Coyotes & Kings Make a Move

			2018 Season				July 1st, 2018
To Los Angeles	POS	Age	GP	G/W	Points	Cap	Years	Cap
Tobias Rieder	F	25	58	8	19	$1.891 mil	0	RFA
Scott Wedgewood	G	25	20	5	12	$650k	0	RFA
----
To Arizona	POS	Age	GP	Wins	Points	Cap	Years	Cap
Darcy Kuemper	G	27	19	10	27	$650k	2	$1.85 mil
Retained Cap Hit					15%	$334k

We're counting down to the trade deadline, which is now only five days away and the Kings have already been busy this year, continuing with a deal with the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday afternoon.

The Kings dealt unrestricted free agent-to-be goaltender Darcy Kuemper to the Coyotes for a couple of younger restricted free agents-to-be in forward Tobias Rieder and goaltender Scott Wedgewood.  The Coyotes were so enthusiastic to get Kuemper under their roof, they gave him a 2-year, $3.7 million deal upon his arrival.

As you can see above, Kuemper has had some pretty good numbers, as the number two goalie in Los Angeles, behind Jonathan Quick, and now he will join Antti Raanta to make a tandem of keepers that were very recently backups elsewhere.  The Coyotes are certainly giving him an opportunity to translate those numbers into a full-time gig.

The Kings, on the other hand, do gain a fair amount of flexibility with this deal, getting a touch younger and quicker up front and then adding a goalie prospect that has been moved around a little bit already in his career.  Rieder could be a really good add for this Kings team that could use a little more speed up front, trying to get to the playoffs, while it's still somewhat unclear where Wedgewood may slot into the the goalie depth chart for next season.

Both Kuemper and Rieder were hockey pool players, but Rieder was since dropped in the Week Eighteen Waiver Draft, leaving Kuemper as the only active player in this trade.  Neil has the veteran keeper, but I don't think there will be much in the way of gains this season, since the Coyotes are still struggling to find their identity and may still be a seller here at the deadline, before everything is said and done.  Neil's 18th place team may get a few more starts, but that probably won't translate into too many more wins down the stretch.