The Kings and Blackhawks Made a Trade

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Los Angeles Kings called a press conference today to announce a major transaction for the team.

First at the podium is GM of the Kings, Brandyn Errickson, “I’d like to thank all the local and national media that have joined us here today. As some of you might have already heard, we completed a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks that sent Jakub Voracek, Ilya Nikolayev and our 3^rd round pick in next year’s draft to Chicago in exchange for Tuukka Rask and Minnesota’s 5^th round pick, also in next year’s draft. I’d like to thank Jakub for his time here in LA. I wasn’t here when he was acquired, but I valued what he brought here and what he does on the ice. Not all that long ago I was making him one of our designated Franchise Players and signing him to a long-term contract. He’s gone out and scored 129 points the two full seasons he was here, but it’s not every day you can acquire a former Vezina trophy winning goalie. When Thomas and I started the conversation, Voracek’s name came up and I felt like it was a move we could make. Our goaltending so far this season has struggled and we feel like bringing in Tuukka can stabilize that position. Now Tuukka would also be the first to tell you his numbers aren’t what he expects from himself, but I talked to him after we completed the deal and he’s ready to help us get to where we want to be. I’ll now turn this over to our head coach, Craig Berube.”

“I’d just like to echo what Brandyn has said. I haven’t been here very long but I appreciate what Jakub brought to our team. I know the guys in the locker room love him and will miss him. If you look at how our goaltending has performed so far this year, you’ll understand why this deal was made. Philip’s play so far hasn’t been what we’ve expected out of a number one goalie. I talked to him after this deal was completed and he was, understandably, surprised we were bringing in another goalie. Once I explained to him how it will help him in the long run and while he will be losing some playing time now, we still believe he’s our long-term goalie. Phil just needs to absorb as much as he can from Tuukka to make him a better player now and going forward. We think adding Rask to Phil gives us a great 1A-1B goalie tandem, but Rask will be our main starting goalie going forward. I also spoke to our team leaders and we are pleased to name Colton Parayko as our new alternate captain replacing Voracek. He joins our captain, Steven Stamkos, and our other alternate captain, Ryan Johansen, and we couldn’t be more pleased.” Said Kings coach, Craig Berube.

The Kings PR manager then stated, “We’ll now take a few questions.”

A Los Angeles Times reporter questioned, “We’ve heard rumors for awhile that Jakub had been available for trade, what made this the right time to make the move?”

The GM replied, “I’ve had trade talks that have involved just about every player on our roster at some point. Does that mean a deal is ever imminent? Not even close. Have we been close to dealing Voracek before? Maybe, but I don’t recall an exact time. We saw a deficiency in our team and decided to address it if we could. We have one of the top offenses in the league and our defense isn’t giving up a ton of shots so making a move to get a top goaltender is what made sense. In this case it cost us a really good forward.”

An NHL.com reporter asked, “As you stated, you lost a really good forward who was playing on one of the top two lines. How do you make up for that productivity?”

Coach Berube replied, “Yeah good question. Jakub lived on one of those top lines while he was here, but his production this year has slipped a bit. We want to see what Craig Smith does on that line with Ryan and Filip. He’s had a pretty productive year from our third line so far and we think that can translate to more points with a bit more ice time.”

The Kings PR manager then exclaimed, “Last question everyone.”

The Kings Fan Blog reporter then asked, “Do you foresee any further moves coming? Any other areas you’d like to address?”

GM Errickson replied, “There’s always on-going discussions with fellow EHE GMs. Is there anything I expect to be announcing soon? Doubtful. We do now have an extra pro goaltender in Domingue and have reached out to a couple of GMs to see if they might be interested and will see what happens there. We’d like to give Louis the opportunity to join a team where he will at least be the backup goaltender. Otherwise I think we are in good shape right now. If Tuukka comes in and shows us he’s the top goaltender we believe he is, then we’ll be set. Something else to keep in mind is that we’ve already dealt a considerable portion of our draft picks this season and next. The picks we have left would take a pretty substantial offer to move. This organization hasn’t made a pick with their own 1^st round pick since the 2015 entry draft and our prospect pool and AHL team show it.”

GM Errickson then closed the press conference saying, “Thanks again for coming everyone. We hope our fans appreciate the move that we made and support Tuukka here in LA.”