Kings-Canadiens Trade Discussion: What Moves Could Be Coming?

In 1993, the Montreal Canadiens dispatched the Wayne Gretzky-captained Los Angeles Kings in five games, with three games going past regulation. Since then, outside of a minor trade involving defenseman Frédéric Allard and forward Nate Schnarr, it’s been relatively quiet. Is there something in the works between these two teams? Let’s shelf that connection for now.

The Kings are clearly looking to upgrade at the deadline. In fact, in many ways, they have to. The distance, or how they stack up to the big boys out West, is somewhat closer than it has in the past few seasons, but there is still some clear-cut separation that keeps the Kings more categorized as a ‘dreamer’ team. Within the last few months, it has become clearer that the Kings would need a right-shot scorer to get the team into a position where they can fire off three excellent lines.

The hopes and dreams of acquiring the right shot forward to play in the top six in the form of Brock Boeser, Rickard Rakell, Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Tuch, or even Travis Konecny, seem somewhat long shots to acquire for this team, lacking enticing assets to send back. The Kings don’t have the juice that’s worth the squeeze unless they are willing to sacrifice their future for their now, which is less clear than it was back in their Dean Lombardi window of competing-for-the-cup days.

Despite being sometimes misaligned and misguided, Rob Blake and company’s focus has been to upgrade Anze Kopitar’s top-line wing. That’s been there following the decline of Alex Turcotte, and in all reality, father time looking to creep into Kopitar’s legs. Another aspect to consider here is that Jim Hiller recently formulated a concoction out of shuffling lines against the Vegas Golden Knights and the combination of Kevin Fiala, Quinton Byfield, and Adrian Kempe was a golden egg of a result.

Given their contribution on the ice, the Kings appear to have found an upgrade for their entire top line, demonstrating pure dominance when deployed. It turns out that Byfield just needed the elite talent on the wings, and the Kings have their top line of the future, even if it doesn’t stay intact the rest of the way home. That line will get full action to start in Dallas against a stiff opponent.

So, we return to upgrading Kopitar’s wing: it’s still in play. Kopitar will line up next to Turcotte and Alex Laferriere, a ‘AAA’ line. Superlatives aside, this is certainly a downgrade for the aging franchise icon. The 37-year-old veteran and captain is going from a 40-goal scorer on the wing to two sophomore players who in in their combined statistical profiles don’t have 40 goals, albeit bright future careers to boot. They’ll get their shot to play against Dallas and St. Louis in quick succession, but it would be a mistake for Hiller to flip back to their old formula (9-14 swap) if things go awry.

This leads me to believe that the Kings don’t necessarily have to go get the big-ticket item, sacrifice a top youth player, or mess with their schematic. A first-round pick(s), Jordan Spence, Alex Laferriere, or even longshot trade pieces like Brandt Clarke or Liam Greentree would be safe if the Kings utilized the newly formed Byfield line as their top-line union. That would bring the discussion back to Montreal.

According to various outlets, the Canadiens already have a player linked to the Kings, such as The Fourth Period and TSN Insider Trading. The name they are linked to is Jake Evans, a depth player but a righty who can kill penalties and play up and down the lineup. He sounds like an LA King already. Another name that the Canadiens have been linked to possibly departing with is Joel Armia. Armia is a solid two-way player with some above-average skating for his size (6’3″) who also kills penalties.

Could the Kings get a package to get both players? In doing so, the Kings could rest their seasoned veteran forward Trevor Lewis, to the satirical dismay of Kings fans across the board.

The issues are: one, the chemistry between one of these players, likely Armia and Kopitar, represents a major uncertainty, and two, Armia is the only one with any real powerplay experience, as Evans has one career powerplay goal to his name. Armia’s powerplay experience totals just seven powerplay goals in ten NHL seasons. He, in fact, has more than twice the shorthanded goals, with a goudy 17 in that span.

Having Armia on the first powerplay unit would be a substantial risk but could also see dividends, as Armia was always a second-unit guy in Montreal and during his time in Winnipeg. First unit time could see his big body be used more regularly, seeing an uptick in production.

While I’m not personally over the moon regarding a package of this sort, as it does not bode well for fixing their brutal powerplay unit, it would add some scoring depth, boost an already rising penalty kill, and, most importantly, it won’t cost the Kings an arm and a leg.

Part of me feels they’ve solved their top-line issue, even if it’s all lefties, as that’s one thing that still remains an enigma: the right-handed forward to solve some of their scoring woes. The choice cut here is a Boeser-type player without a shred of doubt, but with the limited resources to give back, is this a more realistic type of Blake move, reaching for the prime beef instead of the A5 Wagyu?