I'm sure the Kings are dying to send their franchise goaltender away in the last year of his deal to a lottery team, especially if it means they're getting a guy whose pre-injury aren't any better than what he's done as backup. Oh, and they get to add a 1st and a top-4 RHD prospect? Even better!

LA would not trade Quick under any circumstances, he may decide to retire no way we allow that to be announced in a Canucks sweater.

Demko couldn't take the job from Copley right now, and the Kings are only taking on Demko if Petersen is going the other way.

Glad you see the vision. This would be contingent on demko (who is back at practice today) playing some games before the deadline and looking healthy and like his usual self as a top 10 goalie in the league.

I think the worst part is that they still have to deal with Petersen's 5m.

I have other la fans saying Petersen isn't a cap dump. I don't really care what goalie comes back to make the money work but if it's Petersen you've got to pay extra to dump him.

Paying extra is probably going to be the make-or-break part of the deal, the extra will probably have to be something small for Blake to do it. He might not be willing at all but who knows? The ask would definitely be compared to that of dumping Petersen and acquiring Vejmelka instead.

Saying that the Kings won't give up significant assets to dump Petersen and that Petersen isn't a cap dump are two different things entirely.

Demko is not a top-10 goalie in the league, and I don't think it's particularly close. Even if you discount his bad 15 games at the beginning of this season, his numbers pale in comparison to what Darcy Kuemper was doing before he got traded for a 1st round pick before the 2021-22 season, plus his cap hit was $3.5M after retention as opposed to Demko's $5M. That's the only goalie that's fetched a 1st round return going back to 2016, so I don't think it's a stretch to say this is a wildly lopsided trade in Vancouver's favor.

No it's not that the Kings don't see a fallen price in Petersen, it's more that the Kings were expecting to bring Petersen back up after 10 or so games in the AHL, but Copley's strong play has made that plan have to wait. Having one goalie who can put up a winning record solves the biggest concern for the Kings, and makes huge changes at the TDL not as necessary.

The Kings wouldn't mind looking at Demko if his numbers improve, but by the off-season there will be cheaper options and Petersen will want the opportunity to get back his net.

Agree to disagree. Demko was widely considered to be a top 10 goalie last season and on one of the most valuable goalie contracts in the league behind Saros, Shesterkin, and Sorokin for contract value.

There's no comparable any time in recent history for this package, though, I don't care how valuable you think he is. There isn't anything you can point to and say "yeah, this is fair value."

The only goalie traded in the last 7 years for an guaranteed 1st round pick was Darcy Kuemper before '21-22. Kuemper's numbers in the 3 seasons before the trade are significantly better than what Demko put up from 2019-20 through 2021-22, and Kuemper did that on arguably worse teams in Arizona than Demko played on in Vancouver. Kuemper also came with retention down to a $3.5M AAV - or, a good chunk less of cap than what Demko is currently going to cost the Kings.

Thatcher Demko right now is clearly a less valuable player than Darcy Kuemper was in summer 2021, so why would LA offer significantly higher value for him than what Arizona got for Kuemper?

I don't think that is so clear when you factor in age and term on the contract.

Darcy Kuemper 2018-19 through 2020-21: .922 SV%, 2.35 GAA in 111 GP. 31 years old with 1x$3.5M AAV when traded. 2 of those 3 years he received Vezina & postseason All-Star votes (and one year he even got a 5th place vote for the Hart)

Thatcher Demko 2019-20 through 2021-22: .913 SV%, 2.83 GAA in 126 GP.

If traded today, he'd be 27 years old with 3x$5M left on his deal and in the middle of a season where he's put up a 3.93 GAA with an .883 SV%. Only one year of the 3 appearing on any postseason ballots (Vezina and postseason All-Star again)

The only thing he has going for him is being younger than Kuemper was at the time of the trade. I'd argue that the fact that the AAV is significantly higher and has term could be considered a double-edged sword, considering his most recent work is 15 games of .883 SV%/3.93 GAA followed by a 2+ month layoff with a lower body injury. Recent history is definitely not on his side, and I don't think there's enough runway left between now and the trade deadline for him to crawl out of the "selling low" territory he's currently occupying.

Sure, with a couple of nitpicks:

1) Replace Quick with Peterson. You can add Pittsburgh's 2023 3rd round for taking him.
2) Replace the 2023 1st with a Conditional 2024 2nd. The conditions are based on his performance (overall save percentage) and games played next season, which if met upgrade the pick to a 2024 1st rounder.
3) This deal takes place this summer, not at the deadline when there will only be 10 games to evaluate a goalie with a sub 0.900 save percentage and a bad lower body injury.

So the package would look like:

Grans
2023 3rd
2024 2nd***
Peterson

Maybe LA says yes, then.

You're doing God's work, my friend.

That is very similar to what I have proposed in other deals on here. I do think it's much more likely to be an offseason deal. What I had proposed before is something like:

Grans + Anderson-Dolan (RFA rights) or Kupari + Petersen + conditional 2024 2nd.

With the condition being something very attainable that is essentially "if demko stays healthy it becomes a 1st". The condition I proposed was a save percentage above .900 or .905 and plays 40+ games.

"Widely considered to be a top 10 goalie last season" by who? He was 14th in the league among starting goalies in save percentage and 20th in goals against average. He was slightly better the previous season, when he was 10th in save percentage and 21st in goals against average, but he lost more games than he won. Even looking at the four-season aggregate cited by my esteemed friend @dannibalcorpse above, those totals put him 16th in save percentage and 26th in GAA among goalies playing in more than 100 games.

Don't get me wrong -- if he returns to form, I expect him to put up better numbers than either Jonathan Quick or Cal Petersen next season. But he's still on the IR list, he isn't guaranteed to be on the ice this season or next (let alone sure to return to form), and calling him a "top 10 goalie" is hope, hyperbole or homerism.

Need to look at high danger save percentage and goals saved above expected. They're both much better indicators of goalie performance.

Here's an article ranking league goalies going into this season. https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/nhl/news/nhl-ranking-top-10-goalies-2022-23-season/fusotpronhjrxt4m7ocvn3h8

Demko is at 7 on that.

This one is more recent based on this season and has demko at 17 with a previous rank of 10. https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-starting-goalies-ranked/

He finished 7th in Vezina voting last year (tied with two others and yes it was only one vote but still one of 9 goalies to receive any votes) https://www.hockey-reference.com/awards/voting-2022.html

It's not hope, hyperbole, or homerism. It's more that people and especially fans on this website have the "what have you done for me lately" mindset. This site in particular is very negative and confrontational where the majority of commenters have a "no chance that happens" mindset before they even look at a trade.