The Los Angeles Kings pulled off a huge trade to open the summer a few weeks ago, acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets.
Dubois is 25 years old and scored 27 goals and 63 points in 73 games with the Jets last season. The center signed an eight-year contract extension with the Kings as part of the trade, leaving Los Angeles with some of the best center depth in the NHL.
That said, the deal didn’t come without a significant cost. In exchange for Dubois, the Kings sent the Jets forwards Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Rasmus Kupari, along with a second-round pick in 2024. At the time of the trade, I asked readers if they liked the Dubois trade for the Kings, to which 51 percent of readers said they did not. With an already deep forward group and limited cap space, you have to wonder whether the move was the best course of action.
In adding Dubois, the Kings have made a significant upgrade to their forward group for the second summer in a row. Obviously, last summer’s acquisition of Kevin Fiala turned out to be a slam dunk for the team, with Fiala quickly establishing himself as the Kings’ most dynamic winger.
This time, adding a center means the Kings can run with a one-two-three punch of Anze Kopitar, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Phillip Danault. Looking around the league, very, very few teams can beat that set of centers.
Looking at Kopitar and Danault as well, it arguably sets up each of them in a situation to succeed.
Kopitar is turning 36 years old in August and having another top center around to help reduce his workload if needed will only benefit the Kings. He also signed his two-year extension recently, and given he’s now locked up until 2026, he could face a decline at some point in the deal.
I also did a contract analysis article for Kopitar's extension at HockeyComparables.com, which can be viewed below:
With Danault, he’s one of the best shutdown centers in the league and has been an excellent addition for the Kings over the last two years. That said, he also has a lower offensive ceiling, and his 50+ points in each of the last two years were a bit of a welcome surprise. Danault has shown he certainly can be effective in a top-six role, but using him as a third-line, shutdown center could be an excellent scenario, where there really isn’t as much responsibility on him to try to chip in offensively.
In terms of the package the Kings gave up in the trade: the second-round pick is meaningful, but it's probably the smallest piece of the return. Then assessing the roster players they moved, I think the Kings benefit from having a very deep forward group.
While all of Vilardi, Iafallo and Kupari provide good value, I don't know that the lineup will take a huge hit with any of them gone, as others can take over. It’s not a situation where they’ve created holes in their lineup by moving these players. The team essentially had more top-nine forwards than they could actually fit in their top-nine last season, and we can expect Arthur Kaliyev to get a better opportunity as a result, while Blake Lizotte will slot in nicely as a fourth-line center in place of Kupari.
What makes the deal worthwhile is that Dubois is really only just entering his prime. If they traded that package for a player in his late 20s who could face a decline in a few years, more criticism would be warranted. But with Dubois only entering his mid-20s and signed to an eight-year extension with a rising salary cap, the Kings can more or less expect good value for eight years.
Some will cite the player not committing to multiple organizations he’s been with as a concern, essentially forcing his way off two different teams already in his young career. Still, I think if the concern is that he won't commit to teams he doesn't want to play for, the eight-year extension with Los Angeles squashes the idea that he's likely to force his way out again at some point down the line.
In terms of the actual concerns for the trade though, a question with Dubois in the fold will be what happens with Quinton Byfield. Rob Blake reportedly assured Byfield that he would not be dealt when the team was working on the trade for Dubois, according to Elliotte Friedman.
While the forward isn't putting up the numbers we expected when he was taken second overall in 2020, he’s already rounded out his game quite well. Byfield is a great forechecker and is already adding value defensively. Plus, considering he’s only 20 years old and did see an increase in his production from 2021-22 to 2022-23, signs still point to Byfield becoming an effective forward with the team long-term.
I don’t necessarily want to say the Kings put up roadblocks in his development, they just have a good enough team that Byfield maybe hasn't had the opportunity he could have gotten elsewhere, playing either down the lineup or on the wing to this point. With all of Kopitar, Dubois and Danault locked in for several more years, Byfield may not get a great chance to consistently play down the middle.
Looking a few years down the road though, we can probably only count on a maximum of three more years of Anze Kopitar as a top-six center. By that point, the Kings will need someone to transition into a larger role to take over, and Byfield would still be in just his early 20s by the time Kopitar is aging out. So while Dubois joining the Kings could halt Byfield from more of an opportunity at center short-term, it doesn’t necessarily have to mean there’s no path for him to become a high-end center.
Aside from Byfield’s situation though, the other issue with the trade is it left the Kings with really limited cap space for goaltending.
Given it was the team’s biggest issue last season, letting Joonas Korpisalo walk away and bringing in Cam Talbot in his place, who’s 36 years old and is coming off an .898 save percentage across 36 games last season, is a questionable decision at best. If goaltending is one again a crux for the Kings, it’s hard to justify spending their trade capital and cap space on a forward. That said, if they actually go out and get a starter in 2024 with more cap space available at that point, then still have Dubois locked up for seven more years afterwards, you could probably argue trading for Dubois when they had the chance was still the right call, even if it meant a year of what could be less-than-stellar goaltending.
The last concern is that Dubois actually doesn’t have a huge sample size of great production. He’s coming off a strong season, but typically has only put up closer to a pace of 60 points per 82. If Dubois can sustain, or improve on his 82-game pace of about 30 goals and 70 points from last year, he'll bring good value for his price. But it’s tough to tell whether that production can actually be repeated on a year-to-year basis.
While the Kings gave up a lot to get Dubois, I still hesitate to say they’re going to really miss any of the pieces they traded long-term, based on the makeup of their forward group as is. The larger concerns for me are how it impacts Byfield's development and how it prevented the Kings from addressing their goaltending situation.
Despite all the question marks though, they’ve secured a still-young forward with high-end upside who's going to be around long-term. They won't have to worry about their center depth for the foreseeable future and they've improved scoring at the top of their lineup.
While the deal isn’t without risk, I’d still argue bringing in Dubois was a worthwhile gamble and Los Angeles will have a better team for it.
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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