Leave it to Dean Lombardi to make a trade splash before anyone else in the league does.
Reports surfaced wednesday afternoon that the Kings dealt young and in-oft used center Jordan Weal and a third round pick to the Flyers for the out of favor Vincent Lecavalier and defenseman Luke Schenn.
In another clear as day win-now move, the Kings again dealt future for now.
Word is that the Flyers are retaining 50% salary on each player.
Flyers are retaining 50% of both Lecavalier and Schenn's salaries.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) January 6, 2016Lecavalier, 35, was not the Flyers had hoped for since they acquired him in 2013-14 after the Tampa Bay Lightning bought out his contract. He has played just seven games this season for the Flyers with and one assist.
Luke Schenn, brother of former Kings draft pick Brayden Schenn, has had a tumultuous career with the Flyers since being acquired from the Maple Leafs. The defenseman is just 26 years old and is a natural right shooting defenseman. The Kings have just two players of a similar ilk, Drew Doughty and Jamie McBain. Schenn is making 2.5 million dollars and will be up for free agency following the conclusion of this season.
Luke Schenn is a right-shot defenseman, and Kings had only two natural righty shooters: Doughty and McBain (Martinez/Ehrhoff also do it)
— Rich Hammond (@Rich_Hammond) January 6, 2016Going the opposite way is yet another draft pick. Meaning the Kings will be without a first or a third round pick in next year's draft, the first being traded away in the Andrej Sekera deal last season.
Jordan Weal, 23, is coming off a season with the Manchester Monarchs where he was one of the AHL's leading scorer and the playoff MVP. He was hardly ever given a shot (or earned one for that matter) on the Kings roster. He was kept to open the season primarily due to having to clear waivers. The biggest knock on the forward has to be his size. The 5'10" forward showed plenty of flashes of skill in preseason and last year, but none of it had translated in his 10 game pro stint. The opportunity for Weal should be much higher on a thin Philly bottom six.
For a quick analysis, this seems to be a standard move for Los Angeles in order to win another championships. They have reclaimed a bit of center depth now, with a potential group down the middle of Kopitar, Carter, Lecavalier, and Shore. If, and it is a big if, Lecavalier can return to some form it would go a long way in making this deal seem reasonable. With pending free agency coming for both Schenn and potential retirement for Lecavalier, it could have no long term cap implications on the Kings. However, if Lecavalier sticks, the Kings will be on the hook for his 2.25 hit until 2018-19. Also, with Schenn being as young as he is, there is potential he could re-up with the team if all goes well. With Matt Greene shelved on the year, Schenn is likely going to step in and battle for the 6D position with Ehrhoff and McBain. Forbort, the Kings former 1st round selection who has yet to get into the lineup consistently, has already been assigned to Ontario.
Story: Defenseman Derek Forbort assigned to @ontarioreign after @LAKings make trade with Flyers #AHL https://t.co/eXHCCB3yEE
— Lindsay Czarnecki (@ReignInsider) January 6, 2016He will, presumably, go back to playing top-pairing minutes.
From an analytics standpoint, Schenn has been sixth out of the eight regular defenseman for Philidelphia this season in corsi events against. He is currently sitting at a -24.15 in Stephen Burtch's dCorsi rating, which is an evaluative tool of how impactful players are given their minutes and role. Schenn has been playing as a top 4 D in Philly, averaging around 17-20 minutes a night. He should see less and less playing on the Kings back end. This could be a good reset for the young blueliner.
It seems as though Schenn is the real chip the Kings were after on this, in order to shore up a somewhat questionable 5-8 D group. While Martinez, Muzzin, McNabb, and Doughty have all been fairly strong, the up and down nature of Ehrhoff, McBain, and Forbort, has left Doughty playing higher average minutes than last season. This was something the Kings had hoped to correct but have yet to do so in 2015-16. Schenn may finally be the last shot at getting a secure player on the bottom pair that can eat some more minutes. The aging and out of form Lecavalier may simply be the salary dump the Flyers wanted to get off the books for now.
From a Flyers standpoint, Weal has a ton of potential if given the opportunity. That is something he was not getting, and wasn't going to get in Los Angeles.
For the Kings they get a potentially steadying defenseman on the back end, and a potential 3-4C that could strengthen their depth down the middle. Andy Andreoff had proven to be a bit of a liability when playing in the 4C position and had been exposed on numerous occasions so far this season. It is a move with curious "win now" potential for the Kings, with little at risk if the move does not pan out. Lecavalier, with rumors of his retirement coming this offseason, now has one more really legitimate shot at winning a cup. The question remains, will he be a Robyn Regehr to the Kings or a Simon Gagne? One had an impact, the other did not at all.
Time will tell if Dean Lombardi has struck gold on yet another mid-season deal. Color me a glass half full kind of person, but this deal could be very favorable for both teams involved.
Blog will be updated as more unfolds.
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