[DoubleMinor]

The issue I have here is that, I think Laffy is a 30 goal scorer in the same way that Trevor Moore is a 30 goal score…Only under the perfect set of circumstances, and probably not on a consistent year over your basis. I do believe Robert Thomas is in a similar mold of player as Laff, plays a hard game, but is closer to a point per game player in a vacuum. Given the proper circumstances, like playing with Panarin on one wing and Kempe on the other, I think Robert Thomas is definitely a 90 point type of guy, and goes 200’ of the rink.

So, would I trade Laff+ for Thomas? The answer is yes without a second thought, depending on what the ‘plus’ is. If it cost a 1st, 2nd, Byfield, and Woolley, the answer is still, decidedly, yes!! In an even wilder scenario, I would not mind seeing the Kings try and move Byfield/Moore/picks for Thomas, and Laff/Fiala/prospect for Pettersson(or jumble these to your own hearts content). At the end of the day, the Kings should probably be looking for a #1 puck moving defender type, above all else.

I think this is true.
I don’t see Laffy as a 30-goal guy consistently. Perhaps once or twice he could do so. But I do see him get into the twenties consistently. But it’s just not the goals that he brings.
Laffy is a guy who plays the whole game. Seems like he’s a team-first guy, a good teammate, who shows up to play every night. He’s the guy that makes the team better in a variety of ways. And most importantly is that he is going to continue to develop his game, find ways to impact games and improve his production. He’s not a finished product.

I can see the logic in trading him for the right player IF it’s the dealbreaker. But I hope it doesn’t come to that.

 

[XPantericA]

Byfield is practicing on the wing. It looks like we need two centers. He's with Kopitar and Moore as of the latest practice.

 

[Statue4Deano]

Byfield is practicing on the wing. It looks like we need two centers. He's with Kopitar and Moore as of the latest practice.

Hiller is desperate. The lines today are not the lines tomorrow and they certainly aren’t the lines next season.

 

[DryKing]

I think this is true.
I don’t see Laffy as a 30-goal guy consistently. Perhaps once or twice he could do so. But I do see him get into the twenties consistently. But it’s just not the goals that he brings.
Laffy is a guy who plays the whole game. Seems like he’s a team-first guy, a good teammate, who shows up to play every night. He’s the guy that makes the team better in a variety of ways. And most importantly is that he is going to continue to develop his game, find ways to impact games and improve his production. He’s not a finished product.

I can see the logic in trading him for the right player IF it’s the dealbreaker. But I hope it doesn’t come to that.

Agreed, when I look at the Kings roster Laffy is one of the last guys who I would trade. If required to obtain a player like Thomas, however, then I see the logic in it as I do not think Laffy will ever rise to the level of Thomas - the gap is just too big.

That said, as you mentioned, Laffy's true value does not come in the points he puts up, but rather than various roles he can play and the fact that he plays a complete game. He also has one of the highest high hockey IQ's on the Kings, which in itself is something to covet and will keep him valuable through his entire career regardless of what role he finds himself in.

Very few players which the Kings could hope to acquire are at the level of Thomas, however. Short of giving up Byfield, Kempe or Clarke, I think the Kings have to make that deal if it is available.

 

[Bollocks]

Byfield is practicing on the wing. It looks like we need two centers. He's with Kopitar and Moore as of the latest practice.

Trade for Elias in 3, 2, 1...

 

[orpheus]

There's a big part of me that still thinks that the Kings should be sellers.