Breaking down the nitty gritty of Tuesday's marquee trade
The Los Angeles Kings recently made their first impactful move this offseason by acquiring defenseman Kevin Connauton and forward Hayden Hodgson. In the process, they traded away their talented goalie Cal Petersen, defenseman Sean Walker, prospect Helge Grans, and a 2024 second-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers. This transaction was part of a three-team trade involving the Columbus Blue Jackets. As a result, the Blue Jackets received defenseman Ivan Provorov from the Flyers. These moves were necessary for the LA Kings and significantly impacted all three teams involved. It's clear that a lot happened, and these trades were crucial for the Kings' overall strategy this offseason.
There's a ton to unpack, but here we will be focusing on why each team made this trade. First, we're going to start with the Los Angeles Kings.
Why The Kings made the trade?
The short and sweet answer for the Kings is to clear up cap space. In 2021, Kings GM Rob Blake paid goalie Cal Petersen a contract worth $15 million a year, and at the time, it was deemed worthy. However, these past two seasons have shown to be a bad contract. Blake needed to dump that money along with other pieces to create cap space in which they re-signed their 27-year-old defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. Overall, it was a good move for LA, and we'll see what other moves they made this offseason.
Why The Flyers won the trade?
The Flyers had an underwhelming season as they went 31-38, finished second to last in the Metropolitan division, and missed the playoffs for the third straight season. The team is facing a rebuild, and trading away Provorov, one of their poorly performing players, for three draft picks, was the right thing to do. They now have a ton of draft capital this year and the next. And adding defenceman Sean Walker will be making his way to Philadelphia, and he could be massivege help to their transition play and creating for himself.
Why The Blue Jackets may have lost the trade?
The Blue Jackets were right behind the Flyers as they're the ones who finished last in the Metro division. Columbus is in no position to win it all, and they may not be in quite some time. The addition of Ivan Provorov, someone who struggled with the Flyers, will allowedallowed to redeem himself, and will only be under contract till the end of the 2023-2024 season. There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for the Blue Jackets; however, it can't get any worse for Columbus, right?
What comes next?
Well, this move worked in favor for the LA Kings as it created the cap space they needed and it worked right away. LA and their defenseman Vladislav Garvrikov agreed to a two-year deal to stay with the squad. They wanted to do this from the moment their offseason started and they got it done. As for the Flyers, they will do their due delligence in the draft and accumulate as much capital as they can. And for the Blue Jackets, when you hit rock bototm, the only way to go is up.