News Article: Patrick O'Sullivan to Edmonton; Justin Williams to LA (3-way Trade)

[thrillhous]

forgive me if I'm mistaken, but isn't Stoll, Brown, Calder, and now Williams all more or less the same type of player? How many of the same player do we need on this team?

No, Williams is a sniper.

 

[Legionnaire]

People need to forget about the 2nd round pick, and if you're really upset about it, e-mail the blogger that leaked the trade which caused DL to have to add the pick into the mix. DL has 13 picks this year just for situations like this. He can move anywhere to get any player he wants.

THAT IS COMPLETE BULL ****! Ignore the 2nd? He didn't have to complete an already, sketchy at best deal. Are you kidding me?

 

[kingdoughty]

I like this trade. Williams WILL get back and healthy and I am confident he will be a 30 goal scorer with Kings.

Frolov - Kopi - Williams

 

[Ollie Weeks]

I was a huge Visnovsky fan and was miffed when he was traded, but DL certainly pulled a rabbit out of his ass on that one.

Don't know a whole lot about Williams, but I'm getting the impression a lot of people that if he's healthy he'll make us forget all about Sully. I'll reserve judgement until he hits the ice.Having said that, the following train of thought makes this deal especially appealing to me should Williams remain healthy:

Williams upgrades the top-six, no question. His salary (present and future) will never "break the bank" in the way a superstar's contract would. This allows the Kings to maintain a deeper and more dangerous group of forwards. Ultimately, I believe this move allows for the retention of Frolov as well any skilled free agents DL has his eyes on.

 

[Thrice]

THAT IS COMPLETE BULL ****! Ignore the 2nd? He didn't have to complete an already, sketchy at best deal. Are you kidding me?

You really don't get it do you? This move is ideal for your type. Moving O'Sullivan makes the team that much worse for the rest of this season, thus securing the high draft pick in the 1st round that you've been whining about all season AND it signals to the NHL that the Kings are now in Win mode, come next season. Meaning Lombardi will put into motion at least one more transaction that will assure the team makes the Playoffs, this summer. By trading a 24 year old Patrick O'Sullivan for a 27 year old Justin Williams, Lombardi has fired his first shot.

So you get to have your cake, high 1st round draft pick and eat it too, the Playoffs next season.

Stop crying.

 

[HYORI 1963]

RH, I answered that in the second half of my post where I quote the article.

If what I'm reading there is correct, Rich Hammond goofed (leaking information) which caused the original trade to blow up between the Hurricanes and Kings. Lombardi had to then throw a 2nd round pick into the deal to get Carolina back to the negotiation table.

Hammond goofed? I thought it was the globeandmail blogger that leaked it.

Whatever the reason, now at least I can try and justify the reason for the 2nd pick.

Thanks to both you and Tony for answering my questions and putting me at ease.

The 2nd pick was really getting to me.

 

[Joey Moss]

Everything points to Williams' injuries as fluky, although that's the major concern, obviously.

Pretending that the injuries don't exist, we just traded O'Sullivan and a late 2nd for a 30-goal, 70-point stanley cup champion. I know I'm in the minority, but I like this deal. Definitely would have been better minus the 2nd.

But funny how HFBoards turns around--One second, Sully is a bad-angle-shot-master with no hockey sense, the next, he's untradeable. sheesh...

If Williams is healthy all next year, this will look like a steal. Williams is one of the most underrated players in the NHL (mostly due to missing time).

I love your avatar.

 

[no name]

Or not the other games this season where Sully has been useless

He will not improve

SORRY TO BREAK IT TO YOU GUYS.

You see what we saw of Sully? This season and last?

That's it. Can he be a 60 point scorer? Yes.

Will he be a leader, a guy who you say "he's on the ice, he will do something"

Defenietly not (unless your definition of doing something is a bad shot or a turnover)

This is the **** that everyone pisses vinigar about you bro. The world is not hinged on absolutes. You are also dead wrong in your views of POS, espescially of him last season. You are the only one here that thinks these things.

 

[outofrange]

2 points:

With DL it's ALL ABOUT CHARACTER. You don't come to camp, you're gone.

I love how he's thinking about what it takes to compete with San Jose. The goal is NOT to come in 7th or 8th. I love that.

Yeah, DL does love his "character" guys doesn't he? I kind of had an iffy feeling about Patty when the contract negotiations were taking so long.

I'm gonna start praying that Justin regains his 2005-2006 form next season and helps us into the playoffs.

