Kings want an NHL ready defenseman under 25 to partner with Doughty. Currently Anderson beats out both those options. Not interested in trading futures for futures just yet.

If the rumors are true. I think LA is looking for someone higher end than Samburg and more established then Heinola. Someone like Sanheim from Philadelphia.

Who would you guys go after? Besides Sanheim since he most likely won't get traded. Who would you give up?

Also if the rumors are true, do you think that means they think Bjornfot won't cut it?

I don't think the rumors are true. Blake just appeared on the Fox and Faust podcast like 2 days ago and said that the Kings are going to stick to the plan and aren't looking to add because they're in the playoff mix this year.

That being said, if we assume the rumors are true, then you're essentially looking at two types of teams to trade with. Teams that aren't currently in a rebuild that look to miss the playoffs this year (Vancouver, Calgary, Nashville, Columbus, Dallas, and Pittsburgh) and teams that are currently playoff teams but have impending salary cap issues (Tampa Bay, Vegas, Toronto, Edmonton).

There's guys from those teams that would be awesome to have like Sergachev, Werenski, and Quinn Hughes, but those guys are prohibitively expensive, if not completely untouchable. The intriguing guys for me are the next tier of defensmen. I would target guys like Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore. Calgary is in serious trouble and could be looking to make a move to bring in some offense, and with the rise of Nick Hague and Vegas looking for cap space anywhere they can find it, Theodore could be expendable for the right return.

VGK won’t have cap issues next year and Shea would cost a lot. They have no significant FA and Martinez will leave.

I never said he would be cheap. Vegas has very little room to maneuver in the off-season to improve the team, and could stand to be rid of Theodore's contract if it brought in a quality young forward on an ELC or bridge deal. The Kings have a ton of those to use as trade chips.

I'm not suggesting that Vegas would give him away, and I think we'd all agree that he's not going to cost anywhere near what guys like Sergachev, Werenski, and Hughes would cost. For the right price, I think Vegas would trade him. If Hague doesn't step up like he has done this year, then I don't think moving him would be possible.

I think Bjornfot and Roy is your second line they are such a great shut down defensive pair, I think Walker and Anderson are your third line, and I really don't see a prospect who is a clear-cut fit for Doughty. It's clear Doughty wants a proven top-line defender, Blake wants a guy under 25. That almost certainly points to trading to cap-strapped teams with depth: Avs might have to trade away Graves or Toews, Sanheim from Philly as noted above, free agency they can go after Ryan Murray. I really think a 25-33 year-old stay at home defenseman who has eaten 20+ minutes is who we need. Doughty called out that he misses playing with players like Scuds.

Your first sentence of your second paragraph reads Werenski, Hughes, and Sergachev are more valuable and untouchable vs Theodore (as you say the next tier). You then say Theodore, a top 15 defensemen, is expendable to create cap room when Martinez is already coming off the books. How does it make sense to trade a top 15 d on an amazing contract for a fair price? You’d be looking at something like Byfield value wise.

“I think we'd all agree that he's not going to cost anywhere near what guys like Sergachev, Werenski, and Hughes would cost.” Under what basis did you come this conclusion? I’d wager if you created a poll ranking those 4 guys, Theodore isn’t the bottom guy or even third.

Edit - here’s the poll
https://www.capfriendly.com/forums/thread/422562?post_id=2149470

Can't see the Jets trading either of these guys, their ELCs are gonna buy the Jets some time.

Who said anything about trading for a fair price? The Kings have a plethora of trade chips and could likely afford to overpay if it gets them the player they want.

Sergachev, Werenski, and Hughes are all on team-friendly contracts right now that end with them as RFAs. Excepting Sergachev, they're also standing out as quality defensemen on bad teams. Theodore has never had to play for a bad team in his career, and his current deal ends with him as a UFA. I think all three of those guys are ahead of Theodore in terms of value.

As I said above, it's all moot because I don't think the rumor has any merit. Blake recently said they're not going to deviate from the plan in order to accelerate the rebuild.

You did, I broke my reasoning of your post down in post #8. Of course his current deal ends with him as a UFA, its 5 more years and most of, if not all of his prime years on an extremely team friendly deal. You can think those three have more value but you can’t generalize this is my point because just looking at the poll I created your definitely the minority in that statement. He plays for a good team but doesn’t that apply to the other three also? Hell, Sergachev is on Tampa, Werenski played on a team that’s been good the past few years minus this year. We will just have to agree to disagree it appears as we value Theodore a bit different from each other.

You provide no context in your poll. My context was in terms of trade value, not in "best young defenseman." Do you think Vancouver would swap Quinn Hughes for Shea Theodore 1-for-1? Of course not. That doesn't mean that Hughes is a better young defenseman than Theodore.

Trade value is based on a combination of performance, potential, and contract. Well pretty clearly Theodore (Werenski is close imo) takes the performance and still developing while taking #6 in Norris voting last year so the hopes is that the others can develop into that same level of play. He’s signed for 5 years at 5.2M, Werenski at 5M for 2 more years, Sergachev at 4.8M for 3 years, Hanifan at 4.95M for 4 years and Hughes is on his last year of ELC. Do you not anticipate those players receiving raises at the ends of those RFA contracts? They’re going to be buying UFA years next time so the leverage drops and the AAV rises. Outside of Hughes ELC for this year, contract goes to Theodore also.

Personally I value them as
Theodore
Werenski
Hughes
Sergachev
Hanifan

This is all really moot, as my first post says VGK isn’t in cap trouble next year and trading a top 15D on a sweet heart deal is the last think a contender would do.