This is probably the most conflicted I've ever been about a hockey move.
I freaking LOVE Vilardi and have since he was drafted. He's big. He has insane hands. He has elite vision and hockey IQ. He can score and set up teammates creatively. And all of the sudden he's great defensively to top it all off. It's going to really suck to see him get traded.
That said, there are a couple things that can make trading Gabe understandable - And these have been rumored to be true over the last couple days.
1. He was demanding a long term contract and the Kings weren't willing to give him one. This is understandable from the Kings standpoint. Again, love the player but he's a player with an injury history and a career high of 63 games. He also has a career high of 41 points and his previous career high is 23 points. You don't sign players like that to long term deals, regardless of how great they played last season.
2. The Kings know more about his health situation than we do and have valid concerns. Hell, maybe it was a miracle he even played 63 games this year?? Again, a lot of this stuff is speculation but it's definitely possible.
IF either of those things aren't true... Trading Vilardi for Dubois is stupid as hell. If one or both of those is true, can you really fault the Kings??
I also go back and forth in terms of PLD as a player. One minute I think: damn this guy could be pretty sick. He's only 25 and already has 3 60+ point season, 4 20+ goal seasons, and has played 70+ games in 5 out of his 6 NHL seasons. Also has a little bit of a backbone - at least more so than pretty much all other Kings forwards.
Then the next minute I'm thinking: god this guy seems to suck defensively. Is 60+ points really even that good??? Quite a lot of players in this league put up 60+ points. This guy is going to be overpaid from day 1, isn't he.
Its tough man. On paper, knowing what we know right now as fans, it doesn't look great. But there's certainly a lot we may not know. There's also certainly a chance PLD comes to LA and takes his game to the next level.
In the end it's going to depend on a lot of factors. Some of which we won't really be able to evaluate for multiple years. What is the full package the Kings are giving up to get him? What is the full package the Jets are sending to the Kings (is it PLD and Harkins as rumored or is there a chance one of their young LHD is coming too)? What does PLD's contract end up looking like?? Is it a massive overpay as he's rumored to be looking for? Or is it actually pretty reasonable? How does PLD fit in with the Kings?? How does Vilardi do in Winnipeg?? And what does Vilardi's contract in Winnipeg look like???
We can go back & forth all day about 'oh no don't trade Vilardi' but if he does to Winnipeg and ends up being underwhelming / dealing with serious injury concerns (I hope he doesn't, just saying it's possible), do we really look back at this trade as a mistake??
Time will tell. GKG.
