Sources: Kings trade icon Jonathan Quick in jaw-dropper for Gavrikov, Korpisalo

Turns out, Patrick Kane wasn’t the only 2010s franchise icon on his way out the door on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Kings traded goaltender Jonathan Quick to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a shocking postgame deal on Tuesday night, as part of a package that brought back defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, sources told Daily Faceoff.

Sources said the trade call with the NHL was completed after the Kings’ 6-5 win in Winnipeg, but the deal was not officially announced by either team in the early morning hours.

The Kings traded Quick, a 2023 1st Round Pick and 2024 3rd Round Pick in exchange for Gavrikov and Korpisalo, who were two of the premier rental players available at their positions ahead of Friday’s trade deadline.

To say that Quick was unhappy with the trade would be labeled an “understatement,” a source said.

Quick, 37, was six weeks away from the end of a 10-year, $58 million deal signed with the Kings way back in 2012. He backstopped the Kings to the franchise’s only two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014 and took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2012 with a ridiculous .946 postseason save percentage. The status of his career moving forward, or whether he might contemplate retirement after the season, was unclear.

The Kings instead chose to trade Quick, who did not have any ‘no-trade’ protection as part of his deal, and opted to go with 31-year-old journeyman Pheonix Copley and Korpisalo. And Quick, who was gearing up for a playoff run, was unceremoniously moved to the league’s 32nd place team to play out the string. With Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov on the way, the Blue Jackets do not have much use for Quick’s services; he was merely a part of the transaction to make Gavrikov and Korpisalo’s salaries work. In fact, the Blue Jackets may well flip Quick to a playoff-bound team in the 48 hours leading up to the deadline.

Even though Quick’s game had fallen off this season, the entire Kings team was clearly caught offguard by the move. Quick was the biggest reason why the Kings made the playoffs last season. Captain Anze Kopitar was noticeably withdrawn during his postgame television interview – on a night when he scored four goals for just the second time in his career and the Kings came from behind multiple times to win.

Quick accompanied the Kings back to Los Angeles on their charter flight on Tuesday night. Sources described the mood on the plane as somber, and Quick went through the cabin to offer his goodbyes. There were tears.

That mood may change in the coming days when the Kings pick their jaws up off the floor. Gavrikov will provide an important left-shooting element on the backend on a roster loaded with right-handed options. Korpisalo had quietly put together an excellent season with a .911 save percentage on the worst team in the league, after a couple injury-riddled campaigns. Both players are pending unrestricted free agents.

There will be plenty of time to analyze the deal and how it might boost the Kings, who are tied with Vegas for the top spot in the Pacific Division. But in the immediate aftermath of the deal, all of the focus and attention was rightly on how the Kings dispatched a franchise legend. It was still difficult to process Kane and Quick, two of the best American-born players at their positions, being traded on the same day.

Quick and Kane had plenty of battles over the last decade-plus as the pendulum swung back and forth on hockey’s axis of power between Chicago and Los Angeles. Both players will their teams to five Stanley Cups in a six-year span from 2010 to 2015. Both players will have their numbers hanging in the rafters and likely statues erected outside their arenas, but only one got the call his shot on the way out.