The Kings fixed some issues Wednesday by trading expensive but underperforming futures contracts. Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Washington Capitals for goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
Kuemper, a former kingwill go atop the team’s thin depth chart in goal. The only other goalie on the Kings’ NHL roster is David Rittich, who re-signed with the team last month.
The exchange is done one for one, without any salary retained on either side, which will give the kings considerable cap space since Kuemper is owed $5.25 million per year for each of the next three seasons. Dubois owes $8.5 million through 2030-31.
Dubois, the third overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft, joined the Kings in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets a year ago. It was a costly deal for the Kings, who gave up Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari, as well as a second-round pick for Dubois, who signed an eight-year, $68 million contract.
The 25-year-old center was largely a failure, however, compiling 16 goals and 24 assists in the regular season and scoring just one goal in the playoffs, in which the Kings were eliminated. eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round for the third time in as many seasons.
With the exception of the COVID-interrupted 2020-21 season, Dubois’ numbers with the Kings were the lowest of his career. On Wednesday, general manager Rob Blake took responsibility.
“I don’t think I did a good enough job fitting him into the right roles on the team,” he said. “It didn’t really suit us and we will take responsibility for that.”
When asked if Dubois was part of the problem, Blake said no.
“I put it on us,” he said. “We need to work better as a group within this organization to achieve this.”
Instead, he dumped Dubois to the Capitals, whose general manager Brian MacLellan welcomed the deal. Washington will be Dubois’ fourth organization in five years.
The Kings have traded Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Washington Capitals.
(Matt Slocum/Associated Press)
“This acquisition brings a talented 25-year-old player with immense potential to become a premier center in the NHL,” he said in a statement. “With his size, exceptional skating and high hockey IQ, we are confident he will thrive within our organization with increased responsibilities and opportunities.”
Kuemper, 34, played in 33 games for Washington last season, going 13-14-3 with one shutout in 30 starts. He played in 389 NHL games over 13 seasons with Minnesota, Arizona, Colorado, Washington and the Kings, posting a 2.61 goals-against average, a .914 save percentage and 31 shutouts.
Kuemper appeared in 19 games for the Kings during the first half of the 2017-18 season, going 10-1-3 with three shutouts. In the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he won 10 of 14 starts to help Colorado win a championship.
Rittich and Kuemper are the only goalies with NHL experience in the organization, although Blake edges out Erik Portillo, who played well for the Kings’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, this season.
“We know the character,” Blake said of Kuemper. “But I think the tandem with David – David played well for us last year – we’ve had to go with different goalies here the last few years. We take comfort in the fact that these two are getting us where we want to get.
The general manager didn’t close the door on veteran Cam Talbot, who has a 2.5 goals-against average in 54 regular season games for the Kings in 2023-24, but said discussions over a new contract had not taken place.
