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This morning, Dwight King was sent to Montreal for a conditional 2018 fourth-round pick.

There's a condition on the pick heading to #LAKings from MTL in Dwight King deal: pic.twitter.com/9qGLWcGKkn

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 1, 2017

It was a somewhat surprising move for a Los Angeles team still on the bubble, but it makes some sense in the big picture.

First, King is a UFA and at a current 1.95 million, he might be a tough re-sign for a cap-strapped organization that has RFAs Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli to lock up this summer.

Second, King's relatively-high cap hit (for his role) may be allocated elsewhere today, as Pierre LeBrun intimated:

No salary retained in the Kings-Habs trade, which is key because LA needed to clear some space to make another move I think

— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) March 1, 2017

What does this mean for the Kings right now though?

At the moment, there's no immediate fill-in for his defensive and penalty killing chops. Too frequently, King has been associated with LA's other fourth-line wingers like Jordan Nolan, Kyle Clifford, and Andy Andreoff. In terms of usage this season, that couldn't be further from the truth:

View post on imgur.com

Granted, King's production was more often than not underwhelming.

But make no mistake, for the Kings, they traded a top-nine forward, not a fourth-liner.

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King was much-maligned for his lack of productivity, but I always liked him. Every report indicates a very genial guy...looking forward to his Legends Night!

Dwight King: "A little bit of shock." He also said "our team" on the bubble before correcting himself & saying "LA" awwww

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 1, 2017

Godspeed Dwight, we'll miss ya pic.twitter.com/GcfoePo8eU

— Nut (@DoctorGonzzzo) March 1, 2017

Dwight King forever ... https://t.co/BuomkztdbG

— Jack A. Wilson (@JACKaWILSON) March 1, 2017

#WeAreAllDwightKing pic.twitter.com/rqqeOJkIgv

— Dwight King Misser (@NotDeadRyanDunn) November 13, 2013

Looking good, front page. Looking good. pic.twitter.com/zLjTFYfRLT

— Jewels frm the Crown (@JFTC_Kings) October 25, 2013

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Stats as of 2/28/17, courtesy of Behind the Net, Corsica, Hockey Analysis, Hockey Reference, Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Puckalytics, and Sporting Charts.

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