The Pros And Cons Of The Boom Or Bust Pierre-Luc Dubois Trade

The Washington Capitals made a splash during the Stanley Cup Final. It's a move that they hope will help get their team back to competing for the Cup in the final instead of making roster moves during it.

On Wednesday afternoon, June 19th if you're reading this way in the future, (hello from the past!) the Capitals traded for Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for goaltender Darcy Kuemper.

This is obviously a big trade. These are names that mostly all hockey fans will know, and in some cases that might not be a good thing. Both players have struggled for different reasons and both of their new teams are hoping they can be the ones to bring these big names back towards the top of their games. When talking about the Capitals I think this a clear boom or bust move.

Lets look at some pros and cons of this deal for the Capitals.

Pro - They Solved A Problem...

The Darcy Kuemper signing unfortunately did not work out. After winning the Stanley Cup on a loaded Colorado Avalanche team in 2022 he was supposed to be the guy that took over in Washington after years of inconsistency in net. From Ilya Samsonov to Vitek Vanecek and even going back to Braden Holtby in his final years in D.C.

The Caps signed Kuemper to a five year $26.25 million contract or a $5.25 cap hit every year. His stats were okay his first year in Washington having a 2.87 goals against average and a solid .909 save percentage. But it still wasn't the consistency and the goaltending they were hoping for when they signed him.

Then this past season it got worse. He played just 33 games, he had a GAA of 3.31 and a save percentage of .890%. While putting up those numbers he lost his starting job to Charlie Lindgren and the rest is now history. Kuemper is on his way to LA and Lindgren is the clear starter.

The Capitals clearly solved a problem they had. They were able to move off a goaltender getting paid way more than he was worth based on his play on the ice. They didn't have to buy out his contract, they didn't have to add a sweetener to a deal to offload him. It was a quick and very much painless one for one deal and the "problem" is gone. But...