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After days of reports and speculation, the Los Angeles Kings announced today that they’ve acquired Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets, in exchange for Alex Iafallo, Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari and a 2024 second-round pick.
Dubois also agreed to an eight-year contract with the Kings via sign-and-trade, which carries an $8.5M cap hit.
Dubois is 25 years old and was set to become a restricted free agent. He’s coming off the best offensive season of his career, where he scored 27 goals and 63 points in 73 games.
Vilardi and Kupari, heading the other way, were both set to become restricted free agents as well. Both former first-round picks, Vilardi had a breakout year with the Kings, scoring 23 goals and 41 points in 63 games, while Kupari scored 15 points in 66 games.
Iafallo has been a regular with the Kings for the last six seasons, managing 36 points in 59 games this past year. He has two years remaining on his contract at a $4M cap hit.
Obviously, it’s a massive trade. Dubois comes to the Kings with a bit of a reputation, having essentially forced his way out of two different organizations already. That said, there’s no denying his impact.
As for what the Kings gave up, it’s a sizeable package but I’m not sure it’s an overpayment. Iafallo will be 30 years old this year and while he’s great defensively and a pretty consistent 40-50 point producer, the Kings arguably have enough top-nine forwards. Then with Kupari, while he worked fairly well on the fourth line, he may not have as high of a ceiling as initially anticipated and especially with Dubois in the mix, the Kings would’ve had too many centers.
The biggest loss is Vilardi. Still only 23 years old, the winger was red hot to start the year and he’s likely to solidify himself as a top-six forward with the Jets sooner than later, if given the chance.
As for the contract, it’s obvious a long-term extension would be required for any trade to happen. At just 25 years old, Dubois is going to be with the Kings for the prime of his career, and term isn’t an issue.
In fact, the eight-year deal at an $8.5 million cap hit comes in with both the exact cap hit and length I projected for Dubois’ contract with HockeyComparables.com earlier this month. The article detailing reasoning for Dubois’ deal can be found here:
ARTICLE: Projecting Pierre-Luc Dubois’ next contract
This is the type of high-risk trade that can really impact a team for a long time. But with the Kings just starting to compete again, they’ve now added a top forward for the second summer in a row.
We’ll have more analysis on the deal in the near future.
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In other news as well, Anze Kopitar was announced as the winner of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy yesterday.
The award recognizes the player exemplifying sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct. This marks Kopitar’s second time winning the award, with the first win coming in 2016.
QuizMaker
OTHER ARTICLES FROM JUNE
3 players most likely to be traded by the Kings this offseason
Kings trade Cal Petersen, Sean Walker and Helge Grans to Flyers
Kings re-sign Vladislav Gavrikov
Examining the Kings’ cap situation after re-signing Vladislav Gavrikov
Goaltending remains biggest question for Kings heading into free agency
Kings trade Sean Durzi to Coyotes 
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