Jackets acquire Jonathan Quick from LA

[Brewin Flames]

Sources: Kings trade icon Jonathan Quick in jaw-dropper for Gavrikov, Korpisalo

Frank Seravalli(frank_seravalli)

Mar 1, 2023

 

 

 

Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

Turns out, Patrick Kane wasn’t the only 2010s franchise icon on his way out the door on Tuesday.

 

The Los Angeles Kings traded goaltender Jonathan Quick to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a shocking postgame deal on Tuesday night, as part of a package that brought back defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, sources told Daily Faceoff.

 

Sources said the trade call with the NHL was completed after the Kings’ 6-5 win in Winnipeg, but the deal was not officially announced by either team in the early morning hours.

 

The exact parameters of the trade remain unclear. Sources said Quick and Los Angeles’ 2023 1st Round Pick are included, but there are likely other pieces involved from the Kings’ organization to land Gavrikov and Korpisalo, who were two of the premier rental players available at their positions ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.

 

To say that Quick was unhappy with the trade would be labeled an “understatement,” a source said.

 

Quick, 37, was six weeks away from the end of a 10-year, $58 million deal signed with the Kings way back in 2012. He backstopped the Kings to the franchise’s only two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014 and took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2012 with a ridiculous .946 postseason save percentage. The status of his career moving forward, or whether he might contemplate retirement after the season, was unclear.

 

The Kings instead chose to trade Quick, who did not have any ‘no-trade’ protection as part of his deal, and opted to go with 31-year-old journeyman Pheonix Copley and Korpisalo. And Quick, who was gearing up for a playoff run, was unceremoniously moved to the league’s 32nd place team to play out the string. With Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov on the way, the Blue Jackets do not have any real interest in Quick’s services; he was merely a part of the transaction to make Gavrikov and Korpisalo’s salaries work.

 

Even though Quick’s game had fallen off this season, the entire Kings team was clearly caught offguard by the move. Quick was the biggest reason why the Kings made the playoffs last season. Captain Anze Kopitar was noticeably withdrawn during his postgame television interview – on a night when he scored four goals for just the second time in his career and the Kings came from behind multiple times to win.

 

Quick accompanied the Kings back to Los Angeles on their charter flight on Tuesday night. Sources described the mood on the plane as somber, and Quick went through the cabin to offer his goodbyes. There were tears.

 

That mood may change in the coming days when the Kings pick their jaws up off the floor. Gavrikov will provide an important left-shooting element on the backend on a roster loaded with right-handed options. Korpisalo had quietly put together an excellent season with a .911 save percentage on the worst team in the league, after a couple injury-riddled campaigns. Both players are pending unrestricted free agents.

 

There will be plenty of time to analyze the deal and how it might boost the Kings, who are tied with Vegas for the top spot in the Pacific Division. But in the immediate aftermath of the deal, all of the focus and attention was rightly on how the Kings dispatched a franchise legend. It was still difficult to process Kane and Quick, two of the best American-born players at their positions, being traded on the same day.

 

Quick and Kane had plenty of battles over the last decade-plus as the pendulum swung back and forth on hockey’s axis of power between Chicago and Los Angeles. Both players will their teams to five Stanley Cups in a six-year span from 2010 to 2015. Both players will have their numbers hanging in the rafters and likely statues erected outside their arenas, but only one got the call his shot on the way out.

[yave1964]

Lousy way to dump an icon but youth must be served. Of course Copley is 31 and korpisalo is 29 in a month.

 

  Cbj gets a first, gavrikov is an average second pair stay at home guy and korpisalo is having an ok, no good but ok year following two consecutive really really lousy bordering on putrid seasons. IMHO great deal for cbj, the kings are slightly better but I would have rather had Reimer or Talbot or one of half a dozen more. I like gavrikov the way you like Matt Roy or any of the rest of the unsung boring average defense the kings throw out nightly. I think they could a gotten better assets but maybe nobody else was willing to take the no longer Quick  I don't see the kings as being more than maybe a tiny bit better today than yesterday 

[JR Ewing]

[yave1964]

1 hour ago, JR Ewing said:

He hasn't been quick for four years. Cbj will flip him retaining salary for a 5th or 6th by Friday probably to Florida. Five quality starts down the stretch with rest in between might be possible.

[JR Ewing]

1 hour ago, yave1964 said:

He hasn't been quick for four years. Cbj will flip him retaining salary for a 5th or 6th by Friday probably to Florida. Five quality starts down the stretch with rest in between might be possible.

 

Absolutely. This is the game, and trades come along with it. Quick has been handsomely rewarded in his NHL career, and he can put up with this change in his life for a couple of months.

 

[yave1964]

51 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

 

Absolutely. This is the game, and trades come along with it. Quick has been handsomely rewarded in his NHL career, and he can put up with this change in his life for a couple of months.

 

Agreed. It even happened to Brodeur. Lots others. I will always remember him in a Kings uniform and probably wont remember who he finishes his career with unless he goes on some crazy playoff run for the Cats or the Flames or whoever he ends up with. Brodeurs five minutes with the Blues were forgotten as fast as they occured. Just the nature of the game, painful at the time sometimes but when if he had contributed anything he would still be there.  I read the Kings veteran core is upset but lets see how they feel if Gavrikov comes in as a steadying influence and Korpi wins four in a row. Nature of the game.