Of the two NHL trades we know about today, this is certainly not the blockbuster. However, it at least rivals the Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen exchange in strangeness.
The Kings moved Jordan Weal and a third-round draft pick to Philadelphia for Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn. The Flyers reportedly retained about half of each player’s salary and Lecavalier’s agent says the forward will retire at the end of the season. Still, one has to wonder why the Kings made this move at all. They’re comfortably at the top of the Pacific and (in my opinion) are the best team in the NHL right now.
So why trade for two players that just aren’t very good?
Here are the charts for Lecavalier and Schenn from Own the Puck.
Schenn is certainly the better of the two players, so it’s possible the Kings had to take Lecavalier to get him. Still, it seems like a trade the Kings didn’t have to make and they gave up assets to do it. Jordan Weal has only played 10 games for the Kings and hasn’t recorded any points, but at just 23 it’s fair to say he wasn’t given a fair shake by Darryl Sutter and company.
This seems to be a good trade for the Flyers, who managed to pick up a couple assets while unloading two players they likely won’t miss too much.
As for the Jones-Johansen trade…well, I’ve got nothing.
Seth Jones <-> Ryan Johansen pic.twitter.com/dcftZR5fQN
— Domenic Galamini (@MimicoHero) January 6, 2016
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