 

[Zeno]

When is Williams going to be ready?

 

[kingdoughty]

When is Williams going to be ready?

2 weeks I heard

 

[DapperDan]

When is Williams going to be ready?

Finally. A question that is pertinent to the now. Oh and to answer your question, I don't quite know. At best I can tell you that yahoo sports has him out at least a month from Feb 17 so do a little math and a little guesswork. Or wait for someone with a better answer

 

[Reaper45]

This is the **** that everyone pisses viniger about you bro. The world is not hinged on absolutes. You are also dead wrong in your views of POS, espescially of him last season. You are the only one here that thinks these things.

Only a sith deals in absolutes.

 

[Fishhead]

I really like Patrick and hate to see him go, but I really like this trade. He has a great shot, and really good vision, but he still doesn't go to the net like he should in my opinion (which is why he always seems to be shooting from a bad angle). He tosses hits around and isn't afraid to get physical, but it's almost always after the puck has already been moved. This can be said of most young maturing players, but at his size I really don't see him getting any better at these two parts of the game. He's not as solidly built as a guy like Fleury or Cicarelli, or even Cammi.

I think this trade was made for 2 reasons.

The first is Moller, as others have said. He plays with more intensity, and while he doesn't have O'Sullivan's vision he has a nose for the net and gets open in scoring areas. He's pretty close to O'Sullivan's gpg this year, he's not even old enough to drink, and shows a hunger that Patrick just hasn't shown yet. His game is also very similar to Patrick's and at his salary he's a better value.

The second, is that this team is ahead of schedule. I will be surprised if this team doesn't make the playoffs next year, and perimeter play just doesn't cut it in the playoffs. You need to win the hard battles to succeed in the playoffs, and you have to want the puck and want to score, which I just have never seen from Patrick. Williams brings that part of the game and his scoring touch is just as good as Patrick's. I have little doubt this move was made to move the team towards a roster that can have success in the playoffs - built on size, grit, and tenacity as well as skill.

I guess I'm in the minority when I think the value is about fair. Overall, Willams is a better player than O'Sullivan by a good margin. The risk of Williams' injury history is there, but so is the risk of O'Sullivan never living up to his billing. The second is still a second, but I'm pretty sure it's later in the round. The Kings have plenty of picks to move around in the draft if they wish to do so.

 

[hockeyfan125]

I really like this trade from a Kings perspective. However, my one beef with Lombardi is he doesn't always maximize asset value because he has a "fall back" option.

He got less than he could have (I think) for Cammalleri because he knew he had more than adequate replacements up front. And in this case, he feels Moller is ready to step in to O'Sullivan's role. Not the best way to trade, but I think Williams is a pretty big upgrade.

He has battled injuries a bit, but the guy is a proven top line talent on a cup winning team. He is a great finisher, has terrific wheels, and is very good defensively, an aspect of his game that isn't mentioned that much.

I also question if O'Sullivan will ever "put it together." He has a ridiculous skillset, but his development hasn't exactly been promising (I realize Murray bounced him around quite a bit, maybe you guys have a better read as I don't see LA play every night).

My .02

 

[deano]

I was pretty stunned at first and immediately hated it for all the right reasons. Injuries and whatnot. Now after having digested it, I think it's a great trade and a fair deal. I wonder which wing he will end up on?

 

[The Judge]

Observations:

Dean is like a GM who loves to shop to 99 cents stores but pays a hefty price for it for players that are have beens... for the most part.
- McCauley
- Cloutier
- Blake
- Williams
- Gauthier

Deam likes players from Philly.

Getting Williams for Sully and a 2nd is an overpayment with the risks involved.

All payers that missed training camp have all bad years. True to all sports. And will have a great year the year after. You can take that to the bank.

Lombardi is great in rebuilding teams.

But Taylor is great in trading for players... Deadmarsh, Allison, Palffy, Norstrom, etc.. except for one... the Tambellini trade.

I have not seen Lombardi sign a UFA that's a Superstar in his career as a GM. Correct me if I am not right.... please!

Will we ever see that day that Dean signs a bona fide #1 center or winger...?

 

[BallPointHammer]

Actually, when Rich is reporting what was said at practice or in an interview, he has been a mouthpiece for the Kings all these years because he is repeating what they said verbatum. When Rich gives his own commentary, that's when his credibility is on the line. Rich has never said anything to make me doubt that he's 100% honest about what he thinks is going on (and if he can't say something he just says he can't say something). I don't think Rich's credibility has taken a hit, the image some people have of Dean being completely transparent about what he's doing has taken a hit, but not Rich's. I'm not getting down on Rich over this, he didn't make the trade, he just reported on what he was told and tried to get the truth out of the horse's mouth.

