Post by Los Angeles Kings on Feb 27, 2022 13:10:52 GMT -6
The Los Angeles Kings have made their first trade of the season, finally acquiring a legit top line center in Blake Wheeler (with 50% retained salary).
Since the dispersal draft, the Kings have struggled at the center position, having Joe Pavelski in the 1st line center position, despite being at the tail end of his career. The 2nd line center position has been a revolving door of non-natural centers trying to bridge the gap. Carter Verhaeghe and Jake Guentzel have tried to fill that hole. With the acquisition of Wheeler, it will allow head coach Peter DeBoer to slide Joe Pavelski into the second line position, and play Carter Verhaeghe and Jake Guentzel in their natural wing positions.
Here are the projected line combinations for the Los Angeles Kings:
(LW-C-RW)
Jake Guentzel - Blake Wheeler - Jakub Voracek
Carter Verhaeghe - Joe Pavelski - David Perron
Alexander Radulov - Nick Bonino - Trevor Moore
Nate Thompson - Jay Beagle - Alexander Steen
GM Chernuka made some comments on the trade to the press:
"The acquisition of Blake Wheeler at $4.125M allows us to stay competitive in the ultra competitive Pacific Division. We are all-in on winning. We get that top line player for 2 years, which is key for us and allows us the option of using our overwhelming guilt card on him if necessary. Our roster is more normalized now. We don't have to play players outside of their natural positions, and it pushes players down the lineup to where they should be playing. Also of importance is that we have a 3rd line than can also chip in on the score sheet too.
It's always difficult to give up young players and picks, but we believe that we have enough depth on the farm and on our prospect lists to compensate."
The Kings gave up LAK 1st 2022, LAK 2nd 2022, Shane Pinto, Sean Durzi in the deal.
Since the dispersal draft, the Kings have struggled at the center position, having Joe Pavelski in the 1st line center position, despite being at the tail end of his career. The 2nd line center position has been a revolving door of non-natural centers trying to bridge the gap. Carter Verhaeghe and Jake Guentzel have tried to fill that hole. With the acquisition of Wheeler, it will allow head coach Peter DeBoer to slide Joe Pavelski into the second line position, and play Carter Verhaeghe and Jake Guentzel in their natural wing positions.
Here are the projected line combinations for the Los Angeles Kings:
(LW-C-RW)
Jake Guentzel - Blake Wheeler - Jakub Voracek
Carter Verhaeghe - Joe Pavelski - David Perron
Alexander Radulov - Nick Bonino - Trevor Moore
Nate Thompson - Jay Beagle - Alexander Steen
GM Chernuka made some comments on the trade to the press:
"The acquisition of Blake Wheeler at $4.125M allows us to stay competitive in the ultra competitive Pacific Division. We are all-in on winning. We get that top line player for 2 years, which is key for us and allows us the option of using our overwhelming guilt card on him if necessary. Our roster is more normalized now. We don't have to play players outside of their natural positions, and it pushes players down the lineup to where they should be playing. Also of importance is that we have a 3rd line than can also chip in on the score sheet too.
It's always difficult to give up young players and picks, but we believe that we have enough depth on the farm and on our prospect lists to compensate."
The Kings gave up LAK 1st 2022, LAK 2nd 2022, Shane Pinto, Sean Durzi in the deal.
