Quoting: tryger
LA is stuck with PLD, and Blake would get fired the moment he tries to make a losing trade for him.
LAs system works well enough that goalies will be lining up to take budget contracts to play there. Talbot is an all-star with a .916SV% and Rittich has a .919 SV%, both combined are less than $2M against the cap. LA need PLD to at least rebound to a $6M player and they will be fine. PLD has been awful not disagreeing, but he has improved and if that continues the Kings can salvage a player out of this.
Ullmark for PLD is a trade that frankly Blake can easily sell. His performance the past two years have him ranked as a top 5 to 10 goalies and I’d argue that he likely puts distance from that horrific trade and contract package you gave to PLD.
I agree with you that Riitch has played really well, but what level of confidence do you have in him as he plays more? Copley looked good last year only to look like garbage this year. Talbott predictably wore down and his numbers have been regressing. He is still around .200 GsaX/60, which is about the range where you start going from positive to average. I agree that the defensive structure of the Kings is phenomenal for insulating a goalie.
Ullmark is better than Talbott on that metric (.337) and his two year performance is the best in the league (combined he is easily top 5). Put him behind LA’s defensive structure, which is arguably the best in the league, and I think you’d see a massive upgrade for whatever it’s worth.
The open issue is I don’t believe PLD makes as much sense for Boston when I look at the player. He’s not as strong at the faceoff as the guy he’d be moving to wing in Zacha. He is probably a 6m player making 8.5m. I love the 4 years of 60+ points before 25, but I think the biggest problem is that he was traded for a horrificly bad package, his role in LA will basically prevent him from living up to the contract, and his reputation as a malcontent has followed him.
I can see an Ullmark for PLD deal working, but not sure what the draft capital going back to Boston would be required. I personally see them signing Lindholm and trading Ullmark for draft capital.