I agree 100%. Rich Hammond is a godsend to Kings fans. His journalistic standards are not in question in my opinion.

 

[Sandino]

I'm sure this was posted somewhere already

Feb 16, 2009: Broken hand, sidelined indefinitely.
Dec 4, 2008: Missed 25 games (achilles tendon).
Sep 17, 2008: Achilles tendon, sidelined indefinitely.
Apr 5, 2008: Missed the last 2 games of the regular season (back injury).
Apr 2, 2008: Back injury, day-to-day.
Apr 1, 2008: Missed 43 games (torn ACL).
Dec 21, 2007: Torn ACL, remainder of the regular season.
Oct 4, 2005: Shoulder injury, day-to-day.
Mar 27, 2004: Missed 1 game (bruised ankle).
Mar 25, 2004: Bruised ankle, day-to-day.
Feb 21, 2004: Missed 3 games (broken left wrist).
Feb 13, 2004: Broken left wrist, sidelined indefinitely.
Apr 6, 2003: Missed 36 games (sprained left knee).
Apr 4, 2003: Sprained left knee, day-to-day.
Jan 20, 2003: Sprained left knee, remainder of the regular season.
Jan 18, 2003: Sprained left knee, left Saturday's game.
Nov 27, 2002: Missed 5 games (strained left shoulder).
Nov 15, 2002: Strained left shoulder, early December.
Dec 16, 2001: Missed 3 games (sprained right shoulder).
Dec 10, 2001: Sprained right shoulder, day-to-day.
Mar 19, 2001: Missed 12 games (broken finger).
Feb 22, 2001: Broken finger, late March.

 

[Reaper45]

If Williams was healthy there'd be no chance we'd get him for Sully and a 2nd.

 

[LAX attack*]

This is the **** that everyone pisses vinigar about you bro. The world is not hinged on absolutes. You are also dead wrong in your views of POS, espescially of him last season. You are the only one here that thinks these things.

I'll try to be better about it

LOL at the fact that I'm so opposite of this in normal exchange, only in hockey do i sound like an idiot

 

[KingPurpleDinosaur]

Observations:

Dean is like a GM who loves to shop to 99 cents stores but pays a hefty price for it for players that are have beens... for the most part.
- McCauley
- Cloutier
- Blake
- Williams
- Gauthier

Are you going to include O' Donnell, Stoll and Handzus in that? Because, to be fair, they seem to be working out well for us. But ya, his desires to pick people with low value does seem risky. I don't know if Williams will work out for us, but it did sound like he did his homework on doing the medical checkups.

 

[Live in the Now]

- McCauley
- Cloutier
- Blake
- Williams
- Gauthier

Don't put Williams with the likes of those. If Williams was a generally healthy player, Carolina would absolutely not trade him. Those other four are garbage.

 

[Sam]

I don't know if Williams will work out for us, but it did sound like he did his homework on doing the medical checkups.

Didn't sound like it to me. Lombardi mentioned a broken finger on Hammond's blog when Williams is out with a broken hand. Probably just misspoke but it doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

 

[riseandfall9]

Justin Williams is a great pick up. Would it have been nice to get Williams and not trade away Sully or anyone else? Yes. But you cant trade nothing and get something. Williams is that SNIPER that all of you were asking for. Hes everything that O`Sullivan isn't. Hes smart. He knows how to create plays. He plays the game like its Chess. And he has a hard nosed, girtty all or nothing attitude. This move just might excel Kopitar into the 80 point seasons.

And hes not injury prone. Hes just had a few bad and unlucky incidents. And Lombardi said he got his knees and everything checked out. Handzus was injury prone when we got him. Greene was injury prone when we got him. Oh and Stoll had a head that was soft as egg shells.

I understand its hard to see Sully go we all had really high expectations for him I included. But the kid couldn't hang on the top lines. Plus Carolina got him and turned him right away for another "injury prone" underachieving winger in Cole? What does that say about him. Plus did anyone listen to TSN. or Sportsnet? They were all saying Sully wasn't anything special. I thought he would be good when he first came in. But then when I saw that his Hockey IQ wasnt that high it got me a little worried. At least we traded Demitra and got us Hickey, Teubert, Doughty and Johnson D: