Kings Find Way Out of Pierre-Luc Dubois Contract and Get a Goalie

Kings GM Rob Blake Does Well with Dubois for Kuemper Trade

TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joined Jay Onrait on SportsCenter to discuss the trade of Pierre-Luc Dubois being traded by the Los Angeles Kings to the Washington Capitals for Darcy Kuemper and how Kings GM Rob Blake was able to get out of such a bad contract.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

NHL Trade: Pierre-Luc Dubois Traded for Darcy Kuemper

Jay Onrait: Craig as you know, there was another massive trade on Wednesday and the trade was one-for-one. The Kings traded Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Capitals in exchange for goaltender Darcy Kemper. Dubois just completed the first season of an eight-year $68 million extension he signed in June of last year after being traded to LA from Winnipeg. He did not have such a great first season with the Kings, joining his fourth team in just eight seasons in the NHL.

As for Kuemper, he lost his starting job to Charlie Lindgren this year. He’s entering the third year of a five-year contract he signed with the Caps in 2022. He was with the Kings previously as a backup to Jonathan Quick. First of all, at one point, Craig and, you and I talked about this before the show even started there’s a lot of speculation that Kings might just might just buy out Pierre-Luc Dubois contract altogether.

The fact that Rob Blake actually got a player for Dubois, gain some cap space and really addressed a need because the Kings did need a starting goaltender and Kuemper has been good in LA previously. Overall did you give Rob Blake an A grade for this deal?

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Craig Button: I do and I’ll give him an A grade for a number of reasons. And you’re a very, very kind soul, Jay. I say that on camera. I say that off-camera because you really are. But the bottom line is for you to say that Pierre-Luc Dubois had not so great a season. That is the kind soul you are because what Pierre-Luc Dubois had was an abysmal season.

It was awful in every single regard, and that was after Rob Blake had made a big trade last summer with the Winnipeg Jets to acquire Pierre-Luc Dubois and to sign up to that contract. I think it’s always difficult for a General Manager to stand up and go, we made a mistake. It didn’t work out. Maybe it’s our fault. Maybe it’s Pierre-Luc Dubois fault, but we’re moving on. We’re not hanging on to something that clearly didn’t work. And for that, that’s a big A.

Number two, we know that the LA Kings were in on goaltenders; we know that Linus Ullmark was potentially a goaltender that could have ended up in LA. But at the end of the day, what Rob Blake knew is he had to improve his goaltending. This is a very good defensive team and Darcy Kuemper, who has showed that he can be a really good solid goaltender behind a really good solid defensive team.

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I think that carries significant weight. He’s won a Stanley Cup, and I think the fact that he was in LA, and he’s somebody that’s known, and he’s known to Bill Ranford. Bill Ranford for me, there’s no better goaltending coach for the National Hockey League than Bill Ranford.

There’s a few that are as good, but Bill Ranford also knows this goaltender too, and the fact that they played really good defense is something that I think is really important.

The Washington Capitals were terrible defensively, just terrible. And I think that impacted Darcy Kuemper. So when you start to look at a situation for the LA Kings with Darcy Kuemper coming in and Pierre Luc Dubois going out, I think it’s a recognition that didn’t work with Pierre-Luc Dubois. Onto our next goal. Onto our next objective. I think Rob Blake did an outstanding job in this regard.”