Dustin Penner Requires a Kings Ransom
In what was clearly the biggest move of the day, the Los Angeles Kings acquired Dustin Penner from the Edmonton Oilers.
The Oilers received former first rounder Colten Teubert, a 1st-rounder in 2011 and a cond. 3rd rounder in 2012 in exchange for their top goal scorer. In a market that had no big names outside of Brad Richards and Penner’s teammate Ales Hemsky, the Kings may have overpaid for the 28-year-old.
On Saturday, GM Dean Lombardi and company waived Marco Sturm after only one game since he returned from the IR. This move created enough cap space for the Kings to go after Penner, while their depth not only in the NHL but in their pipeline allowed them to move Teubert and their top pick. Currently, Hockey’s Future ranks the Kings second in organization rankings, behind only the Nashville Predators.
With Penner now in the lineup, the Kings have five 20-goal scorers with Jarret Stoll also likely to hit that plateau. However, their scoring still ranks 19th in the League which probably worried Lombardi enough to pull off the big move. The Kings currently sit in 5th place in the Western Conference but only three points separate them 11th place and five points from 12th.
If Penner can find chemistry on one of their scoring lines, it will greatly help their playoff chances, especially since they have one of the best starting goalies in the League in Jonathan Quick. Nevertheless, keeping the goals out has not been a problem, it clearly has been filling the net.
On the other hand, the Oilers acquire more assets for their young team but do not necessarily get better.
Teubert, while being a former first rounder, failed to produce in the AHL and has spent time in the ECHL over the past two seasons. The first round pick they acquired is almost guaranteed to be a later pick while the same thing could be said of the conditional third rounder.
Yes, the Oilers got a lot for Penner but honestly it does not seem like they acquired anything to help them now, opposed to five years from now. At best Teubert projects to be a similar player to former Oiler Matt Greene who although serviceable is not an impact player.
In summary… (line changes)
Kings: Penner will require some substantial minutes, so expect the Kings to sit Alexei Ponikarovsky or Brad Richardson — both of which play in a scoring role. He could essentially fill the first line winger for Anze Kopitar.
Oilers: With Penner no longer occupying the top line left wing, the Oilers could hold auditions. Anyone from Gilbert Brule to Magnus Paajarvi could fill that spot.
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