During the 2022-23 season, the Los Angeles Kings and general manager Rob Blake had to make one of the toughest decisions a franchise could make. At the time, Jonathan Quick was already the greatest goaltender in franchise history but was struggling with an 11-13-4 record through 31 games with a save percentage of .876 and a goals against average of 3.50 (both of which were career-worst marks).
The Kings had other needs on their roster and trading Quick made sense for the team with him seemingly losing the starting job to Pheonix Copley. They would work out a deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets for Vladislav Gavrikov and goaltender Joonas Korpisalo that also included a first-round pick and a third-round pick going from Los Angeles to Columbus.
The move largely worked out for the Kings as Gavrikov would develop into one of their top defensemen. Meanwhile, Korpisalo played well down the stretch before taking over the starting job from Copley. In the regular season, he went 7-3-1 with a save percentage of .921 and a goals against average of only 2.13.
He would be the starting goalie for the playoff series and started off really well after allowing only two goals in the first three games of the series. However, the Kings would lose the last three games of the season and the Oilers scored a total of nine goals.
What if the Los Angeles Kings didn't trade Jonathan Quick?
While it was a tough decision, the move seemed to work out for both sides. The Kings definitely got some quality players, even if Korpisalo played only half a season before he left in free agency after the 2022-23 season.
For Quick, he would be traded the next day by the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Vegas Golden Knights and would win his third Stanley Cup, even though he was only the backup and didn't appear in any playoff games.
The move made sense for the Kings as well because if they didn't trade him at the deadline, the tough decision would have been that summer in whether or not they would re-sign him. The fact that they traded him was an indication that they weren't ready to bring him back so it made sense to get something in return, and that return was pretty good.