Following up on the news MayorsManor broke via twitter, the Los Angeles Kings have acquired defenseman Andrej Sekera from the Carolina Hurricanes. Although the trade call has not taken place with the NHL just yet, to officially finalize things, we have been told the deal is for a first round draft pick and defensive prospect Roland McKeown.
Eliotte Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada later added the draft pick is conditional.
If LA makes playoffs this year, first rounder is this year. If LA misses, first rounder is next year
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 25, 2015
In Sekera, the Kings are getting a 28-year-old, left shooting blueliner. He has played in 470 NHL games after first starting his career with the Buffalo Sabres. In 57 games with Carolina this season, he has 19 points (2 goals, 17 assists), eight penalty minutes, and is a minus-7.
His connection to the Kings front office is strong, in that he played for Mike Futa, current Kings VP, when the two were in the OHL (Owen Sound).
Although he is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, the Kings traded for him with the intention of re-signing him to a long-term extension. He is currently in the final year of a four-year deal that has an average cap hit of $2.75 million.
He will also need a new jersey number in Los Angeles. His 44 from Buffalo is currently taken by Robyn Regehr (coincidently, his former Sabres teammate), and Sekera’s No. 4 in Carolina has already been retired in Los Angeles. Just two years ago Carolina sent Jamie McBain and a draft pick to Buffalo for Sekera. Now, the two players will become teammates on the Kings.
Meanwhile, Alec Martinez is expected to be placed on IR (retroactive to Feb. 8) to create a spot on L.A.’s 23-man roster for Sekera. Eventually, Derek Forbort, recently called up from the AHL, is expected to be sent back to the Manchester Monarchs when Martinez returns to action.
On the flip side, GM Dean Lombardi dealt away McKeown, a player originally selected last June with a second round draft pick, 50th overall, received from the Vancouver Canucks for Linden Vey (something Rob Blake spoke about here).
In our recent Top 10 rankings of the Kings prospects, we provided his evaluation of McKeown:
Put bluntly, McKeown has had a mediocre season, somewhat capped off by not making Team Canada’s World Junior team. After captaining their under-18 team to a gold medal, he was considered by many to be a shoe-in for the WJC, but it didn’t happen. Is it the end of the world? No, not really. In fact, the decline in his offensive output is to be expected after being told he needs more structure to his game. We remain confident in the process. Let him build the structure and then the offense will come again. Currently, the wrap on McKeown is that he doesn’t compete the right way, or enough, or consistently. Once he learns to compete the proper way, there is a big ceiling on his future. If the Kings Development Staff can get through to him over the summer, there is a strong possibility he could be a real mover up this list next season.
For more on his omission from Team Canada and his lack of statistical punch this year, see the profile I did here on McKeown for LAKings.com just a few months ago.
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About John Hoven
Such a sick pick up, tell me how this doesn’t make sense!
Sekera is a good player and a legitimate top-four D-man. The Kings are a better team right now with him. Giving up McKeown is O.K. but the #1 pick hurts in this deep upcoming draft. It’s pretty likely now the Kings will make the playoffs so that pick will probably be this year.
The King’s recent resurgence has been based on three factors.
First moving JM away from DD and using RR with DD instead. Doughty has since quit running around all over the ice trying to win the game by himself on nearly every shift. He is so much better off playing soundly in his own end.
Secondly, Sutter has quit monkeying around with the lines and gotten the forwards more correctly slotted. His constant shifting of the line combos was not helping and more something the team had to overcome. Slotting players is not his strongest suit as a coach although he is not as bad as Murray was in that regard.
Third, JQ, who is absolutely the best money goaltender in the NHL, is playing to his form.
My biggest concern about today’s trade is if DS can get the correct defense pairing working with the right chemistry. I doubt Greene could have held up indefinitely as a second pairing guy so it might not matter anyway if he shifts the pairings around. One problem with the Kings D-men is that Muzzin and Martinez are quite similar in the their styles of play. Both are much better offensively than defensively. McNabb is not a good skater so it’s difficult to pair him with DD playing all those minutes. Sekera does give DS more options. RR can’t seem to stay healthy over the long haul and most teams making long runs to the Cup do need 7-8 D-men, at least…This was probably a good trade by DL.
Does this put the Kings over the cap if Voynov is reinstated by the NHL before the playoffs?
Dean gave up way too much to get Sekera and I’m not even a entirely huge on McKeown. Should have stayed pack and let McNabb develop on the third pair. We traded a 1st rounder for a Dman with the same Points Per Game as Jaime McBain….that’s the dictionary defitinition of a waste.
Dustin Penned trade 2.0
Paul, first off Sekera played on Carolina so his points per game isn’t going to be an exact indication of his talents. Second the Kings didn’t acquire him for his points production alone, they needed to bring in a guy that can log big minutes so guys like Regehr, Muzzin and Martinez don’t continue to play 3-5 minutes more per game than what they can handle. This is a very smart trade for a team that is built to win NOW. So lets give the guy some time with the team before passing judgement on the trade.
Paul,
Sekera is not Mcbain, trust me. Have you ever watched him play? He is easily one of the most underrated D-Man in the NHL. Great puck protector, passer, and can shoot, is easily a top 4 D-Man and when you watch him in a Kings uniform, you will see what a great trade this is. Go to youtube and watch some of his highlights.
That being said at least they found someone to play with Drew. Regehr isn’t cutting it and it’s too early in his development to make McNabb his partner. Muezzin would be fine inly if Voynov and Martinez were playing as well.
Fair deal,Sekera wasn’t brought to play with Doughty.
Getting a top 4 Dman for unknown prospects is a steal. However, What is gonna make or break this deal won’t be seen for months. They win a cup or get him resigned they win! If they go out in the first and he walks then they lose. Well worth the risk when your on the verge of creating a dynasty!