LA Kings @LAKings

We have acquired goaltender Darcy Kuemper from the Washington Capitals in exchange for forward Pierre-Luc Dubois.<br><br>Full Release 📲 <a href=""> <a href="">#GoKingsGo</a> | <a href="">@Enterprise</a> <a href="">

Washington Capitals

If there ever was a high-risk, high-reward trade, this is it. There's a reason that Pierre-Luc Dubois was traded to Winnipeg for Patrik Laine. There's a reason the Kings moved major assets to acquire him and immediately hand him $68 million over eight seasons.

Dubois is a 6'4", 225-pound center who skates well, can body players, and is highly talented offensively. In 2022-23, a 24-year-old Dubois scored 27 goals and added 36 assists in 73 games. The season before, at age 23, he totaled 60 points in 82 games.

Those numbers reflect the duality of Dubois. On the one hand, he can be a good player. On the other, the former third-overall pick is always leaving you wanting more. It's been a long time of waiting for Dubois to fully find his game and explode into the first-line center talent and build suggests he can be.

Los Angeles hoped they'd be the catalysts for that manifestation. Instead, he floundered. Dubois contributed a measly 40 points in 82 games, drawing the ire of the coaching staff and at times getting demoted to the fourth line.

The Capitals have now inherited this problem. The Caps are hoping that a change of scenery will unlock Dubois' game, yet the 25-year-old Dubois is already on his fourth NHL team. The benefit of the doubt is running low.

One can still understand what GM Brian MacLellan is thinking. The Capitals are absolutely bereft of talent. Alexander Ovechkin can no longer create offense by himself. T.J. Oshie might not be able to play. Tom Wilson, who had 35 points all season, was the team's All-Star representative. If Dubois can even get back to 60-point form, he'll be overpaid but still the Capitals' best, most talented player.

If Dubois doesn't wake up and get back on track, the Capitals will have assumed what might be the worst contract in the NHL.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings find a way to save face after creating a massive headache for themselves. Dubois absolutely did not work out in Los Angeles. That contract alone was enough of a calamity. To say nothing of how well Gabriel Vilardi and Alex Iafello, traded to Winnipeg in return for Dubois, played this past season.

A buyout of Dubois, even at the 1/3rd cost for players aged 25 or younger, would have saddled the Kings with cap penalties ranging between $1.1 million and $3.2 million per season for the next 14 seasons. That is not a typo.

They could have tried to make it work with Dubois, but he was already a major problem and would have become an even bigger one had it not worked out for a second straight season. The Kings moved Dubois' contract while they still had a taker.

In return, they potentially address a position of need. The Kings have not had a stable starting goaltender for a few seasons now and Cam Talbot will leave this summer via free agency. Kuemper was very good behind an elite defense in Colorado and won a Stanley Cup in 2022. Before that, he was a quality netminder for Arizona. However, Kuemper struggled massively last season. He lost his starting job, saving 1.73 goals below expected over just 33 games.

Kuemper did play well the season before and does have a history of credible goaltending, but last season was rough and he is now 34 years old.

The Kings have not won a playoff round in 10 seasons and have failed to truly leave the nest of rebuilding with their wings under them. There were and still are some really good goaltenders potentially available such as Jacob Markstrom, Juuse Saros, and Linus Ullmark. In what feels like a do-or-die season for management, is Kuemper the guy to bank on to take LA to the next level?

In the big picture, Kuemper's $5.25 million cap hit through 2026 is nothing compared to what the Kings owed Dubois. If he doesn't work out, they at least found a way out of a far bigger problem both short-term and especially long-term.