Lombardi Gambles Big Time At The Trade Deadline

ANALYSIS: Los Angeles Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi makes a splash with a risky trade deadline deal—a huge gamble that could easily backfire.

LOS ANGELES — The 2009 National Hockey League trade deadline has come and gone and, rather unexpectedly, the Kings made a dubious three-way trade on March 4 that sent forward Patrick O’Sullivan and a second round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for right wing Justin Williams. The Hurricanes then sent O’Sullivan and a second round selection in the 2009 draft to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for forward Erik Cole and a fifth round pick in the 2009 draft.

The second round pick the Kings sent to Carolina was acquired in 2007 in the trade that sent center Craig Conroy to the Flames.

O’Sullivan leaves the Kings after playing in 62 games for them this season, scoring 14 goals and adding 23 assists for 37 points and he was surprised when he learned of the deal.

“I was a little bit surprised,” said O’Sullivan. “I signed for three years in the summer here. I think the young group of guys that are with LA, we’ve kind of grown together the last couple of years. I think the organization has drastically improved in that time, but I think anybody is tradable at any time. I’m just happy that it’s to a place that has a lot of history and is a great hockey market. I’m really excited to [go] and play there.”

In 188 career regular season NHL games, all with the Kings, O’Sullivan has scored 41 goals with 68 assists for 109 points with 66 penalty minutes. Read more of this post