As a kings fan, I would’ve traded PLD for a bag of pucks. The fact that we dumped his contact and addressed our goaltending all in one move without retaining any salary is a masterclass. Rob Blake fucked up by trading for him in the first place, but this is the best way he could have even attempted to redeem himself.
Everyone knew LA got fleeced when they traded for PLD, same thing is gonna happen to Washington lol. But since everyone thinks it's bad for Washington, he's gonna break out and have 90 pts next season
Kings took on a shorter and less money contract whereas the caps took on PLD who will be past his prime by the time his contract is done with. Kings made out much better
I was dumbfounded at this when I first saw it, but I can see the Caps trying to do with PLD what they did with Dylan Strome (both former 3rd overall picks in back-to-back years and salvage projects), being a piece who can both help them at the end of the Ovechkin era, and maybe for the future. They get rid of Kuemper so Lindgren can take over and elevate one of their AHL goalies, even if they had to take on an even worse contract. Spencer Carbery was able to motivate Anthony Mantha to return to prime form. It wouldn't shock me if he can do the same for PLD, even if that's a taller task. Caps also have a ton of cap space, so an extra $3 million a year doesn't mean much to them.
I think the Caps are hoping giving PLD second line consistent minutes and powerplay time will get him to bounce back to 65-70 points and they can flip him like 3 years in the future. I don’t agree but I see the thought
It’s bad to make a mistake, but it’s worse to sit in it. The Kings got fleeced to the Jets but avoided making it even worse. Even if Kuemper isn’t a top-10 goalie he’s still an upgrade for a playoff team
Caps needed another center. Taking a flyer on PLD is better than paying a backup goalie 5.25M. With the salary cap continuing to increase the contract really isn't all that bad.
I'm gonna say something that's probably gonna be unpopular right now but I wouldn't be shocked if this trade blows up in Rob Blake's face. Obviously PLD is a parasite for any locker room culture there's no denying that I am a Columbus fan I hate that dude so much for how he ended his time here. I just don't think Kuemper will be able to rebound at this point in his career. He wasn't the greatest goalie during the Av's cup run but he gave them decent goaltending and with that roster that was what they needed to win the cup that year and ever since then his stats have started getting much worse and then took a nosedive this season. Because of that I feel like he might look a little better with the talent in LA but then he'll start to really regress like he has been showing recently. PLD isn't going to ever live up to his contract but I think with a bigger role in Washington and getting more opportunity he will look better than he did in LA and he's going to be only 26 next season. Bad trade for both teams but I think in the long run Kuemper is going to look much worse than PLD will.
as a caps fan this gotta be the weirdest era in caps history. honestly not that mad cause pld can play in the top 6, and trading a struggling goalie to a team that needs one, not bad deal. the contract tho 😳 kings prolly win the trade you right
I mean tbh I feel like this deal is pretty non consequential for y’all, PLD will potentially make ya a bit more competitive for Ovis last few years or he sucks and y’all just stay pretty mid-bad for his last few years. Like the caps are in that unf position where they prob have like 2-3 more years of trying to stay competive before realizing g they need to bottom out and start a full rebuild. So 2-3 years for that, then another 3-6 to build up again through the draft like PLD’s contract won’t ever really affect y’all when it matters so
You’re wrong about how the contract will age for the caps.. if it goes shit it just is a bad contract while we are rebuilding.. We aren’t going through anything until OVI is gone. So any big changes will be when the PLD deal has only 5 years
