Waste of a 1st. Just buy him out.

$1.1M in 2031 will essentially be an ELC.

PIT does the PLD trade and will send you an asset back too. Even Jarry and you dont retain as much.

There is a 0% chance LAK are doing that.

You said asset… 😂

LA isn't doing that, just give Duchois the offseason and he should be fine.

He'll never live up to that contract but he'll be much better than what he was this season.

LA isn't realistically doing either of those options. Buying him out is too expensive for far too long (even at 1/3 the cap hit its still 14 years of dead money and essentially paying him to play elsewhere). They also aren't going to pay to get rid of him, he is still a good player who is young and uber talented, and as much as fans on here like to run players values down he isn't a cap dump. The Kings will either let him work out whatever he struggled with this season or they will trade him (even if they have to retain up to 2 mil to get positive assets back, its way cheaper than buying him out).

I personally think PLD will bounce back this upcoming year, whether its with the Kings or another team is TBD. I would even trade for him if I was a rival GM and give up good assets to get him, even if his bounce back is just to a 60ish point 2nd line 2-way center. That would give us very good young center depth with Suzuki, Dubois, Dach, Newhook, Beck, Evans, Kidney ect... So what would I be willing to give up, I think something like Primeau + Harris + 2nd + Dvorak seems like a fair price. LA gets a replacement 3C in Dvorak (who if he doesn't work out is only a 1 year commitment), a good young upcoming goalie who still has starter potential but is being blocked by Monty, a good young bottom 4 LD and a 2nd to replace the one they gave up to acquire PLD, basically this makes LA whole.

Seems like a no brainer for Montreal. If he plays like he has in the past it’s a bargain, if not 4 million for a third line centre isn’t anything to lose sleep over. LA isn’t gonna give up on him this early, and if they do a buyout makes more sense.

Calgary beats that.

Trade him for Laine, that worked out well for both teams last time.

The minute that trade is announced Rob Blake gets fired